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Kim, your playlist of great pop songs featuring the theremin got me thinking about that instrument’s long life in movie soundtracks. (It was first used in a Soviet propaganda film in 1931, in a score by Dmitri Shostakovich!)
I won’t provide an exhaustive roundup of the many films that have made use of this plangent, ethereal sound. (You can find lists of those here or here.) I’ll just note that when a director wants to signal a transcendent experience, whether it’s insanity (Spellbound), drunkenness (The Lost Weekend), or communication with the divine (The Ten Commandments), it’s the theremin that gets wheeled out every time. Miklós Rósza, that lushest and most ecstatic of golden-era film composers, loved his theremin; in Spellbound, its oneiric warbling makes a perfect aural counterpart to Salvador Dalí’s set designs for the nightmare sequence.
Because of its use in '50s science-fiction soundtracks (The Day the Earth Stood Still, The Thing) the theremin now reads as a camp novelty instrument, explaining its use in retro-'50s Tim Burton movies like Ed Wood (soundtrack by Howard Shore) and Mars Attacks! (soundtrack by Danny Elfman). The groundbreaking soundtrack to Forbidden Planet (1956), composed by Louis and Bebe Barron, is as theremin-y in sound and intent as any ever composed, but, in fact, there's nary a theremin in it; the Barrons recreated the millennia-old music of the Krell, an extinct alien civilization, using electronic circuitry designed for the film.
I can’t speak for pop music, but at the movies, the theremin revival has been going on at least since the 1994 release of the documentary Kim mentions, Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey. In Bartleby (2001) and The Machinist (2004), the instrument’s quavering sounds evoke the wraithlike oddness of heroes played, respectively, by Crispin Glover (who’s sort of the theremin of actors, if you think about it) and Christian Bale. The teenaged Argentine heroine of Lucrecia Martel’s magnificent The Holy Girl (2005) is transported, both erotically and theologically, by the sight and sound of a theremin being played. And in the curiously underrated comedy Walk Hard (2007), John C. Reilly’s pop-singer character, Dewey Cox, feverishly insists on adding a theremin solo (along with didgeridoos, a symphony orchestra, and a bleating goat) to his album-length song "Black Sheep," a parody of Brian Wilson’s never-finished “Smile” album.
The theremin is the only instrument that the person playing it never touches, which gives the very act of playing it a mystical quality; the instrumentalist appears to be summoning otherwordly sounds from the device by sheer telekinesis. Watch this mind-boggling clip of theremin virtuoso Pamelia Kurstin in action, and you can both see and hear why all those Hungarian-born composers, Argentinean schoolgirls, and drunken Ray Millands couldn’t get theremin out of their brains.
Photograph of Ed Wood Courtesy of Wikipedia
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Long relegated to the world of sci-fi movie soundtracks, the world's first electronic instrument, the Theremin, is making a comeback, appearing on tracks by artists like Sufjan Stevens, the Decemberists, Wolf Parade, Devotchka, The Polyphonic Spree, and the All-American Rejects. What is it about Leon Theremin's almost-century-old instrument that is suddenly so appealing?
Theremin invented the instrument in 1919. He was working on a device to measure the density of gases under pressure and realized that by passing his hands over it, he could create fluctuations that sounded like musical tones. Played by waving your hands in front of what looks like a black box with one vertical and one horizontal antenna, the Theremin produces a warbling, eerie sound created by the difference in frequency between the two antennas. The story goes that Lenin, after hearing the instrument, was so impressed that he ordered 600 of them made and sent Theremin on a tour of the globe to demonstrate Soviet superiority in the field of electronic music. Unfortunately for Lenin, Theremin quickly defected to the United States and patented the instrument. Theremin was eventually forced to return to the USSR under mysterious circumstances, and the instrument was largely forgotten as other electronic instruments—the electric guitar among them—became more popular.
The Theremin briefly reappeared on the pop culture radar in the late ‘60s when Robert Moog (pioneer of that other electronic classic, the synthesizer) built a better sounding, easier to play instrument. Beach Boy Brian Wilson included it in the song "I Just Wasn't Made for These Times" and Led Zeppelin jammed to it in "Whole Lotta Love." But the sound never really caught on, and the Theremin again receded into the background, until now. (Elsewhere in Brow Beat, Dana Stevens discusses the Theremin's various uses in the movies.)
