Though one of the 20th century's most prolific and inventive musicians, Raymond Scott was far from a household name. That's not to say his music wasn't omnipresent in the average household: the groundbreaking jazz player, composer, and early electronic tinkerer's work seeped into the cultural subconscious as part of countless Looney Tunes cartoons. A string of collections — including Reckless Nights & Turkish Twilights, Manhattan Research, Inc., and Soothing Sounds for Baby, a three-part series featuring his music for infants — raised his profile in the '90s, but still couldn't hope to represent the full scope and impact of his oeuvre.

Conceived shortly after Scott's death in 1994, On to Something, a new documentary by the composer's son, Stan Warnow, examines the artist's tumultuous personal life and long career — from his early swing/jazz project the Raymond Scott Quintette through his development of the Electronium, the "first-ever self-composing synthesizer." "He was obsessively involved in his work, at the expense of his role as a father," Warnow told Earplug. After he passed, Warnow "began to realize the love I had for him that [was] buried virtually my whole life."

With almost a century's worth of music to consider, the filmmakers brought in notable Scott enthusiasts like DJ Spooky and Devo's Mark Mothersbaugh to help tell his story. Dutifully paying homage to Scott as a grandfather of electronic music, the film explores his vast influence — his proto-ambient sounds prefigured (by decades) the work of Brian Eno, Tangerine Dream, and Aphex Twin. Still in the editing phase, Warnow hopes to submit a rough cut of On to Something to the Sundance Film Festival by the end of this year, at which time distribution and a full release will be considered.