Metamatic Forums John Foxx John Foxx B-MOVIE (BALLARDIAN VIDEO NEURONICA) out 14th Apr

The 25 minute long video is now up:-

http://hyperballard.com/mindex.html

Brian

Well, it's easy to see why it isn't being released on DVD; they'd never get copyright clearance for all those clips. Can't say I was greatly impressed by it, though. Sure, it gets some of the visuals you'd expect from a Ballard tribute -- car crashes, Marilyn Monroe, the Kennedy assassination -- but some of it is more from Foxx than Ballard, because it's the former who likes The Swimmer and Last Year at Marienbad. It often seems random.

Some of Ballard's most notorious works were short stories he referred to as compressed novels, like the contents of The Atrocity Exhibition. Compressed movies might have been an interesting approach but that's not what this feels like.

Have had my copy for a few days now.

It's hard not to regard this as a rag-bag of disparate tracks that don't really have much musically in common when removed from their original context in a soundtrack, and have just been bundled together for completeness and released in a limited edition on the artists' own store.... cos that's what it is, of course

So, this it never going to really flow like an "album" as a listening experience... but assuming you get past that...

Some of the tracks aren't bad, in their way.

The collaboration with Benge ("Geometry, Collision and Coincidence") sees Benge dicking about with some old EPROM-based drum machine(s) (Oberheim DMX? Sequential Circuits DrumTraks?) or other that he has in his collection, whilst John does some "stirring pads" and stuff over them (did he get the Juno60 out?) ... it all sounds rather like the clumsy attempts of some 70s guitar band when they were experimenting with these instruments in about 1984 (I can think of quite few Stranglers or Queen tracks, for instance, tucked away on B-sides that use a very similar palette).
Whether or not this kind of thing "works" as piece of music in 2014 all rather depends on your 'angle' for approaching it, i.e. the degree of postmodern irony you employ.
Do Benge & John think this music/sound palette sounds inherently cool in and of itself, or do they think it sounds cool in a fondly-remembered retro vintage way? It would be easier to pick which side of this fence I'm on if I was seeing the accompanying visuals.... and it would be quite easy to dismiss this track as rubbish but I don't think I want to be that unkind.

We also get several "bangin' technopop" tracks (Velocity Logic, Crash Course, Disaster Series [featuring Mr D'Angostino], Dashboard Melt....
Again, you can either view these as naive laughable out-of-date rubbish, sounding like some kind of out-takes from Bronksi Beat appearence on Top of the Pops with Gary Davies and Bruno Brookes circa 1984 (for instance with boisterously arpeggiated "Crash Course", it's hard to shake visions of John leading a choreographed dance routine of hot hairsprayed babes in legwarmers)... on the other hand, perhaps these are charming little period vignettes, lovingly done in the style of what might have been hot techno, 1983.

Then we have some 'ambient' tracks (Obscene Chemistry, A Stray Ballardian Neurone, the piano and chimes of The Other Side, Exit Strategy). They are pleasant, haunting even in places, but are more like cups of tea than pop music.

I am not displeased to own this CD, but look forward to John's next proper album, which will hopefully be a musical collection that works as a suite of music in itself and doesn't require sans any legwarmers.
(I gather one of these tracks will be on it, but I forget which one it is! I must look that up...)

Ah, it's "THE OTHER SIDE" is from the forthcoming album.
I guess this bodes well, as it's the classiest track in the bunch.
Not exactly a "song" though is it! More a relaxing cup of green tea with jasmine. Will the new album come with biscuits?

The film of B-Movie (Ballardian Video Neuronica) is to be screened in March at the Rio Cinema in Dalston as part of a 'J. G. Ballard Afternoon';

https://riocinema.org.uk/RioCinema.dll/WhatsOn?Programme=8105863