Who can forget that indelible combination of image and sound from Blade Runner, as Vangelis's majestically forlorn synthesizer washes play over the initial wide-screen view of a dilapidated and dystopian Los Angeles? Or the repetitive, eerie bass throbs John Carpenter favored in his classic flicks from the late '70s and '80s?

Movie soundtracks often accrue iconic status regardless of the features they're tied to, but science fiction, with its wide-eyed futurism and flights of technological fancy, seems to bring out particularly memorable work from forward-thinking composers.

"[It's about] expansion of exploration, life, humanity, culture, known worlds, and the worlds we create," says Scot Porter, aka local electronic musician Vox Mod, when describing his fascination with sci-fi. Perhaps it's this clear understanding of the links between philosophy, sound, and vision that prompted the Northwest Film Forum to pick him as the inaugural artist for its new Puget Soundtracks series. The monthly event asks musicians from a variety of genres to perform brand-new original soundtracks, live in the theater...

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