NOTE: The accents and umlats are not in the titles listed below! But they ARE in the final film and in the reference copy of the film. Amy Grill Narration: Welcome to a world you may or may not know, a world where music comes first and people live and breath music, a world where dancing is more than just moving your body, it’s a way of life. Welcome to Techno Subculture. This is the Awakenings Festival outside of Amsterdam where thousands of people come to feel the music and dance all day and night. There are hundreds of electronic music festivals happening all over the world but only a handful in America. Techno has a relatively long history in America. It originated in the Midwest. There was a huge underground rave scene in the states for many years but today the American scene is much more underground. The global electronic music community is a thriving international digital culture. A series of interconnected but independent cells around the world. Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, the UK, Canada, Mexico, some cities in Asia, all over Australia and South America. I was fascinated by this and so was my husband David. We decided to make a different kind of documentary about electronic music. One that was just as much or more about the people as it was about the music. A lot of people in the US love to hate techno. Natural Sound Bite: “I hate all techno” Amy Grill Narration (continued): But that wasn’t us. We set out to make a film that could break old stereotypes Americans have about electronic music. We even made the local paper in Boston. Our relationship was grounded in music. We met as teenagers in college radio and we grew into ourselves throwing parties and weekly nights together for many years in New York and Boston. Music was always an important part of our lives and the documentary became a manifestation of our love for music. As we poured ourselves into this project David got deeper into the music and the nightlife and I became entrenched in making this documentary shooting all over the world for 2 years. We would follow a handful of people who put everything on the line for music. Modeselektor, a charming, rambunctious Berlin-based production pair. And East-German, vodka-loving DJ duo the Wighnomy Bros, Philip Sherburne a tastemaking jet-set music journalist, Monolake an idiosyncratic artist and inventor, and David Day, my husband, a techno-obsessed jack of all trades. This is the story of people who get lost in music and in many ways, it’s the story of us. Since European DJs rarely came to Boston David and I often had to travel long distances to see the music we loved, in the dead of winter, David, our cameraman Scott and I traveled over 300 miles from Boston to Montreal to see the Wighnomy Brothers. David Day interview (wearing a beige sweatshirt in a white room, then over driving shots): It takes a long long time for things to get going in America. Its gonna take someone, somewhere from some place that nobody’s ever heard of all the sudden boom, it just happens. It could be the Wighnomy Brothers. But you know its like the return of Jesus, you can’t guess the time or the place so why even try and think about it. Running time approximately: 3:40 David Day and Amy Grill talking over driving shot leaving boston: David: North 93 Montreal. Amy: It’s snowing David: It sure is. I guess its going to snow on the whole way up there. We could run into like, a severe weather problem. (After dip to black) David: This could be an issue. Still gonna do it. Uh WHOA. I can’t see shit. Amy: This is kind of scary. David: It’s worth it. It’s worth this, oh man. It’s worth this, right? Title: Montreal, Quebec CANADA Amy Grill Narration: The Wighnomy Brothers came all the way from a small city in the middle of East Germany. They created a sound that was influencing a new generation of house and techno producers and were playing shows at clubs and festivals throughout the world. Gabor Schablitzki on Camera (red jacket in a blue room): It's really big here. Running time approximately 4:31 Title: La Nuit Elektronik Station C Title: Gabor Schablitzki AKA ROBAG WRUHME WIGHNOMY BROTHERS Gabor interview (blue striped sweatshirt): This one Scott this is Russian Water, this is not really water, this is Russian Water, its Vodka Amy (off camera): Oh really? Gabor: Yeahhh Amy: Oh you’re serious Gabor: (laughs) its not a joke. Amy: Oh my god it is. Gabor: Scott? Yes, its Moskovskaya, it’s the best vodka for us. Scott, come with me. Running time approximately 5:00 (Title Sequence) director of photography SCOTT SANS edited by JASON BLANCHARD & AMY GRILL A film by AMY GRILL David Interview (voice over): The Wighnomy Brothers they’re not just DJs, when they play they play with a kind of vivacity, a kind of fervor that most DJs don’t play with. Techno is more than just stripping everything down, it’s about rearranging simple elements to create something extraordinary, it’s about a way of living in the modern world and tolerating it on your own terms. Title: marc leclair AKA AKUFEN Marc LeClair interview (black tank top on road cases): For the past, I would say, 5 years people have really started to manage to control technology and before technology was pretty much controlling people. Speaking in Code is to make music that no one will be able to decode. Running time approx. 6:28 Title: Boston, Massachusetts UNITED STATES Amy: So describe for me what it is that you do, not like I’m your wife and of course I know what you do. David: Right, Ummm. (laughs) My entire life is consumed with music. Its answering 400 emails from dance labels in the UK and Germany, its checking the latest tracks, its promoting the latest tracks, its marketing, you know, putting on events in town, DJing around town all in electronic music. Just constant writing about it, promoting it, marketing it, living it. David on camera: We’re headed to our condominium, which is sort of in the a sort of not the greatest part of town. This is the liquor store, this is another liquor store, nail salon, hair, hair, not sure what that is. Boston’s a rock town for the longest time electronic music was kept under the foot. In the cultural sphere it doesn’t exist. I think one of the main reasons I’m alive is getting this music legitimacy. If you wanted to zoom in on a few of these bills here you’d probably see how dedicated I am to it. Title: San Francisco, California UNITED STATES Amy Grill Narration: The only other American I knew that loved Techno as much as David was Philip Sherburne. Philip is a globetrotting underground techno advocate and as a journalist he writes for countless music publications. We spent his last weekend in America with him before he moved to Barcelona in search of a more complete Techno lifestyle. Running time Approximately 8:24 Title: philip sherburne MUSIC JOURNALIST Philip Sherburne on camera (walking through a messy hall): I’d like to say that the mess is just because I’m packing but its not, it’s really always a mess. It lacks fung. Its lacks shui. A place like Barcelona, is not just a place that I love, its not just about like, the tapas and the topless beaches for me. The club scene is phenomenal there. There is an interesting community of people with like interests. There’s just a sense of movement there that I’m not getting here. There are people from all over Europe Who you can’t see perform either DJ or play live in San Francisco, they just don’t come here. So you know, I think change is good, moving is good. Amy: Why