Thesis: Steven Wilson is a true independent thinker, and musician. He is in the forefront of the anti-music industry by making the highest quality, uncompromising music.
I will start by summarizing actions in Insurgentes. Later, I will analyze more, especially in part two:
The film opens with disturbing sounds of kids talking. Steven Wilson finally breaks the silence. Footage from his performance at the Pinkpop festival in Holland is seen.
Steve walks through an unoccupied field in his hometown that overlooks train tracks. This is Steven Wilson's exploration of his musical beginnings, where some of his concepts originated. For example, trains are often referred to in Porcupine Tree's music; particularly in In Absentia, Deadwing, and The Incident. This has to do with Steve Wilson's nostalgia for the train in his home town.
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| Insurgentes DVD Cover |
Now we go inside Steven's first, and seemingly only school. He attended Cavendish school from about 1978 to 1985 (Nineteen eighty-fiiiiiiiive). Steve Wilson describes his first concert where he was so nervous he sat on side of the stage. He could not stand, and simply looked down at the microphone. Steve is bad at sports. Steven Wilson says most people he knows are either great musicians or great athletes. He never knew anyone to be truly good at both. Your cousin may say, "Well my friend is good at both. But point out to him that his friend is no world class musician."
Steve Wilson wraps up his hometown excursion by reminding us not to believe your hometown is all life offers. Get out and explore the world.
Insurgentes continues with imagery of walking down a narrow hallway cave. This is imagery from the music video for Harmony Korine, the best track from the Insurgentes musical album. The music video is top notch. The video features fields, with masked-men, people crawling, and pig musicians. Seeing Steven Wilson perform live with his all his projector images on stage was life-changing. Harmony Korine rocked so loud, the foundation of the Berkerly Performance Center in Boston, Massachusetts shook.
The next scene panders to Steve Wilson in a London, England house using a keyboard and vocally recording scary noises over the sounds. He tunes the guitar differently for an almost indigenous Australian sound. This is creepy as hell. Here Steven Wilson shows his laid-back dedication to music. His loosely official studio features a piano.
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| Steven Wilson by his hometown train tracks |
Next, Steve Wilson shares his experience living in Israel. Underrated musician Steven Wilson has his palm read by a fortune teller. She tells him he has a sense of adventure. She reads him as having the rainbow abundance.
Later in Israel, Wilson appears on Lior Shalyn show. He describes his documentary Insurgentes as what it is like to be a 21st century musician. Steve Wilson refers to Israel as his second home. The talk show host, Lior Shalyn asks Steven, "if Israel is your second home, why aren't you speaking Hebrew right now?" haha
Around 10:27 into the first Insurgentes dvd, Steven Wilson starts destroying Ipods. He destroys them in many hilarious ways. Through a sledge hammer, run over by car, lit on fire. He even asked the Israeli army to run a tank over the Ipod. They said this was silly. He discusses this in the second Insurgentes dvd.
The film cuts back to Steven Wilsons' London, England studio where he is shown creating sounds from Abandoner, the second track of Insurgentes (musical album).
Insurgentes returns to Steven Wilson's less-than-enjoyable school experience. He was unsocial-solitary, only writing music. But he had a band with friends. Steven Wilsons' school has remained static over decades. The school was not an encouraging environment for him.
Also concerning Steven Wilson's childhood is the story of how his dad made musical equipment for him. In this way, Steven could play the sounds he heard on records. His dad made homemade sequencers with tape delay. A vocoder. Steven Wilson's parents are shown and heard.
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| Wilson in home-style studio |
Twenty minutes into Insurgentes the rockstar lifestyle is shown with bass communion's Aviv Geffen. This is one of many projects Steven Wilson has. Each project focuses on a different aspect of his musical creativity so he can remain pure in each group. He doesn't have to mix things in these bands as much as in his solo work. Anyway, Aviv and Steven are enjoying life's experiences. They talk about listening to records and new albums. And how they hate Ipods. Steven Wilson wants to buy the record to enjoy the artwork and higher quality of sound.
You can tell Steven Wilson plays to please himself. He must since he performs all the time in big arenas and for private parties. The films shows a clip of him performing Trains for a small group of people in a party.
Indeed life goes on in Israel, despite the terrorist situation. Steven has visited Israel 50 - 60 times in a seven year span. People in Tel Aviv, Israel don't have Ipods. They listen to the live music around every street corner. In interviews, Steven Wilson has referenced how living in Israel has helped to bring out his personality. People are very unreserved. Certainly much more so than England where Wilson also lives. People in Tel, Aviv, Israel are engaging. They aren't distracted by headphones or their cell phones. They interact with each other, seeking friendships and conversations.
I'm not saying this is a better lifestyle. This lifestyle is different. In some situations you need an Ipod to have music with you. In this way can you pump yourself up or relax yourself before an important event by varying your music selection. They enjoy music in Tel Aviv, many people have nice stereos in their homes.
As I get more quiet time at home, I can watch more of this DVD. I will then be able to provide more insight in addition to my summary. Look forward to this and more in part 2.
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