I’m a rather outspoken fan of both Bonobo and Cyriak so when I found out that Ninja Tune recently facilitated a collaboration between the two I was pretty fuckin’ pumped…so much so, in fact, that I didn’t watch the attached til this morning. The end of last week had been pretty busy and the last thing I wanted to do was have the initial screening take place on a small-ass screen with some tinny earbuds delivering the audio.
Cyriak’s visuals are gonna be kick-ass no matter what (Exhibit A) but this music video is especially nice because both his work and Bonobo’s sound are all about a steady layering-on. Each artist starts with small, simple and discrete atoms – a stripped-down drum part or short, simple video loop – and starts piling them on top of one another until the whole far-exceeds the sum of its parts. It’s the same ‘spirit’ that’s inherent to many other things I enjoy – electronic music, programming, nature and fractals just to name a few – so to have it distilled into one three-and-a-half minute dose is, well, thrilling. Art is just magic sometimes. Fuck yeah.
Even though I already knew about this one it was fantastic to open up the suggestion bin and find messages from Sam Lillard, Garrett and Mickey Gral ensuring I wouldn’t miss it. Thanks so much guys! Cheers!
P.S. Our Ninja Tune and Cyriak feeds are worthy of your attention. Enjoy!
[ Bonobo - 'Cirrus' (Official Video) ]
posted by respondcreate on Jan. 27, 2013 in Videos | tags: animation, atmospheric, bonobo, cyriak, electronic music, fractals, hd, music video, ninja tune, nostalgia, trippy
It’s nice to see Anamanaguchi finally make a music video and they went all out for their maiden voyage, tapping long-time Tim & Eric collaborators Daniel Gray Longino and Eric Notarnicola to direct and a whole host of talented animators/artists to pitch-in on the visuals.
The ‘Guch aesthetic isn’t easily pidgeonholed and the surface comparisons that often get drawn between them and ‘video game music’ and/or 90s-kid culture are, from my point-of-view at least, missing the point of what they’re up to. A few months back Tycho wrote about why naked nostalgia grabs are typically unfulfilling and it definitely applies here:
“That’s the trick of nostalgia, and why yoking it is such a dangerous business. It’s never ‘as good,’ because it can’t be. ‘As good’ wouldn’t satisfy you, now, because you aren’t the person who was satisfied by it anymore, partly because of the satisfaction you felt earlier, but also because of every other force and beam and ray which is always operating on your aggregated being.”
I don’t get the sense that anything Anamanaguchi does is calculated and, even though their style (both sonically and visually) might appear to be borrowed from another decade, it feels inexplicably modern and wholly their own. This is goddamn party music and that shit never goes out of style.
I absolutely love the arcade/clique theme that underscores the whole video and super-dig the pixel art animation sequence that kicks off after Ary is blasted to Furblivion by the L4Z3R R4V3RZ (especially the cameos-created illustrations that run from 2:30-2:33).
Full-screen HD is a must. ENJOY!
[ Anamanaguchi - 「MEOW」 (Official Music Video) ]
posted by respondcreate on Jan. 08, 2013 in Videos | tags: anamanaguchi, animation, bizarre, cameos, colorful, daniel gray longino, eric notarnicola, good times, hd, horror, music video, nostalgia, paul robertson, pixel art
It appears Dimitri Stankowicz has been hard at work honing his solid-color-fill vector animation style since we first posted his entry into Björk’s Innocence video contest two years ago. The visuals in the attached sync up beautifully (both in timing and spirit) with Rone‘s deep, synth-driven, spaced-out sound. The net-effect is pure, distilled atmosphere so get it loaded in 1080p and strap your headphones on.
This one’s a treat and we owe Brandon Michael Azzarella a big thanks for sharing it with us on Facebook. Cheers, Brandon!
P.S. If you find that your taste in music tends to line-up with my mine then don’t hesitate to pick up the full-length album ‘Bye Bye Macadam’ is from, Tohu Bohu. It’s packed to the brim with the type of soaring, emotive electronica that’s pitch-perfect for late-night drives and contemplative lazy afternoon seshes.
