Chroma Key

Last updated

Chroma Key
OriginUnited States
Genres Electronica, ambient, trip hop
Years active1998–present
LabelsFight Evil, InsideOut
Members Kevin Moore
Website chromakey.com

Chroma Key is a band of Kevin Moore, known for his work with the bands OSI and Dream Theater. Although primarily a solo project, several other musicians have recorded as part of the band such as bassist Joey Vera, drummer Mark Zonder, and guitarist Jason Anderson.

Contents

Chroma Key's music is a mix of psychedelia, electronica and ambient, with detailed keyboard sounds and a slightly dark mood.

History

Departure from Dream Theater and Dead Air for Radios (1994–1998)

After more than eight years with the band Moore left Dream Theater in June 1994 in pursuit of his own musical direction. By fall of 1994 Moore relocated to Santa Fe, New Mexico, where much of the first album, 1998's Dead Air for Radios was written and recorded. The first four songs to be recorded were: "Even the Waves", "S.O.S.", "On the Page" and "Mouse" which include excerpts of interviews conducted by Moore of people he had met in Santa Fe. Dead Air for Radios was the first release on Moore's newly formed Fight Evil Records, created specifically for Chroma Key and future releases. In response to a question of whether or not he would tour to support the release Moore explained that after three years with the material he was ready to "just move on", but stated that touring would be more likely "after the next album." Moore denied a "dark" vibe to the album, and preferred to describe it as "emotional or thoughtful". Furthermore he went on to elaborate that the "result of the mood I was in during the period after I left Dream Theater and before I knew what the hell I was going to do with my life.... I don't really think of it as a dark time, but certainly a thoughtful time anyway. I think that kind of shows up on the album." [1]

You Go Now (1999–2019)

2000's You Go Now was written and recorded in Los Angeles, right before another move to Costa Rica, where Moore lived for three years. In Costa Rica, he began writing and recording ideas for a new Chroma Key album, during the day producing a bi-weekly, activist, musical radio program for Radio for Peace International, a short wave station based in San José. [2] Moore released a compilation of the program—a mix of original music and politically volatile spoken word recordings—as a downloadable album on his official site as Shines Fox1. [3]

Graveyard Mountain Home (2003–2004)

Moore originally began work on Graveyard Mountain Home in December 2003, but postponed work on more material due to the next OSI album. By this time he had completed two new songs. Moore commented on the sound of the album stating ""The big difference with the new [Chroma Key album] is that there are more real instruments...This new Chroma Key is going to be more organic, and less digital." [4] Moore left Costa Rica at the invitation of former classmate at California Institute of the Arts, Theron Patterson to visit him in Istanbul, Turkey. After two weeks he decided to settle down and record the third Chroma Key album. [5] Moore decided to model the album as a soundtrack to a movie. He chose to use a film within the public domain to avoid copyright issues. Searching the Prelinger Archives he happened upon social guidance film Age 13. [6] Moore wrote music to Age 13 slowed down to half its original playback speed allowing him to compose almost an hour of music. [5] Graveyard Mountain Home was released on November 8, 2004 by InsideOut Music. [7]

Unofficial work

Since 2015, Moore has had a Patreon page for Chroma Key, collecting crowdfunding for song releases.

Musical style and influences

Chroma Key has been loosely described by Kevin Moore as electronic, [8] trip hop, [8] and pop. [9]

Moore has identified vocalists Peter Gabriel, Roger Waters and Laurie Anderson as his "[oldest] and most basic influences" [1] and early influences as Rick Wakeman and Keith Emerson as well as Jane Siberry. [9] Moreover Moore has also recognized such varied artists, bands and composers as Lisa Germano, Pole, The Cure, John Cage, Karlheinz Stockhausen, The Way Out, Gordons and Japanese band Acid Undertones as influences to his music. [1] [10]

Discography

All Chroma Key releases have been self-produced and recorded in Moore's home studios, the locations of which have changed from album to album.

Studio albums
Demos
Singles

Related Research Articles

The Buggles English pop band

The Buggles were an English new wave band formed in London in 1977 by singer and bassist Trevor Horn and keyboardist Geoff Downes. They are best known for their 1979 debut single "Video Killed the Radio Star", which topped the UK Singles Chart and reached number one in 15 other countries and was chosen as the song to launch MTV in 1981.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dream Theater</span> American progressive metal band

Dream Theater is an American progressive metal band formed in 1985 under the name Majesty by John Petrucci, John Myung and Mike Portnoy while they attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. They subsequently dropped out of their studies to concentrate further on the band that would eventually become Dream Theater. Their current lineup consists of Petrucci, Myung, vocalist James LaBrie, keyboardist Jordan Rudess and drummer Mike Mangini.

