“I’ve grown a handsome tall tree, mother,
And I want to bear a fruit for you.
And I have carried your fears and your hopes, father;
They’re so heavy on my back, oh you should know.”
The process of becoming a person is a strange one; it is messy, inexact and crude. Anyone who tries to convince you that their maturation was as smooth, confident and intentional as an expertly executed golf stroke is lying. We are all tumbling through space, constantly trying on new masks and costumes hoping one eventually feels right. Someone once told me that you don’t know who you are until your late-twenties and, in my case at least, that’s more-or-less true.
Up until then we try desperately to make sense of the instincts, fears and desires that were imprinted into our fragile minds at birth or injected sometime after as the result of some inexplicably electric first-hand experience. We want to make our parents happy and then we relish their disapproval. We reject the social caste system but secretly hope we’re cool, forever longing for the approval of our peers. We love and we hate; we brood and we let go; we’re anything but still.
It’s a hard thing to fully encapsulate in few paragraphs of internet but that’s why we have music videos, right? If you haven’t noticed already, there’s another stunner from Sub Pop attached to the top of this post. It’s for a tune by Niki & The Dove, a two-piece pop outfit from Sweden whose sound is described by their aforementioned label as, “full of magic and light but with an unsettling darkness hidden beneath the surface.”
Yup. Sounds about right.
The visuals are from Sub Pop’s neighbors at WINTR who, I think you’d agree, knocked it out of the park. The out-there/colorful/abstract/geometric elements soar when tethered to the sweeping, baroque landscapes. The net effect is thrilling, like watching a kite pulled taut by the wind. Full-screen HD, y’all. Grab your headphones, crank the volume and enjoy!
Click here for more Sub Pop goodness on The Tripatorium™.
[ Niki & The Dove - The Fox [OFFICIAL VIDEO] ]
posted by respondcreate on Feb. 08, 2012 in Videos | tags: 3d, abstract, animation, bizarre, colorful, growing up, hd, music video, nature, niki & the dove, sub pop, wintr
“As darkness is covering the multiverse, far away in the galaxy of the wild stallion, a spark of hope is born. Guided by the light of Mother Mustang, the Space Stallions must defeat the Demon of darkness, Destructo.”
File under: LOLWAT
Some fresh, silly, colorful, bizarre, wonderful and well-executed work by seven students – Thorvaldur S. Gunnarsson, Jonatan Brüsch, Ágúst Kristinsson, Arna Snæbjørnsdottir, Esben J. Jespersen, Touraj Khosravi and Polina Bokhan – from The Animation Workshop in Viborg, Denmark. Special mentions are due to both Friðfinnur Oculus Sigurðsson and Thomas Christensen who composed the music and sound design, respectively. How rad would it be if Space Stallions got picked up by Adult Swim?
Click here to see more films created by students from The Animation Workshop on The Tripatorium™.
[ Space Stallions ]
posted by respondcreate on Feb. 07, 2012 in Videos | tags: ágúst kristinsson, animation, arna snæbjørnsdottir, bizarre, colorful, esben j. jespersen, hd, jonatan brüsch, lolwat, polina bokhan, the animation workshop, thorvaldur s. gunnarsson, touraj khosravi
I first saw A.I. at the movies in the summer of 2001. I distinctly remember enjoying it. I haven’t watched the film since but in the past 10 years I’ve heard people talk about how they didn’t really like it. Not that it was bad, mind you, but just that it didn’t knock their socks off; overall just not especially memorable, you know?
I’m trying to remember the plot points now and, honestly, am having a difficult time. There’s that kid from Sixth Sense and he’s a robot but he’s unhappy, right? Does he want to be a ‘real boy’ or something? I feel like there’s definitely some Pinocchio similarities or some shit.
Anyways, what I do remember are the visuals. I was always into watching stuff from a young age but 2001 was towards the beginning of when I started to set aside time to appreciate culture. When I realized art isn’t just Vivaldi or Rembrandt (though they both most certainly are); that it’s anything people create that inspires them; that the things I love – movies, music videos, electronic music, video games etc. – are worth admiring and paying attention to.
