On the occasion of the release of the second volume of CAM Sugar Synth Utopia digital album series, the founder and curator of internationally-renowned magazine and cultural platform Synth History dives into the enduring legacy of Italian and French cinema proto-electronic scores.

Long before synthesizers became staples of modern music, their earliest oscillations were already reshaping the emotional vocabulary of cinema. From the late 1960s to the entire 1980s, Italian and French filmmakers turned to electronic sound not simply as a novelty, but as a way of expanding the very architecture of storytelling – scoring futures that didn’t yet exist, heightening psychological landscapes, and giving voice to worlds suspended between the real and the imaginary. It’s within this fertile crossroads of experimentation that Synth Utopia Vol. 2, the new chapter in CAM Sugar’s digital album series, takes shape. Following up the first volume curated by Machinedrum, for this second instalment, we invited Synth History to navigate the archive and curate a tracklist that reveals how early synths, in the hands of visionary and often forgotten composers, became narrative engines in their own right. Cult names such as Ennio Morricone, François De Roubaix and Vangelis sit next to obscure alchemist of early synth music, including the likes of Fabio Frizzi, Marcello Giombini and Nedo Benvenuti, making the tracklist an essential listen for electronic music devotees.

Founded by musician, producer, composer, curator, and record label owner Danz CM in 2020, Synth History is an independently printed magazine, website, podcast and curatorial platform dedicated to legendary and contemporary pioneers in the world of synths and celebrated for its meticulous, design-forward editorial approach. Beyond the page, Synth History collaborates with institutions such as the Criterion Channel, Moog Music and Native Instruments, and curates the Iconic Scores screening series in Los Angeles, New York and Chicago. For the occasion, the founder of Channel 9 Records – a boutique label dedicated to limited-edition physical releases – has also worked on a special remix of “Sette ragazze di classe” by Fabio Frizzi, taken from the CAM Sugar catalogue.

Their deep understanding of how technology, music and cinema intersect makes them the ideal guides for this exploration of CAM Sugar’s pioneering electronic heritage.

CAM Sugar Journal: What was the spark that guided you to dive into to the pioneering electronic works from the CAM Sugar catalogue? 

Danz CM: The spark came from the material itself! 

CSJ: When discussing electronic and synth-oriented music, Italy and its cinema aren’t necessarily the first things that spring to one’s mind. However, they left an enduring legacy and paved the way for many seminal artists and albums to come. What fascinated you mostly when digging through the Italian – as well as French – soundtracks of the CAM Sugar catalogue? 

DCM: I especially wanted to highlight some of the early work by composers who would later become household names. People know that Ennio Morricone scored Sergio Leone’s Dollars Trilogy, Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight, John Carpenter’s The Thing, but how many people know he started out scoring 1970s erotica (Quando la preda è l’uomo, 1972)? A lot of the tracks found on Synth Utopia Vol. 2 come from erotic films – including the remix “Sette ragazze di classe”, a film in which seven women decide to play a game to seduce as many aristocratic men as possible! You’ll also find an early track by Vangelis from La Fête sauvage, a 1975 wildlife documentary that he scored before his breakthrough success as a composer. Of course he’d go on to create probably one of the most famous themes of all time in 1981 for Chariots of Fire, and then score Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner a year later among other things. It’s just neat to hear where they came from, and from other composers whose recordings might be rare or unheard before.

CSJ: Cinema, starting from the 1960s, has been a pivotal player in shaping the course of electronic music. In which way do you think the seventh art fostered and contributed to – perhaps more than any other field – the development of such visionary music?

DCM: Cinema brings all the other art forms together, which is why it’s so special. In terms of why it was so important in the early days of electronic music, I think people were so wary of synthesizers that it helped for these new sounds to be introduced through a medium they already trusted. Audiences might not have picked up an electronic record in the late 1960s made entirely with a Moog synth on their own, but they would go see a film and be introduced to synthesizers unknowingly, and in that process, come to accept them, even if only subconsciously. Cinema helped make a mass audience take synthesisers and electronic music seriously.

CSJ: In your curated tracklist there are cult cuts but also many obscure tracks and composers. During your research, were there any of these lesser-known Italian maestros who particularly caught your attention or that you re-evaluated under a new light?  

