- Janet Beat, electronic music pioneer, has released her debut album, Pioneering Knob Twiddler, at the age of 83.
- The composer was known as the owner of the first synthesiser to be made commercially available in the UK and had experimented with musique concrète and tape manipulation as early as the late '50s.
- Although Janet's work was previously made available through Trunk Records, the release of the album has made the composers music more accessible to the public.
Electronic music pioneer Janet Beat has released her first album at the age of 83.
The Scottish composer was known as the owner of the first synthesiser to be made commercially available in the UK and had experimented with musique concrète and tape manipulation as early as the late '50s.
Her debut release, Pioneering Knob Twiddler, includes several tracks dating back to the '70s and '80s with compositions made on synth, tape machines and other acoustic instruments.
Throughout her career, Janet received a lot of flak from her men in and out of the music industry, including her father, who believed music was not a suitable career path for women.
Male musicians would sabotage her equipment, while her father used some of her early records to hold up his tomato plants, destroying her work in the process, according to a biography shared by Trunk Records.
Still, Janet persevered, and later in her life, started gaining recognition for her contributions to the music industry. In 2019, Janet was awarded the first Scottish Women in Music Lifetime Achievement Award. The prize then became known as the Janet Beat SWIM Lifetime Achievement Award.
Pioneering Knob Twiddler is available on vinyl and streaming platforms.
Listen to one of Janet's tracks below: