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'Kaleida'
Giles Reaves, SPACECRAFT and Geoff Koch: audio
David Turner: animation
(Digital Dave DVD2001)
 Spacecraft
and synthesizer sound magician, Giles Reaves have teamed up with award-winning
digital artist and animator, David Turner on the Kaleida Dreams and Kaleida
Visions sections of digital dave's KALEIDA. The DVD ios comprised of a
90 minute compilation of kaleidoscopic animations from three videos, Visions,
Dreams and Classics. Giles Reaves contributed a mezmerizing soundtrack
to Turner's pschedelic computer animation, Kaleida Visions. The first
video,Visions, is a collection of nine pieces, which explore a more dance
oriented side of Giles' music.
The last segment of this video, Sparkle Vortex features vocals by Gile's
wife Deidre. The music is great, but after a while the visuals remind
me of being in Bill Grahams's Fillmore East in 1967 watching Jimi Hendrix
with the same type of moving kaleidascope images filling the stage. For
Gen X, and younger, this could be a cool introduction into what the 60's
and early 70s pschedelic scene was like. I imagine for those with actual
DVD hardware components and large screen TV the effect would be much more
dramatic. I'm watching and listening on a Macintosh G4 system.
The animations combined with the stunning, mind-expanding music on the
second segment, "Dreams" were in my opinion, the best segments
of this DVD. The music was created by Spacecraft, and is divided into
four segments, Displaced, Restless, Poyo Rising, and Full Moon Flowers,
creating a balance of slow drifting ambience, and Steve Roach 'Empetus'
era pieces with ricocheting sequencer patterns and percolating rhythms.
This video explores worlds that exist in alternate dimensions of our imagination.
The four parts of Dreams together create an atmosphere filled with subtle,
winding bass lines, exotic percussion, and haunting electronics which
envelope the listener within a romantic, introspective world.
The last segment on this DVD is aptly called Classics.
Geoff Koch arranged, performed and produced four well known classical
works by Mozart, Debussy, and Bach. This section was the least imaginative
of the group. Tomita, and Wendy Carlos, and countless new age artists,
have already overdone these cliche classics. Koch's arrangements sound
like a simple keymapping of General MIDI files. If this were 1970, maybe
I would think differently about Koch's contributions, but to add such
worn cliches to an otherwise brilliant DVD is a waste of this new technology.
I still would recommend this DVD on the strength of the first two sections
by Reaves and Spacecraft. David Turner brings new life to the pschedelic
light shows of the 60's in a most innovative way.
Review by Ben Kettlewell
information:
website: http://www.spaceformusic.com/
email: info@spaceformusic.com
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