DCM: As you know, it was a vast library to go through. I was really drawn to Marcello Giombini, in fact I’d marked a lot of songs without looking at the composer first – as I didn’t want to be biased – and just happened to pick a lot of his. 

CSJ: Although all the selected tracks are connected by the presence of synthesisers, several genres coexist and converse within the playlist – from more ethereal compositions to others rooted in funk or disco. Could you explain how the synth has been able to adapt to and shape such a wide range of narrative scenarios? 

DCM: With a lot of instruments, when you hear them played, they automatically set the tone. For example when one hears a piano or an acoustic guitar, the vibe becomes distinct, more or less. With a synthesizer, you can go from classical to something more ethereal or sci-fi, to something danceable. You have more control over how a synthesiser sounds compared to any other instrument, besides maybe the human voice, and because of that special ability they can be used in so many different styles of music and films. The synthesizer is uniquely unbound without an inherent historical identity. In the early days they were associated with ‘futuristic’ themes, sound effects, and so on, but they’d eventually break free of that thanks to pioneering composers like the ones included in this playlist.

CSJ: The tracklist also highlights the European influence in the dialogue between different electronic schools. What role did Italy and France play in shaping their own electronic sensibility, distinct from the Anglo-Saxon or German traditions?

DCM: Italy had early synth companies like Crumar, Elka, and SIEL, along with composers like Morricone, Bruno Nicolai, Marcello Giombini, and Goblin experimenting with synthesizers in horror, giallo, erotic, and sci-fi films, which gave electronic music an emotional and narrative function. In France, electronic music leaned more toward abstraction and minimalism, shaped by musique concrète techniques and studio experimentation. Both countries played a vital role in shaping the broader history of electronic music in distinctly cinematic and expressive ways. 

CSJ: On top of curating the tracklist, for the occasion you have also produced a special remix of “Sette ragazze di classe” by Fabio Frizzi. What made you choose that particular track? Can you guide us through the remix? 

DCM: The track just stood out to me and I heard ideas in my head. For the remix, I wanted to go in a 1970s Italo disco direction. I added a new Minimoog solo, Minimoog bass and acoustic drums. I wanted it to sound ‘new’ but still somewhat true to the time period. 

Discover the first volume of Synth Utopia, an exploration of synth-oriented scores and library music from the CAM Sugar catalogue curated by Machinedrum.

CSJ: Synth History often works at the intersection of music, culture and technology. Which instruments, synthesisers or technical approaches emerge as quintessentially Italian and as the ‘invisible protagonists’ of this selection? 

DCM: In a lot of cases the exact machines used on scores are difficult to find formally documented in liner notes, which is part of what makes them feel so mysterious. But Italian-made organs, string machines, early analog synthesizers along with tape-based studio techniques were all likely used. Synths like the Elka Synthex were legendary. Crumar were a major player. The same applies to lots of analog synths and string machines.

CSJ: Many electronic film scores were born out of specific narrative needs. In your view, how much does the relationship between image and sound shape the way these pieces are perceived today, when heard outside their original cinematic context? 

DCM: When you listen to these tracks today outside of their cinematic context, they don’t necessarily demand that you imagine the film they came from. They create their own internal imagery instead. At the same time, the sound of these recordings inevitably carries the mood of that era, because of the synths used, the tape, the room tone, the imperfections, the trends of the scores in the films themselves. 

CSJ:  Curating an archival playlist also means restoring a sense of contemporaneity to historical material. In what way do you think these pioneering compositions still speak to today’s electronic music audience? 

DCM: There’s a rawness and unpredictability in these early recordings that I think is really important for younger generations to keep in mind. Technology had limitations then. The hands-on manipulation, the instability of early synths: all of that comes through in the sound. I think these recordings still speak to an electronic music audience today, or any music and cinema fan for that matter, because there’s an undeniable sense of character. It feels like an analog snapshot of sound in a specific moment in time.

Synth utopia Vol.2 curated by Synth History is now out on all digital platforms

Opening image: Musician, producer, composer, curator and label founder Danz CM, is the mid behind Synth History which curated the second instalment of Synth Utopia. Credits: Johann Flash.