ELECTRONICA’S DAY IN COURT
Future Perfect X Takes the Stand

by Philip Blackburn

The Landmark Center in St. Paul has survived gangster trials, threats from the wrecking ball, and now Future Perfect X, the kick-off event for the Forum’s eighth annual Sonic Circuits International Festival of Electronic Music and Art. On Nov. 3, more than 400 people milled through the four ornately paneled former courtrooms – each room buzzing with visual and aural delights. They moved up and down staircases festooned with audio gear, and around the central "Cortile" area, where artists performed in a wash of swirling patterns from eight video projectors. It was as if a fairytale castle had been taken hostage by The Doors.

Future Perfect means different things to different people. To underground electronic artists it represents a chance to get their work heard outside their bedroom studio, technology conferences or dance clubs. To fans of electronic music, it is a gathering point to discover what has been happening in the nether regions of the field. To neophytes it is a brave new world. For Chris Strouth, the veteran impresario of the Twin Cities music scene and Future Perfect’s producer, it is a nightmare of logistics to coordinate more than 50 artists and keep them supplied with DSL connections, electricity, and pizza. A glutton for punishment, he also added a live cybercast of the event and a TV crew to record the proceedings for subsequent promotion to cable access stations across the country.

The evening began with a didjeridu chorus and Tuvan throat singer, demonstrating the building’s rich reverb. The "main stage" continued with a series of local artists, including virtual reality guru Paul Higham and the hot trio of McKnight Visiting Composer Susan Rawcliffe (flutes, didjeridu), Fred Ho (baritone sax), and David Means (MIDI winds).

Audience members also explored the Walker Art Center’s SonicFlux project at nearby computer stations. The Web site (www.walkerart.org/pa/sonicflux) gives interactive insights into the compositional worlds of John Cage and Steve Reich.

Meanwhile, upstairs in the "ambiance room," Lilith from Chicago alternated with other such dronemeisters as Mike Croswell, Satoshi Shinozaki, Rexor, and Chuck Zwicky. The "DJ room" featured the vinyl beats of Twin Cities stars recruited from the clubs by DJ Drone. The "video room" played host to screenings of video art pieces chosen from the national submissions for Sonic Circuits, including the premiere of Bob Hoffnar’s Jerome Foundation-commissioned work, I Remember (happy 8 mm family scenes from his childhood with a disturbingly dark steel guitar soundtrack). A second Jerome commission, Randall Packer and Steve Bradley’s Telemusic #1, allowed audience members in the room and connected via the Web to interact by reading a variety of texts.

Audience members received copies of the Sonic Circuits VIII CD (innova 117) to bring the Sonic Circuits experience into their homes.

All this was part of four days of Twin Cities Sonic Circuits mania. The Walker Art Center imported British digital media artist Scanner (a.k.a. Robin Rimbaud) to perform a new soundtrack for a Nov. 2 screening of Jean-Luc Godard’s futuristic film noire Alphaville. The Walker also offered a Nov. 4 performance/workshop where families could explore the world of interactive music with composers Craig Harris and Stephen Goldstein. On Nov. 5, the Fredrick R. Weisman Museum at the University of Minnesota showcased works of student electronic composers from around the country, curated by Professor Chris Hopkins’ freshman research seminar, "Artful Noise: experimental electronic music."

While Twin Citians catch up on sleep, Sonic Circuits begins its international onslaught. To date, more than 77 potential venues have requested Sonic Circuits programming materials. As events are confirmed, they will be posted on the newly-designed www.SonicCircuits.com, where users can also sample some of the selected works and listen to the new innova® Recordings Web radio (see Sound Bites on page 2).

Sonic Circuits seeks to break down the cultural barriers that separate the cultural camps of electronic music makers – to introduce the baggy-pants community to the pocket-protector community.

Sonic Circuits kick-off week was sponsored by the American Composers Forum, Walker Art Center, Future Perfect, and the University of Minnesota School of Music