Sound at the Schindler House

Comments (0) By Mary Beth Crain Wednesday, Aug 23 2006

This weekend the Society for the Activation of Social Space through Art and Sound celebrates the 50th anniversary of Louis and Bebe Barron’s “otherworldly” soundtrack to the sci-fi movie classic Forbidden Planetat the 1922 studio/residence of famed architect Rudolph Schindler. Sitting under the stars outside the California Moderne masterpiece, a key example of what Schindler termed “space architecture,” you may indeed feel as though you’ve traveled to another planet as you’re transported by sounds mysterious and bizarre, but never boring, from “sonic alchemist” Thomas Dimuzio, whose sound sources range from “modified 10-speed bicycle” and “resonating water pipe” to shortwave radios, loops, samplers and sometimes even good old clarinets and trumpets; Sukho Lee, a member of the electronic art-pop band Seksu Roba and master of that eerie instrument that came to define sci-fi movie scores — the theremin; L.A. composer/improviser David Rothbaum, whose forte is microsounds and the seamless blending of the electronic and acoustical timbres; and sound artist Tom Grimley, known for his automated electronic ensemble designed to prove that croaks, wheezes, rattles and drones count as art. MAK Center for Art and Architecture, Schindler House, 835 N. Kings Road, W. Hlywd.; Fri., Aug. 25, 7:30 p.m.; $18 advance, $14 students; $25 door. (323) 960-5723 or www.soundnet.org.

—Mary Beth Crain