Obama and Radio Wonderland

I currently find myself relatively naive when it comes to the culture and art of electronic music. I can only name as my favorite dance/electronic/techno groups those that I know for their popular dance-party (DP) appeal: Daft Punk, Girl Talk, Basshunter, etc.

Last week, however, I found a new artist for the DP soundtrack. I was in DC for the inauguration:

...and stayed at a friend’s uncle’s house. Of the 15 or 20 other guests at the house for the event – all of which were exceedingly interesting (we had an undersecretary of state, an assistant to the Chief of Staff, and a top Obama volunteer) – one struck me as particularly cool. Joshua Fried, aka Radio Wonderland, is a professor of electronic music at New York University and performs in the city and across the country with an experimental array of digital instruments:

The steering wheel and shoe instruments, he explained, were projects he had first developed in analog form when he was in his teens. Since, he has expanded and improved the technology and now takes the unique apparatuses on tour with him. He programs and composes and experiments, and has been recruited to create museum exhibits and shows that highlight the capabilities of the electronic arts. That he is a short, bald, Jewish white guy makes him that much cooler.

In the spring he has an interactive musical art exhibit opening in Hartford – do attend.