#Sisters with transistors

[teledyn]

Delia Derbyshire, "Sisters with Transistors" (2020)

[rivertalesien]

Watched the docu on women in electronic music, Sisters with Transistors (horrible title, should have been a red flag), which, while offering nothing new, was so deeply disrespectful to Wendy Carlos, I wanted to smash the tv.

Carlos (who is trans), created the music for A Clockwork Orange and Tron, amongst others, but first came to fame with a completely electronic recording of the works of JS Bach: Switched on Bach. The documentary only mentions this, in a derisive manner suggesting she wasn't an innovator at all (she pioneered use of the Moog synthesizer!), while only showing her in a brief interview from the 60s, pre-transition. Then forgets about her.

If you know anything about electronic music and any of the women who helped pioneer it, you know how big Wendy Carlos was. If you've watched any interview (and a few are available on Youtube), you know she was the real deal, not, as this film suggests, some so-so dilettante. Unreal.

That this 2020 documentary can't even bother to give her due feels like the filmmaker (first time director Lisa Rovner) either didn't do her homework or had an agenda to exclude her (I won't lean into the possibility of a producer/studio offering input, as that just doesn't seem likely as this was made before it found a distributor).

It's surprising as the film is narrated by another queer musical/performance innovator, Laurie Anderson. I've not seen any interviews with Anderson about this documentary or if she had any input (hard to believe she wouldn't), so another layer of disappointment gets added.

I was hoping this film would add something new and open some old doors for younger listeners (so many of these women are inspiration for my own story, Closer), but I can't recommend it.

Wendy Carlos is a genius and innovator who had more insight and deserves an entire series of films dedicated to her. She absolutely deserves better.

[theoszczepanski]

Sisters with Transistors (Lisa Rovner, 2020)

[assowebtv]

BOLOGNA: Gender Bender

Gender Bender, il festival internazionale che intercetta e presenta al pubblico le evoluzioni con cui mutano gli immaginari legati al genere nelle arti contemporanee, va in scena dal 9 al 22 settembre. Giunge alla sua ventesima edizione il festival creato e diretto da Daniele Del Pozzo, in co-direzione con Mauro Meneghelli, prodotto da Il Cassero LGBTI+ Center di Bologna, con il sostegno del…

[hkayakh]

To all my trans women out there, you are my trans sisters.

But in all honestly, please stay in the computer. It doesn’t work when you’re not in it.

[uneasylisteningradio]

Transistor Sister #198 March 2, 2024

Image: Christian Death Transistor Sister #200 is coming up soon, should I do something?? listen to the show

Freddy Cannon - Transistor Sister Onyon - Window Shopper Hooper Crescent - Electric Stove Unrest - Isabel Pylon Reenactment Society - K Koridor - Sekvence Straha Voice Actor - Done ARGH - Ya Lo Entendí Todo

Imago - Tomorrow Never Knows Miss España - La Dejadez Pandemix - The First Crisis

Split System - Temporary Freeze NO TIME - Automation Generation Dean Dirg - Everyone Back Off Christian Death - Stairs - Uncertain Journey Uranium Club - Abandoned by the Narrator

Chumbawamba - The Day the Nazi Died

[sodalite-lite]

i think cywren can be transgender. as a treat

[weiner-enjoyer]

my sister came out and changed her name. at her coming-out celebration, she won at twister.

call that twisted trans sister.

[sandwizard9]

cool computer joke I wanted to share

do computers have brothers

no they don't they have tran-sistors

[therealallenklein]

Getting into freddy cannon atm…

[soup-mother]

much like vacuum tubes, sad boys have been replaced with trans-sisters. (the boys transitioned and so did the vacuum tubes) 🏳️‍⚧️

(transistors replaced vacuum tubes in most electronic roles)

(trans sisters replaced sad boys in most magic the gathering tournaments)

[foone]

Growing up in a family with a couple autistic hyperfocusers and a bunch of avid readers and one Normal Guy and then a (now-adult) baby sister with a major learning disability has completely ruined my ability to have any idea what "an average person" knows about.