The reasons for the current resurgence of the Theremin are a bit hard to figure. John Hoge of ThereminWorld.com says the 1995 documentary Theremin: An Electric Odyssey, helped to spark interest in the instrument as something other than a spooky sound generator. Others, like The Octopus Project's Yvonne Lambert, say that better-quality Theremins by Robert Moog have helped make it easier to learn and incorporate the instrument into more mainstream songs. Another factor could be a larger reliance by musicians on electronics of all sorts, from the blips and beeps on a Garage Band mixer to auto-tune. Lastly, the Theremin's stage-show value ("Look Ma, no hands!") as well as its otherworldly sound fit with the geek-chic aesthetic currently popular among independent bands.
To get you caught up to speed, here's a Theremin greatest hits playlist—add songs we forgot in the Fray:
Beach Boys, "I Just Wasn't Made for These Times"
Led Zeppelin, "Whole Lotta Love"
The Octopus Project, "Rorol"
Devotchka, "C'est Ce La"
Wolf Parade, "No One Saves the Day"
Sufjan Stevens, "In the Devil's Territory"
Franz Ferdinand, "Dream Again"
All-American Rejects, "Stab My Back"
Theremin versions of "Crazy" and "Video Killed the Radio Star."
Photograph of Theremin player Toby Halbrooks of The Polyphonic Spree courtesy Jim Dyson/Getty Images.
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Please join us in warmly congratulating Ben Silverman on today's announcement that his career is still viable. It's not surprising that Silverman, hanging up his hat as an NBC programming executive at the end of his first contract, should have landed a new gig. Because he founded the production company Reveille, which adapted The Office for the U.S., Silverman will never be entirely without something to brag about, and because he is, at 38, the smarmiest showbiz exec of his generation, he will never be shy about bragging. His new producing partnership with Barry Diller is a natural next step after his remarkable performance over the last two years at NBC.
Of course, what made those two years so remarkable was Silverman's actual public performance as a network head, which was vastly more entertaining than the programming schedules he doltishly approved and cravenly promoted on behalf of his last-place network. Everyone who reads the trades knows this. The fun began on June 15, 2007, when Nikki Finke suggested that Silverman was "the most off-the-hook network executive that Hollywood has ever seen" before he'd even taken his company-mandated drug test, which he took an awfully long time to take.
Soon, Silverman was running his mouth foolishly in Esquire and on Page Six, and we were off to the races, and some people with only the most casual interest in the TV industry became acquainted with his buffoonery. Amplifying his poor judgment and personal boorishiness by behaving with the grandiosity of a mogul, Silverman crossed over and became a chattering-class celebrity. His name is now writ on a very short list of legendary showbiz jackasses.
Kudos, Ben! We wish you more of the same in your future endeavors.
Photograph of Ben Silverman courtesy of Jason Merritt/Getty Images.
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If we are what we Google, then Google Hot Trends—an hourly rundown of search terms "that experience sudden surges in popularity"—is the Web's best cultural barometer. Here's a sampling of today's top searches. (Rankings on Hot Trends list current as of 9 a.m.)
No 1: "alexis cohen death." Alexis Cohen, the 25-year-old American Idol contestant famous for flipping off Simon in Seasons 7 and 8, was killed in a hit-and-run this morning in Seaside Heights, N.J. "She had a very, very high regard for Simon Cowell ... that [ranting] was done purposely to get ratings," her mother told themorningcall.com. Idol judge Paula Abdul tweeted today: "My heart goes out to the family of Alexis Cohen."
No 19: "apple tablet." The Financial Times today confirmed the widespread rumors that Apple is launching a tablet computer in September, leading to much speculation about the device. The FT report suggests that Apple is trying to revitalize the multi-song album by letting consumers see liner notes and album art; Forbes thinks iPhone App developers will be hurt by the tablet because of the added hassle of programming for a second platform; Wired sees the tablet as a potential "Kindle killer" if it's got sufficient battery life.
"No. 35: stephon marbury." What do NBA free agents do while waiting to be signed? On Friday, troubled former Knicks guard Stephon Marbury streamed his life to the Internet for 24 hours straight on Ustream.tv. A sample of the poetry that came out of his face during that time, courtesy of Deadspin: "UStream TV, you see me. Holla back if the window is crack. Whatup, Star. Born. you know who you are. Holla. I love Canada. 'Ohhh, Canada. We'—I love that song. I love y'all's anthem. That anthem is dope. And I love when I come there and they sing it. I love hearing it. It's fresh. Now, I never suck no wee-wee before."