music now when you’ve been so successful with writing? Philip: I’m not setting out to sort of refashion myself as a musician instead of a critic. It was just something I always wanted to do and didn’t feel complete unless I was doing it. Amy: After spending a few days with Philip on his last weekend in America I began to understand his commitment to the lifestyle. I could see why he would want to move to Europe. But as we were exploring San Francisco, it was difficult to imagine not being enamored with this city. I suppose the grass is always greener, but after living in Boston for several years, I had come to realize that the grass in Boston is rarely even green. Several months later I traveled to Germany to catch up with Philip while David stayed behind in Boston. Traveling without David would become a regular and frequent occurrence. Philip would introduce us to some of his favorite artists in Berlin. We got a sense of his life on the road in the process. Philip: It’s hard to write when you’re traveling. Amy: Do you find yourself writing like this a lot on the road? Philip: Yeah too much and it stresses me out. I mean when I’m working at home I’m usually spending hours and hours and hours in front of my computer. So when I’m on the road I’m faster but its just stressful because you don’t know when or where there is an internet connection. The trade-off is I get to be on the road whenever I want to be. I haven’t set foot in an office that employed me in over 2 years. I’m lucky enough to work with editors who are forgiving of my hectic schedule and slightly wanton jetsetting. So yeah, I can’t complain. Title: Berlin, GERMANY Title: robert henke AKA MONOLAKE CO-CREATOR, ABLETON LIVE Amy: Robert Henke aka Monolake is a bit of a legend, although he doesn’t let on like he knows this. He’s been in Berlin since the early days of techno. His appetite for innovation has led him through several groundbreaking art, music and technology projects. Some of these projects are presented at museums, others at festivals or released as records. He’s one of the creators of the software that nearly every contemporary electronic musician uses to perform and compose their music. Amy (off camera): Would you describe yourself as an inventor? Robert: Not so sure. In terms of Ableton Live, definitely. But I don’t have the urge to create something revolutionary. I just want to make something nice. It’s very simple. I like technology. When I was young I wanted to become a physics guy. And so the technical side was obvious from the beginning and the musical side is just something I discovered. So I found the perfect solution to combine the technical madness with the music. This is a Juno 6. This is the first synthesizer I ever bought. Actually this keyboard here, I got it used obviously and its pretty rotten as you can see, the reason why its in such bad shape is it was the stage keyboard from Pete Townsend. Approximately 12:20 You can really feel the history. Welcome to the Synclavier Digital Audio System. I’m so much addicted to these instruments as you could see. If you really want to talk to me you should probably put me out of this room Philip: Tie your hands behind your back Robert: And I’m not even stoned. Philip: So what neighborhood are we in now. Robert: This is Kruetzberg. It’s getting more expensive that’s for sure since the government moved in. Before the wall came down the government was in Bonn which is a quite boring city in the middle of nowhere. And after the reunification the government decided that Berlin must be the main capital. And you can clearly see that the city is changing dramatically. And this change means that parts of the city are getting really rich. Berlin in the 80s or something like this it was well pretty poor and now you can see if you go to the more posh neighborhoods that this is dramatically changing. I came from Munich and when I was 20 I decided it was time to leave and Berlin came to my mind and it was probably the best thing which could happen. It was just so amazing to be here in the '90s. Amy: Why? Robert: There is an extremely unique situation due to the reunification that in the center of the city a lot of buildings had been empty and if you wanted to open a club well you just squatted in an empty building. And no restrictions, no police, nothing because the ownership of the buildings was not clear. So if you found an empty building in the center of East Berlin, you just walked in. And this was the birth of this whole techno club scene in Berlin. It was the perfect situation for experimenting. Title: Gernot and Sebastian aka MODESELEKTOR met following the reunification of Gemrany when techno culture was surfacing in abandoned buildings in Berlin. Approx 14:40 Title: gernot bronsert AKA MODESELEKTOR Gernot Bronsert (white t-shirt Rave mit, black hat) The big changes, the energy, its still here. You still have a little bit the taste of freedom, you can smell still the revolution a little bit, you know? David Day (off camera): Modeselektor are two distinct personalities that really combine into one when they are performing and when they are producing. They both have a sense of humor. Gernot: I’m the talking guy and he’s the silent guy. Yo yo yo its delay. Fucking delay. Haha. Sebastian (blue shirt, fedora): It’s like an old psychedelic tape. Gernot: Szary [this is gernot’s nickname for him based on his last name – but he pronounces it Charlie] is on the left ear and I’m on the right Sebastian: Now, is it right? Gernot: No, your still on…. Gernot: It’s a perfect team. Gernot (off camera): Scotty, Scotty. Title: Sebastian Szary AKA MODESELEKTOR Philip Sherburne (off camera): Modeselektor Sebastian (black jacket, fedora): That’s right Gernot (red sweatshirt, hat): That’s the reason for the name Sebastian: the space echo Gernot: But we spell it different Gernot: We prepared it…right now we want to show you the typical Berlin minimal music. It’s like this. No no no its like this. That’s the music which Ricardo Villalobos and Richie Hawtin are playing, so you know? Philip: That doesn’t sound very minimal to me. Gernot: Ah, no, that’s the new style called ‘maximal.’ No we prepared it especially for you guys because we didn’t know that you want to come today. We knowed it but you know we forgot it for sure. Sebastian: We ignored it. Gernot: We ignored it. Gernot: If the label says something we give a shit on it, you know. And, um, we didn’t clean up the room and right now we wanted to be a little bit nerdy you know with old school machines to be a little bit kind of vintage, you know. Sebastian: Normally we work only on one computer, 2 guys on one computer, Gernot: But we don’t want to talk about music instruments and software. Title: Boston, Massachusetts UNITED STATES Title: The night before David goes to Germany for the first time. David Day (in the car): I’m so tired, I’m so tired. Can you film me sleeping? Is that good footage? David Day (off camera, then on camera in white tshirt): When you think of Germany as the source of most of the world’s electronic music you’re pretty much right on. I mean I can’t believe that in gosh a little over 24 hours I’m going to be in Koln, walking around with some of my idols. Airline Flight Attendant: Ladies and Gentleman on behalf of the captain and the entire crew we would like to welcome you to Koln. Approx 17:54 Title: Koln, GERMANY Philip Sherburne: Koln has always been a techno mecca. Koln is a techno center for long before I was involved, from the '90s