OSI is an American progressive rock band, originally formed by Fates Warning guitarist Jim Matheos in 2002. Chroma Key keyboardist and vocalist Kevin Moore is the only other full-time member of the band. The collaboration may be considered a studio project, as its members and contributors write and track most of their material independently, sharing and developing tracks long-distance, only coming together at the end of the process for mixing and additional tracking. The band's name is a reference to the Office of Strategic Influence, a short-lived American government agency formed in 2001 to support the War on Terror through propaganda. The band has featured a number of guest musicians on its albums, including Sean Malone, Steven Wilson, Mikael Akerfeldt, Joey Vera and Gavin Harrison.

<i>Office of Strategic Influence</i> (album) 2003 studio album by OSI

Office of Strategic Influence is the first studio album by American progressive rock band OSI, released by Inside Out Music on February 18, 2003. The album was recorded in June 2002 and mixed in August 2002 at the Carriage House Studios in Stamford, Connecticut.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kevin Moore</span> American keyboardist

Kevin Moore is an American keyboardist, composer, and founder of the Chroma Key music project. He is also a former member of the American progressive metal/rock band Dream Theater, co-founder of the progressive rock supergroup O.S.I., and a composer of film soundtracks. Throughout his career, he has become known for his emotional music and lyrics, nomadic lifestyle and use of spoken word samples.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shadow Gallery</span>

Shadow Gallery is an American progressive metal band formed in the Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania during the early 1980s. It was originally called Sorcerer. After changing their name to Shadow Gallery and recording a short 8-track demo, the band was signed to Magna Carta Records in 1991. Shadow Gallery's eponymous debut was released the following year in Japan and Europe. In mid-2005, Shadow Gallery released their fifth studio album, Room V, on the European-American independent label Inside Out.

<i>When Dream and Day Unite</i> 1989 studio album by Dream Theater

When Dream and Day Unite is the debut studio album by American progressive metal band Dream Theater, released on March 6, 1989, through Mechanic/MCA Records. The album is composed mostly of material that originally surfaced during the band's early years as Majesty, and it is the only Dream Theater album to be recorded with their full original lineup. James LaBrie replaced Charlie Dominici as the lead vocalist on all subsequent albums.

Jim Matheos American songwriter

Jim Matheos is an American guitarist and the primary songwriter for the progressive metal band Fates Warning, in which he has been the only consistent member since the group's beginning. Matheos also plays in OSI alongside Kevin Moore, as well as making other appearances with many different bands and artists.

<i>Dead Air for Radios</i> 1998 studio album by Chroma Key

Dead Air for Radios studio album by Kevin Moore, under the musical moniker Chroma Key. It was released through Fight Evil Records on December 16, 1998. The album was recorded by Steve Tushar at Bill's Place Rehearsal Studio in Hollywood, mixed by both Steve Tushar and Kevin Moore with final mastering by Eddy Schreyer. Since its release the album has sold around 10,000 copies.

Inside Out Music is a German independent record label originally based in Kleve, North Rhine-Westphalia, and dedicated to the publication of progressive rock, progressive metal and related styles. In 2009, it formed a partnership with Century Media Records and moved its base of operations to Dortmund, also in North Rhine-Westphalia. In August 2015, Century Media was acquired by Sony Music and became its premier label for progressive music.

<i>Graveyard Mountain Home</i> 2004 studio album by Chroma Key

Graveyard Mountain Home is the third studio album released under the name Chroma Key by American keyboardist Kevin Moore. It was released on November 8, 2004 by InsideOut Music. Moore originally started work on the album in 2003, planning to release a less electronica-influenced album than previous Chroma Key albums, but put it aside to work on the first OSI album. He then moved to Istanbul, Turkey, where he wrote Ghost Book, the soundtrack to the film Okul. Enjoying the experience of writing music to film, Moore scrapped his previous plans for the third Chroma Key album, instead writing an album as an alternate soundtrack to an already-existing film.

<i>Free</i> (OSI album) 2006 studio album by OSI

Free is the second studio album by American progressive rock band OSI, released by InsideOut Music on April 21, 2006.

