RAYMONDE CARASCO GRADIVA SKETCH I (1978)

Director: Raymonde Carasco

Year: 1978

Time: 26 mins

Music

Paul Mefano

Irène Jarsky

Pierre-Yves Artaud

Eye of Sound: Step by step, delusions escape us like a snake between two stones. The solemn, ritualized repetition of a maiden's foot stepping on ancient stones has been described as a synecdoche, a trope by which the part represents the whole. The whole in this case is W. Jensen's novel Gradiva, immortalized by Freud, Bréton and many later French intellectuals like Jean Rouch or Derrida. It is a story about a archeologist who is entranced by the of figure an ancient bas-relief depicting the walk of a young woman from Pompei. Shot with the assistance of Bruno Nuytten (known for his work with Duras), Carasco's Gradiva is a poetic construction about the fetishization of desire, one that seems to go against Freud's reading: the gracious movement of the maiden's foot is seen to be the object itself, not a mere referent, of male desire. The apparently endless succession of steps and its differing rhythms draw us closer to the unrreal enchantment of the fetish - the naked foot tenderly caressing Pompei's stones as if to consciously entice and elude the viewer; the textures and whimsical lighting of decaying walls and stones; movement and flesh in themselves. Based on contemporary flute techniques and tape, Paul Mefano's score is an appropriately poetic succession of long and short movements that often seem to elude perception. At some points, Gradiva's long-held notes slowly evolve around themselves, confounding tone and hiss and allowing acoustic space to breathe softly like a spring breeze; at others, phrases seem to be repeated and echoed into patterns that never emerge or disclose completely. Beautiful and enticing as few films have ever been. 

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=1O5KMFKJ

LARRY JORDAN VISIONS OF A CITY (1978)

Director: Larry Jordan

Year: 1978

Time: 6 mins

Music: William Moraldo

Eye of Sound: I confess that I'm not a fan of Moraldo's music, though it does have a soothing effect after a few minutes of Visions of a City. But I'm a big admirer of Larry Jordan's work, and I'm especially fond of most of his non-collage works (which I absolutely adore, of course). Visions of a City was shot in 1957 but was not edited till 1978. Using beat poet and playwright Michael McClure (Ike in Kerouac's Dharma Bums)  as a "guide" and visual counterpoint, it is a short portrait of San Francisco shot almost entirely through reflections of all sorts: mirrors, shop windows, car windows, bottles. The mirror trope, obviously, has endless theoretical and philosophical possibilities. Suffice to say that the sepia tinted images, the powerful editing and the distorting effects of mirrors make this one of Jordan's most beautiful films.

http://rapidshare.com/files/403718053/visionsofacity.avi.html

STEPHEN BECK ILLUMINATED MUSIC 2 & 3 (1973)

Director: Stephen Beck

Year: 1973

Time: 28 mins

Music: Warner Jepson

Eye of Sound: A classic in audiovisual experimentation, Illuminated Music was a series of live performances by Stephen Beck (visuals) and Warner Jepson (music) in which the artists reworked pre-made compositions directly before an audience. While electronic video adventures were still a novelty, live experiments, both in the visual and musical arenas, were even rarer. Beck used the Direct Video Synthesizer, designed by himself, which - so the narrator claims - allowed him to "control precisely" the visual output in the performance (the myth of control in electronic media) and, still noteworthy at the time, to create pictures without a camera. Jepson used the now famous Buchla audio synthesizer, first explored by Subotnick in his 1963 piece Silver Apples on the Moon. Though I'd that say that Jepson's music is far richer and more engaging than the visuals (perhaps as a result of the greater possibilities of the Buchla synth and the deeper theoretical and practical range of electronic music at the time) Illuminated Music is unsurpassable in its historical significance as an early experiment in live electronics. I never could get hands on Part I, nor do I know if there are further installments in the series. 

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=576OA1BM

THORSTEN FLEISCH ENERGIE! (2007)

Director: Thorsten Fleisch

Year: 2007

Time: 5 mins

Music: Jens Thiele

Eye of Sound: Fleisch exposed thousands of sheets of photographic paper to an uncontrolled discharge of 30.000 volts sent through a cathode tube. The exposures were then rearranged to produce a chronological progression, suggesting a narrative of radiation emanating from a celestial body, possibly the sun. Jens Thiele provides a soothing but intense drone soundtrack, potentiating the effect of this powerful stroboscopic flicker excursion into the heart of the body electric.

http://rapidshare.com/files/403808227/Energie_.avi

LUC FERRARI FACING HIS TAUTOLOGY (2005)

