Paul Klee was a Swiss born painter whose work often seems to illustrate the half-waking surreal experience when dreams are still almost palpable and the mind is attempting to adjust to exactly where it is. Klee excelled at combining seemingly disparate schools in his eclectic style, including elements of cubism, surrealism and even more tessellated pieces that, while more colorful than Escher, still evince the same geometrical consciousness that the great Dutch master brought to life in his many masterpieces. Aside from Klee's playfulness, one thing that repeatedly jumps out at the viewer, whether a casual glancer or more studied scholar, is Klee's vivisection of his canvas, into discrete sections and planes, leaving the viewer just slightly disoriented at times. It seems like a fitting metaphor for the multiplane aural work that Alexander Jero employs in a series of rhythmically complex, but often melodically simple (in a charming way), compositions that make up his interesting new release on his own boutique label, Surround Records. Straddling a stylistic line between techno, electronica, and more ambient New Age sounds, Jero offers about 47 minutes of some very interesting sounds while a panoply of Klee paintings appear on screen, just in case you happen to glance up while you're enjoying the very immersive 7.1 surround mix.
Jero's Surround Records seems to be a homemade affair which thus far has released a wide variety of repurposed 7.1 Blu's of largely classical titles, most of which have not had a video component. This has led some who haven't embraced Blu-ray as an audio only format to decry Jero for being less than forthcoming about his releases, to which I say: balderdash. I've written myself here about how hard it is to accept Blu's as a new audio-only format, and so I can excuse someone thinking that there really should be images to supplement the listening experience, but the fact is the many Surround titles I've reviewed thus far have presented a really scintillating array of classical music, some in quite brilliant performances which Jero has rather artfully repurposed for a 7.1 mix.
"Ab Ovo," one of many Klee paintings which appear on screen as Alexander Jero's propulsive synth creations play.
That still doesn't necessarily mean that the man's compositions themselves would be worth listening to, of course, and some naysayers may opt to believe that Surround, by releasing Jero's own work, becomes something of a vanity label. I'll leave it to wiser critics than I to come to any sort of definitive conclusion about that particular aspect, but I can say that E (there doesn't appear to be an exclamation mark anywhere on the insert title logo) provides some really nice electronica, especially if you're a fan of multi-layered percussion instruments playing out against repetitive bass lines and some easily incorporated hooks.
Unfortunately one thing hampering a lot of Jero's releases is a dearth of liner notes or other supporting material, and so there are no track titles or substantial information I can pass along about individual pieces here, but taken as a whole, E provides three quarters of an hour of mostly up tempo pieces that have a very exciting variety of percussion noises bouncing to and fro between channels as Jero adds layer after layer of sonic information on, creating something in fact quite akin to Klee's variegated paintings. The nice thing about many of Jero's pieces is that they retain the same childlike playfulness of Klee's own visual style. These are not "heavy" pieces by any stretch, despite some thumping synth-bass work and lower percussion instruments being utilized in most pieces.
One odd thing about this Blu-ray is that the music stops at about 41 minutes in, while the Klee images fill out the remaining six or so minutes of the program. Since there is no track listing with timings, I can't be certain if this was an authoring error, but for those of you who are intrigued enough to check out this disc, don't think your home theater system has suddenly stopped emitting sound when you get past the 40 minute mark. The program does start over automatically once it reaches the end.
Some consumers have contacted me over the months to either wonder aloud or complain about Surround Records' product descriptions on Amazon (and in fact here on Blu-ray.com), specifically with regard to whether or not they have video content. Most of the Surround titles I have reviewed have not in fact had any video content, which will be reflected in individual reviews by a lack of a video score or codec information. I can't speak to the Amazon listings, over which I obviously have no control. This particular release does indeed have video content, a really nice array of Klee paintings, offered via a VC-1 codec in a mostly 2.35:1 aspect ratio. Despite the insert booklet proclaiming this to be 1080p, it is in fact 1080i, though the good news is there were no artifacts to speak of, especially good news when one considers the wealth of fine line, almost geometrical, detail that fills a lot of these paintings. Colors are beautiful throughout, with a really robust palette that pops quite nicely. Though most people will probably be drawn to this title for its aural content, in this particular case Surround Records has provided some very nice imagery to accompany Jero's music.
For those wanting to hear some really fun and frankly cool surround channel effects, E could be a very good place to start. Jero ping pongs his percussion effects with aplomb, so that various synth bongos, congas and other ethnic drums surround the listener. Often a high toned drum will appear on the right while its sibling lower toned instrument appears on the left, and vice versa. The pulsing, thumping bass and synth washes also nicely move from channel to channel. As with Jero's classical 7.1 repurposings, E offers a nice, lifelike ambient feel with hall wash spilling into the rear channels. This particular exercise certainly puts more emphasis on lower frequencies than the standard classical release, and the DTS-HD MA 7.1 track handles it all easily, with absolutely no distortion. The various synth noises include such higher frequency stand-by's as glockenspiel and bowed glass, all of which come through with startling clarity.
Surround Records has continually offered superb classical recordings reinvented for the lossless audio era. Now founder Alexander Jero takes another nice step forward, offering his own interesting synth creations playing to some very appealing Klee masterpieces. It's a fascinating combination of image and sound, and music fans who like electronica and trance will want to check out this new release.
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