Local Review: Revideolized – The Moon Driven Dark

Revideolized
The Moon Driven Dark

Self-Released
Street: Feb. 2007
Revideolized = Recoil Hydrology + Progressive Rock

Electronic music in its purest form is by nature experimental. It isn’t just about creating a great melody, it’s about manipulating sounds that by right have no place in a musical structure and turning that chaos into a memorable tune. With The Moon Driven Dark,Reviodeolized (Ted Newsom aka The Rose Phantom) plays homage to 80s synthpop curators Depeche Mode, Thomas Dolby, Alphaville and Gary Numan while also tipping his cap to the likes of Brian Eno, Klaus Schultz and Jean Michael Jarre. To that end he is not only effective he’s also quite inventive, if not completely original. In fact The Moon Driven Dark only stumbles when Newsom becomes reluctant to let a song end and strays into noodle guitar solos (albeit the solo is often played on one of his many synthesizers). Most noteably on “The Deja-Vu Mirror” (Van Halen would either be proud of offended) and the epic soundscape of “Lost In Obscurity” (blemished by what sounds like one of David Gilmour’s lesser solos). So maybe it’s not Kraftwerk or the Art of Noise, but it is pretty impressive. -Ryan Michael Painter