Title: warehouse party Koln, GERMANY Amy Grill (voice over narration) One night while we were in Koln we went to an underground warehouse party. This was the kind of party I wished would happen more often again in America. There was just something about it. The DJ was playing songs I’d never heard, but songs that I loved, songs that moved everyone in the room. It was so dark that it was difficult to even see where the DJ was, but I found out it was Tobias Thomas, a close friend of the Kompakt family, their defacto spokesperson, and one of their resident DJs Title: Tobias Thomas Tobias Thomas (blue adidas jacket): Kompakt always tries to be honest and serious about the whole idea, the rave idea, the techno idea, the whole '90s idea of changing the whole system of music. Amy Grill (narration): Kompakt is more than just a record label and music distributor to a lot of people like David. It has a certain mythological quality especially Kompakt co-founder Wolfgang Voigt, who makes a point to rarely give interviews on camera Wolfgang Voigt: We’re not just a company selling techno whatever, its always more. Title: wolfgang voigt OWNER, KOMPAKT / AKA GAS David Day: Kompakt is sort of a faceless organization. I don’t know anything about them other than their logo and the music they create. They’re kind of this elvin utopia where things are fresh and clean and new all the time. They live a lifestyle that I want to be a part of. Title: Kompakt office Koln, GERMANY Title: michael mayer DJ / PRODUCER / CO-OWNER, KOMPAKT michael mayer: We are techno, its just that simple. Kompakt record store Koln, GERMANY Michael Mayer (continuted): Kompakt records in Koln is a record shop, a record label, a distributor and a booking agency. The social quality in this company is extremely high. We can still go out together and, uh we don’t feel like we are working in a factory, you know, the techno factory. Title: Tobias Thomas KOMPAKT DJ / MUSIC JOURNALIST Tobias: Wolfgang, he’s a hard-working person, I think that’s one of the main reasons the whole thing became so successful. Wolfgang: We’re really fans of hysteric parties, we’re no enemies of rave culture, we were part of it and we loved it, what we do is something apart from rave techno, this is more like adult techno, cultural techno, established techno, we want to have fun, we want to have dance and we’re absolutely not against hysteric rave behavior. Approx 20:22 Wolfgang (cont): I’m absolutely aware of, we’re all aware of the fact that techno is not really new anymore. This is music, that’s existed for more than 15 years. Michael Mayer (off camera at first): Ok, here’s the American section, like all American labels, then over there is the French section, then UK house labels, this stuff. Amy (off camera): What do you think is different about this record store than other record stores in the world? michael mayer: I think its very, very comprehensive regarding minimal techno. David Day (off camera): All the records that Kompakt releases sound great and everybody wants to be on Kompakt. (on camera): Uh, pretty awesome. I mean this store is one of the greatest record stores in the world. (off camera) I’m gonna go broke, totally broke. Amy Grill narration: Total 6 is a party that Kompakt throws and they invite all the artists to celebrate the year in Kompakt. Jeannine: We have a full house, its totally sold out since this morning so I’m terribly sorry you’re not on the guest list. Title: sido carrard BOOKING, KOMPAKT Sido (brown hair, close up): Everybody had his own guest list blah blah blah, Nearly 300 I think at the end of today it was something like this Title: jeannine schweizer PROMOTION, KOMPAKT The venue is not big enough, so next year we will have to rent a stadium or something Title: Total 6 at Stadtgarten Koln, GERMANY Wolfgang (off camera): Techno is a perspective and making party is a part of a lifestyle you know which never ends. Title: Kompakt Night at Nitsa Club Barcelona, SPAIN Title: michael mayer DJ / PRODUCER / CO-OWNER, KOMPAKT Tobias: This is kind of nice. I DJ tomorrow. It’s the last night of the St. Pauli Tanzhalle and I want to have a really special program. We really love to do the beginning because then you can start the story. A night should start very quiet and tender and more musically and that they can just sit down and have a drink and listen to the idea of the DJ and then just be patient that he will know the right time to blast it up. The DJs they are always questioned like how long will you stand there and drink and don’t sleep and play records, it is more the question if you can still motivate yourself to do this and if you still have the energy and the nerves to deal with the nightlife and the traveling and all that. I personally, I still love traveling. I still love the moment when I enter a club and I smell it. But, I also, sometimes feel a bit tired. Tired not in a physical way but tired of certain things that never change and get on your nerves or tired of things you’ve seen before a thousand times. Title: Tanzhalle St. Pauli Hamburg, GERMANY I like it more when the mixing is breathtaking in a way that it’s so emotional. You have to feel the mix, you have the feel the work and the sweat somehow which somebody is investing in that moment in a way that you really feel the passion. How could you be addicted about something which is so stupid and simple? Like love. Title: Boston, Massachusetts UNITED STATES Amy (narration): David’s job as the label manager and marketing director at forced exposure kept him busy during the daytime hours. Forced Exposure is an independent record distributor that among other things imports and sells European Dance music to America. Title: Forced Exposure Title: tim leanse INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY FORCED EXPOSURE Tim: I’m not sure that electronic music in America would be going anywhere without Forced Exposure. Amy (off camera): What’s the atmosphere like? What do you guys want it to be like? Title: jimmy johnson OWNER, FORCED EXPOSURE Jimmy: Um, well its fairly laid back, we don’t have a real dictatorial system I don’t think? We definitely want people who value music quite a bit as a very important integral part of their life. Tim: It’s not a normal job, no. Title: kris price SHIPPING, FORCED EXPOSURE Kris Price: Um, yeah, the UPS dude, any driver that really comes in here, its kindof interesting UPS guy: Do I like techno? It’s OK. It’s not my preference. Amy: So is this place different than most of the places you deliver to? UPS guy: Yeah, its unique, this guys are unique. Good bunch a guys, good crew. Mike Uzzi: Kris Price has a very interesting rating system for music. You know you can rate music on a scale of 1 to 10. On a scale of 1 to 10 for him the highest mark that a techno record could possibly receive is a 2 out of 10. So to receive a 2 out of 10 for a techno record is like a huge honor. You’ve been to the Middlesex Lounge I hear. Title: mike uzzi SHIPPING, FORCED EXPOSURE AKA SMARTYPANTS Kris Price: I was sortof amazed by the whole scene. You know, people were dancing, in boston. Which you know to dance properly in boston is I think unusual. David: Its about to blow up. Amy: Qualify blowing up. What do you mean blowing up? David: Getting big. Sales increasing. Buzz buzzing. Mike: What I like about David is he’s very excited about music. Title: billy kiely SALES, FORCED EXPOSURE Billy: maybe a little delusional about how popular techno is gonna get. Mike: He’s very much a