Oh right, about that: the visuals! Just rich, colorful and all ‘glow-y’. Great costumes, make-up and set design too. Spielberg is a wizard at atmosphere. Speaking of which, that’s why I’m diggin’ hard on this, the latest from our good pal Pogo. He leverages all the little visually-rich moments that stand out, mining them of their audio and then reassembling it back together again, creating an entirely unique experience. It’s all mood and feeling and I fucking love it. So much so that I’m going to give the movie another go in the coming weeks and then starting disseminating my thoughts in 140-character increments over on Twitter. Do you have an account there? Wanna talk about movies or something?
Oh and just wait til 2:01 when the Jude Law melody kicks in. Nice.
Lights down, volume up and enjoy!
posted by respondcreate on Feb. 04, 2012 in Videos | tags: a.i. artificial intelligence, ambient, chill, colorful, electronic music, future, moody, nick bertke, pogo, remix, robots, science fiction, steven spielberg, technology
“Gotta let this go;
Gotta field tomorrow on my own,
Your touch keeps on hurtin’.”
Back in September we posted a video by David Lewandowski that perfectly encapsulates one of our favorite flavors of internet: the ever elusive LOLWAT, comprised equally of parts silly and strange. We love that shit, bro.
Anyone who’s seen Tron: Legacy knows that David has talents beyond creating the fleetingly bizarre – he crafted the exquisitely rendered opening title sequence – so we were thrilled to discover that he recently directed a music video for Friendly Fires who, besides having a fantastic band name, write some super-catchy ‘choons.
David’s grandiose, hyperbolic visuals mirror and amplify the torturous experience, as described in the song, when an object your affection doesn’t feel the same way about you as you do of them. Love is a strange/alluring/wonderful thing and we’re willing to endure a lot of pain and bullshit for a shot at it.
There’s loads of fantastic visual touches sprinkled throughout, so keep your eyes peeled the whole way through. Serving suggestion: Full-screen HD with the volume way up. Enjoy!
A big thanks to William Doran, who first brought this to our attention two months ago, and to Joe Findlay who wrote us a couple of weeks back to remind us we hadn’t posted it yet. Cheers, guys!
posted by respondcreate on Feb. 04, 2012 in Videos | tags: bizarre, colorful, david lewandowski, friendly fires, good times, love, music video, trippy, wormhole
“When things go wrong, people need help;
lend them a hand, the best you can.
We can help each other out!
Team work is what it’s all about!”
We’re huge fans of Will Sweeney – he’s been an integral part of some of our all-time favorite music videos: The Parachute Ending, The Game and Goin’in – so we were thrilled to discover that he lent his unique visual style to a Yo Gabba Gabba jingle written by DeVotchKa. It’s an excellent way to ingest some sage advice. Enjoy!
Previously: Argyle The Octopus
[ Help Your Friends – Will Sweeney for Yo Gabba Gabba! ]
posted by respondcreate on Jan. 31, 2012 in Videos | tags: aliens, animation, colorful, dan britt, devotchka, hd, joe pelling, robots, space, trippy, will sweeney, yo gabba gabba
I first watched this last night on my laptop and was instantly smitten. My initial assessment was that it was akin to looking through the windshield during a drive-thru car wash within What Dreams May Come. It’s an orgy of sloshing, intermingled color that’s constantly changing costume from a myriad wardrobe of morphing textures. Anyways, after watching it on the laptop I was curious to see what it would be like on the big screen, so I hooked it up to my HDTV and took a seat on a comfy chair about fifteen feet away.
Whoa man.
I highly recommend you do the same and, if you don’t have a large screen available, just take a few giant steps back from whatever device your watching this on; it’s not so much about the size of the screen but your distance from it that’s important. When you do a whole host of imagery will present itself: people, landscapes, things; all fleeting but instantly recognizable. It functions similarly to Chuck Close‘s post-seizure paintings: up close they appear as a grid of imprecise, crudely rendered orbs and splotches while, at a distance, a psychedelic proportional face starts coming into view.
The attached was created by Morgan Beringer as part of a two-video set (the other one is equally hypnotizing and abstract so don’t hesitate to give it a watch) for Matthew Dear‘s recent release on Ghostly International, a label I whole-heartedly recommend you keep an eye on. Their track-record of top-quality releases (with videos to match) is a clear indicator that what they’re doing over there is special. Have you seen Brokendate? Also from Ghostly, also rad.
If you’re diggin’ this then be sure to check out Amalgamation, too.
