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Chromatic: The Crossroads of Color and Music

A dynamic print presentation of independent musicians and artists who are using or exploring color in unorthodox ways.

“The sound you do not hear but see, and the visual you cannot see but hear, is the work.” – Rob Mazurek

At nearly 400 pages of full-color artwork and editorial, Chromatic: The Crossroads of Color and Music is a dynamic print presentation of independent musicians and artists who are using or exploring color in unorthodox ways. It’s a highly saturated, prismatic presentation of some of today’s most adventurous underground artists, with the same stylistic reach and aesthetic standards that readers expect from ALARM Press.

Over the course of 12 chapters, readers are introduced to:

  • Performers who saturate their stage shows in vibrant shades

  • Musicians who create concept albums based on color

  • Kaleidoscopic, polychromatic cover art

  • Composers and other famous musicians who experience musical synesthesia, the involuntary intersection of senses where someone might “see” notes as different colors or shapes

  • Special guest editors and featured artists who share their inspirations

  • The concept of audible color

  • Wild illustrations of musical notes translated into hues to create elaborate geometric works of art

  • Bands photographed in their favorite hues

Print Features

  • Photo-realistic collage artist and Sargent House art director Sonny Kay
  • Iconoclastic Montréal printmaking duo Seripop
  • The sensory overload of Daft Punk‘s Alive tour
  • The community-building, medium-hopping performances of Blue Man Group
  • John Zorn‘s visually stimulative exotica project, The Dreamers
  • The Zhou Brothers, a Chinese-American duo whose vivid performance pieces have crossed the globe
  • The elaborate costumes and stage designs of Sigur Rós front man Jónsi, created by Fifty Nine Productions
  • Electro-rock duo Ratatat‘s laser-light displays
  • The polychromatic cover art and videos of rock-tronica quartet Holy Fuck
  • Artist Andy Gilmore‘s translations of musical harmonies into geometric patterns
  • The rust-tinged, community-inspired works of artist/musician Damon Locks
  • Prog-pop outfit The Dear Hunter‘s nine-EP color series
  • Cornet virtuoso Rob Mazurek‘s intersections of light and sound
  • The improvised, music-inspired paintings of string-metal trio Judgement Day
  • Grecian folk-metal band Rotting Christ and its illuminations of humanity’s dark side
  • The color-based creation myth of musical duo / performance-art collective NewVillager
  • and more…

Original Release date: September 20, 2011