conspiracy theorist. Jimmy: He’s someone who’s made a serious commitment to music which I think not everybody has. That’s like a big jump. It’s sort of like standing on the San Francisco Bay Bridge and looking down. Title: Thuringia, GERMANY Amy (narration): Scott and I were invited to visit the Wighnomy Brother’s hometown of Jena. Jena is in East Germany but its about a 3 hour drive southwest of Berlin. Before the wall came down in 1989 west berlin was an island in the east. 27:30 (PART 2) Amy narration (continued): As we drove up I wondered what it must have felt like to grow up in communist East Germany and what it must have felt like as a young teenager to watch the wall come down. Title: Jena, Thuringia GERMANY Amy (off camera): I’m sorry we were late. Title: soren bodner AKA MONKEY MAFFIA WIGHNOMY BROTHERS Soren: No no no its not a problem. Amy (off camera): Because Scott was tired. It’s his fault. Soren: Every time. The guy is every time tired. And then I come and… Amy: He likes to joke sometimes… Mario Willms: Yeah, but his jokes don’t work that well. We just do it for, you know, friendship… Title: mario willms AKA DOUGLAS GREED Mario: Jena, its mostly like a little island where the sun never goes down and I don’t know its like a happy place. It just feels free here. Grit: You have all the mountains, and the nature. It’s a very young city and we have a lot of kids here. Mario: There’s a real strong connection between the different parts in the Freude-Am-Tanzen collective, so, at the end its not just business partners and also more than just friends. They are all there for each other somehow. Grit: Everybody works for everyone, and when the guys didn’t have so many gigs, I don’t know we just split kindof the money, you know? Gabor: Yeah, we have a small communism in Freude-am-Tanzen. We have all the same status Title: mathias kaden FREUDE-AM-TANZEN DJ / PRODUCER Mathias: We are together. It's friendship. Over the years its more and more. We are a group. Amy Grill (narration): It was striking how community oriented, generous and completely real they were. Gabor: Yeah we have a new telephone in the club Mario: yeah we used to call Gabor and Soren the ewoks. You know Star Wars movie? Because they’re all hairy and small and a little bit … They’re the ewoks. Title: grit sachse FREUDE-AM-TANZEN Grit: Neither Gabor or Soren they didn’t have English in school, just a bit, because in Eastern Germany we had to take Russian in School. So they learn through traveling. Title: sascha funke DJ / PRODUCER BPITCH CONTROL Sascha: They are a symbol or an example for East Germany. Of course they are really good DJs. You feel that they are loving the music so much and you see it in their faces. Soren speaks in german for 20 seconds Gabor: We need only 2 years for explosion for the labels for us as DJ. We can’t believe that. Sascha: They found a sound and now if you listen 2 years later you can listen to a lot of producers who are also influenced by that kind of style. Grit: He’s also a very fast producer. He really can do one track within a few hours. It’s really crazy. Gabor: Yeah, I don’t know what can I make. Ah! We would like make a hit, OK? The bass ... Wolfgang: he invented a very strange and weird sound, the way he produces, his musical language is. Title: wolfgang voigt KOMPAKT Sascha: All the effects, all the small, crispy sounds, which are so small but making it so big. Wolfgang: It’s called the Gabor style. Amy Grill (narration): With all the travel for the documentary I felt alternately in and out of focus. Both David and I had busy day jobs and we spent late nights and weekends working on projects or promoting a show. Everything between the sharpest moments began to blur. Title: Boston, Massachusetts UNITED STATES Amy (off camera): Hey David? David: What? Oh god. Alright, what? Amy: Are you ready? David: Alright, what are we doing. David: All this stuff we got from getting married. This is why you get married. You get a lot of dishes. Amy: Is that the only reason we got married? David: Well, taxes. Amy: But taxes fucked us. David: That’s true, so that didn’t work. My credit is your credit. Just hang up honey, we’ll call it later. It works, the card works. I’m sure of it. I heard the balance. That was our balance and those are the last 4 digits. Amy: My AmEx is maxed out now. David: I understand that. Well there’s that other discover card that I found, you could probably use that too. Amy: Where did the cards go that we had? David: Amy, I don’t know. I thought they were in a certain place, they weren’t there. I don’t know where they are now. Amy: Do they have a zero balance? I’m just curious. David: I don’t think so, I don’t think we paid off either of our discovers all the way. You’ve totally been filming the whole time, haven’t you? Title: Despite mounting credit card debt, the crew and David went to Barcelona for Sonar which is considered to be the world’s most important electronic music festival. David: I hear the buzz about Sonar, I hear people talk about it, they’re exuberant. Hey, wait till you hear this party, this thing is hot, holy cow did you see this lineup, what’s going on, all different kinds of communication point to super event Sonar spectacular. Sonar, the greatest show of all time. Title: Barcelona, Cataluna SPAIN David: So, we have all of our flyers, this is all in one night? And we’re supposed to figure out what we’re supposed to do? Like are you crazy? Like how are we supposed to do this? We’re here because Philip Sherburne told us to be here. We all agreed to be here at 11:00pm. It is now I’m not sure, like midnight? We haven’t seen Philip yet, we probably won’t see him for another hour. Being here early is a symptom of being from America. We’re definitely not used to going out at 1:00. And that’s what Europeans all complain about when they come to Boston. David: Hi dude, how are you? Good to see you. We’re in your hometown here. Philip (black shirt – they hug) : Welcome, welcome to Barcelona. David: Beinveniedo. Philip: Thank you All of your shots of me make it look like I go to clubs alone. I’m always walking by myself. Phil is the loner of the techno scene, everywhere he goes he goes alone. Title: Mobilee Label Night at Raum Barcelona, SPAIN Title: Jena, Thuringia GERMANY Gabor (in red jacket): Oh Scott. Mario: Kassablanca is a special place. It also used to be a train station where they repaired the trains. All of the DJs used to play here first, collect some DJ experiences. Title: Kassablanca Gabor also used to have his studio down here in the basement. Title: gabor schablitzki AKA ROBAG WRUHME WIGHNOMY BROTHERS Gabor: Welcome in my old studio. It’s a really special room for me here. Amy: Tell us why this room is special for you. Gabor: I was here with my love. She was singing on my tracks. Amy: How does it make you feel when you’re here, when you are back here? Gabor: On the one side, it is very grateful for me. The other side its not so good for me. I have girlfriend, and…yeah. Philip: When does she…she comes back soon? Gabor: Yes, she was for four months in America and she comes back in the next days and I don’t know what is the way for us. For us or not for us, I don’t know. 37:08 Gabor: Ok, and now we go to the new toilet at Kassablanca, its really more important. This is my home. Spatz: This is a new toilet – the name is Nia ga ra! Gabor: Ah, yes I know. The name of the new toilet is a waterfall in the north of America, Canadian border. Amy: Niagra Falls! Gabor: Yeah Gabor: