"Modulations" is a rush -- a documentary that rips across the screen at 130 BPM. It's an ambitious piece that spans the entirety of the twentieth century and at least half the globe, tracing the development of Electronic Music, from the Luigi Rossellos "The Art of Noises" up through Cage, Stockhausen, Pierre Henri and their progeny and Eno, Kraftwerk, up through the Detroit scene with, Juan Atkins, Derrick May, Kevin Saunderson and Carl Craig, and into the contemporal of Orbital, DJ Spooky, Cold Cut, Surgeon, Alec Empire and more.

It chronicles Chicago House with quips from Derrick Carter and Frankie Knuckles, takes a spin at turntablism with The X-ecutioners and Skratch Picklz and even gives Crowley wannabe, Genisis P'Orridge serious screen time. Some of the old-timers like Robert Moog and Holger Czukay, seem invigorated to find a new set of young, fresh ears. While others like Karl Heinz-Stockhausen seem to be unaware and unwilling to connect to the spiritual offspring that have put swagger and funk into his academic exhortations. Its a breathless re-mix of culture in collision and collapsing time, that manages to squeeze the biggest players of the scene into 84 minutes.

However, some of the most compelling commentary comes from journalists like Simon Reynolds, David Toop and the passionately hilarious Kodwo Eshun. They stake out the tautological turf, while the knob twiddlers provide the soundtrack with the occasional peek into their process.

I met with Iara Lee at San Francisco's Beta Lounge, where live webcasts of DJs and Artists download the latest current of sounds to the rest of the world every Thursday night. The Beta Lounge is the embryonic beat resonator of the future broadcast now. Video mixes with its audible twin while locals luxuriate in the small sound stage -- the sweet scent of California green lingers in the air. These are the hybridized children of Lee's films, modulating synthetic pleasures to the terminal tribes out there.

"Reinventing Culture" is the motto of Lee's production company, Caipirinha. Its ironic and fitting that I recorded our interview over a cassette by Weezer. The following is the re-taping of the pre-existing media:

Radio-V: How have distributors taken to the film and what type of distribution have you worked out for it?

Iara: We're working with Strand releasing. They do a lot of the indie films and it's a good collaboration. They know the exhibitors, they have a relationship with them and they have a pipeline abroad. What happens when you have a film and you try to distribute it yourself is that you're always last and the priorities of getting paid, you know. But when you work with a distributor not only do they secure the movie in theaters, but they have a better time collecting because the exhibitors know if they don't pay the distributor they won't get the other products, ya know, the other films. So it's really good. We do all the grass roots, the underground music promotion; they do all the bookings. But my office and I are totally active because, ya know, it's the underground culture, its pretty specific .

RV: Did you have to search quite a bit to find a distributor that was appropriate for the film?

Iara: Yeah, in a way because we already have this sort of relationship, we've been considering the idea of working together since "Synthetic Pleasures". It's just the first time I wanted to do myself and see what it is and the second time around -- I know what it is -- please help me!

RV: So how was the response to the film in Europe?

Iara: Very good, at all the prestigious festivals. We started at Europe in the Berlin festival, which for me is the most prestigious festival for our films and then we do a combination of music events and film festivals, special screenings, outdoor screenings and club screenings. We did show the film in a big mainstream rave party and the next day premiered it at a center of electronic and acoustic music event- - something very highbrow, ya know (she laughs). That proves me to me that the film is not only interesting to the people who are taking part of this culture but to the people who are just getting exposed for the first time. That was my goal when I was editing the film -- not to make it too watered down, but not to make it too technical or too specific. And the other thing I was focusing on was to not only give a review of what's going on in today's dance music but how it originated in the past. Surprisingly enough in 1913 Rosselli wrote the book "Art of Noises" where he was already speculating upon the idea of breaking from the cliché of established theories of what music should be or what melodies should be and from that point on, different countries and different eras began to work on exploring the other sonics: John Cage, Musique Concrete, or Ambient music concepts that were reinvented by Brian Eno in the seventies, and then there was Stockhausen pre-Eno, it was all very competent, intellectual, classical electronic musical experiments. Again, Musique Concrete, cutting and splicing -- now we do it all digitally and the computer controls it -- -perfect. But at that time, it was cutting and splicing tape, creating loops and all that stuff. So its a good exploration film -- t gives an overview of how this culture has evolved in everyday life -- the birth of a new genre.

