Benge – Twenty Systems

The new re-issue is available HERE

‘A brilliant contribution to the archaeology of electronic music’ – Brian Eno

20 tracks made on 20 synthesisers spanning 20 years, accompanied by 60 page colour book with a foreword by Robin “Scanner” Rimbaud, Twenty Systems is Benge’s acclaimed concept album, first released in 2008.

His tenth solo album, this ambitious project combines an audio CD of new music with a hardbound full colour book containing photos and diagrams of the electronic instruments used, along with a detailed history documenting the development of synthesisers between 1968 and 1988. Each track is the pure sound of an individual instrument, with no additional processing, sequencing or effects applied to any of the recordings. If a system was equipped with an in-built sequencer, it was used, and there are several examples of sound-on-sound processes, where a track is made up of multiple layers of the same synthesiser recorded in parallel. To put it simply, Benge lets the instruments speak for themselves and influence the way each piece is composed.

‘Indicates what a deliriously desirable thing the synthesis of sound has historically been’ – The Wire

‘Absolutely cast iron irrefutable proof that synthesisers are better than guitars’ – Vice Magazine