Yeah this is the name of the toilet, its crazy, or? Grit: They’re very, both Gabor and Soren, very emotional persons. I think they are very grounded as well. I think its very good for them that they live in a small town. When they come back home from the gigs they need silence and tranquility Gabor: Ooh, ah shit. Grit: We are like a family. Title: Cambridge, Massachusetts UNITED STATES David: You tried to move this on your own? This thing is like iron. What’s up dude. ... I mean hopefully we can make our money back. If enough people turn over. Dan Paluska: Its fewer and fewer bands that are promoted to this giant status by these labels and so you just kinda gotta do it yourself. Title: dan paluska AKA 6 MILLION DOLLAR DAN 38:40 David: What’s up? Here we are dudes. Welcome. Welcome to Cambridge. The people’s republic of Cambridge. That’s what we call it. Good to meet you. I like the hat. You both have the hats on all the time. What’s the deal with that? So we’re playing up here in this room. Title: The Enormous Room That’s as high as that goes I think. That ok? This one is high. It’ll be good. Cables. Very important. Can’t have an electronic show without wires. Gernot (off camera): He bought the wrong converter. Amy: Is there a solution? Gernot: Yeah. Sebastian: I think so. David: It’s a lot harder than I thought it was. Amy: Are you nervous? Is it gonna work out? David: I don’t know. Yeah, it will work out. Will they be happy with it? I don’t know. Can I go? Amy: How do you feel? David: Totally overwhelmed, so, thanks. Don’t give me that look. Amy: Okay, Okay, sorry. Gernot: This is really small, but I mean its ok. I guess the stage at sonar has the double size of this club. Alone the stage. The capacity of 20,000. Amy: And the capacity of this floor is? Gernot: 85. But it doesn’t matter if we play to 200 or 85. Hopefully the sound system is working and the power is constant. Normally we are really picky with that, but for today we will handle it. We are professional enough. David: Hey what’s up? Did you RSVP? We’ve got a special event its electronic musicians from Berlin. Gernot: I love America. David: It is sold out, at least for the time being. Coming up the stairs after I’d finally taken care of all the guest list and I come up and its modeselektor and there’s people just like loosing their minds. It was like a dream. For 10 seconds Boston was like the coolest party on the planet. Amy: How does it feel like to have an act like this in Boston? Billy (brown jacket): I have to admit, it’s a little terrifying. Erik (guy on the left): These guys will play for five to ten thousand people, you know, and absolutely kill it. Billy: And they are really rockin it, Erik: For a hundred people. And they are all losing their shit! Look! Get that! Right back there! David: I never expected to make any money on that show, I never expected to lose as much as I did. We sold out as much as we possibly could. Once we added everything up we probably lost about $700 or so. But I think that party and the Modeselektor guys and the Modeselektor vibe was exactly the kind of thing that I needed to propel things forward in town. Amy: So, how are you doing, really? David: Huh? How am I doing, pretty good. Ah I don’t know, not very good. It’s been a bad day. I’ve had a bad day. I don’t have enough time to get my work done. But its good that I’m working a lot. Amy: Why? David: Because we gotta make more money. Amy: Why? David: Because we don’t have any money. The credit card bills for the documentary have reached a horizon where we simply can’t pay the minimum balance on them all. So, they are starting to lapse. And we actually don’t have any money now. We have like negative $1100 dollars. Amy: How do you feel about that? David: It’s totally frightening. I feel like we’re gonna go bankrupt in like a week. I really like the stacks when its quiet, though. This place is great when it’s quiet. Amy: What do you think are the challenges of trying to promote or make electronic music happen in America? David: There’s plenty of challenges. I mean the stereotypes are probably the biggest problem with electronic music. With electronic music the stereotypes are so intense they become insurmountable at some point. So electronic music is seen as totally foreign, totally un-American. It’s a good feeling knowing that everything is going to be fine. No matter how broke you get, you can still be happy. Because money is not the key to happiness. Amy: What’s the key to happiness? David: What’s the key to happiness? Fuck if I know man. The key to happiness is a good life. It’s probably children, but I just don’t seem to care about that, because I’m a selfish old bastard. Amy: Are we gonna have kids? David: What? I don’t know man, are we? No we can’t have kids if we don’t have any money. Got to have money to have kids. But I don’t know. Maybe. We made it to the gas station. $2.03 that’s a good price. This tank of gas is brought to you by visa. Select credit or ATM. Credit. Title: Barcelona, Cataluna SPAIN Philip: I’ve been coming to Barcelona for 7 years now. I came to my first Sonar in 2000. I fell in love with the place on my first visit here. Something in me said someday I’ll come back and live here. And then I kindof just got swallowed up in normal life but finally I was ready to move out of San Francisco, I was gonna go to New York. And around the same time I was planning that my father passed away. So that threw me for a loop. If my dad hadn’t died when he did I wouldn’t have come here. I would have moved to New York. 45:44 Beautiful Buildings up there. Title: philip sherburne I did a piece for The Wire as a part of their "Epiphanies" column. It’s the back page of The Wire. It’s an epiphany and they asked me to do one which as contributors say ‘What was their great musical epiphany of their lives’. While I was writing that piece I ended up writing another piece and I wasn’t sure which I wanted to submit, that was much more about my father and my relationship to music and sound because he was deaf. He started losing his hearing before I was born. My family was basically, my immediate family was my mom my dad and me so we were fairly nuclear, but they both encouraged me to start taking piano when I was 6. My father came to all of my piano recitals, even though he couldn’t hear anything. Towards the end of his life, maybe about 5 years ago, he got a cochlear implant which is where they drill a hole in your skull, put a wire a little filament in there--I might be butchering the concept-- which does the work of the cochlea which is something that vibrates in there. Totally absolutely fucking bionic. It’s a cyborg kind of invention. I tried asking him what it sounded like to hear but that’s a fairly complicated question, right? But with that suddenly he could, in fact, hear. And now if he was driving the car and I was sitting in the passenger seat and I could be speaking and he could hear me without having to lip read or something like that. And that changed his life. To me that was the most … to me that was just the most miraculous thing, to be able to hear. I still cry a lot when I talk about him. It’s just so much about sound. Its all about sound. Title: Berlin, GERMANY Gernot: Dude. Word. Gernot: Since the World Cup the Germans, they have their old identity back, you know? Before the world cup it was very, uh, it was not a good idea to do this, you know, you should film it. The German flag on the car, you know? Do you see it? Right there. The