[ Matthew Dear - "In The Middle (I Met You There) [ft. Jonny Pierce of The Drums]" ]
posted by respondcreate on Jan. 25, 2012 in Videos | tags: abstract, colorful, ghostly international, hd, matthew dear, mind bending, morgan beringer, music video, psychedelic, trippy
I was sick recently – the flu, I think – and the fever dreams that gripped me as I tossed and turned during my first attempt at sleep were truly bizarre. I would describe them as neither pleasant nor nightmarish but simply visions; strange, poignant and fleeting glimpses into another world. They were rooted in reality but wholly separate from it; vague narratives populated by people, concepts and places that I knew but presented in an entirely new context, overflowing with cryptic, I-can-almost-grasp-it-but-not-really messages.
The attached reminds me of those sweat-soaked, unsettling hallucinations so I thought it was only fitting to share it here on my webzone.
It was created by Tobias Stretch – who we’ve featured before – as an unofficial music video for a little group called Radiohead (have you heard of them?) whose tunes, for me at least, are always a bit perplexing so the pairing is just right. Enjoy the ride!
Cheers for sending this one in, Kelsey Guerra!
posted by respondcreate on Jan. 24, 2012 in Videos | tags: bizarre, colorful, ethereal, hd, music video, nature, radiohead, stop motion, tobias stretch, trippy
Been a while since my last post here, so I wanted it to be a good one. While on Vimeo, I searched for ‘gorgeous’ and this is the first video that popped up. Not what I was looking for, but by all means a worthwhile diversion. It’s a video for the track ‘Corvette Cassette” by the band Slow Magic. Video done pretty much completely by Brendan Canty of Feel Good Lost. Hold on tight when the kaleidoscopic action kicks off about halfway through. Enjoy!
[ Slow Magic // Corvette Cassette ]
posted by tizmatti on Jan. 24, 2012 in Videos | tags: brendan canty, chill, colorful, feel good lost, kaleidoscope, music, music video, photography, slow magic
Oh shit, son!
OK, first off: NSFW WARNING! Boobies ahoy! And secondly: NEW JUSTICE!
The ON’N'ON EP is set to drop at the end of the month (pre-order here) and the fine purveyors of dope at Ed Banger Records were cool enough to fund this fantastic music video to promote the release. It’s directed by the super-talented Alex Courtes whom, you might recall, was one-half of Alex & Martin, the duo that won the best Short Form Music Video Grammy in 2005 for their fine work on Vertigo. Though they’ve since parted ways, I am happy to report that it hasn’t negatively affected Alex’s instinctual knack for creating radness. Oh, and DIVISION was hired to assist on production and they brought the same A-game talent that made No Brain shine.
I’m rather partial to journeys down the wormhole and this one is a non-stop-center-zoom ride from start-to-finish. It’s gorgeous; the perfect accompaniment to your Friday night sesh. Strap-in, crank the volume and get them HD bits loading full-screen, dawg. Enjoy!
A huge, massive thanks to Brent Burtoft for sending this one our way. We are in your debt, sir – cheers!
Related Radness: In addition to the aforementioned No Brain be sure to check out Civilization, also by Justice, and Baby I’m Yours, a deliciously catchy tune with some candy-colorful-bright watercolor visuals. Enjoy your weekend!
posted by respondcreate on Jan. 20, 2012 in Videos | tags: alex courtes, colorful, division paris, ed banger, electronic music, french, hd, justice, music video, space, trippy, wormhole
Cheers to R.E. for sending us this fun, zone-out-retro-eye-candy music video created by Plastic Horse to promote Paul White‘s latest album, Rapping With Paul White. You can download The Doldrums as well as a few other choice cuts from the aforementioned release for free by clicking here or, if you’re willing to part with $9, the entire 26 tracks from either bandcamp or iChoons. Enjoy!
[ Paul White - The Doldrums [Animated Video] ]
posted by respondcreate on Jan. 19, 2012 in Videos | tags: animation, colorful, electronic music, eye candy, hand drawn, hd, music video, paul white, plastic horse, psychedelic, retro, trippy
Jamie Blackley wrote in suggesting we check out this gorgeous video Mark Bramley edited together from 10,000 stills and some handheld footage he shot during a recent trip to Tokyo where he had two days to himself (jelly!). It’s rad from start-to-finish but we especially enjoyed the mass-transit wormhole (0:36), Gumby slidin’ (1:13), elevator pong-paddles (2:00) and the landing strip time-lapse (2:31). If you’re digging the backing tune – Parametaphoriquement by GMZ – go ahead and download it for (legal) freesies as it’s CC licensed on ccMixter.