RV: Absolutely. One of the mottos of your company is "reinventing culture" and I wanted to ask you: which or what culture are you reinventing?

Iara: It's just the idea of breaking established values. I think no matter how open minded we are, we always have pre-conceived ideas for everything and my motto is that people should always re-evaluate preconceived ideas: your concept of music, concept of good or bad, your concept of…everything. People should just try different possibilities in every area of life.

RV: What role do you think Electronic Music has in the reinvention?

Iara: Electronic Music for me is a small way of studying culture at large; it's just like an example. The same way the culture at large reflects on music, music reflects on the culture. It was a good way for me to study youth culture too, the latest trends, emerging philosophies, and various ways of living. I always feel that music is used just as an excuse -- a facade if you like to explore something beyond music. I really think my obsession started with how technology impacts all these different sections of life. When I started with "Synthetic Pleasures", we (the culture at large) had this fantasy of control and power over technology; so we create controlled environments -- Japanese ski resorts and indoor beachheads -- we have the ability of changing our bodies with technology and music didn't escape the mutation -- it also got effected by technology. I'm amazed by the fact that kids can take little toy machines and synthesizers and samplers and create an endless array of possibilities with music. It seems to me that it's a much more conceptual thing to be a musician nowadays. So conceptual, that some of these musicians don't even know how to play a traditional instrument or read music.

RV: Kind of tough at a picnic though, break out the sampler and sing a few rounds.

Iara: Yeah, in the past it was always, if you can play one string you can be a musician. Now they don't even need to play one string.

RV: No strings attached!

Iara: Music becomes an interaction with your machines. Sometimes these musicians are more like sound editors only because sometimes machines make the music and your personal input is to digest the material created, just keep little pieces and then manipulate and stress the sound -- compress it -- change it around. I remember when I was growing up with Asian kids, their parents made them play the piano. I had so many friends who spent seven-eight hours a day playing the piano. These kids now. . .it's really different.

RV: It seems like the new kids are born with a chip inside them, it gives them instant access. How does that reflect on what they're bringing into the culture?

Iara: It's a philosophical discussion. When I was attending school my philosophy professor used to discuss this issue. Nowadays people don't know how to add and subtract any mathematical result without a calculator. We're kind of skipping the stage of knowing how to do things manually. I don't know if its good or bad -- its just different. Its just different cultures, different ways of approaching -- maybe its kind of slow to know how to do calculations, maybe we should use calculators to do those things and we should use our mind and creativity to do other things.

RV: There's a thought!

Iara: There's this sentiment of nostalgia, of how people used to play the flute or the piano. Even in film production, it was a little bit of an awkward transition for some of the editors. Because when they used to do cutting and splicing, they were picture editing or sound editing. Graphic designers have had to do the same thing. They don't give us drawings they use Photoshop, Quartz, 3M and others. That's the question I pose in the film. I don't have the answer of when do we let the machine take over and totally detach from our humanness.

RV: There's an acceleration in technology and an acceleration of technique, but how do we keep up with that spiritually?

Iara: That's the bottom line question, right now. I applied that question to my first film and to a lesser extent this one. There's no easy answer.

RV: Well, you've spent time amongst the youth who are creating the music -- what is your sense of them? Do they have a spiritual program to go along with the technical?

Iara: Absolutely. I mean this whole idea of using technology for isolation. It's a precarious use of art and technology. I use the technology to connect further -- its my connection to all of you that's more efficient. We move around much more than we used to. I like to see people alive but I also use the phone, e-mail, and fax. It's just additional ways of connecting to people like -- the cell phone: they're all technological advances that at the end of the day are used to connect -- not to separate. Obviously there are a whole groups of people who use this to further isolate themselves -- to hide out. I encourage people to use technology to enhance creativity. That's basically my goal -- have technological advances so people can express themselves more freely and easily, even in film-making. I am totally down with the advanced technology for video equipment and sound equipment, so people who don't have access to heavy-duty 35 mm equipment can go out there and make a movie. It's not about having this perfect, slick, 35 mm footage -- its about being able to tell something.

RV: To tell a story.