black, red, gold, you know. That’s the German flag. Title: sebastian szary & gernot bronsert AKA MODESELEKTOR Sebastian: I think some people they have a problem to show the identity and the German flag because its kind of too nationalistic. Gernot: The Germans they were teached their whole life about The Third Reich and the Second World War and the Holocaust and stuff. And everyone was too shy to feel like a German, to have the identity. I guess the energy we have right now in Berlin with all this German flags and all this identity thing…we never had that since a long time. Maybe in the time when the wall was coming down. So that’s a really important time, you are in a historical moment here. And I tell you politics, they don’t have the power like football or music, you know? That’s fun. We grow up in Walderstorf and Ruderstorf in the outskirts of Berlin. And its very nice there, you have lakes. Amy: Are you thinking about having kids with your girlfriends soon? Gernot: At the moment? Yes. Sebastian: Of course. Amy: Both of you? Gernot: We are, we are not teenager any more. My girlfriend, she is searching for names already. Here the mom’s are coming already. That’s my mom. Title: ellen bronsert GERNOT’S MOM Title: marianne szary SEBASTIAN’S MOM Gernot: Come in. The living room. This is my favorite place, and actually we did a part of Hello Mom in here. 50:00: Gernot: We built the studio up here. So we had our table here with all the equipment and all the gear and all the speakers. And we worked here for a bunch of days on Hello, Mom last Summer. It was one year ago, it was exactly one year ago. Szary: It was very hot. Gernot: It was really hot here. (With Moms) Gernot: They are proud. (with Mom) Gernot: But they did not expect that we would name the album Hello, Mom (Outside) Gernot: They were surprised. (At Berlin Wall) Gernot: We had really hard times. Two years ago, sometimes I was so poor I couldn't pay the rent. Just played and played and played and we were believing and we still believe in the good things of music. And it is still just the beginning. (With Mom) Gernot: We are playing next Sunday, in Berlin, and not too late. The moms are coming. (Boston) Amy Grill Narration: Some friends of ours were moving from Boston to bigger and better things in NEw York City and they were leaving behind their very resaonably priced, rent controlled artist loft space. They offered it up to David and I. We couldn't resist. We would call it: The SquareOne Loft. David: It's a dream come true for a lot of people. It is another risk to take, I think but it is a risk that needs to be taken. This great space, built out by architects. With like, care. Amy Grill narration: At first we imagined SquareOne as an alternative art gallery and space to throw exceptional parties. It soon became clear that David envisioned the space primarily as a meeting point for the Boston electronic music community. For productions, for DJ events, and for afterpaties. David: Our first event is in two weeks, and we've got to clean this place up. This is going to be the music studio. Dance floor, dance floor, dance floor, array of speakers there, dance floor, array of speakers on that column. I mean, just look at it. From this angle, it's just gorgeous. a plant we inherited which I am going to water right now. What's best for plants? Warm water or cold water? That's not very much water is it? It never ends. Hopefully it never ends. You don't age, you don't move. Seasons all stay the same. You're not tied to these human failings. You're not tied to human imperfection. Amy Grill narration: I started to realize that David was becoming more of a character in this documentary than I had expected. I was fascinated and horrified by the difficult role I had chosen as wife and filmmaker. We set outto make this film together, but, through all the distance and travel I recognized I was making a film a about David rather than with David. Buy examining our lifestyle and his music obsession, I had never felt more disconnected from him. With the camera between us, I could finally see him more clearly than ever before. He had changed, and so had I. Title: douglas greed Tonight, The whole Freude-Am-Tanzen collective, community, family, whatever you want to say, is playing at the Muna Club. The Muna is the oldest venue for electronic dance music in Germany. In Thuniglia. Grit: The Muna is, in the middle of nowhere. If you go there you see nice forests or, you see a lot of nature and cows and sheep and little houses. Douglas: The Muna, it was originally built at the time of the Second World War to build rockets for the Nazis. So this is the bigger dancefloor, a bar and a huge stage. Amy: And they're now doing sound check? Douglas: And they are now doing sound check ... Hello Soren! So sometimes there are up to 1,500 people at the venue here. You will see later, it's one of the nicest clubs ever. It's exciting. Every time, excited. Title: Feeling pressure from the growing popularity, Gabor needed to take a break. We did not know if he would join his label family at the Muna club. Amy off-camera: So do you think Gabor will play tonight? Will he come out? Douglas: I don't know. Amy off-camera: Is he not coming because we are here? Douglas: I don't know. It's quite difficult to say. It is a little bit stressed. It is getting stressy. And he needs some time off. Grit: With Gabor, that's why sometimes he has stays at home. He cannot cheat the people, you know? When he is just playing two records and not really with the crowd. So it's better than he stops because it's no fun for no one. Title: Gabor didn't end up playing at the Freude-Am-Tanzen night. Soren played alone. Title: cambridge, massachusetts UNITED STATES David: This is the Cambridge Elks Lodge. Our friends rented it and they're going to throw a party here and no one's ever thrown a dance party here. I don't think. And if they did it was for like ... handicapped people or something. It's just not ... what you'd expect from a dance party. But this is how we roll in Cambridge. I think there's going to be a lot of people here. There is even an Elk on the wall. David off-camera: Dude Erik just found a giant mascot moose head. Julian: No, I rented it. David: You rented that? You rented a moose outfit? Julian: No, just the head, dude. I didn't want to wear a brown suit all the time. David: That is awesome. Amy off-camera: Describe tonight. What is tonight? Julian: Basically a bunch of us DJ at various nights and if we just combine heads on this we can do something incredible, which Boston is kind of lacking. There are little people doing things here and there. David Day, and sQuare, he, well, he's basically the techno king of this city. Dan: David really is a local celebrity. I feel like he hit celebrity local status in the last couple of months. It's impossible to read about the club nights in town and not see his name all over the place. Amy off-camera: Are you guys ready for this? David: That is a good question. I think there's going to be a good crowd, so that's not going to be a problem. I can see change ahead. I can't live like I live much longer. I can't live without any money. I can't live hoping for something to happen. I just need to take a big risk. Bigger than everything I've ever taken before in my life. You just got to have faith and I do. We'll see. Title: Robert Henke AKA MONOLAKE CO-CREATOR, ABLETON LIVE And ... Action! Amy off camera: You obviously care about your plants. Robert: Yeah, I really need them