Colorblind (Chroma Key song) 1999 single by Chroma Key

Colorblind is the only single released by ex-Dream Theater Keyboardist Kevin Moore, under his standard recording name, Chroma Key. The standard edit of Colorblind can be found as track 1 of the album Dead Air for Radios. The CD contains 6 tracks, including the feature radio edit single of Colorblind, along with radio edits of two other tracks from the same album The CD also contains demo versions of the two aforementioned tracks, as well as a demo of a song called "Blanket", which did not appear on the album. The CD very rare and nearly impossible to buy, but a download version is available via the official website. This download edition features 3 bonus tracks, which are the 3 tracks from the original 1995 Chroma Key Demo. This Demo features demo versions of "On the Page", "Watercolor" and "Chroma Key". The demo version of "On the Page" found on the CD proper differs from the original 1995 demo version, found on the download version of the single.

<i>This Is a Recording</i> (Kevin Moore album) 1999 studio album by Kevin Moore

This Is a Recording contains demos from the years 1994–1997. It is out of print, and Kevin Moore has publicly said that there will be no reprint.

Age 13 is an educational film by Sid Davis released in 1955. It is property of the public domain. Musician Kevin Moore selected this film as inspiration for the Chroma Key album Graveyard Mountain Home. The film is included on DVD in a special edition of the album, playing at half speed and featuring the album's music soundtrack as opposed to the original.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nick Perri</span> Musical artist

Nicholas Perri is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and producer. He is a founding member of Silvertide, Mount Holly, SINAI, and most recently, The Underground Thieves. Perri has also played for Shinedown, Perry Farrell, Matt Sorum, his younger sister Christina Perri, Jimmy Gnecco, Dorothy, and others. In 2009, Perri launched a custom guitar brand called "Perri Ink." On October 3, 2011, he opened the doors to the Perri Ink. Cartel, his first retail store. The store was closed on November 1, 2013, so Perri could continue to focus on music. Nick is currently writing, recording, and touring with his band The Underground Thieves.

<i>Blood</i> (OSI album) 2009 studio album by OSI

Blood is the third studio album by American progressive rock band OSI, released by InsideOut Music on April 27, 2009 in Europe and May 19, 2009 in North America.

Graveyard (band) Swedish hard rock band

Graveyard is a Swedish hard rock band from Gothenburg, formed in 2006.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Haken (band)</span> British progressive metal band

Haken are an English progressive metal band formed in 2007 by multi-instrumentalist Richard Henshall, guitarist Matthew Marshall, and vocalist Ross Jennings. While Henshall, Marshall, and Jennings first had the idea of forming Haken in 2004, they opted to pursue their instruments and songwriting first. Upon recruiting other members three years later, they eventually released the demo Enter the 5th Dimension in 2008, signing with Sensory Records and releasing their first album Aquarius in 2010. As of 2020, they have released six studio albums, an EP, and two live albums.

<i>Fire Make Thunder</i> 2012 studio album by OSI

Fire Make Thunder is the fourth studio album by American progressive rock band OSI, released by Metal Blade Records on March 27, 2012 in Europe and North America.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Log for The Artist Shop IRC Chat with Kevin Moore on August 26, 1998". artist-shop.com. August 26, 1998. Retrieved April 11, 2016.
  2. ↑ "How To Use Green Screen Chroma Key". www.shinesfox.com. Archived from the original on July 1, 2008. Retrieved April 12, 2016.
  3. ↑ "Chroma Key - Memory Hole". www.shinesfox.com. Retrieved November 8, 2019.
  4. ↑ Perri, David (December 18, 2003). "OSI > Prog Rock's Strategizers". DigitalMetal.com. Archived from the original on December 18, 2003. Retrieved July 16, 2010.
  5. 1 2 Jablonski, Rachel (February 12, 2005). "Interview with Chroma Key – Kevin Moore". Stream of Consciousness. Archived from the original on July 24, 2011. Retrieved July 16, 2010.
  6. ↑ Hash, Tommy. "Artist interview – with Kevin Moore". Prog4you.com. Retrieved July 16, 2010.
  7. ↑ "Chroma Key: Graveyard Mountain Home Special Edition". InsideOut Music . Archived from the original on November 16, 2008. Retrieved August 2, 2010.
  8. 1 2 Perri, David (December 1, 2000). "CHROMA KEY - KEVIN SPEAKS OUT!". oocities.org. Retrieved April 11, 2016.
  9. 1 2 Tinta, Mark (July 1998). "Chroma Key: The Return Of Kevin Moore". chromakey.com. Archived from the original on March 2, 2002. Retrieved April 11, 2016.
  10. ↑ Koggie (April 15, 2003). "Interview with Kevin Moore (O.S.I./Chroma Key)". ytsejam.com. Archived from the original on April 11, 2016. Retrieved April 1, 2016.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.