Recently, I had an experience with a friend who basically attributed a huge amount of today’s electronic music and electronic music hybrids to the well-known artist, Aphex Twin. Aphex Twin started his career in the early ’90s, and while he has been extremely, extremely influential in the emergence of and style of contemporary electronic music, there’s one person who is perhaps just as significant, yet does not get enough credit for his contributions.

That person is the Canadian-born Bruce Haack.

Prior to receiving one of Haack’s albums and this documentary in the mail, I had never, ever heard of Haack. A musician who was trained at Julliard, Haack primarily created music for children’s television shows and advertisements, but his personal creations were highly experimental and very much in line with what many bands electro-pop and electronica bands are trying to do today. For example, some of the tracks he did for his Columbia Records’ Electric Lucifer release in 1970, featuring digitized vocals and chiming backgrounds, could very much have contributed to the style of modern bands like Daft Punk. Haack’s reach was extraordinary, and his rejection of standard rules led him to be a pretty inventive musician who was making music no one else was making at the time.

The fact of the matter is that Haack got his start in the ’50s, and was rather well-known throughout the ’60s and beyond. He even appeared on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and made regular appearances on Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, playing a crazy character as well as demonstrating how to use synthesizers.

Haack created many instruments on his own, including homemade analog synthesizers, guitar effects pedals, theremin-inspired magic wands, and Dermatrons, which were similar to theremins, only played on foreheads of humans, using the natural conductivity of the human body (hence, the “derma” in its name). Haack was no doubt a very creative and inventive individual, and it’s important that his story is told and his significance known.

Perhaps Haack’s influence in music is not exactly quantifiable, as most modern electronic musicians do not know about Haack at all. But the ones who do actually know about Haack — such as the members of bands like Eels, Mouse on Mars, and Beastie boys, which are featured in the documentary — revere Haack wholeheartedly. One even stated that he had no doubt he’d have grown up a lot better if he had known about Haack’s music earlier.

Haack: The King of Techno features some interesting archival footage from the ’50s and ’60s, but it is a bit weak on the interview side. It takes interviews from a lot of individuals with nothing particularly enlightening to say, or those who say things without much conviction. Despite well-crafted transitions involving the music of Bruce Haack and black-and-white abstract imagery, the interviews cause some amount of lag in-between compelling footage, making the documentary frankly a bit more boring than it could have been.

Haack’s contributions to chidren’s music are still present in teaching circles today, but for the large part, he remains an unknown individual. I highly recommend that anyone interested in electronic music or instrumentation view this documentary, because it will leave you with a feeling of awe and surprise. Someone as influential as Bruce Haack was in his own time should not completely disappear into history; his story should be spread and told, and this documentary is a start to that.

www.haackmovie.com

Purchase the Dimension Mix, a tribute to Bruce Haack featuring contributions by artists like Beck and Stereolab, and help support children with autism. - www.dimensionmix.com

While female musicians are represented a fair amount in Redefine’s reviews and interviews, I have noticed, over time, that the majority of bands and musicians we cover are in fact male. The number of female rock musicians has certainly increased through the years, but the industry is still largely male-dominated.

Girls Rock! takes a look at this issue by documenting an annual all-girls rock n’ roll in Portland. With over 60 volunteer counselors and staff, including well-known musicians like Carrie Brownstein from Sleater-Kinney and Beth Ditto from The Gossip, the camp helps young girls aged 8 to 18 build confidence in their songwriting skills, in their instrumental skills, and most importantly, in themselves. Girls are split up into groups according to the type of music they want to write, and then form their own bands. They work for multiple days with their bands to create songs, which they ultimately perform at a concert at the end of the camp. The skills of the girls vary from those who are very acquainted with instruments to those who have never picked up an instrument in their lives.

In the documentary, the filmmakers choose to follow five different girls closely. They vary in age, but all of them are afflicted with some sort of problem – be it related to anxiety, health, or rough pasts — that makes it difficult for them to truly pursue music or to believe in themselves. Girls Rock! shifts back and forth between clean-cut camp fun, camp drama, historical facts, and punk-inspired intermissions that deal with many of the issues which plague young women today, including, but not limited to, body image, lack of confidence, and sexism.

While the documentary holds strongly to feminist ideals, it never becomes overly preachy, simply because it relies on testimonials from real girls. The film is an honest look into the lives of young women undergoing transition, with stories which are sometimes heart-breaking and sometimes heart-warming.

The DVD itself has a lot to offer as well, including follow-ups with the girls who were featured in the movie. All of them spoke highly of their experience in camp, and all of them attested to the fact that camp helped them become more comfortable with themselves. Also included in the Special Features are interviews with members of Sleater-Kinney, Bikini Kill, and The Gossip, as well as tutorials in all things DIY, from self-defense to zines.

www.girlsrockdvd.com

The Skateboard Film Festival is now taking film submissions for skateboard videos!

Submit yours by the end of February and don’t pay an entry fee! After February, pay only a nominal fee to have your video entered. If chosen, your video can be seen by filmgoers in Seattle over the course of a weekend in Summer 2009!

Categories include:

Sponsor Me
5 minutes maximum. Full artistic expression encouraged.

Shop Video
15 minutes minimum. Shops of any size are invited to submit.

Feature Film
Over 20 minutes. Must encompass both skateboarding and non-skateboarding elements.

Creative Short
Under 20 minutes. Must combine both skateboarding and non-skateboarding elements.

Documentary
Any length. Any film containing real people and events of skateboarding.

International
Any length. Must contain an element of skateboarding filmed outside of the United States.

Wild Card
30 seconds maximum. A filmed theatrical commercial of your favorite skateboard company (i.e.- Girl and Chocolate, Anti-Hero, Habitat etc.) containing these 3 props: cell phone, car and a tree.

Visit their website for more information on how to enter and what to expect.
www.theskateboardfilmfestival.com