[ Rone - Bye Bye Macadam (Official Video) ]
posted by respondcreate on Jan. 07, 2013 in Videos | tags: animation, astronomy, atmospheric, black and white, dimitri stankowicz, electronic music, fantasy, hd, magic, monochromatic, music video, rone, trippy, vector, wormhole
File under: LOLWAT
Alexis Beaumont and Rémi Godin bring the bizarre for Parisian indie outfit Stuck In The Sound. Thanks for sending this our way, victor! Cheers!
[ Stuck In The Sound - Let's Go ( official music video ) ]
posted by respondcreate on Dec. 02, 2012 in Videos | tags: alexis beaumont, animation, bizarre, colorful, growing up, hd, lolwat, moon, music video, rémi godin, space, stuck in the sound, trippy
Absolutely loving the spartan, monochromatic and tight-as-fuck animation in this Mathieu Bétard-directed music video for Kris Menace. It’s a delicate mix of mirrored-and-repeating geometric ‘morphables’, rotoscoped figures and bizarre transitional touches where everything besides line, form and movement is swept aside. Just absolutely gorgeous stuff.
Special mentions are due to Jonathan Djob Nkondo and Pierre Ruitz (who, along with Mathieu, handled animation duties) and WIZZ for some top-notch production.
If you enjoyed the attached then definitely give Chunkothy a watch next, I’m 100% positive you’ll dig it. Cheers!
[ Kris Menace feat. Miss Kittin - Hide ]
posted by respondcreate on Nov. 21, 2012 in Videos | tags: animation, bizarre, black and white, electronic music, geometric, hd, kris menace, mathieu bétard, mirror, miss kittin, monochromatic, music video, rotoscoping, trippy, wizz
“I shuffle around the tectonic plates in my chest.
You know I gave it all, try to match our continents;
To change seasonal shift, to form a mutual core.”
You guys remember SOLIPSIST, right? (If you have no idea what I’m talking about, drop what you’re doing and go watch it immediately.) It’s easily in the top five of my ‘Favorite Pieces of Internet’ list for 2012 so I was SUPER-PUMPED to discover (via Sam Lillard) that its creator, Andrew Huang, directed Björk‘s latest music video.
The two are a natural fit: His craft-material-as-biology approach pairs well with both her nature-as-allegory lyrical tendencies and always-out-there visual style so it’s no surprise that this collaboration thrums with a primal, living energy.
The bits are available in 1080p, too so don’t hesitate to load this thing on the biggest display available. ENJOY!
P.S. Our Bjӧrk feed is pretty rad.
[ OFFICIAL Bjӧrk - Mutual Core - Art + Music - MOCAtv ]
posted by respondcreate on Nov. 17, 2012 in Videos | tags: andrew huang, biology, bizarre, bjork, colorful, hd, love, mind bending, music video, nature, trippy
Yes, please. I’m a sucker for wormholes and Jesse Kanda‘s geometric, seapunk(ish), refracted-and-ray-traced slow-dive for Arca‘s Manners is an excellent example of the form.
Serving instructions:
Cheers to Peter Verner for passing this along on Twitter. Thanks!
posted by respondcreate on Oct. 30, 2012 in Videos | tags: abstract, arca, atmospheric, colorful, electronic music, ethereal, geometric, hd, jesse kanda, music video, space, trippy, wormhole
“When you don’t know what you want,
You just repeat yourself again;
In the end, you just repeat yourself again.
When you don’t know who you are,
You dig yourself the hole you’re in.”
Another stunner from Gotye, y’all…this time with visuals by Saiman Chow. Grab your headphones, dive-in and enjoy.
A big thanks is due to Colton for the heads-up! Cheers!
[ Gotye - Dig Your Own Hole - official video ]
posted by respondcreate on Oct. 21, 2012 in Videos | tags: animation, bizarre, blacklist, gotye, hand drawn, hd, music video, psychedelic, saiman chow, trippy, watercolor, wormhole
“Where do all these melodies come from?
Where do all these melodies run from
to then find solace in sun, son?
Honestly? I’m stumped.
All I know is somehow when I’m stuck,
I’m un-stuck.
Maybe it’s dumb luck, I give up;
I’m just as dumbstruck.”
Steve first sent us this video in the spring but, truth be told, I didn’t take the time to really dive in and pay attention to what was going on until a few days ago. Don’t make the same mistake.
I never really caught on to what the song was about because I was too fixated on the visuals. For whatever dumb reason I tend to not like when shot footage and animation are combined unless they’re seamlessly mixed together. That’s certainly not a rule, just a general prejudice rooted in the sticky cellar of my psyche. When I was a child I used to separate my food into neat little piles; the stuff I liked least was eaten first and, when it was finished, the next mound in the hierarchy of flavor was tackled until my favorite was last on the plate. It sounds dumb now that I’m typing it out but, at the time, this behavior seemed perfectly logical. I was a little obsessed by the process to the point that I’d have a mini freak-out if different foods touched each other.
To enjoy something on it’s own terms is, to me at least, fundamentally satisfying. I find that both sobriety and intoxication are agreeable in their own way but to be either one or the other for too long a span of time spurs a vague discomfort as each plays an integral role in calibrating the poles of my consciousness.
Yin and yang, bruh.
So, separate and tackle in turn. If shot footage and hand-drawn animation are fused into one film, why wouldn’t you want to make the finished product look as homogeneous as possible? You know, invest the necessary time and attention to do a proper blend; apply some craft ‘n shit. This is probably why I glossed over the attached when I first saw it. But I didn’t dismiss it...how could I? Mr. Steven Smith himself made it for goddamn Stones Throw and, seeing as I’m a big fan of both, decided to tuck it away and return later. On a recent trip to the Midwest I did just that and, away from the pressures of work, had time to properly marinate in what was going on.
Anyways, the song is about the creative process and – even though Homeboy Sandman is specifically referring to his methodology for writing rhymes – the themes he covers are pretty universal to anyone who makes things. At it’s core, creating something is a frustrating mix of volition and luck. You’ve got to do what you can to get the ball rolling but ultimately, what’s going on isn’t completely within your control. It’s haphazard and messy and inexact and – for beings whose evolutionary success depended primarily on an ability to exert dominance over the surrounding environment – supremely frustrating.
“I think ‘What is this melody meaning to me?’
The answer might come in a week.
The answer might come immediately.
What is the recipe?”
Lyrically, it’s a tightly-packed, mad, stream-of-consciousness tumble and the accompanying grab-bag of colorful, whacked-out visuals heighten the sense of anticipation for what he’ll say next. It took me until the ninth or tenth viewing to finally notice that the only shot footage is of Sandman’s head, the physical case for an internal universe of grey matter that simultaneously contains both the hindering, fickle spontaneity of his creative muse and the honed mastery of language that eventually liberates and externalizes it.
At that moment everything shifted; the heterogeneous, sharp-edged contrast of the visuals morphed from the thing I didn’t like to my absolute favorite part. Maybe you’ll like it, too?
“EN-JOY.”
For more Steven Smith-created goodness just click here. If this is the first you’re hearing of Stones Throw listen to this and then go buy some albums.
[ Homeboy Sandman - The Miracle ]
posted by respondcreate on Oct. 12, 2012 in Videos | tags: animation, bizarre, chill, colorful, hd, hip-hop, homeboy sandman, mellow, music video, steven smith, stones throw, trippy
“Go on: bury me,
under stone or under sea;
Silent picture, keep the fishes company.
There is little else for me now…
...but I will find my way,
out of the dark some day,
into a crimson, yellow sun.”
An emotional cocktail of gorgeous visuals (by Crazy Lake Pictures) and poignant tunes (from Darlingside); this one’s a winner, folks.
[ "The Ancestor" by Darlingside – Official Music ]
posted by respondcreate on Oct. 01, 2012 in Videos | tags: animation, colorful, crazy lake pictures, darlingside, death, hd, music video, space, spiritual
Been itchin’ to post this one since last Wednesday when I first saw it pop-up in Mr. Lotus’ twitter feed. He’s got a new album, Until The Quiet Comes, set to drop on October 1st and made the brilliant decision to hire Sir Cyriak to create a video to promote it’s release.
