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DAZED
& CONFUSED IARA LEE &endash;
MODULATIONS "Disposable culture is so universal, a world wide manifestation of the 90's that you can't avoid analyzing it and seeing it as a big cultural impact on youth culture" &endash; Iara Lee Out of nowhere here it is, a quizzical, fast moving and revealing documentary that tells the story of electronic music. With footage from around the globe and contributions from hundreds of pioneering minds, Modulations successfully negotiates a deep plunge into recording history, while casting a wry anthropological eye over the geek in its coolest manifestations. "It's a complex culture, almost impossible to document through the sheer volume of material," remarks female director, Iara Lee, who tirelessly sifted through our consuming sonic identities and collated interviews and images of predecessors John Cage and Stockhausen, psychedelic thinker Genesis P-Orrige, escapists Derrick May and Juan Atkins, DJs, bedroom musicians and frontier men Giorgio Moroder, FSOL and Coldcut. In fact there isn't really anyone who has helped shape our journey that has been forgotten, though the lack of female artists did not pass unnoticed. "We spoke to hundreds of people," reasons Lee, "but the film isn't a who's who in music but based on those who brought the film forward." Filmed throughout '97 and completed days before its premier at the Sundance film festival, the result is a thorough, rough edged yet wholly endearing account. "Modulations came about through my first feature, Synthetic Pleasures "explains Lee, a Brazilian with Korean descent now residing in New York. "It looked at how we use technology to control environments, the body and mind. Naturally we got into electronic music, so we decided to delve deeper into the subject." Funded privately, the small budget called for resourceful decisions but the results are insightful. LTJ Bukem grins shyly at the novelty of his situation for he's talking to an unknown who poses his questions via email. "In between each take," remembers Lee, "he kept asking who is this person who wants to know this information". Later, one half of Autechre talks about a love for science fiction while picking his nose and Q-bert goofs about like a kid skiving school. Then there are the unforgettable sequences such as, members of Can interrupting and correcting each other on Stockhausen and DJ Sneak with Derrick Carter nodding in unison as the track on the deck slowly builds to climax. "We never used expensive equipment or experienced cinematographers, people find that intimidating. We're a bunch of experimentalists going through a whole process together." On the uneven qualities of the film, "over exposure, camera roll out and combining different kinds of formats that vary colors and saturations are negative points but I took them as texture. When you're consistent, it becomes the style of the film. In a commercial sense, these things are taken out because they're seen as bad footage, but I see this whole thing as a celebration of hybrids." A fine emulation of the techno spirit. Modulations will be followed by a book composed of essays written by the music journalists captured on film, clothes and a CD released through Lee's record label that licenses music from her films. Cashing in? " If you think you can't match creativity with business sense, " says Lee, 32, "you'll be a starving artist forever." True enough. |