![[#166] SEKRET MACHINE MUSIC, Part 2: Leon Theremin and the Sounds of a Soviet Super-Patriot](https://img5.xaiju.com/storage/12/sp/zg/d38796-019e83b4-5af2-7078-bec3-509a56957751.jpg)
[#166] SEKRET MACHINE MUSIC, Part 2: Leon Theremin and the Sounds of a Soviet Super-Patriot
Added 2023-10-22 01:30:00 +0000 UTCSEKRET MACHINE MUSIC is a multi-episode series investigating the origins of synthesizers, electronic music, and rave culture from the early 20th century to today.
PART 2: LEON THEREMIN AND THE SOUNDS OF A SOVIET SUPER-PATRIOT
Dimitri and Khalid jump to the opposite end of the political spectrum to explore the fascinating life of Soviet inventor Leon Theremin, including: the intense ideological contention over Theremin’s musical inventions in the West, Theremin’s incredible story of showing Vladimir Ilyich Lenin how to play “The Lark” on the Thereminvox in 1920, his move to New York City in 1927, becoming a celebrity sensation for the NYC silk toppers, losing his wife to an American Nazi, modern attempts to frame Theremin as a “Soviet Faust” who sold his soul to Stalin in order to keep inventing, his friendship with synesthesia enthusiast Albert Einstein, Theremin’s employment at RCA and early television innovations, getting married to African-American dancer Lavinia Williams, his mysterious disappearance from NYC at the start of World War 2, being “a bit of a rezident” in New York, Armand Hammer and the AMTORG Trading Corp, spying on all the silk toppers, spending WW2 in a top secret Soviet science gulag, creating “The Thing” powerless surveillance device, and Leon Theremin’s long-awaited triumphant admission to the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Comments
Also Theramin recounting his own birth is a straight up Pynchon passage. Great episode!
Jacob Hargrove
2025-07-16 15:16:02 +0000 UTCWhat’s the book quoted from toward the end regarding tracing a subtle web of thought among intellectuals, artists, etc in pursuit of understanding how one arrives within a totalitarian state?
Jacob Hargrove
2025-07-16 15:15:08 +0000 UTC"electrocution" doesn't necessarily mean like execution, I think theremin probably meant it in the way we would use "electrification" so like just providing electricity to useful devices.
Liam Cameron
2025-01-20 13:49:41 +0000 UTCwould love to see an episode on dub, lee scratch perry in particular would be interesting for you guys to cover
spectacularcommodity69
2023-11-18 20:29:53 +0000 UTCOutstanding!
Dakota B
2023-11-09 01:08:28 +0000 UTCFor detroit techno, you might wanna look into Rik 3070 Davis for some rlly wild stuff if you havent. Was in the Chieu hoi PSYOP program and came back to the states and released Cybotrons Clear, which blew up thanks to his vietnam vet buddy Electrifyng Mojo. Very weird guy.
Raymond Owen
2023-10-24 22:29:54 +0000 UTCWhat kind of things does the 808 do to one?
ampgorky
2023-10-23 21:24:46 +0000 UTCAh I’m late I was in a work hole. Ok what about the documentary elektro Moskva? Anyone see that or like it?
ampgorky
2023-10-23 21:24:18 +0000 UTCLove the series. I think you guys should look into who funded a lot of the bigger labels and also some of the taste makers like Boiler Room, Resident Advisor, NTS, etc.
William Brame
2023-10-23 07:51:25 +0000 UTCdr. poshlost - soljanka :)
Subliminal Jihad
2023-10-22 19:04:53 +0000 UTCWhat's the track at the end?
Joseph Guerra
2023-10-22 14:51:02 +0000 UTCLoving this series :))
Jacob Mead
2023-10-22 04:36:06 +0000 UTC