It’s a true collaboration and exactly what you’d expect when creatives of this caliber combine their unique skill sets. The tune itself fuses together two of Flying Lotus’ fortés: sterile, machine-pulsed-and-stripped-down beats and his trademark spacey, rambling, warm-and-jazzy tones. Cyriak takes that contrast and runs with it, creating a world populated with regiments of single-purpose robots that is forever changed after one of them spontaneously evolves, trading in its initial programming for a more familiar-to-us set of survival-of-the-fittest, kill-or-be-killed instincts. The video escalates in typical Cyriak fractal-fashion, progressing in complexity from the micro to the macro until everything-is-everything and then back again. Word.
It’s a treat, y’all. ENJOY!
FYI: Both our Flying Lotus and Cyriak feeds are packed with fantastic videos.
[ Flying Lotus - Putty Boy Strut (Until The Quiet Comes, new album out October 1st/2nd) ]
posted by respondcreate on Sep. 23, 2012 in Videos | tags: animation, bizarre, cyriak, electronic music, evolution, flying lotus, fractals, hd, music video, robots, trippy
“You know I never want to let you down,
It cuts me up to see you sad.
And I wish that I could undo what I’ve done;
Give back the faith in me you had.”
Another day, another fantastic music video for a tune from Gotye’s Making Mirrors. This one’s packed with playful, surreal hand drawn visuals (directed/animated by Gina Thorstensen and Nacho Rodriguez with help from Giulia Bellunato) that do a great job fleshing out and exploring the themes of regret, longing, identity, forgiveness and hope presented in the song.
As alluded to above, we’ve posted loads of great music videos from Making Mirrors to the site that can be conveniently accessed via our Gotye feed. Happy browsing!
[ Gotye - Giving Me A Chance - official video ]
posted by respondcreate on Sep. 19, 2012 in Videos | tags: animation, bizarre, colorful, ethereal, gina thorstensen, giulia bellunato, gotye, hand drawn, hd, love, music video, nacho rodriguez, surreal, trippy
“I’m-still-swimming-in-that-language,
it’s multi-versal; pages and journals.
My journey here is ended soon –
we blow eternal.
My mind expands
with widening strands
of indigo and purple.
This music’s not commericial,
just the-square-to-meet-that-circle.”
We’ve been watching Ori Toor make shit since first discovering the ‘unofficial’ music video he created for Animal Collective’s Lion in a Coma. Since then he’s made a few more and each exhibit his distinct ‘stream of consciousness’ style of staggered-and-repeating organic, undulating shapes. Ori’s approach has subtely shifted in each of them but they’ve all, for the most part, remained abstract studies in colorful form. The attached, his latest, veers into new territory and I’m absolutely loving how he’s mixed in some representational imagery to compliment the usual assortment of evolving, fluid structures.
It’s my favorite Ori-joint yet and easily an ‘instant classic’ of the site…it’d be a crime to watch this in anything but full-screen HD. Oh and a nice pair of bass-friendly headphones is a must, too; Kingdom Crumbs knows how to properly fatten-up the bottom end of their kicks and basslines and you’ll want to rattle-and-bathe in each one.
Speaking of which, I picked up their eponymous album this morning and have been listening to it while I cobble together this post. It’s thoughtful, positive, mellow, rambling-in-a-good-way hip-hop undergirded by some spacey, out-there synthesizers and easily worth the ten bucks in iTunes. If you’re strapped for cash, head over to Bandcamp and name-your-price; even the most frugal of budgets can accommdate a few cents, right?
ENJOY!
