xREL.v3

CRUELTY Presents:

Good Alchemy

Release Date: 20.11.2009
Size........: 1,61 GB
Genre.......: Ambient
Source......: DVD5
Playtime....: 28 min
Video Format: NTSC

Encoder.....: UNTOUCHED
Video.......: 4:3 UNTOUCHED
Audio.......: LPCM 48khz 2.0
Extras......: -

Release Notes:

Tracklist
1. Watercolor Night Montage No.7 (7:00)
2. Over Water (6:00)
3. Tuolumne (15:00)

Yet another collaboration between local filmmaker Paul Clipson, and musician and Root Strata co-head
honcho J.C. Ledesma (although the first three of the previous collaborations were with Ledesma solo,
so technically this is the first one with the whole band) and it's another fantastic feast for the
eyes and the ears.
Clipson is a master of Super 8, his films more about light and shadow than the particular images, street
lights, lit buildings, reflections of the moon or the sun on bodies of water, all become streaks and blurs,
trains racing by, escalators, street signs, are examined close up and become textures, moving designs,
Clipson often layers image upon image creating lush tapestries of dense visuals, sometimes high contrast,
sometimes colorful and saturated, here, the first film is a nighttime cityscape, but rendered city-less
in Clipson's able camera, instead a series of shapes and lights and textures, visuals that play like a
score to some late night symphony, Tarentel offer up an equally busy sonic backdrop, mostly percussion,
a tribal wash of toms and the occasional flurry of snare, shrouded by soft distant shimmers, looped guitars,
also blurred and smeared, all very abstract and ethereal, a perfect match for the visuals.
The second film, Over Water, begins with shots of rivers reflecting the sunlight, photographed from a plane,
clouds, edged by sunlight, a constantly shimmering slideshow of water in its various forms, already gorgeously
abstract, with no help from Clipson, although he edits them and occasionally superimposes to create even more
abstract impressions of water, the music this time around is equally hushed, no drums, just shimmery guitars,
distant loops, lots of textural buzz, and warm barely there whirs, super delicate and dark. Finally, Tuolumne
finishes off the program, the visuals impressionistic, close ups of what seems to be leaves and water, slow
moving streams filmed with bubbles and a strange white scum that makes gorgeous patterns as it floats atop
the nearly black water, branches offer a high contrast foreground, Tarentel counter with the most active of
their scores, a muted insectoid buzz, drifting atop a deep thick smoldering thrum, which builds to a gorgeous
almost metallic crescendo.
Gorgeous packaging too, sort of mimicking Clipson's films, light dappled vellum, yellow on a warm brownish backdrop,
that folds over and into itself, a small Xeroxed insert inside, and like the first three installments,
LIMITED TO 100 COPIES!