Like, we've got one person who hasn't even seen a single minute of the Lord of the Rings films, and another has a degree in English literature and did an entire semester on the works of Tolkien. Which one of these peoples is more "normal"? I have no idea!

Or that post of classics puns from Twitter:

How many of these jokes does the average person get? Do they understand Icarus and Medusa but not Orpheus and the joke about "Nobody"?

Anyway it's sometimes a problem because I can (and will!) explain anything at the drop of a hat, but I often am unsure about where to stop.

Like I'm trying to explain how you run Doom on Crabs. Do I need to explain how logic gates work? How transistors work? How computers work? Where do I stop talking and leave it unexplained? Because if I don't rein myself in, I will explain the whole stack from top to bottom and we'll be here all day.

And it's one of those cases where there's not an answer, which I feel is a common bind for people on the autism spectrum to be in. So many of these "don't get social cues" type problems are not because we don't know the answer, in the sense of just being ignorant of what it is, it's that the answer is "it depends on the situation".

Like the question of language formality, or swearing. How much should you swear, if any? There isn't an answer, because it depends on the context. How much is acceptable wildly changes from a hangout with friends to a work meeting to a courthouse to a church.

And similarly, "what does the average person know?" cannot be answered singularly. I explain different things more or less depending on if I'm talking on Tumblr or mastodon or a discord server, because of course you would.

I expect Tumblr to know more about trans issues and fandom, and I expect mastodon (at least the corner I hang out in) to know more about x86 assembly and floppy disks.

But even knowing that and having some success at doing it, there's still some tension because it's the kind of question where the answer is something like "I don't know, you'll have to play it by ear and pick up on subtle social clues" and BOY IS THAT NOT A TYPE OF SITUATION I'M GOOD AT!

[womenofnoise]

Just another reminder: Trans women are women and we will always share the work of trans women here. TERFs are not welcome. If you can't support our trans sisters (hah, transistors), please fuck off. Thanks.

[camlannpod]

Happy Friday! With just one episode left of our series, we wanted to share some highlights with you all. First up are these lovely BTS videos for you of recording. The first one is the powerhouse that is Robyn throwing everything they have into chopping wood. You can feeeeeeeel the strength in their performance.

Video description under the cut!

[Video description: A video of Robyn Holdaway in a carpeted room in front of a poster for the documentary film Sisters with Transistors. Robyn is a slender, androgynous white person wearing a printed t-shirt and khaki trousers. Behind them, Ella is sitting wearing headphones with her laptop in her lap. Ella is a white woman wearing a bright pastel jumper and rainbow socks. She's giggling. Robyn says, while rolling up their sleeves: "Let's, let's get into it. For the, for the 'gram. This is me with far less gym in me, for the...alright, we'll get there." Robyn then clears their throat, mimes picking up a piece of wood and chopping it, making effort sounds. They proceed to perform a take of the wood-chopping scene from episode 8 of Camlann.]

[uneasylisteningradio]

Transistor Sister #191: Favorites of 2023 December 23, 2023

Image: Abi Ooze

Just a bunch of songs I liked a whole lot this year! The unofficial kick off of my "Honey, It's the Twenties!" slow marathon! listen on Mixcloud

Freddy Cannon - Transistor Sister Home Front - Nation (single mix) Abi Ooze - A Song About Drinking Uzu - Mada Hadeth ماذا حدث؟ Pinch Points - Pave Me Water Machine - Hot Real Estate R.M.F.C. - Harmless Activity Romance - XYZ

Inu - Lift The Lid SIAL - Sia - Sia Rata Negra - Bien Triste The Toads - Ex - KGB Berliner Doom - Alte weisse Frau

Nightwatchers - 4000 Morts Accidente - Interdependencia Radical Kitten - Uppercat Powerplant - Walk Around (Hang My Head)

Melenas - Promesas