Directors: Guy Marc Hinant & Dominique Lohlé

Year: 2005

Time: 52 mins

Music

Luc Ferrari

Jean-Philippe Collard-Neven

Vincent Royer

Eye of Sound: Shot shortly before Luc Ferrari's demise, Facing his Tautology has the fundamental merit of avoiding the temptation of a sentimentalist epitaph mode. Indeed, the fact that the film's subtitle alludes to this sad coincidence may perhaps, given the general tone of the picture, be more of an imposition by the producing label than a decision by the directors. Facing his Tautology was recorded in France, during the initial stages of a new Ferrari production, a new version of his 1969 piece Tautologos III. The score is actually nothing more than a set of rules, whose results are to be decided by the musicians' inspiration and Ferrari's sensibility. The film allows us an intimate glimpse of the composer's methods and centers on his relationship with the performers (which, in this case at least, amounts to the same). The picture we are presented with is one of an active, sagacious, good-humored and open-minded man, miles away from the stereotype of the composer-dictator in complete charge of his output (as seen in, say, documentaries on Stockhausen or Boulez).  In fact, Ferrari allows himself, and concomitantly the directors, to demystify the concept of the composer itself: although never declining his position, Ferrari assumes the role of a guide, someone who is steering the wheels and coordinating efforts and sensibilities to achieve a result in which all participants can claim a finger of their own. What is perhaps more rewarding in this fascinating documentary is the human confirmation or translation of the composer we hear in his pieces: such generous, transgressing, humorous, intelligent, sarcastic, joyful music does indeed stem from a man with all those qualities. 

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=IPTJEBFJ

CLOUD GATE DANCE THEATRE CURSIVE II (2005)

Director: Ross MacGibbon

Year: 2005

Time: 66 mins

Music: John Cage

Eye of Sound: The second part in a trilogy recently concluded with Wild Cursive, Cursive II is an entrancing and meditative exercise on elegance and austerity. Inspired by Chinese calligraphy, this acclaimed piece by choreographer Lin Hwai-min offers an hypnotic lexicon of gestures that seem to draw both from Tai-Chi and martial arts, driven by an unshakeable desire to reach some sort of ecstatic nothingness. Movement is both fluid and tense, delicate and vigorous, slow-paced but charged with vibrant energy; and the visual composition is stunning, rarely abandoning asymmetry but always focused on scenical harmony. The selection of Cage's music for such a piece might seem odd for those less familiarized with his repertoire and theoretical apparatus. But the choice of such ethereal, mediative pieces as Ryonaji, Five or Sixty-Eight is more than appropriate as the guiding light for the dancers' mesmerizing gestures as it seems to draw the viewer closer and closer to the unreachable stasis that both the choreographer and the composer want to achieve.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=MRXD4K35

ICP ORCHESTRA: ON DREAM LIVE IN NOISY-LE-SEC 2003

Director: Guy Girard

Year: 2003

Time: 41 mins

Music

Misha Mengelberg

Mary Oliver

Tristan Honsinger

Ernst Glerum

Ab Baars

Michael Moore

Wolter Wierbos

Thomas Heberer

Tobias Delius

Han Bennink

Eye of Sound: Sometimes Duke, sometimes duck. A broken ballad will quickly morph into a spinning waltz of dissonant melodies and then build into harmonic skyscrapers that were not made to last. Fluid, fast, seductive, sometimes even glamorous cascades of sound; intensely psychedelic, fractal patterns of bliss that are nevertheless human and soulful; radiant and joyful as the few happy sundays we have in our lives - the ICP will settle for nothing less. As for the film, it is filled with liquid effects distorting the image, a welcome "innovation" in concert-films that adds to the fractality of ICP's music (although the excessive focus on Bennink is rather unjustified, given the Orchestra's philosophy and the abounding excellency of the remaining players). An excellent concert displaying some of the best jazz music in Europe today. And watch out for an incendiary hyper-textual take on Monk's Criss-Cross. 

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=KAFPX7IC

ART ENSEMBLE OF CHICAGO& CECIL TAYLOR LIVE IN PARIS 1.11.1984

Director: Frank Cassenti

Year: 1984

Time: 91 mins

Music: Art Ensemble of Chicago & Cecil Taylor

Eye of Sound: I think it was Matthew Shipp who once said that jazz is like a curse for black musicians. The Art Ensemble of Chicago would probably be one of the best examples of this. Throughout their long career, the Ensemble has explored uncharted sonic territories, creating a world of their own where contemporary sensibilities, tropical rains and otherworldly research joyfully share the same boat. No doubt, they have frequently invaded the ever-expanding jazz provinces but mostly as a stop on their way elsewhere. It could be argued, then, that except for these jazz interludes, the only thing that separates them from being considered as an experimental or contemporary ensemble is the color of their skins. But skin is thicker than water and the Ensemble is mostly thought of as a jazz outfit. This excellent concert in Paris will, I think, prove this point. There are jazz sections throughout the performance, but they rarely fail to crumble and are frequently guided by a desire to reach unsafer waters and explore possibilities in sonic abstraction. Cecil Taylor's intense performance unsettles this wide spectrum even more, turning the tables with his piano, vocal and percussion agitation. And maybe Taylor, in his incredible ability to switch codes and move from lyricism to broken rhythm and atonality in one second, is the Ensemble's best possible accomplice.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=U1ICB3NA

