Charles Cohen

It may sound hyperbolic, but it’s true: some of the most vital electronic music we’ve been listening was recorded about 30 years ago by a relative unknown north american that goes by the name of Charles Cohen. Though inspired by the tones present in the music of Morton Subotnick, it was his attraction towards the music of Sun Ra and Cecil Taylor that guided him into an original path, where electronic music could be played freely, in his inseparable Buchla Music Easel, a rarity created by synth pioneer Donald Buchla. Based in Philadelphia and a member of the local avant garde community, after being fed up with the lengthy rehearsals of the dance and theater companies he was making music with in the early 70’s at Temple University, his recording archive is coming to light via Rabih Beaini’s Morphine label since last year. Something that was only possible because a friend of Cohen recognized what could be something produced by him two or three decades earlier, in a rave in Berlin. Speaking with the DJ at the end, he realized he had no idea about who created that. In some unbelievable way, this story reached the ears of Beaini, a lebanese living in Venice that produces techno under his Morphosis alias, who convinced Cohen to work with him in order to make widely available what was previously restricted to just a few. Since then, Cohen has been playing in Europe every more often, in festivals like CTM in Berlin or Unsound in Krakow, besides his generous contribution in lectures, debates and workshops about his honorable work method.