Iara: Yeah! I was just doing a panel in Los Angeles and I was totally impressed -- a Saturday afternoon, beautiful weather and we had this great audience. Everybody was so curious as to how they could take a consumer camera and go out there without the fear and make a movie -- that it's not a fantasy -- that they could tell a story -- to make a movie. I think the film industry likes to mystify the process, make feel people feel excluded from it because they don't have access to the tools. But a toy is a toy! This time around when I was doing "Modulations" I went in with much more of a free sprit mixing old formats like -- film, video super 8, you name it.

RV: Whatever was appropriate or available.

Iara: Every time I had a small camera I was much happier than when I had a bigger camera -- so much more efficient and less intrusive. I feel more powerful when I have very small and convenient tools than fancy equipment. I go out and see all these trailers and fantastic paintings and the cruise of the casers and its like arghhh!, I don't envy these people.

RV: It seems to be a fitting environment to have this interview. Downstairs the DIY evolution is taking place via live Internet broadcasts. Have you experienced any other environments similar to the Beta Lounge?

Iara: I know there's the Street Sound people in New York; they've been doing a lot of that. Sonic -- mad people, you know the whole idea of live web-casting and its just amazing how the world is connected. Sometimes our distributors or sales agents make a sale or two of our films to a different territory and before they tell us that they've sold the film, we get E-mails and feedback from everybody. Everything is moving closer to the now. You can't lie and you can't go too far with your lies. You can't hide -- we're all so connected.

RV: Doug Rushikoff says that you have to be completely honest when you're on the web because you're naked.

Iara: You're naked. The whole concept of privacy, whatever you point at the world, the rest of the world will hear in a second.

RV: Do you ever get the sense that you can't keep up with the information?

Iara: I don't even try anymore. I used to subscribe to hundreds of publications and then they start piling up. I can't throw them away because I didn't feel as though I'm going to get to it and they just keep on growing. Now I go mainly to a newsstand and buy a publication and read it instead of letting them pile up and fantasizes that I'll have more than twenty-four hours in a day.

RV: A friend of mine, Charles Ostman, is doing a lot of work on virtual intelligence engines which would allow you to program your computer based upon your own psycho-graphic profile. In turn, the computer could actually think for you based on your interests, tendencies and patterns. How do you feel about that?

Iara: I think it's going to end up again as information overload because of my interests in sooo many things. I probably have information sent to my computer in a day that I can't even digest in a year.

RV: I understand Stockhausen was a tough interview. Why was it so difficult?

Iara: I don't know. A lot of times I try not to take it personally, but people go through so much difficulty in life and sometimes they get bitter because they didn't get the recognition they deserved or the praise they deserved -- past or present. Now I'm not applying this particular situation to Stockhausen because I don't know his motivation. But I have encountered situations where people were taken advantage of in the past. Now they 're "MO" is, "I'm not doing this for art or prestige anymore, just show me the money!" And then you get shocked, "oh my god, this guy is my hero, my god", then you see the person just like everybody else, just trying to survive, pay rent, eat food. But I try not to take it personally because I know how hard it is in general. I can even sympathize why some end up suing too. If you have to pay rent and eat food, the outcome of your creative process is like a big gap.

RV: Art vs. Economics. . .

Iara: One of my biggest dilemmas in life is how you counter a midpoint where art and commerce can co-exist without making extreme concessions to each other. I work very hard but I haven't been able to find the middle path. For me, it's the more I work, the more money I need to push the projects to another level and the more money we lose. They always tend to be very adventurous and unusual projects. We have private funding pushing these projects, but I don't know how cool it would be if the outcome of our creativity could not be a self sufficient operation.

RV: Maybe the technological aspects of what we were talking about could level the playing field somewhat for people. Was Stockhausen aware of the musical trends taking place? Did he know about jungle or drum 'n' bass?

Iara: It was interesting because he really thought that he had been ahead in the game and that he was still way ahead of everyone else. When I was interviewing the young guys and the older guys, I felt there was a bridge. I felt the influence and I felt the exchange was there. But in Stockhausen's particular case when he was presented with the music of Aphex Twin, Scanner and many others, he didn't validate them, he didn't really feel the connection. "The Wire" in England actually ran an article about young musicians getting exposure to Stockhausen's music and gave feedback to Stockhausen. He didn't say anything to the young musicians and it was supposed to be an exchange -- it was not balanced.

