Ken Jacobs/John Zorn – Celestial Subway Lines/Salvaging Noise: Nervous Magic Lantern 3-D

 

Picture: C+     Sound: C+     Extras: D     Main Program: C+

 

 

The Tzadik DVD series continues with unusual music/image combinations that are as experimental as anything.  This time, it is a 68-minutes-long program that tries to combine off-kilter music with an attempt at 3-D images with out glasses in Celestial Subway Lines/Salvaging Noise: Nervous Magic Lantern 3-D, a 2005 program that tries to affectionately revive the old Magic Lantern for the video age.  Unfortunately, the music is only so memorable, while the images are flashy (literally, a warning to those who suffer seizures is included and I will skip the obvious joke) and last the entire music piece they are matched with.

 

Ken Jacobs is the narrator and produces, while John Zorn does the music.  The 3-D only works so well, especially since you can see a certain haziness in the 1.33 X 1 frame in all the selections.  Even if they were digital HD and this was a format that could do HD, the other problems remain.  This experimental and a sincere attempt at the artistic, but all in all, it never adds up.  There are no extras and the extra space on the disc is not used of the highest fidelity picture and sound, the latter of which is Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo with no major surrounds.  This is for the very curious only, but 3-D fans will likely be disappointed.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo