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A 50th Anniversary Tribute to the Sounds of Forbidden Planet, August 24

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SASSAS PRESENTS FOUR COMPOSERS INFLUENCED BY LEGENDARY FORBIDDEN PLANET SOUNDTRACK FOR FINAL SCHINDLER HOUSE CONCERT THIS SUMMER

Fifty years ago, in April 1956, Louis and Bebe Barron finished the first completely electronic score for a full-length feature film, achieving, for the first time, a soundtrack free from dependence on conventional musical instruments. MGM's science fiction classic, Forbidden Planet, starring Walter Pidgeon, Anne Francis and Leslie Nielsen was a fantastical deep space predecessor to Star Trek that unapologetically set the standard for spectacular sci-fi special effects and fixed the world in the unbreakable tractor beam of space age electronic sound.

More than just simple sound effects, Louis and Bebe Barron revolutionized cinematic sound as they blurred the boundaries between sound effects and incidental music by constructing both from the same electronic language. Whether it was the United Planets Cruiser's hyper speed deceleration or the ancient music of the Krell, the Barrons crafted layered sonic textures that brought the nascent sounds of the electronic avant-garde into the subconscious of a generation. No strangers to experimental music, having worked with John Cage, Morton Feldman, Earle Brown, and David Tudor, they created a unique tonality of timbre for the score using homemade electronic circuits and the cutting-edge technology of their time. Forbidden Planet's “Electronic Tonalities", as the score was credited, gave character to a fantastic future as well as to our own invisible Monsters from the Id.

Join SASSAS as we pay tribute to this iconoclastic score by presenting four electronic composers still under its spell. Thomas Dimuzio, Tom Grimely, Sukho Lee and David Rothbaum will each perform pieces inspired by and that pay homage to Louis and Bebe Barron's abstract and otherworldly soundtrack. While each composer has a very unique approach to electronic music whether it is analog or digital, manufactured or homemade, interactive or automated, their work is all linked to the lineage of the sounds of Forbidden Planet and to the continued evolution towards (in the words of Lt. “Doc" Ostrow) a “civilization without instrumentalities".

Thomas Dimuzio is a composer, musician, sound designer, and mastering engineer based in San Francisco. Long regarded as a musical pioneer for his innovative use of live sampling and studio techniques, Dimuzio has earned a reputation worldwide as an avant-garde sound artist in touch with the aesthetic pulse of time and technology. Effortlessly moving from electro-acoustic and noise to glitch, dark ambient, improv and drone, Dimuzio's eclecticism bespeaks a career equally informed by profound dedication to his craft and collaborations with friends, artists and technologists alike. A true sonic alchemist who can seemingly create music events out of almost anything, Dimuzio's listed sound sources on his various CDs include everything from “modified 10 speed bicycle" and “resonating water pipe" to short-wave radios, loops, samplers and even normal instruments such as clarinet and trumpet.

Tom Grimley studied composition with Leroy Southers Jr. at Loyola Marymount University. After graduating, he served apprenticeships with Los Angeles sound artists Joseph Hammer and Damion Romero. Since 1996 has been developing an automated electronic ensemble to perform his music.

Sukho Lee is a musician, composer, producer, and member of Seksu Roba, an evolving electronic art pop band whose live performances include video collage, costume art, and a working robot. Forced to play classical violin and piano in his youth, Sukho eventually broke free to explore and make music with tapes, synthesizers, electric guitar, sampler and eventually one of man's more difficult instruments to master - the theremin. It was through Seksu Roba that Sukho came full circle, routinely performing classical music - on the theremin. Sukho has toured with Damo Suzuki, former vocalist of legendary German progressive rock band, Can and has also appeared on recordings with Stephen Perkins, The Now People, The Mello Cads, The MiGs, The Ray Makers, Tipsy, and scored various short films including Stare Gently (2005, Erik Deutschman) and French Toast (2006, Relah Eckstein).

David Rothbaum is a Los Angeles-based composer and improviser who performs primarily on analog modular synthesizer and contralto and Bb clarinets. Both his acoustic and electronic work focus on some of the same basic principles: micro sounds, atmosphere and attempting to seamlessly blend the electronic and acoustic timbres. He also runs a record label, experimental musical research (emr), and co-organized the weekly new and improvised music series line space line for three years with musicians Jeremy Drake and Chris Heenan. He has released seven recordings thus far and has numerous planned releases on various record labels, including Reify, Rasbliutto, emr and Alienation.

A Tribute to the Sounds of Forbidden Planet is the third concert in this season's “sound." concert series and the last SASSAS event at the Schindler House this summer. Upcoming in October is a rare appearence by co-founders of the Art Ensemble of Chicago, Roscoe Mitchell and Joseph Jarman, at the Ford Amphitheatre.

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