[ Kingdom Crumbs - Evoking Spirits ]
posted by respondcreate on Sep. 13, 2012 in Videos | tags: abstract, animation, chill, colorful, hd, hip-hop, kingdom crumbs, mellow, music video, organic, ori toor, psychedelic, spiritual, trippy
“And you gave me love
When I could not love myself
And you made me turn
From the way I saw myself
And you’re patient, love
And you help me help myself
And you save me,
You save me, you save me…”
What a great fuckin’ song. Cheers to Peter Lowey for the fantastic visuals and to Gotye for explicating, via woven words and sounds, the transformative magic of love. Enjoy!
Click here for some moar Gotye goodness on The Tripatorium™.
[ Gotye - Save Me - official video ]
posted by respondcreate on Aug. 13, 2012 in Videos | tags: animation, atmospheric, ethereal, gotye, hd, love, music video, peter lowey, trippy
Takashi Ohashi‘s animation in this music video for cokiyu reminds me of both bleeple’s 2D moving collages and Ori Toor’s layered undulations. They all share a foundation of smooth, psychedelic abstraction but Takashi’s shapes veer away from pure form to conjure an alien landscape of playful, swimming organisms. It’s smooth-as-fuck, too – clearly he sweats the details, something I always appreciate.
Speaking of which, I’m a big fan of the ‘color-echo’ effect that makes it’s first appearance from 1:41-2:06, reappears at 2:47 and spools up to a crescendo from 3:17 to 3:47. It probably looks good on your phone, sure, but it’s one of those bits of subtle animation that’s magic on a big screen in a dark room so, if you’ve got access to a similar environment, I suggest you experience it there.
Enjoy!
P.S. If you’re diggin’ this, definitely watch Chunkothy next.
posted by respondcreate on Aug. 06, 2012 in Videos | tags: abstract, animation, cokiyu, colorful, hd, music video, organic, playful, psychedelic, takashi ohashi, trippy, whimsical
This song by OPOSSOM – with its big swells of lush, layered chords and surgical syncopated stabs of percussive rhythm – hooked me right from the jump. I kept turning it up to the point where Ms. Tripatorium looked over with concern from across the room because she could hear it blaring out of my earbuds with a tinny intensity. I just smiled and said, ‘It’s a really good tune.’
It is. You’ll see.
Anyways, the psychedelic visuals are a bit scattered and bizarre but that’s always been just fine with me. They’re by Special Problems (Campbell Hooper and Joel Kefali) and the attached fits in nicely with the other two out-there music videos we’ve posted by them, The Sun and MmmHmm.
Load it in full-screen HD, get your headphones out and enjoy. Oh and a big thanks to Bryan for sending this one our way. Cheers!
posted by respondcreate on Aug. 05, 2012 in Videos | tags: bizarre, colorful, hd, music video, opossom, psychedelic, space, special problems, trippy
“Up in the sky, there is a village,
and the people there are blue –
I believe it’s true.”
Anraud Janvier, a recent graduate of Supinfocom, wrote in to let us know about a music video he recently co-directed with Antoine Robert at Cube Creative for 77 Bombay Street. The song describes a perfect little utopia that exists above the clouds and the bright, whimsical and weird visuals drip with a naive innocence the mirrors the optimistic vibe.
It’s feel-good sunshine from start to finish but, seeing as I’m partial to wormholes, my favorite sequence kicked off at 2:33 when the Mii-esque rendered cast plunged directly into a technicolor tunnel via a blossoming Lotus flower. That shit’s mah jam, bruh.
When you’re done here, be sure to check out Playing With Light, an excellent little short produced at Cube two summers ago. Enjoy!
[ [HD] 77 Bombay Street - Up In The Sky - Official Video (Animated) ]
posted by respondcreate on Jul. 24, 2012 in Videos | tags: 77 bombay street, animation, antoine robert, arnaud janvier, bizarre, colorful, cube creative, good times, hd, music video, trippy, whimsical, wormhole
Hey, check it out: new Justice. Nice. The attached music video follows in the tradition of their last two, namely that it kicks ass. Barcelona-based CANADA handled the direction and their approach, just like in the previously featured Invisible Light, floods the senses with a meticulously crafted universe buoyed by a warm wave of back-of-your-mind nostalgia. No part is overdone; the story, costumes, sets, visual effects and action all work together in equal proportion, shining in their own way but contributing to a whole that exceeds the sum of its parts. The version posted on YouTube clocks in at four-and-a-half minutes but the one I attached from Vimeo has an extended WarGames/Tron-esque credit sequence that’s nearly as long the story so, if you’re into that sort of thing, keep watching once the action dies down.