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=9K4INJ5F

JEAN BEAUDIN VERTIGE (1969)

Director: Jean Beaudin

Year: 1969

Time: 41 mins

Music: Serge Garant

Eye of Sound: Many films were produced in the 60s, both emic and etic, documenting the violent and sometimes silly ideological revolutions that swept Western middle-class youngsters of the time, producing a fascinating an apparently endless vault of cinematic experimentation and increasingly conventional audiovisual tropes. Far more interesting, for instance, than The Invasion of the Thunderbolt Pagoda, is Jean Beaudin's debut work Vertige. Though its point is somewhat vague, it is both visually and sonically one of the most compelling exercises in the tradition of lysergic films of the 60s. Sympathetic but subtly critical, Vertige presents itself as a psychological portrait of the escape and/or contestation tactics of the decade's youth: while war, violence, famine and poverty continue to devastate the planet, these youngsters seek refuge in the hedonistic haven of sexual liberation, lysergic research and communal fictions. Richly textured visuals and bold scenic montage are some of the key elements in Vertige, but it is Serge Garant's fine contemporary soundtrack, and its intimate rapport with the scenic rhythms, that catapult the film beyond the conventions of psychedelic cinema. Famed as a pioneer of contemporary music in Canada, Garant provides am eclectic score that ranges from atonal symphonic exercises to psych-rock, concrète and electroacoustic soundscapes. Such diverse approaches, and their powerful connections with the screen, give Vertige a highly nuanced and refined cadence, and render it one of the finest and most compelling examples of the genre.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=86R2U9DE

ERKKI KURENNIEMI DIMI BALLET (1971)

Director: Erkki Kurenniemi

Year: 1971

Time: 12 mins

Music: Erkki Kurenniemi

Eye of Sound: Recently rediscovered thanks to Mike Taanila's Dawn of Dimi documentary, Erkki Kurenniemi is a true visionary of the electronic age. His war games left no territory untouched: music, film, robotics, dance, philosophy, photography, artificial intelligence and what not. DIMI Ballet was conceived as a demonstration of his DIMI-O electronic performance device. This video controlled instrument pursues an ancient sound-eye dream: the direct translation of image into sound. To demonstrate DIMI-O's possibilities, an unidentified dancer moves along some kind of sensor to create a wash of analogue tones and colors.

DIMI BALLET

IRA COHEN THE INVASION OF THE THUNDERBOLT PAGODA (1968)

Director: Ira Cohen

Year: 1968

Time: 31 mins

Music

Angus MacLise

Sunburned Hand

Acid Mothers Temple

Eye of Sound: There is, at the beginning of this hippy-trippy cult film, a vague promise of a vague narrative line. But soon the acid starts kicking, and all hopes or fears of a plot of some sort disappear. The Thunderbolt Pagoda starts in a proto-ceremonial setting. Actors dressed in pseudo-Oriental clothes gather around a human corpse (Cohen himself) and perform a ritual burial in the muddy ground. Slow ritualistic movements lend the scene a dignified, if otherworldly, tone. Then the corpse rises from its grave, and the psycho-court rejoices in this mystical rebirth. The music changes and the setting and colors make it clear that such a rebirth is but an entry into an acid-drenched dimension. Actors from the Universal Mutant Repertory Co. (including Tony Conrad, MacLise, Ziska Baum and many others) are now living in a world of incensed perception, distorted mirrors and blurred colors. Except for opium smoking, action is no longer perceptible: the screen has been taken by distorted shamanic visions of elves, princesses, snake-men, nymphs and other creatures from the 60s fairy-tale psyche. Appropriately, MacLise's soundtrack is an acid soup in which ingredients morph into one another beyond recognition, and in which less is not more. Building a continuous racket of fast-beat tablas, minimalist sitar, distorted vocals, free-wheeling flutes, etc, it recalls the primordial, monotonous and saturated drive typical of everything MacLise ever recorded. While there are certainly more accomplished emic documents of the 60s lysergic culture, one could argue that the reason Thunderbolt Pagoda attained cult status was not so much its hypnotic, languid and somewhat mind-boggling visual and aural rhythms, but the ability to portray and reflect a collective druidical dreamscape that can be evoked or imitated but never truly restored.

Note: The file includes recent alternative soundtracks by Acid Mothers Temple and Sunburned Hand, as well as audio commentary by the director.

