Modulations: Cinema for the Ear

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Modulations
Modulations.jpg
Directed by Iara Lee
Produced by George Gund III
CinematographyMarcus Burnett
Paul Yates
Edited by Paula Heredia
Music by Karlheinz Stockhausen
Release date
  • January 21, 1998 (1998-01-21)(Sundance)
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Modulations: Cinema for the Ear is a 1998 American documentary film on the history of electronic music. It is accompanied by a soundtrack album and the 2000 book Modulations: A History of Electronic Music by Peter Shapiro. The project was directed by Iara Lee, the maker of the documentary film Synthetic Pleasures . [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]

Contents

Reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes , 33% of six critics' reviews are positive. [8]

In a negative review, Ron Wells of Film Threat wrote, "It's ironic that a film about music you stay up all night listening to, just put me to sleep." [9]

Stephen Holden of The New York Times was more positive, writing, "[D]espite its shortcomings, Modulations is an invaluable primer that begins to make sense of a rapidly changing sonic world that in many people's minds is only a grating, intimidating jumble of unwelcome noise." [10]

Soundtrack

Modulations: Cinema for the Ear
Soundtrack album
ReleasedOctober 6, 1998
Genre Electronic music
Length75 min
Label Caipirinha Productions
CompilerCaipirinha Productions
  1. "I Feel Love" – Donna Summer
  2. "Planet Rock" – Afrika Bambaataa & Soulsonic Force
  3. "No UFO's" (remix) – Model 500
  4. "Simon from Sydney" – LFO
  5. "Strings of Life" – Rhythm Is Rhythm
  6. "Yeah" – Jesse Saunders
  7. "Amazon 2-King of the Beats" – Aphrodite
  8. "Stormbringer" – Panacea
  9. "The Shadow" – Rob & Goldie
  10. "Luxus 1-3" – Ryoji Ikeda
  11. "Atomic 2000" – Coldcut
  12. "Kritische Masse 1" – To Rococo Rot

References

  1. ↑ SPIN - nov. 1998 "soundtrack to the motion picture cinema for the ear ..available on caipirinha music in stores October 98
  2. ↑ Jonathan Sterne The Sound Studies Reader 2012 -113576235X - Page 486 Modulations: Cinema for the Ear. USA: Caipirinha Productions. DVD, 74 min.
  3. ↑ Pink Noises: Women on Electronic Music and Sound Tara Rodgers - 2010 -=0822394154 "Electronic music historiography continues to follow this pattern. Modulations: Cinema for the Ear, a feature-length documentary about the evolution of electronic music in the twentieth century, was released in 1998 and screened internationally."
  4. ↑ The Motion Picture Guide: 1999 Annual (The Films of 1998) Edmond Grant - 1999 0933997434 - Page 712 MODULATIONS: CINEMA FOR THE EAR
  5. ↑ The Wire 1998 - Volumes Page 13 MODULATION Cinema For The Ear • Modulations is the new, trailblazing ...
  6. ↑ Cinemaya 1997 Page 162 Modulations - Cinema for the Ear (Iara Lee, director of the acclaimed Synthetic Pleasures), ..."
  7. ↑ Sounding art: eight literary excursions through electronic Katharine Norman - 2004 . 0754604268 Page 32 "The phrase 'Cinema for the Ear' regularly crops up as a title for electronic music concerts and appears to cover several ... As the tagline for Modulations, a documentary on techno and its roots, it provided - along with nods to Pierre Henry and ..."
  8. ↑ "Modulations". Rotten Tomatoes . Retrieved October 22, 2025.
  9. ↑ Wells, Ron (May 4, 1998). "MODULATIONS". Film Threat . Retrieved October 22, 2025.
  10. ↑ Holden, Stephen (September 4, 1998). "FILM REVIEW; The Sounds of Music: Whoosh, Buzz, Click . . ". The New York Times . Retrieved October 22, 2025.


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