Violet Arcana reviews Last updated 10/28/94 For more info e-mail: arcana@teleport.com ===Permission Magazine=== A vibrant splash much like Georgia O'Keefe set against stark black dons the cover; within, a small tri-fold insert introduces Violet Arcana by way of a poem: "I am consumed by a depth that is bottomless I will resolve to push that shriveled core deep, And plant myself within fertile ground..." Attached, an envelope of violet seeds and a perforated card, addressed for return mailing, requesting from those interested not only the usual name, address, etc., but computer type E-mail addresses and space for welcomed comments. Essentially this alone says a great deal about Violet Arcana. Creative effort beyond the call of duty, a kinship with nature, a sincere regard for their audience...And these qualities come to life on In the Scene of the Mind. By and large, Violet Arcana is tender, seraphic techno. Certainly, a novel approach far off the beaten path of the current bandwagon preference for quirky, oftimes anesthetic technics over the heart and soul of art. Oregon's clean air, clean water and abundant greenery; its latent remains of tie-dye and beads; and the Pacific Northwest's slower pace have manifested onto this release; and onto these two artists Jeremy Wells and David Duddleston. In the Scene of the Mind is a fluid assembly of eleven pieces baring such titles as "Within," "Consciousness (in the Well)," "The World inside," "Inward Sight," and its title track allude to a bold-spirited examination to the psyche. Wells and Duddleston effectively lure the recipient to join them on their beguiling journey through internal regions. Particularly powerful is "Broken Apart" with its whispered loop that sounds as if their saying "god," yet its so subtle its difficult to be certain; and the repeated line "I need to wake up." Commensurate is the album's 12 minute epic "Facade," melancholy in its lightness of being, confessing "I got carried away..." Violet Arcana's In the Scene of the Mind never ceases to amaze, as repeated listening again and again raise to the level consciousness lyrics piquant and universal revelations. And though we tend to fear the unknown, Wells and Duddleston offer solace as they take you deeper into the endless depths of the perplexities of human existence. --Rene' Walczak for Permission Magazine, Issue 5. ===i/e=== Comprised of Jeremy Wells (whose 68000 is one of the better bands on the U.S. techno scene) and Dave Duddleston, Violet Arcana offer eleven attractive and luxurious tracks of percolating, mid-tempo synth rock, bereft of 68000's harder rhythmic pulse. Though these cushiony works sound far from dated, if this were 1982, Violet Arcana would intersect and complement The Passage, Torch Song, Ultravox and other proponents of the unfairly-maligned Euro-synth movement. With its gently prodding sequencers, whispery voices, and various electronic colors, In the Scene of the Mind is perfect for those moods when the systemic beats of techno are too much and ambient's hazy drift threatens to dissipate too quickly. --i/e, Summer 1994 ===Alternative Press=== On Violet Arcana's _In the Scene of the Mind_, Jeremy Wells and David Duddleston opted to not limit themselves to an established niche, but rather create elements from industrial, trance, and the beaten bath. As a result, the title track is a delightful blend of lightly spaced trance-dance, utilizing gently distorted, often whispered, vocals arranged in a Depeche Mode style. The resulting crossover can appeal to fans of space, trance, and electropop. Obvious influences are Tangerine Dream and Kraftwerk, especially on "The World Inside" and "Consciousness (in the Well)." Much of their material is mechanical and sparse, with the keyboards often supplying percussive rhythms rather than melodies. Songs such as "Broken Apart" consisted of whispers and spare stellar percolations, with the emptiness between the notes taking on as much importance in the song's construction as the music itself. --Alternative Press, July 1994 ===Sonic-Boom=== Ambient trance dub, the music that you could sway your body too all night long, or just slowly drift off to sleep invoking erotic dreams. I was most impressed by the way the band could keep each track alive and vibrant. My previous experiences with trance is that it all tends to mull together, and VA is the total opposite, striving to keep the listener totally sucked into their own personal wonderland. The power and the cohesiveness reminded me of ClockDVA's _Buried Dreams_ in the way all the programming flowed together perfectly, yet was very much alive. VA has a far different message than the Adi Newton and ClockDVA, but the musical comparisons were astounding. For such a cohesive work to be put together as a first group effort (both members have been around in the music industry for years) is remarkable. I highly recommend this album, a must have for 1994. ---Sonic-Boom, May 1994 ===The Rocket=== "There is an impression that music composed on computers is cold and lifeless," explains 68000. "I want to show how mistaken that notion is." The choice of 68000 as a numerical pseudonym was a simple one for Jeremy Wells. It is the number of the processor used in Macintosh computers. He composed the bulk of his 1992 Kraftwerk drenched Silent Records debut _TechnoColor_ on his Mac, as well as the song "Disillusion," which appeared on Silent's _50 Years of Sunshine_ compilation last summer. Fellow computer wizard Dave Duddleston and 68000 call themselves Violet Arcana, and their collaboration _In the Scene of the Mind_ has just been released. "It began as the follow-up to _TechnoColor_, which Dave helped on in a sound design and production capacity. But this time he took such an active role that the entire project changed. There was no way it should have been released as a 68000 record. It is actually a return to what I was doing before I was trying to be played on dance floors, low BPMs and lots of atmospherics." _In the Scene of the Mind_ could be placed in the ambient-techno category, but it has very little in common with what the genre has become known for. The intent was to make a more "organic" disc this time around, but the results are fairly chilling. The vast open spaces of "A Cause of This," or "Inward Sight" suggest infinite possibilities. During a tale of lost love titled "Two Lives" the detachment reaches a nearly perfect plateau. The choice of distance over pain is reflected musically and lyrically on it. _In the Scene