Retro-futurist homage to Wendy Carlos on new Jean-Marc Lederman album ‘The Bad-Tempered Synthesizer’ with sleeve notes by Daniel Miller (Mute Records)

Jean-Marc Lederman has recorded a retro-futurist homage to an iconic 1969 album by Wendy Carlos: “The Bad-Tempered Synthesizer”. The physical release holds a rather interesting 21x21cm 3D cover which you can check out below. The album features 12 tracks, all original except the last one, “that one is by some random guy called JS Bach or something” says Jean-Marc Lederman. Daniel Miller (from Mute Records) has also penned the sleeve notes.
We asked Jean-Marc what is behind the concept: “”The Bad Tempered Synthesizer” idea came after seeing the sleeve of the iconic 1969 Wendy Carlos album called “The Well Tempered Synthesizer”. I began to think about it and came with a concept that was both funny and interesting to me: how about making an album where every song would be one semitone and 4 bpm less than the previous one? That meant starting from C at 92 bpm and finishing at C# nearly one octave lower and at 48 bpm…Intriguing, no?”
Lederman also re-created the artwork as you can see below, but there is more…

The release is out as a download and as a physical release via Bandcamp, the later is holding the below 3D print.

You can check the full album below.
Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil.
Since youāre here ā¦
⦠we have a small favour to ask. More people are reading Side-Line Magazine than ever but advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. Unlike many news organisations, we havenāt put up a paywall ā we want to keep our journalism as open as we can - and we refuse to add annoying advertising. So you can see why we need to ask for your help.
Side-Lineās independent journalism takes a lot of time, money and hard work to produce. But we do it because we want to push the artists we like and who are equally fighting to survive.
If everyone who reads our reporting, who likes it, helps fund it, our future would be much more secure. For as little as 5 US$, you can support Side-Line Magazine ā and it only takes a minute. Thank you.
The donations are safely powered by Paypal.