As I mentioned at the top of the post, the last two Justice videos we posted – Civilization and On’n'on – are both fantastic (as is the über-bizarre Invisible Light) so give them a watch if you haven’t already.
One more thing: my favorite album of 2011 was easily Galactic Melt by Com Truise (Favorite tune? No contest: Glawio) so I was understandably excited when I discovered that his third LP, In Decay, was released on Ghostly this past Tuesday. It’s packed with Mr. Truise’s trademark lush, layered synths and at present I’ve listened to it four times (the fifth is in progress as I write). If you’re already a fan then don’t hesitate to pick it up, if you’re on the fence head over to Rdio to give it a pre-buy listen.
posted by respondcreate on Jul. 18, 2012 in Videos | tags: canada, colorful, electronic music, hd, justice, music video, nostalgia, trippy
About ten seconds in I started smiling, immediately caught off-guard – in the most pleasing of ways – by this Joshua Catalano-created journey through a hard-lined, cell-shaded, abstract geometric landscape. The slightly muted palette compliments the loopy, minimal tech-throbs of John Talabot rather well – so much so that I’ve re-watched it a dozen times already.
I typed out a couple of other paragraphs about the attached but they all felt forced, cheap even. I decided to call it quits and just post the damn thing after I remembered some wise words from the great John Peel: “At the heart of anything good there should be a kernel of something undefinable, and if you can define it, or claim to be able to define it, then, in a sense, you’ve missed the point.”
Cheers to that.
I can talk about other stuff in this space, right? OF COURSE I CAN. Here’s some stuff I recommend you check out at your soonest convenience:
1. The Ghostfaced Pixels by Safety Words. It’s a Wu-centric mix tape backed with NES sampled beats…for a taste, give Snikt (my favorite cut from the album) a listen. It’s a free download so don’t hesitate to get on that shit.
2. Veep. HBO consistently brings the heat and each episode of the Elaine-helmed, all-star cast is packed with hilarious, smartly-written dialogue. If you’re in the market for LULZ, this one delivers.
3. Do y’all watch Big Brother? Y’all should. My wife got me into it three summers ago after a prolonged campaign of brute-force pleading until I finally gave-in. I’m glad I did. At first glance it looks simple and trashy but if you crack open it’s seemingly cheap facade you’ll find a warm, tasty center that yields a bumper crop of entertainment. The latest season premieres this Thursday. Want to watch it together?
[ LAMENTO ]
posted by respondcreate on Jul. 09, 2012 in Videos | tags: abstract, animation, cell shaded, electronic music, geometric, hd, john talabot, joshua catalano, music video, trippy
I wasn’t sure where this music video – by director/animator/illustrator/designer Martin Allais – was headed but ceased to care once the flowing bursts of animation kicked in at 0:41. It’s bizarre in the best of ways, diverting any effort that might have been paid towards narrative into an all-in exhibition of constantly morphing visuals. The animation shifts between hand-drawn and computer generated but shares a textural sheen that, when combined with the paper craft infused stop-motion, creates an intimate, playful atmosphere.
Technically, this project was ‘unofficial’ which just means My Dry Wet Mess didn’t have to pay a dime for a killer music video. It turns out that the bill was picked up by some generous folks over at IndieGoGo so ‘Cheers!’ to everyone who invested money out of ‘pure trust’, having no idea what Martin would end up creating.
I rather like this new, crowd funded world; thanks (again), internet.
Speaking of which, we’re indebted to ‘Mark I’ for dropping this one in our inbox. Thanks!
[ My Dry Wet Mess - Etcetera ]
posted by respondcreate on Jun. 27, 2012 in Videos | tags: animation, bizarre, colorful, electronic music, hand drawn, hd, magical properties, music video, my dry wet mess, stop motion, trippy