 - links removed by request - 

CHARLES DEKEUKELEIRE VISIONS OF LOURDES (1932)

Director: Charles Dekeukeleire

Year: 1932

Time: 13 mins

Music

Annelies Van Parys

Els Mondelaers

Hermes Ensemble

Eye of Sound: The camera approaches its object carefully and it takes some time before we can have a glimpse of the site itself. After some shots of the sky, the mountains, and plenty of water - perhaps not entirely devoid of religious significance - we finally enter the Grotto. But we won't spend much time there, for Dekeukeleire is more interested in the surrounding social and psychological scapes than in the original site of the Virgin's appearance. Dekeukeleire was himself a catholic, but this visual documentary on Lourdes is rather ambiguous as to his position regarding the most important pilgrimage site in Europe after the Vatican. There is a focus on the diseased who come praying for cure, on the peasants who lay offerings everywhere, on the selling of religious articles around the site, and on the "temporal" aspects of faith - but it's not easy to grasp a clear position from the director. Knowing whether Visions of Lourdes is intended as a piece of criticism on such practices or not is a question that entertained critics for decades, so much so that it obscured the film's' beautiful cinematic composition, its sense of spatial and temporal movement, and especially the strange recurrence of some elements apparently alien to the site - namely, the constant presence of water in all its forms. Van Parys' beautiful soundtrack perhaps adds to the ambiguity, although I suspect that ears less accustomed to contemporary music can hardly fail to associate its occasional dissonant lines with the idea of the sinister. Effusive, almost ecstatically candid games between Els Mondelaers' voice and the wind and string sections are interspersed with more sombre and reflexive passages verging on dissonance; but the score makes use of some common religious themes and recurrent, almost lyrical phrases lend it a sense of lightness that is increasingly rare in contemporary composition. Literary critic William Empson insisted on the creative and cognitive virtues of ambiguity. Visions of Lourdes is indeed an ambiguous film, but maybe part of its compelling beauty lies precisely there.

http://rapidshare.com/files/387040909/lourdes.mkv.001
http://rapidshare.com/files/387040895/lourdes.mkv.002

FERNAND LÉGER & DUDLEY MURPHY BALLET MÉCANIQUE (1924)

Directors: Fernand Léger & Dudley Murphy

Year: 1924

Time: 17 mins

Music:

George Antheil

Paul Lehrmann

Eye of Sound: It's difficult to make a brief description of such a historically charged film, so I'll just mention a few facts about the version presented here. Ballet Mécanique was jointly conceived by Dadaist painter and filmmaker Fernand Léger and Futurist composer George Antheil. Legend has it that Antheil's score was technically impossible to execute at the time: among other "oddities", it demanded sixteen synchronized pianos when there was no technology available to synchronize so many instruments at a time. Antheil rearranged it and added live piano players, but its American première turned out to be a disaster, with riots and all. The score was abandoned and for many decades every attempt to perform it bumped into the problem of synchronizing the pianos. Finally, in the 90s, after the discovery of the complete cut for Ballet Mécanique, Paul Lehrmann used modern MIDI technology to synchronize the piano section, thus "restoring" the score and allowing today's viewers to watch Ballet Mécanique as it was conceived. As far as I know, this is the only version which included the original George Antheil score.

http://rapidshare.com/files/401559102/ballet.mkv.001

http://rapidshare.com/files/401559092/ballet.mkv.002

PETER LIECHTI KICK THAT HABIT (1989)

Director: Peter Liechti

Year: 1989

Time: 40 mins

Music: Voice Crack with Knut Remond

Eye of Sound: Legendary "cracked everyday electronics" Swiss duo Voice Crack created a nook of their own in the rich panorama of European adventurous music in the 80s. Exploring the debris of industrial culture, the duo refined an improvisation language and method based on the literal deconstruction of everyday materials, releasing ghosts from vulgar machines and objects till their disband in the 21st century. Composed in the noble tradition of sound-film, Peter Liechti's Kick That Habit is a beautiful, grainy, wordless documentary on Crack methods, performances and, appropriately enough, everyday sonic surroundings. The way in which Liechti allows common aural experience surrounding the duo to breathe throughout the film, alternating footage of private performances and common "real life" events, is a fundamental aesthetic strategy and accounts for much of its immersive and contemplative, quiet force: finely amplified banal events, like the cracking of an egg at a restaurant, are located within the same experiential dimension of the duo's experiments with a long thin wire - and perhaps in a more fundamental way than classic concrète tactics. Liechti's amplified realism prevents him from indulging in conventional illustrative plays with sound-image dislocations, so that the chosen soundtrack for the duo's train travels is not the duo's recorded music but the duo's train travels. Kick that Habit resounds as an immersive experience in cracked everyday industrial soundscapes, as if sound has been, like in some early experiences already shared here, scratched onto the film. That would probably be the finest way - the only sane one - to make a documentary on Voice Crack. But Kick that Habit is not really a "band documentary". It is rather a documentary on sound itself.

KICK THAT HABIT