of the Mind_ has been released on 68000's own EinProdukt label. To market it the duo are putting considerable faith in the information highway. Through America Online, Compuserve, Delphi, and the Internet computer networks, anyone with a modem can download audio and video samples of the disc, complete with ordering details. Option magazine recently profiled 68000 as part of a larger piece titled "The New Psychedelia." And on the _50 Years of Sunshine_ collection, which celebrates the 50 year anniversary of the discovery of LSD, 68000 appear next to such venerable psychedelians as Dr. Timothy Leary, Hawkwind, and Harvey Bainbridge. With a title like _In the Scene of the Mind_, we wondered if Violet Arcana really do represent something as large and ill defined as a new psychedelic movement. "I like the idea of people using music to alter the way they feel, as an alternative to drugs. I think the [title] song could be considered psychedelic in some ways, but there is a lot on the record that is not. Ultimately I think what they are using the [psychedelic] term to describe is the alternative lifestyles and communications networks that have sprung up. For some it is a rave culture, for others it is the world of cyber-space. The common ground is that each community is virtually self-sufficient, and the older generation cannot fathom them." --The Rocket, March 16th to 31st 1994. ===XLR8R=== "This Portland Oregon release is semi-pop, semi-ambient, semi-industrial, very electronic with very lush soundscapes. Within this CD reside many bizarre yet surprisingly warm frequencies and noises. Poetic vocals emerge every now and again usually panning from left to right, resonating away from the listener's conscious mind. This is a very unique and interesting expression of electronic pop. I get a strong feeling that a lot of heart went into this project, and the really cool thing about this CD is that Violet Arcana included a packet of violet seeds for the listener to plant. So if everyone who buys this disk plants their seeds we could have a pretty dense purple NW coast! I can almost see the monarchs coming home, flying home" --XLR8R, Issue #10 (April '94) ===Discourse=== "Do you take a lot of acid and play with computers? If you do you'll love this! I like to trip out myself but I keep picturing these scenes from Battlestar Galactica with two people dancing around hanging onto tube filled with lights and passing 'em around and stuff. I don't know why, but I always end up dancing like a robot to this stuff, you know, if Spock could dance? Really though, I've heard a lot of techno music in my time, and this disk is pretty damn good. It's not too repetitive, yet still entices a trance state. The sound quality is good too. If you're into techno music check it out. It's the latest from Ein Produkt, out of Portland." --Discourse Magazine, March '94 ===DJs in Sync=== "From an Option interview with Jeremy Wells to a house party with Dave Duddleston (who are better known as 68000); we've seen them mature into techno gurus for the internet generation. We are assaulted with Dave's subtle vocal harmonizations and Jeremy's Kling Klangings on the effects board that would impress Dr. Alex Patterson who I personally don't feel is as danceable as Violet Arcana are." --DJs In Sync--DJ Nikadeemas ===Pandemonium=== What's this? A total, professionally produced CD from the NW with tons of ethereal rave tracks to please the surreal music lover in you. "In the Scene of the Mind" is a mind-altering, 13 song CD from Portland that combines all the advances of today's technical edge with a fine example of quality song writing. A swill of blurring samples and synthesized quirks on "Within" start off this disc. The song builds slowly with a cool monotone vocal effect that has a perfect mix. "In the Scene of the Mind" has trance-like melodies with creative vocal hooks all over the place. "The World Inside" perfectly displays the talent of Violet Arcana and the technical expertise. A fantastic debut from Portland which is sure to be sound near the top of today's club and dance charts. --Review from Pandemonium magazine, March 1994. =====Henry Schneider schneid@sccsi.com============= Violet Arcana IN THE SCENE OF THE MIND (Ein Produkt EIN9402) CD: 68:31 Violet Arcana is the electronic duo of Jeremy Wells and David Duddleston with In the Scene of the Mind being their first release. They are in the fast lane of the "information highway". I first discovered the band from a posting Jeremy made to the Internet. With today's technology you can send e-mail to the band at either arcana@netcom.com or 73473.622@compuserve.com. Violet Arcana has made an innovative use of the Internet for marketing their music. By anonymously logging into their FTP site on ftp.netcom.com in the directory /pub/arcana you can download pictures and short sound samples of this release and other related material to your computer. If you have a sound card you can preview the music and decide if you want to buy the CD. The CD packaging also contains some treats and surprises. First, they include a package of violet seeds along with a mail-in registration card to join their network of Internet fans. Second, the part of the CD case that holds the disk normally only has outward facing graphics on the back. In this case you can see some words appearing through the central hole. When you carefully remove the black plastic you will uncover some lyrics and artwork. Last but not least is the puzzling final song Facade. Facade clocks in on your CD player at about 12 minutes. Yet after about the first 2 minutes there is a 10 minute gap of silence after which the music begins again. So there is only about 2 1/2 minutes of music on this track. I contacted Jeremy about this puzzle. Jeremy said they recorded Facade this way intentionally because the music is a facade for the silence. John Cage would have loved this song! The music on this disk is quite good. There are elements such as the whispered vocals that remind me of Skinny Puppy. Yet I would not classify this music as cyber punk even though they are using the net to promote their music. The music is a marriage of New Wave and the German school of e-music without becoming Trance music. The tunes and timbres are catchy. I find myself running some of the songs through my head hours later. In the Scene of the Mind is an excellent debut release. Look for this CD and if you are on the Internet, drop them an e-mail. They will answer you. -- Henry Schneider (independent reviewer)