Not some dodgy ’80s neu-Romantische synth-pop revival heralded by the headline, but a documentary about the modular synthesizer-its history, demise and resurgence. I Dream Of Wires gets its Berlin premier on July 28, along with a live performance by + talk with the legendary Morton Subotnick, composer of the seminal Silver Apples of the Moon (1967).
I Dream of Wires traces the history of electronic music, pointing the role of technology in contemporary music making. Directed by Robert Fantinatto, it features interviews with modular musicians, inventors and assorted wire-dreamers, incl. Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails), Gary Numan, Vince Clarke (Depeche Mode, Erasure), Morton Subotnick, Chris Carter (Throbbing Gristle), Daniel Miller, Vince Clarke, Carl Craig, Flood, Cevin Key (Skinny Puppy), James Holden, Factory Floor, Legowelt, Clark, John Foxx and Bernie Krause, as well as manufacturers and modular industry leaders Doepfer, Modcan, and Make Noise.
Venue: Babylon Kino, Rosa-Luxemburg Straße 30, 10178 Berlin
Date/time: July 28, 2015 – 8PM
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IDoW‘s 90 minute theatrical cut’s world premiere was at the US Moogfest in April, and UK premiere at London’s East End Film Festival in June (FACTmag, 2014). In fact, in late-2013 a 4-hour Special Edition, I Dream Of Wires: Hardcore Edition, was released on DVD/BluRay, since when it’s taken on cult classic status among fans and modular gear heads (e.g. Kevin Martin/The Bug in The Wire). Now, stripped of the director’s cut’s techie excesses, the theatrical cut is set to bring the modular synth story to the masses, the Berlin event marking its coming out in continental Europe.
Beginning with a historical primer tracing the genesis and early development of the synthesiser with innovators like Robert Moog and Don Buchla, the documentary tracks the evolution/devolution of these machines, through eclipse from the advent of cheap portable digital synths in the ’80s, through to recent resurgence. The passions, obsessions and dreams of people who’ve dedicated their lives to this esoteric electronic music machine emerge, as what set out as a ‘vintage-revival scene’ in the ’90s has grown into an underground phenomenon with a mass of modular maniacs clamouring for ever more Out There sounds and interfaces. Today, the modular synth has gone beyond esoteric curiosity, even mere instrument, to a status as go-to tool for radical new sounds with an authentic subculture of its own. The film succeeds in capturing the genuine energy rush of many sound manipulators, as it tracks the resurgence of interest in the field of progressive synthesis, the new avenues opened up by the boom in the modular world and its now far more affordable modules.
‘I Dream Of Wires shows how, in the same way that the instruments themselves are rewiring both performers’ and listeners’ expectations about electronic music, the community that has evolved around modular synths is changing the relationships between users, sellers, and makers…’ – (The Wire, #358)
Below I Dream of Wires trailer plus visualisation of “Themogene” intro theme (by Jason Amm aka Solvent) made by video artist Jennifer Juniper Stratford using IDoW footage processed with modular video synthesis created by LZX Industries.
