Modulations - A History Of Electronic Music
February 26, 2022 10:30 AM Subscribe
Modulations is a 1998 documentary that captures the depth and breadth and history and evolution and culture of electronic music... WHATEVER THAT MIGHT MEAN. It's a bit meandering at times, kind of stream of consciousness, but it pretty much captures it all, from that moment in time.
I remember seeing this in Montreal when it came out in the middle of our little scene with Ninja Tune and Turbo records….
posted by kdilla at 11:43 AM on February 26, 2022
posted by kdilla at 11:43 AM on February 26, 2022
Paging loquacious, loquacious to the blue room please.
posted by Jacen at 11:59 AM on February 26, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by Jacen at 11:59 AM on February 26, 2022 [3 favorites]
also worth pairing with hippybear's other FPP from almost a decade ago for Better Living Through Circuitry. The vodpod link in that FPP has link rotted but Americans can see it for free through their local library via Kanopy
Modulations is the more 'substantial' doc mostly focused on the artists at the center of the big beat, IDM, house and drum'n'bass movements of the era, whereas Better Living Through Circuitry focuses on the party scene. I can't watch either anymore because remembering how naively optimistic we all were in that precious liminal moment between the End of the Cold War and 9/11 is just painful at this point. So much promise and hope of a new world lost.
posted by bl1nk at 1:04 PM on February 26, 2022 [6 favorites]
Modulations is the more 'substantial' doc mostly focused on the artists at the center of the big beat, IDM, house and drum'n'bass movements of the era, whereas Better Living Through Circuitry focuses on the party scene. I can't watch either anymore because remembering how naively optimistic we all were in that precious liminal moment between the End of the Cold War and 9/11 is just painful at this point. So much promise and hope of a new world lost.
posted by bl1nk at 1:04 PM on February 26, 2022 [6 favorites]
Fantastic - thanks for posting. So many sounds/names/faces I recognize from that period. Great to see Tetsu Inoue recording his microwave
posted by Otherwise at 6:48 PM on February 26, 2022
posted by Otherwise at 6:48 PM on February 26, 2022
Couldn't agree with bl1nk more. There was so much naiveté and optimism about the bright horizons of online life, music, culture, at least from my perspective back then. I'm deeply nostalgic for elements of it, as things post-9/11 have tipped over to shit. That said, I'm enjoying this docu despite that slight melancholy. Thanks for posting!
posted by the sobsister at 9:09 AM on February 27, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by the sobsister at 9:09 AM on February 27, 2022 [1 favorite]
I watched this so many times IDEK how many. It was so awesome seeing Autechre interviewed, amongst others of my favorites.
One of my favorite quotes is from Kodwo Eshun where he talks about "a kind of synaptic drilling", and then many years later learned about Mark Fisher and Kodwo's relation to his group of theoreticians.
It really was a heady time. The MDMA and acid that flowed so readily thanks to those nuclear bunker scientists and Sammy "The Bull" Gravano certainly helped. As did me being in my early 20s.
Thanks for sharing this with the wider world. I got to see Panacea a few years after this (2000-ish) and he had lost a lot of weight, but man those were the days.
posted by symbioid at 2:06 PM on February 27, 2022
One of my favorite quotes is from Kodwo Eshun where he talks about "a kind of synaptic drilling", and then many years later learned about Mark Fisher and Kodwo's relation to his group of theoreticians.
It really was a heady time. The MDMA and acid that flowed so readily thanks to those nuclear bunker scientists and Sammy "The Bull" Gravano certainly helped. As did me being in my early 20s.
Thanks for sharing this with the wider world. I got to see Panacea a few years after this (2000-ish) and he had lost a lot of weight, but man those were the days.
posted by symbioid at 2:06 PM on February 27, 2022
Paging loquacious, loquacious to the blue room please.
You rang? How about the original 39 minute version of The Orb's Blue Room?
I can't watch either anymore because remembering how naively optimistic we all were in that precious liminal moment between the End of the Cold War and 9/11 is just painful at this point. So much promise and hope of a new world lost.
I'm kind of with bl1nk. I think I do remember I saw this back when it came out and being vaguely irritated by it. When I take a break from doomscrolling I'll revisit it and see if I still feel the same way.
I do remember my perspectives about the whole Big Beat and breaks thing going on at the time and just generally not being a huge fan of most of it because it seemed really tame and kind of corporate and MTV friendly to me, but my perspective about electronic dance music is super jaded and snooty and that's all on me, and often a failure on my part to dig it. But that's just me, I don't want to yuck people's yums.
But some of that era and *waves hands* genre has grown on me over the years, particularly Amon Tobin and Massive Attack, Luke Vibert, Squarepusher and such.
posted by loquacious at 3:28 PM on February 27, 2022 [1 favorite]
You rang? How about the original 39 minute version of The Orb's Blue Room?
I can't watch either anymore because remembering how naively optimistic we all were in that precious liminal moment between the End of the Cold War and 9/11 is just painful at this point. So much promise and hope of a new world lost.
I'm kind of with bl1nk. I think I do remember I saw this back when it came out and being vaguely irritated by it. When I take a break from doomscrolling I'll revisit it and see if I still feel the same way.
I do remember my perspectives about the whole Big Beat and breaks thing going on at the time and just generally not being a huge fan of most of it because it seemed really tame and kind of corporate and MTV friendly to me, but my perspective about electronic dance music is super jaded and snooty and that's all on me, and often a failure on my part to dig it. But that's just me, I don't want to yuck people's yums.
But some of that era and *waves hands* genre has grown on me over the years, particularly Amon Tobin and Massive Attack, Luke Vibert, Squarepusher and such.
posted by loquacious at 3:28 PM on February 27, 2022 [1 favorite]
Ha! I can hear the end credits music in my head already. Probably the best of it's era.
posted by inpHilltr8r at 7:44 PM on February 27, 2022
posted by inpHilltr8r at 7:44 PM on February 27, 2022
That was good fun. Given the huge number of artists covered in a short space of time, I wonder if there are hours and hours of unused interview footage sitting around somewhere...
posted by offog at 2:39 PM on March 1, 2022
posted by offog at 2:39 PM on March 1, 2022
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posted by hippybear at 10:44 AM on February 26, 2022