around me. There is this contradiction between living in the city on one side and really enjoying all thsi technology and the rush and the buildings and the conrete and at the same time I really need things like this in my environemns, as a counterpart. This winter, things went pretty pretty well. This Layering Buddha, Buddha machine project is almost done. Next week is the mastering. The Monodeck is almost done. Unfortunately only almost because, there were unexpected problems, as usual. Title: boston, massachusetts Title: Promise at sQuareone loft David: If this plant dies, sQuareone dies. We should water that plant, actually. I'm gonna do that right now. The space started off as the place to hold the occasional party and do some art events, but the local electronic community has sort of taken it as its own. Last week, we had three after-parties in one week, which was definitely overboard but ... it was great. And once everyone moves out of this building, we'll probably do that every single night. I don't see any reason why not. Amy: What about work? David: Well, I'm not going to work at Forced Exposure in a few months. I'm definitely planning on leaving that. If we can keep this for an extra year, it's really going to change my life. It's got to happen. Amy: Why? David: Because it's an integral part of who I am now, and it's an integral part of my life. I'm pretty confident that my life is going in a direction I'm happy with. I don't know how stable things are, but I don't know how stable anything is. I am going through a lot of changes, but who doesn't? That's life. If you're not changing you're not living. I'm trying to change jobs, I'm trying to change. I don't know, what do you want me to say? I think I've been a little aimless the last couple of years, but I'm sure of what I want and I'm going to do everything I can to get everyone to help me to get it. Amy: Are you okay? David: It's party time, I think. I don't know. I don't have a watch, so. Title: Shortly after this footage, the sQuareone loft was closed due to complications with the building owners and artist community. Amy narration: I felt torn, perhaps I should focus more on my life in Boston and figure out what I wanted. Settling down with David and having kids didn't seem the right answer, but, neither was our chaotic day to day routine, with no end in sight. David: After tonight, I'm probably going to be totally swamped, so the only chance I'm going to have time to do this stuff is Monday. Amy narration: He was so busy, and determined to try and turn Boston from a rock town into a techno city that I could rarely get his full attention. David: Oh, are we taping? Amy: Friends kept moving to New York and I continued to look everywhere but Boston for happiness. The only antidote was a pure music escape. I was becoming addicted to the economy jetset lifestyle. Getting lost in the music felt good and it was an exquisite distraction. A necessary fix. I knew I had to keep going. Finishing this film was the only way I could make sense of anything in the end. So the shooting continued and so did the travel. Title: halfweg, outside of amsterdam NETHERLANDS On our way to a highly anticipated Wighnomy Brothers performance outside of Amsterdam we discovered via text message that Gabor aka Robag would not be there and that Soren aka Monkey Maffia, would again play alone. Grit: Yeah Soren was so excited to go away, alone and play records alone. But then he got used to it, because he didn't know what to do with the crowd, and he is alone and will he have the record for the certain time. Amy: What is this festival? Soren: For me, this is the best festival in Holland. And I like the people and I like the crowd. It's amazing. Amy: Your English is better! Soren: A little bit. A little bit, more! Soren: You work non-stop or Wass? Or ve bitte or wass? (Running around): You have hard work! Scott (off camera): It's not easy filming the Wighnomy Brothers! Amy: Are you tired? Soren: A little bit. It's OK. I bring from Germany a little bottle of vodka. When I drink not vodka, I'm nervous. Then I drink a little bit of vodka, then I have a good feeling. Amy: Why isn't Gabor here? Soren: The thing is, Gabor have a not so good time at the moment. And I think thing the is, Gabor work to much and other personal problems. For me it's good to see that Gabor stay in Jena. It's a good thing for Gabor, it's a good thing for me. Soren (on the mic): And I stand here and I say. I love, and I miss you, Robag Wruhme. Gabor, I miss Gabor, and I stand here alone, and Gabor says I have many problems. Goodbye, I love you, I love you very much. Thank you! Thank you! It has been really amazing, and I miss you Robag Wruhme. And I hope you hear this song to him. Woman: He wants your signature on his shirt. Soren: No. No no. Man: Why not? Soren: I'm not a star I am a DJ! Radio: We are in the studio with Monkey Maffia from the Wighnomy Brothers! Soren: Hello. I am so drunk and so mm, mm, mm. Radio: And we are listening to some Wighnomy Stylee. Soren: This is from the night? It's cool! I remember me. Title: barcelona SPAIN Philip: I was given a milon of promos at Sonar, and I have no idea how they sound so I'm just going to give them a quick listen and see if they sound right for the Moog. The Moog is the most intense place I've ever played, because people go fairly crazy there. They really let go. I was looking for something very different than what San Francisco offered. I was looking for a different kind of community. I was looking for a a kind of urban life where life is lived much more in the streets. And where there was dance music 24, 7. I was looking for techno. And here I am. Being in Barcelona, to me is the best thing I've ever done. Title: bpitch control label night at nitsa Barcelona, SPAIN Gernot: I try to be philosophic. I guess Bpitch is a little, it's a little mountain with a lot of little very colorful bugs on it. And Ellen is a queen inside. Ellen: All the boys around me have to find a way to put me somewhere. Title: ellen allien DJ / PRODUCER / OWNER, BPITCH CONTROL I'm the chef, I'm the queen, I'm something, but I think I am part of them. Gernot: She's our friend, and sometimes she's the boss. She's not easy, but she's cool. But we are not easy as well. Ellen: I feel like a pusher. I push people, I push the business. Gernot: She is totally respected, because she did something and she is doing it still. Ellen: Bpitch control is teamwork and friendship and respect and good music of course is number 1. (on bridge) Techno is something very emotional for us. I mean, when the wall came down techno became big because it was the music for us. The meeting point was the club, for east and west. Music, fashion, street life, everything, for me comes together in the end. Bpitch Control is my life and we try to keep it in peace. It's very important to find something where you find peace and if it's your work, it's fantastic. Music changed, really, my life. And for a lot of people in Europe. Amy narration: We spent the hours leading up to Modeselektor's 4am performance at the Sonar music festival waiting with them. Gernot: I feel nervous. I am waiting. Szary, he's the total opposite. He's so relaxed. Sonar is very special. It's the queen of electronic music festivals. I am really proud to play here. Szary (in car): Cheers. Gernot: Cheers. Szary: Cheers cheers. Gernot: Cheers cheers. Szary: Sonar is great, it's very special. I've never seen a big stage before like this. I think it's