RV: Not very copacetic?

Iara: Exactly. But then on the other hand Robert Moog was the total opposite. He's working in North Carolina making merriment and he gets so excited -- like a little child -- with all these different things going on -- with the bedroom musicians -- all the young kids. He sends us feedback saying, "this film is so great, I am so glad to be a part of it -- its such a good idea of what's going on. For an old guy like me it's the best. I get to know what's going on with the kids."

RV: Perhaps there's a cultural difference between he and Stockhausen. Like Big Daddy Roth meets Wagner. But then you look at Holger Czukay in the film...

Iara: Holger, he was dancing!

RV: Like the court fool!

Iara: He's eternally young. Totally like, "yeaaah lets play together". Total opposite of Stockkhausen and to think at some point they worked together. That's why they kind of split -- one decided to go on to the more theoretical, exclusive, academic road and Holger, wanted to go the other way with Irmin Schmidt and the others.

RV: One of things you touched on peripherally in the film was drugs. I'm wondering what your take on drugs is and how does it effect the music of the people creating it?

Iara: I've learned a lot when it comes to drugs and the effects of drugs on the evolution of this music. I share these theories that this is not just a music revolution and/or a technological revolution, but it really goes parallel with the drug evolution. Kids taking Ecstasy have this music -- house, techno etc...Its the desire of extending the pleasure, not for a few hours, not for a day, but for a few days. With this extra dosage of Ecstasy, it started making people take a look at the sinister side of things. More speed cropped into the scene -- Jungle sprang from it. I don't know if people burned out. I don't know. Personally, I need to go mellow again -- I need chill out! It seems to be that now the music gets faster then gets slower.

RV: Like a sign wave? Where do you think this all leading? Where do you think its all headed to in the next year, because that M-word is creeping up? What's your prediction?

Iara: Sort of like a implosion/explosion because of the overload of everything. Me, myself, everything thrives on working hard and playing hard -- everything with such intensity -- I don't know. Today I was just thinking, "one can do things very fast but why not do things a little slower".

RV: Do we have that luxury anymore?

Iara: You know its so competitive. Someone goes faster so you've got to go faster. But I guess it's saturation that gets to be too much. I'm still young and full of energy. But it's not enough to make a movie, you've got to have a record label. Its not enough to have a record label, you've got to publish a book. It's not enough to publish a book. But technology enables you to express yourself in so many ways that you can't stop. The days don't get longer. They're still twenty-four-hours. Everyday I look at the sky and say, "please give me one more hour".

RV: So of the music of that you encountered in the film, which of the genres do you think will break out in terms of mass acceptance?

Iara: It's that kind of Rock and Roll mentality in this country, the music that has the biggest acceptance are the ones that are very stage related. That's why Prodigy and the Chemical Brothers have succeeded here. I think we're really caught up with the cult of persona, the cult of the pop star, his god-like stage presence and so on. For me, it was a difficult investigation to go around, trying to get behind the scene of guys hiding behind the computers, playing with knobs and cables. I do think it's a question of time. I'm glad we're doing this when it's still pure and genuine. Like everything else in life it goes mainstream and then it's a kick in your butt to come up with something new. I don't resent it -- things do go mainstream. And there's a new wave and a new movement; a new challenge.

RV: New worlds? New Civilizations? To boldly go. . .

Iara: Its just how it is.

Check out the Caipirinha Productions webspace
Modulations is 74 minutes long and will be available on VHS Summer '99.

Producer
George Gund

Director
Iara Lee

Directors Of Photography
Marcus Burnett/ Paul Yates

Consultant Writer
Peter Shapiro

Editor
Paula Heredia

Sound Montage
Mark Jan Wlodarkiewicz

Production Sound Mixer
Antonio Arroyo

Production/Post
David Read
Jd Frantz
Katharine Mcquerrey
Zachary Mortensen
Alma Melendez
Mark Lukowitsky
Margarita Ochoa

Music Research Consultants
Peter Shapiro
Dietrich Schoeneman
Doron Gura

Title Design/Flame Artist
Damion Clayton

Graphic Design
Taylor Deupree
Carla Leighton