Joey Beltram

In the late 1980s, the Belgian electronic New Beat music movement conquered dance floors worldwide, and all of a sudden Belgium was on the map. This eclectic predecessor of house music appeared to materialize out of nothing, but according to the makers of The Sound of Belgium, it was the product of a historical search for identity that apparently went back to the Battle of Waterloo and the aftermath of the First World War.

Less a documentary than a primer on all electronic music. Featuring interviews with nearly every major player past and present, as well as a few energetic live clips, Modulations delves into one of electronica's forgotten facets: the human element. Lee travels the globe from the American Midwest to Europe to Japan to try to express the appeal of music often dismissed as soulless. Modulations shows that behind even the most foreign or alien electronic composition lies a real human being, and Lee lets many of these Frankenstein-like creators express and expound upon their personal philosophies and tech-heavy theories. Lee understands that a cultural movement as massive and diverse as dance music can't be contained.