Some particle fun.
Archive by Author
Psychedelic Miles Davis – Live Bootleg 1989 Hollywood Florida
9 Nov
Miles Davis might have been more into heroin than into LSD, but the renowned trumpet player was also becoming increasingly psychedelic by the end of the 1960s as any glance at the 1968 Bitches Brew album cover by Matti Klarwein can reveal.
Yet, even though Miles initially wanted Hendrix to play guitar for his album, he never got around to making a psychedelic music clip. This video which mixes Davis’s music with some 1960’s LSD film footage amends this historical injustice.
Eye – Optical illusion
28 OctI’ve watched a number of videos which attempted to emulate the optical effects of psychedelics through the use of optical geometry in the past, but this is by far the superior one. Watch the clip for 2 minutes, and you’ll be amazed at how transformed your vision will be.
A Taste of Freedom
26 Oct“A Taste of Freedom” is a somewhat unusual documentary film by Dutch filmmaker Jan Beddegenoodts. The film is unusual in bringing together two disparate worlds: the lively Israeli trance party scene on the hand, and Palestinian West-bank demonstrations on the other hand. It provides some uneasy perspectives on the political position of the psychedelic underground, especially in a place like Israel, where talking about “Peace and Love” is more problematic due to a highly repressive political situation. The film is not without it’s flaws, and the comparison between the two worlds of ravers and activists, stand at the danger of becoming overly simplistic at times, yet Beddegenoodts largely avoids this by remaining evocative and descriptive rather than judgmental or prescriptive. Overall, the film is well worth watching.
The beautifully disturbing videos of Champagne Valentine
19 OctThere is something attractive yet deeply disturbing about the videos of Champagne Valentine, which showcase the work of artists Geoff Lillemon and Anita Fontaine. Maybe it is because Lillemon and Fontaine are artists creating psychedelic commercials, which seem to be aware and to reflect the disturbing nature of late-capitalistic society.
See for example Anita Fontaine’s video “Beefeater London” (above) which follows a young blonde through the streets of London. Although it seems to sell the viewer on the romantic image of a young and beautiful girl roaming the streets and having fun by herself, the videos seems to be inherently aware that this is a fantasy, something which comes to bare in the small viewing disturbances which appear on the screen from time to time to remind us that this is not the real thing but a simulation. The girl in the film is not really just roaming the streets and having fun, she is actually nothing more than an image which sells us notions about cities and identity and who we can be. But we are not that carefree person happily roaming the streets, we watch this video on our digital screens, where this kind of free adventure is just a substitute for life. Moreover, our hero seems to be inexplicably alone all through the video, or just flirting with the camera, something which is emphasized by her strange, somehow disturbed gazes, caught by the camera in close up shots. When the video ends, our hero is toasting a glass with somebody, but we don’t see that somebody and somehow it seems like she’s still all alone.
A similar sort of disturbing psychedelic simulacra is also evident in the §tereop§i§ video, and in the the Versace, and Louis Vitton commercials created by Champagne Valentine
Roland van der Velden (AKA Space is Green)
12 OctRoland van der Velden is a Dutch artist who makes absolutely spectacular psychedelic videos. Watch and be amazed.
The Daily Psychedelic Video 