full of people now. And later. Gernot: Yeah, I hope to drive them crazy. Szary: You will. Gernot: Yeah, here we are. Amy narration: 4am was considered a prime spot in the line-up and this was one of the largest and most important performances in their career so far. Gernot: My brain is working the whole time. I'm just thinking: OK, do we have this, do we have this. Is this thing OK? What should we play? Is this the right track? We have only 45 minutes, do we have a watch? Stuff like this. They booked us in the beginning of the year, so you can imagine how long we have been thinking about this show. Szary: For me, on this day, the time was going very slow. But I felt, ah shit. I was nervous, too, but in a different way. Miss Kittin: My god, it's so big! It's so big! You will rock! Gernot: I am so nervous! Miss Kittin: I was so nervous! It's so big. It's amazing! You will love it! Szary: Wow! Performance footage Szary: I had the feeling there is a big window between the crowd and the stage. Gernot: We had, every time, light in our face and we could see just the first line of people. I couldn't see th eother 10,000 people. It was amazing. It was too big. It was really good. I had a big stone on my neck, and I smashed iton the crowd and after that I was like ... I was feeling not so heavy anymore, so I felt good. I can't tell tell what, I still can't say what I feel. I still can't. Maybe in a little bit more time. It was a big experience for me, and for Szary as well. Szary: These 50 minutes, it was like a dream sequence. Amy off camera: Will you guys make music forever? Gernot: Yes, yeah! I'm sure. Maybe I will write a book. A science fiction book, or, I don't know. Right now I make music and I like it. You will find more and more ears in the world to say something without words. Title: Berlin Monolake: Music is very important for my life, of course. I suddenly found myself in this very good position that I have developed a few basic conceptual ideas which seem to point in the future. And which are my guidelines for my future work. And this is a very different experience from going from day one to the next day. It works so well. And you will see how much fun it is once it runs. I hope that I make music forever. It's hard to imagine not making music. What makes an artist an artist is, in the very first place, the urge to create. Scott (off camera): That thing is really, really cool. Monolake: My dream is getting less and less which is a perfect thing. There's not so many things I would want to change. I don't feel a need to change things anymore. This is pretty much true for, I would say, all aspects of my life now. So, in conclusion: all is great. Let's just see how it continues and try to get better in what I am doing. Yeah. Just, just, slowly getting better. ... The future! Title: Jena Amy (off camera): Why do you think Gabor reached the point where he just couldn't play anymore? Grit: It was going everything really fast, with the labels and the work and as a producer and as a DJ all of a sudden they could play everywhere. I think sometimes he is too fast for himself. Gabor: We have every weekend really much stress, and I need Jena. Here I can find really good silence. In German: When I look back at the last three years, I've producer an insane amount of music, gone somewhere every weekend, and that is also great, but the energy and the well-being that you leave behind on this way ... that was the reason that made it easier for me to say ... Yes. I'll take this time off. And I needed it definitely. It's a shame, that you meet people that can't understand this. That you are only human, and have good days and bad days. That you are not a machine. We have many people, and we are a family. And together we can achieve something special. And that means that in this family, no one needs to fear that they'll come to a breakdown. But since this has to do with art, I think the artist has to do something tedious over time. And the goal is to work through this tediousness. And that means to be clever with everything you do, so you can get something good from life. Amy (off camera): So where do you see yourself in five years or ten years? Gabor: I have more grey hairs. Off-camera: I don't know. I hope we have luck that we can say in 10 years that we are all so lucky. Amy (off amera): So maybe producing music forever? Gabor: Yes. Title: Boston David: The movie drove us apart, sure. Is that part of the story? We were separated, you were focused on the movie so much, travelling or editing or whatever. I didn't pay attention to the relationships that grounded me or kept me in check and strayed a little too far from the one true path. So, I just lost control of the reigns. Had too many horses going at once and they started to run away from me. I'm looking for happiness. I don't know if it's findable. I think the more you look for happiness, the less you're going to find it. I just comes it comes someday. Amy narration: I thought this would be the last shoot for Speaking in Code. 235 hours of footage was certainly enough to make a documentary. It was time to finish watching the tapes and edit the film. But for months, and months, I couldn't even watch the tapes. All I could do was dream of travelling and being far away. It was too difficult to face the reality in front of us. Music was no longer the bond between us, it was starting to tear us apart. David and I didn't want the same things anymore and maybe, it was time for us to go our separate ways. In the end, David did make electronic dance music more popular in Boston, just like he set out to do. He's now the music and arts editor at the Weekly Dig. David: I do feel like I have succeeded. I don't have to push myself to the absolute limit to accomplish something very small. And I'll probably live longer at this rate. There's certainly this tale of sorrow or a sad tale to be told. But I myself, am really happy with the way things turned out. Amy seems happy. Amy Narration: Techno never quite blew up in America, but more people are dancing and listening to electronic music in Boston more than ever before. He still spends most of his time living and loving the music. And for David, maybe that is the key to happiness. Getting lost in the music. And, so what about us? Well, David and I are divorced now. We need to let each other live the lives we wanted to live, apart. I moved to San Francisco to start a new life and work for a documentary TV network. And to finish this film. Looking back on the last three years, I've come to realize the impact music has. It can bring worlds together and it can even tear people apart. It can changed your life. It did mine. Title: Monolake remains busy with several different music, art and technology projects. His sound installation, Atom, is featured at Centre Pompidou in Paris. Robag Wruhme and Monkey Maffia aka Wighnomy Brothers are still playing all over the world, producing and releasing records on Freude-Am-Tanzen and other labels. Philip remains a respected journalist but now is releasing records and is booked internationally as a DJ. He now lives in Berlin. Gernot and Sebastian aka Modeselektor both became fathers and named their latest album "Happy Birthday!" Recently, they were asked to open for Radiohead and remix a Bjork track. In addition to his role as the music and arts editor for the Weekly Dig, David also promotes shows with the Basstown collective. He recently co-founded Together, Boston's first annual electronic music festival.