Re: Modulations

[David Myers <dmgraph@earthlink.net>]

Anybody else see this?  The reviews have been good, and have considered
taking it in-but the previous film (from this director, I believe),
"Synthetic Pleasures", was a true embarrassment, some of the most empty
godawful crap I've ever endured on film....


>Just saw a stunning feature length documentary last night by Iara Lee
>about the
>electronic music underground, titled "Modulations".  It's been out for a
>while
>making the film festival and preview circuit, but was just released into
>theatres yesterday.
>
>*Don't miss this one!*
>
>Inspired by early Italian pioneer Luigi Russolo (his 1913 manifesto, "The 
>Art
>of Noises" states "We must break out of this limited circle of sounds and
>conquer the infinite variety of noise-sounds."),  the evolution of 
>electronic
>music is explored via interviews and sounds of Stockhausen, Cage, Moog,
>Theremin, Teo Maceo (Mile's producer), and others.  Lee continues through
>disco
>(Giorgio Moroder, Donna Summers producer), house, techno, hip-hop, jungle 
>and
>beyond.  It's a who's who of electronica/techno music and turntable 
>culture,
>including interviews with Carl Cox, Bill Laswell, Mixmaster Morris, Danny
>Tenaglia, DJ Spooky, Goldie, Moby, Prodigy, Squarepusher, Photek, Holger
>Czukay, Tetsu Inoue, Juan Atkins, Meat Beat Manifesto, Invisbl Skratch 
>Piklz
>and more.  The film explores the world-wide rave scene, with footage, for
>instance, from the typhoon-soaked Rainbow 2000 rave on top of Japan's Mt.
>Fuji,
>Future Sound of London, and a spectacular crowd in Moscow's Red Square.  
>Lee
>also outlines the cultural and sociological evolutionary path of various
>microgenres - acid house, trip hop, drum n bass, ambient, and so on.
>
>Visual imagery is equally intense - a captivating collage of eye candy 
>images
>gleaned from hundreds of hours of film shot all over the world.
>
>If I remember correctly, Modulations soundtrack is (or will be?) 
>available on
>Sire records.
>
>Check it out:
>Caipirinha Films:
>http://www.modulations.com/Film/filmcontent.html
>
>Or go straight to the Modulations link:
>http://www.modulations.com/Film/modulations/modcontents.html
>The "Treatment" link is a very interesting evolutionary history of
>electronica
>from the film's perspective. "Screenings" lists city release locations and
>dates; "Musician Bios" offers brief notes on many of the featured artists.
> Great site overall.
>
>Caipirinha Productions released a film in 1996 called Synthetic Pleasures,
>and
>a collection of music entitled "Synthetic Pleasures Volume Two".
>http://www.electronicmusic.com/features/showcase/caipirinha.html
>
>Has anyone else seen this yet?  I'm curious to hear other impressions...
>
>laurie