IDM Mailing Archive

Robot wrote:

quoted 3 lines machinery and shots of a possible London Underground station. What gave it

> machinery and shots of a possible London Underground station. What gave it > the possible "low quality" feel was the effect of video interference every > time that distorted noise in the track came in. It gave the effect that you

I thought that this was by far the most successful video. The video worked with the cycles of meter inherent to the song by insertion of interferance. It was the only video that I can say added to or enhanced the song that it represented in a significant way. All of the videos except Underworld and Chemical Brothers used interesting visuals but I did not feel that they really contributed to the songs that they represented enough to perceive the song and video as a single object.

quoted 3 lines One of my personal favorites was the Sun Electric video. Nick Phillip did a

> One of my personal favorites was the Sun Electric video. Nick Phillip did a > great job with the computer animation on that one. I also really enjoyed > the animation in the Spacetime Continuum video.

I enjoyed watching the computer animation but I didn't see anything innovative. Just more of the same thing that we have seen since '93 with slight graphics and animation improvement. I found it of particular disapointment that Spacetime Continuum was represnted in this way, it was very yesterday and did nothing to represent the direction of Emit Ecaps or the current ideas that Jonah works with on Reflective releases. I realise that this was probably an Astralwerks project but I would like to have seen them more aware of the influence of Drum and Bass and of the fact that Jonah's work does not fit so neatly within the confines of post-rave. I really don't think the graffics would have been suitable for the space that Jonah was in upon the release of Sea Biscuit, either.

quoted 3 lines The Chemical Brothers video had an interesting idea but I think the follow

> The Chemical Brothers video had an interesting idea but I think the follow > through lacked a bit. It was very eighties feeling to me. There were lots > of cheesy sets and silly costumes.

I don't know what these guys are up to. They must think that they are in line to be the Beastie Boys of techno. I will not be along for that ride.

quoted 3 lines The Orbital video was fantastic. The concept and follow through were

> The Orbital video was fantastic. The concept and follow through were > incredible. When a video brings you to weird ideas as this one does about > life zipping by you, you know it was done well. I was very impressed.

It was very Man Who Fell To Earth but it also reminded me of a video that I saw in the 80s that used a Glass/Reich type of repetition in music with the same type of high speed/low speed film trickery. It was a very good video but it relied on a vocabulary of cinematography that was by no means their own.

quoted 6 lines The FSOL video was alright. I think against the backdrop of all these other

> The FSOL video was alright. I think against the backdrop of all these other > videos it paled a bit. On its own I think it would stand out a bit better. > It really didn't go very far with the idea though. It was all underwater > shots of some guy blowing small air bubbles and a girl with a white dress. > Of course there was the occasional 3D computer graphic thrown in (the had to > get their average SGI work in there somehow).

I think that this was one of the few videos other than Bad Vilbel that was successful in depicting the world of the song that it represented. It used a unique set of archetypes and a false "fourth world" culture or reality "sampled" and "beat mixed" into the contemporary world much like the music of FSOL. The video was without resolve but I wondered if it was a small part of a larger work edited to music video lengthe.

quoted 3 lines The Ken Ishi was by far the most brilliant. It was like a short story

> The Ken Ishi was by far the most brilliant. It was like a short story > version of a Japanese Anime OAV. There was no solid plot as it was very > abstract but the colors and character design and imagery were FANTASTIC!

The Ken Ishi video was great but I cringed at the number of times that R&S inserted their logos into the video. By the end of the video their blatant commercialism had become laughable. Steve Grant ******************************************************************************* "And so presented here is the electronic "Au Go Go" that might be heard soon from the juke boxes at the interplanetary way stations where spaceships make their rest stops." -from liner notes of Perrey and Kingsley's _The In Sound From Way Out_