Voted in the top 5 of “America’s Best DJs” by the readers of DJ Times, BT’s music – as found on his albums, IMA, ESCM, Movement In Still Life and Emotional Technology – is considered to be classic by today’s standards. For his latest effort, the stirring surround-sound album and DVD, This Binary Universe (DTS), BT flew DJ Times writer Emily Tan from New York to his home in the Hollywood Hills for a private screening in his home theater.

One of the forefathers of the electronic music genre that came to be known as “trance,” BT is also heavily into breaks as exemplified in his choice of remixers, such as Plump DJs (who remixed BT’s “Smartbomb”) and Hybrid (who remixed BT’s “Godspeed”). Original BT tracks like “Fibonacci Sequence” are also heavy on the breakbeat.

BT is much more than the average DJ-producer. He is a composer and a musician. By the tender age of six, BT had learned to play music by the composers Bach and Chopin. He studied music theory and composition at Boston’s Berklee College Of Music and his lifelong influences include Claude Debussy and Igor Stravinsky. His reverence for classical music is evident today, as trance is derived from classical melodies.

BT’s earlier tracks – “Flaming June,” “Remember,” “Grace Not Over Yet,” and “Dreaming,” for example – have stood the test of time, having been played-out for years by the likes of Paul Van Dyk, Paul Oakenfold, Tiësto, George Acosta, and just about every other trance DJ worth his or her salt. His collaborators read like a “who’s who” of dance music stalwarts: Paul Van Dyk (“Run To You,” “Forbidden Fruit); Way Out West (“Shame”); Sasha (“I’m Alive”); Timo Maas (“Never Gonna Come Back Down”), and others. He’s made vocalists like Jan Johnston famous in clubland by featuring her in anthems like “Flesh” and “Remember,” but he’s also taken pop vocalists like Tori Amos and helped them to become dancefloor sensations with tracks like “Blue Skies.”

As if that weren’t enough, BT has composed music for a number of major motion pictures, including: Go, Stealth, Monster, and 2 Fast 2 Furious. He even conceptualized and produced a reality television series called “Tommy Lee Goes To College” for NBC-TV.

Nestled comfortably in the living room of BT’s Frank Gehry-designed home (with his ridiculously cute 2-year-old daughter Kaia on one side, and his little dog on the other), BT opened-up and explained why This Binary Universe is so important to him. The visuals – for which BT assembled an impressive stable of visual artists and illustrators – that accompany each track feel like mini-movies, and each artist’s distinct style is breathtakingly conveyed on the DVD. (Be prepared to feel like you are tripping your face off as you’re watching the DVD.)

Emily Tan: Why did you decide to screen This Binary Universe in movie theaters and not clubs?

BT (Brian Transeau): I wanted This Binary Universe to be seen in a theater so badly, I literally sold my car to make these screenings happen! The controlled environment of a theater with a huge screen and a 5.1 surround sound system is just amazing for watching this project. I am really proud to have been able to do this in a couple of cities, and I’m excited to talk to people and answer questions about a project everyone told me couldn’t happen.

What’s the significance of these particular cities?

BT: They are places that I love and in communities where people have been very supportive of my work.

Who is attending these screenings?

BT: I want anyone and everyone to come to these screenings. I hope that there are people from the art, film and music communities there.

What are you trying to achieve or convey with these screenings?

BT: I think This Binary Universe is really a unique intersection of ideas. It cross-pollinates classical music, jazz rhythm and glitchy electronics with surround sound and amazing films and animations. More than anything, I think it’s powerful, impacting, hopeful music and I’d like to think it just brings people some joy.

How are club kids reacting to these screenings?

BT: It’s been amazing! We did a screening the night after I played Red Rocks in Denver. The next night in Aspen, as a surprise, I played the whole This Binary Universe album. There were a group of kids in the back with glowsticks ready to throw down. They stood there poised for about 15 minutes through the first piece, “All That Makes Us Human Continues,” and it was awesome to watch them realize that there was not going to be some huge kickdrum that would come…ever.

That’s kind of funny…

BT: …And to see them sit down up-front, mesmerized for the entire hour-and-a-half. I really believe this music and film will appeal to many different types of people. Most importantly, it’s my mom’s favorite album.

What’s the single most important thing you want people to come away with after having attended one of these screenings?

BT: A profound feeling of hope.

Owing to the complexities and rich layers of the DVD, layers upon new layers reveal themselves with each subsequent viewing. To experience BT’s This Binary Universe for oneself, tickets are available for the following screenings, where guests will have the honor of mingling with BT over cocktails:

Chicago
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
7:30 PM, 9:30 PM Screenings
Landmark Century Theater
2843 N Halsted Avenue
(773) 528-7569
11:00 PM Cocktail Reception @ Mix

Dallas
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
7:30 PM, 9:30 PM Screenings
TBU Screening @ Inwood Theatre
5458 West Lovers Lane at Inwood
(214) 764-9106
11:00 PM Cocktail Reception @ Inwood Lounge (at the theatre)

Atlanta
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
7:30 PM, 9:30 PM Screenings
TBU Screening Midtown Art Cinema
931 Monroe Drive
(678) 495-1424
11:00 PM Cocktail Reception @ TBA

Washington DC
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
7:30 PM, 9:30 PM Screenings
TBU Screening @ Bethesda Row Cinema
7235 Woodmont Avenue
Bethesda, MD 20814
(301) 652-7273
11:00 PM Cocktail Reception @ TBA

Boston
Thursday, September 14, 2006
Boston: TBU Screening @ Kendall Square Cinema
13 Lansdowne Street
(617) 262-2437
11:00 PM Cocktail Reception @ ID (upstairs at Axis)

Tickets available here.