Tonight, revered filmmaker George Lucas’ first film THX 1138 will screen at Alamo Drafthouse in downtown Austin with a live score provided by Conveyor. The film’s director’s cut release summarizes it as: “A chilling exploration of the future, George Lucas’ THX 1138 stars Robert Duvall as a man whose mind and body are controlled by the government. He makes a harrowing attempt to escape from a world where thoughts are controlled, freedom is an impossibility and love is the ultimate crime.”
Conveyor has always had a penchant for experimentation and analog synths, but their new album Prime marks newfound heights in both of those categories. Prime is a double LP written to accompany two midnight screenings of THX 1138 at Brooklyn’s Nitehawk Theater last December. The recordings were captured in the weeks leading up to those performances. Austin is a lucky city, because to my knowledge, no other city has had the opportunity to experience what we do–Conveyor performing this score live alongside a screening of THX 1138. Tickets are still available online, and you should buy them right now.
I’m impressed with the artistic commitment and thoughtfulness present in Conveyor’s statement about their recently released album Prime, reprinted below:
“Other elements of the two December performances such as lighting effects, costumes, and set design are not represented here, and so this record should not be taken as a permutation of either of those two events but as a discrete object in and of itself. Prime comes at an odd time in the lives of those who have participated in its construction and occupies a borderline frustrating amount of space, and yet as a concept it remains inviolable and pure, denoting a way forward which we have no choice but to pursue.
Listen to an excerpt from Prime below, and don’t forget to get your tickets to this screening of Lucas’ first film with this rare live score!
