Very nice video,very Metamatic.
Also posted on John's Myspace with some other news...
Saturday, February 03, 2007
Smokescreen on You Tube & 'From Brussels With Love'
We've just uploaded onto
www.youtube.com a filmed extract from Tiny Colour Movies for the track Smokescreen which reminds me a little of that classic Metamatic-era B-side, Glimmer. The look of this short film is also very Metamatic in style.
This is John Foxx's description of it in the Tiny Colour Movies album booklet:
Smokescreen: Unknown
Several short sequences made by an unknown film student in the 1950's are discovered in the film school vaults. All depict a man in a suit walking through a series of smoke laden rooms. This was the first film that Arnold obtained and the one that began his collection. 'This particular film is very dear to me,' he says, 'because it precipitated my understanding of what film actually is. I was looking for stock footage in the school film library when I found an unlabelled canister. I was curious about pieces of unknown film even then, so took it to the viewing room. I saw these marvellously lit sequences which seemed to have a very definite story, yet there is no explanation or development or resolution. We can have no idea what the filmmaker had in mind. Because of this lack of resolution, they seem strangely suspended. You begin to make connections, you feel compelled to write a story. But there is none. There can be none. The effect is tantalising, like a damaged and incomplete fragment of memory.'
Over the next few months we'll be linking to other pieces of music and film from the growing Tiny Colour Movies project/archive. Hopefully we will compile it on DVD in the next year or two, once we've resolved the copyright issues with some of the material. In the meantime the Tiny Colour Movies album which features a 16 page colour booklet containing descriptions and stills from 15 films is available through all the usual outlets including our favourite, highly recommended specialists
www.musicnonstop.co.uk and
www.sisterray.co.uk. In America it's available through
www.darla.com - they're also very quick and efficient.You can also buy it on i-tunes though sadly of course, without the booklet!
Also, John Foxx is one of the artists featured on a new compilation, From Brussels With Love, alongside the likes of Michael Nyman, Harold Budd and Bill Nelson. You can buy it directly from LTM on the Crepuscule page of
www.ltmrecordings.com here is the press release:
LTM is proud to announce the very first CD release of the classic 1980 compilation album From Brussels With Love, also the debut release from chic Belgian indie label Les Disques du Crepuscule (TWI 007).
Originally released as a deluxe cassette/book package in November 1980, From Brussels With Love featured 22 exclusive tracks from the international avant garde and new wave, as well as the celebrated Factory Records roster. Then, as now, the contributing artists include Gavin Bryars, Harold Budd, Dome, The Durutti Column, John Foxx, Martin Hannett, Richard Jobson, Bill Nelson, New Order and Michael Nyman. The programme also includes extended interviews with Brian Eno and iconic French actress Jeanne Moreau.
Writing in NME in 1980, journalist Paul Morley praised From Brussels With Love thus: "This is a reminder – without really trying, without being obvious – that pop is modern poetry, is the sharpest, shiniest collection of experiences, is always something new." And according to Dave McCullough in Sounds: "This tape, a long mysterious piece of collective modern overdrive, points to a future somewhere."
This new CD edition has been digitally remastered from the original master tapes, and features 75 minutes of material. Most of the tracks remain featured here unavailable elsewhere. For reasons of space just one has been deleted from the original cassette (A Certain Ratio), although this track is available on LTMCD 2443.
The 20 page facsimile booklet features original artwork by Benoit Hennebert and Jean-Francois Octave, as well as archive images and detailed liner notes.
All the best, Steve
