Guys and Gals, the new Jordan Belson DVD is out! Just arrived from my publicised pre-order from a few weeks ago. In short, it’s just as essential as the Oskar Fischinger DVD.
What we’ve got here is relatively slowly evolving, concentrated figurative movement, yet within that concentration there is intense fluidity. I have no idea how these were created, but my best guess would be light, gas, smoke, and flame. It’s very elemental, which I guess for me is the start for qualifying something as essential.
Belson obviously is a master at what he does, and this DVD comes very highly recommended. The true surprise here is Belson’s musical ability. He scores most of the films here and the work is very advanced for the time and singular, sounding completely fresh, forward thinking, and yet tied-in with music at large. The tone of the music is ethereal, of course.
Edit: Click the DVD’s cover image for a link to the Center For Visual Music, who released the DVD.
Michael Nesmith was the man. He was able to be as goofy as Frank Zappa - and probably more successful being in the Monkees and all, though I guess they probably got the raw end of that deal - he always looked pretty well kempt (another one up on Zappa), and he could make one hell of a country song. I think he’s got some songs that are at least as good as some Townes Van Zandt. Just great.
I’m very impressed with this series, Musica Eletroacustica Brasileira v.I-III, of which I’ve heard the first two - and probably would have never even discovered them if it weren’t for the library. The compositions here mainly stem from the 1990’s, though there is some small dabbling in 60’s-80’s material. The lateness of these works is what I find most interesting, since the sound is a serious throwback to the French INA / GRM group sound of the 50’s-70’s. Yet, it’s accomplished in it’s own way. I like the covers a lot, as well. Too bad these are seemingly impossible to track down in the states. I even emailed abroad to get information on where to buy them online, but was met with a lot of confusing correspondence. I’ve seen them listed at least one place for $30 a piece. Ouch.
Edit: Just got an email with prices at $13 a piece, plus rather expensive shipping. Catch is that you have to send cash. Anyone want to help them get proper distribution?