Jamie also mentioned that it’s reminiscent of Shinkansen ver.2. We agree. Watch that shit if you haven’t already. Oh and Tokyo Slo-Mode, too; also good. Fuck it: just check out all the stuff we’ve posted about Japan, OK?
Thanks for the tip on this one, Jamie! Cheers!
[ Lost in Tokyo ]
posted by respondcreate on Jan. 10, 2012 in Videos | tags: city, colorful, hd, japan, mark bramley, time lapse, tokyo, trippy, wormhole
Jacek Mazur (script/direction/modeling/animation), Marek Skrobecki (artistic supervision) and Tommy Zee (music/sound design) partnered with the Film Academy Baden-Württemberg to create this unique animated short with a fantastic didn’t-see-that-coming ending. It’s a treat to watch; enjoy!
[ OPERATION WHITE WIDOW (2011) ]
posted by respondcreate on Jan. 08, 2012 in Videos | tags: 3d, animation, colorful, film academy baden-württemberg, fireworks, hd, jacek mazur, marek skrobecki, sky diving, tommy zee, winter
We’re loving this rad promo PUNGA did for FOX Retro, an Italian-only network that rebroadcasts classic American television. The tight, fluid animation with its seamless transitions from 2D to 3D (and back again) are a real treat to watch and the accompanying music/sound design by Daniele Carmosino perfectly compliments the visuals. It takes lots of talented folks to pull off something this polished, click here to see a complete credit listing. Enjoy!
[ Fox Retro ]
posted by respondcreate on Jan. 03, 2012 in Videos | tags: 8-bit, 80s, animation, chiptune, colorful, daniele carmosino, hd, pixel art, punga, retro, trippy, video games
Kid Zoom/Ian Strange is an Australia-born, Brooklyn-based artist who combines a graffiti/street-art sensibility with photo-realistic draftsmanship. His work is super-ultra-dope; it’s quietly contemplative one-moment but big-and-loud the next, equally engaging from far away as a whole or up-close where you can get lost in the details. This video is comprised of footage shot between May 2010 and January 2011 in NYC and LA for his This City WIll Eat Me Alive show. The first three minutes are upbeat, showing Ian at work (both indoors and outside) but the mood shifts to chill for the second half when Boards of Canada‘s excellent Kid For Today provides the ambiance for a private stroll through the gallery and an introspective encounter with his work. Enjoy!
[ KID ZOOM - This City Will Eat Me Alive ]
posted by respondcreate on Dec. 30, 2011 in Videos | tags: art, chill, colorful, contemplative, graffiti, hd, ian strange, kid zoom, painting, street art
“How will I ever change, if I am willing to just stay the same?
And if I make a change when will it feel like I’m not just the same?”
Yes, please. Mellow dub grooves of CHLLNGR? Check. Operatic psychedelia-laced abstract sci-fi fantasy visuals (as directed by Chad Turner and Ryan Todd) that leave a pleasing 2001-esque aftertaste on one’s spiritual palette? Check. Turn down the lights, load the bits full screen, turn up the volume and get comfortable; I watched this three times in rapid succession and odds are you might, too.
Special mentions are due to Mike Rodriguez, Efrain Luna and Laura Southard who, along with Chad, did a fantastic job on the animation: top-flight work, y’all.
[ CHLLNGR - Change ]
posted by respondcreate on Dec. 27, 2011 in Videos | tags: animation, chad turner, chill, chllngr, colorful, dub, hd, mellow, music video, psychedelic, ryan todd, science fiction, space, trippy
Merry Christmas, friends! I first saw this very-apt-for-the-site bit of animation on December 27th of last year and have been saving it ever since to share with all of you today. It’s from a series of five short idents created by Matt Layzell, Bishoy Gendi, Michael Gendi, Jonathan Harris and Daniel Boyle of Treat Studios for E4, “to surprise people with something really anti-christmas, and transform something boring into something amazing.” All of them are fantastically bizarre and definitely worth a watch:
Oh, and a big thanks to both Harry Peppit and Sam Lillard who sent these our way via our suggestion box and Facebook wall this past September. Cheers, guys!
