ALEXIS GIDEON
After his first two releases Welcome Song (2007 Sickroom Records) and Flight of the Liophant (2007 Sickroom Records), Alexis Gideon has broadened his already expansive musical vision with the creation of his genre-busting animated/claymated video opera Video Musics (9/22/2009 USA: Sickroom Records/11/2/2009 Europe: African Tape).

A couple years ago, Gideon discovered that six of his eight great-grandparents were Hungarian. He soon was researching Hungarian Mythology and folk tales with a musical video piece in mind. The result is the DVD + CD release of Video Musics.

Video Musics is a twenty-minute multimedia video opera based on Hungarian Mythology and Folk Tales. It consists of six individual songs/videos, each offering its own compact narrative while interlocking to form a larger whole: a mystical allegory that draws searing parallels to our own times. The music draws on influences as wide-ranging as Outkast , Brian Eno , Prince , The Residents , and Beck . The eerie, child-like animation recalls the work of Pee Wee's Playhouse , William Kentridge and Stan Brakhage .

Formerly of the Chicago duo Princess , Alexis Gideon has extensive experience as both a musician and producer. He has toured nationally with Dan Deacon and Shelley Short as well as played with Barr , Marnie Stern , Panther , Parts and Labor , Zs , People , Matt and Kim and many, many others. He has produced records (and provided guitar instrumentation) for Shelley Short (Hush) and White Hinterland (Dead Oceans). He has played guitar for Carcrashlander (Parks and Records).

"Visually, Gideon stretches the silly putty of any preconceived art notions and melds, marries and mashes charcoal sketches, paintings, Claymation, animation, flip-book drawings and video footage of forests into a kaleidescopic, psycho-delic merry-go-round. It is the ultimate adult cartoon."
Sara Moskovitz, Willamette Week

"Aided only by a lonely xylophone and some modestly overdriven guitar, Gideon's live show is the man himself adroitly matching his completely DIY animations word for word as they are projected above him. He slurs and drawls his words in a style that's somewhere between Memphis, Houston and Atlanta, often punctuated by rapidfire triplets."
Jeff Tobias, Flagpole

"Eccentrics like Animal Collective and Beck come to mind when spinning Gideon, who loops beats, warps guitars, and creates a carnival of schizophrenic sound morphing from dreamy folk to dancehall fodder."
SPIN

"A handsome Frankenstein’s monster, this one slips with alarming ease between clattering, percussive, no-wave noise breaks; unironic twang; arty, Busdriver -paced rhymes; and deep, Calvin Johnson -styled country croons. At the very least, Gideon will find himself with a cult–whether they’re dancing or swaying."
Michael Byrne, XLR8R