Laurie Spiegel: Artist You Should Know

Like electronic music pioneers Daphne Oram and Delia Derbyshire, Laurie Spiegelwas (and is) a unique figure in the history of electronic music.

Having worked at Bell Laboratories and as an early computer graphics designer and program developer, Spiegel was intrigued by the potential of using new technology as a vehicle for creating art. She developed early drawing/painting programs, which were the basis for primitive design programs like Mac Paint. She also developed the first mulitple platform music creation programs for Mac & Atari in the mid 80s. In addition, she created musical soundscapes for NYs public television station.

Although a purposely anonymous figure to the world at large, Spiegel’s music was highly regarded by electronic music nerds of all stripes. Spiegel has the distinction of having her interpretation of Johanne Kepler’s “Music of the Spheres” included on the Voyager spacecraft’s legendary Golden Record.

Recently, Spiegel’s work has come to light again thanks to a fantastic reissue of her “The Expanding Universe” album with 15 previously unreleased works and her 1975 track “Drums” getting reworked by Junior Boys‘ Jeremy Greenspan for a new 12″ out on Caribou’s label Jiaolong.