[ Reindeer ]
posted by respondcreate on Dec. 25, 2011 in Videos | tags: animation, bizarre, christmas, colorful, hd, layzell brothers, lolwat, matt layzell, reindeer, treat studios, trippy
Whoa. The needles on our patent-pending Dope Meters™ were pinned deep in the red for the entire duration of this fantastic music video for Misteur Valaire as directed/created by Corentin Bachelet, Gilles Cortella, Augustin Clermont, Adrien Jalade and Juliette Grandjonc, a.k.a. Paf Paf, a group of independent French CGI designers. Full screen and headphones, dawg; this one deserves your undivided attention.
Wait, it gets better: Misteur Valaire’s complete discography is available for whatever you feel like paying. So, you know, grab some spare change out of the cushions of your couch and pick up some great ‘choons. Enjoy!
[ MV (Misteur Valaire) - DAN DAN (Création collective) ]
posted by respondcreate on Dec. 22, 2011 in Videos | tags: animation, bizarre, colorful, electronic music, french, golden bombay, hd, misteur valaire, music video, paf paf, space, trippy, wormhole
“To have it all, to have it all, to have it all, and still want more;
One thing’s for sure, one thing’s for sure, one thing’s for sure, we’re all getting older.
So we take a lover, so we take a lover, so we take a lover, waitin’ in the corner,
And before you know it, before you know it, before you know we’re pushing up the daisies.”
David Wilson Creative is teeming with talent. Their music videos are consistently top-notch and this one, a trippy, bisected journey through the wormhole of life – from birth to death and then back again – for The Maccabees, is no exception.
They also uploaded a super-rad making-of video that’s full of fascinating tidbits – like how it was shot entirely in one day (!!!) – as well as insight into their tools, process and inspiration. This quote, from David himself, shows how intentionally he approached each detail of the execution, “What was really important in terms of the edit…was essentially the percussive nature of the track. There’s lots of really nice accents and I really wanted to accentuate that…so we spent a lot of time finessing and working on the objects pulling apart to really make an impact on both the guitar parts and the drums throughout”.
Click here to see more David Wilson Creative work that we’ve posted to the site (Our favorite? Zero hesitation: Let Go) or here to check out their Vimeo account, a treasure trove or rad watchables. Their in-progress Advent series is especially nice. Enjoy!
[ The Maccabees - Pelican via Gizmodo ]
posted by respondcreate on Dec. 16, 2011 in Videos | tags: animation, colorful, david wilson creative, food, growing up, hd, music video, sex, the maccabees, trippy, wormhole
Michael Chichi, the man at the chewy center of Synaptic Stimuli, made this psychedelic kaleidoscope remix of Optimist, a film by Brian Thomson that was shot at Sri Sri Radha Krishna Temple‘s annual Festival of Colors. It’s three-and-a-half minutes of floating mellow vibes buoyed by the ambient, dreamy sounds of Tycho. Enjoy the colors, y’all.
Click here to continue the chill.
[ Optimist (Collidescopic redux/remix) ]
posted by respondcreate on Dec. 06, 2011 in Videos | tags: chill, colorful, hd, holi, kaleidoscope, mellow, psychedelic, trippy, tycho
“It was easier to pitch with the LSD because I was so used to medicating myself. That’s the way I was dealing with the fear of failure; the fear of losing, the fear of winning; it was just part of the game. You know, you get to the major leagues and you say, ‘I got to stay here, what do I need?’”
The story of Doc Ellis’ June 12, 1970 no-hitter is so out-there and unbelievably ridiculous that you might mistake it for apocrypha if the entire incident wasn’t widely witnessed and documented. All the cold, factual particulars can be unearthed, in part, by following that last hyperlink but I think it’s far more compelling to hear the story in Doc’s own words accompanied by James Blagden‘s excellent illustrations. Enjoy!
[ No Mas Presents: Dock Ellis & The LSD No-No by James Blagden ]
posted by respondcreate on Nov. 28, 2011 in Videos | tags: animation, baseball, colorful, drugs, hd, james blagden, lol, lsd, no mas, trippy
