It’s pretty rare that I’ll post a video that isn’t HD. The attached is only 360p which is, like, 50% less than my typical minimum-p-quotient but the lack of resolution does little to diminish its charm.
It’s a music video is for a tune by Wagon Christ, an artist I first encountered during my post-college-single-and-searching-for-meaning-slash-purpose years. At the time I was living alone and working from home for a start-up which meant my long-simmering tendency to obsess was, for the first time, allowed to swell unfettered to a full, rolling boil. My mind has wrapped that entire era in a peculiar, wistful nostalgia; I have no desire to return to those days but will forever appreciate how they shaped me into who I am today.
My memories of that time have all bled together, lost in an impenetrable haze of code, photoshop, booze, solitary walks and music from SomaFM. The latter had a show, Groove Salad, that played ambient, downtempo instrumentals and I am forever in its debt for introducing me to artists like Leggo Beast, Bullitnuts, dZihan & Kamien, Tosca, Baby Mammoth and, of course, Wagon Christ.
The visuals – created by Celyn Brazier and Tom & Mark Perrett (of Nexus Productions) – are evocative of both Yellow Submarine and Castle in the Sky and tell a story about the transformative power of time, demonstrating how quickly the impressive giants of yesterday can become todays tourist curiosity.
ENJOY!
posted by respondcreate on Jan. 01, 2014 in Videos | tags: atmospheric, celyn brazier, colorful, contemplative, music video, nexus productions, ninja tune, robots, wagon christ
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
CRCR brings the weird once again with some dark, bizarre hand-drawn visuals in this music video for Lorn‘s latest release on Ninja Tune. Serving suggestion: full-screen, lights-down, volume up.
The other CRCR-created shorts we’ve posted so-far – Jesus2000 and Todor & Petru – definitely warrant your attention or, if you’d rather keep the awesome music video train rolling, check out our Ninja Tune feed; everything there is well-worth your time. Enjoy!
posted by respondcreate on May. 30, 2012 in Videos | tags: animation, bizarre, crcr, dark, hd, lorn, monochromatic, music video, ninja tune, trippy
A line in Resident Advisor‘s recent review of Mux Mool’s Planet High School (on Ghostly) instantly resonated me. Andrew Ryce described the album as, “an anomaly in an overcrowded field of beat music, preferring actual songs over sketches and loops, progression over attention deficit” and, in that one sentence, helped shed some light into my (sometimes) ridiculous tendency to instinctually categorize electronic music as either genius or shit. This type of knee-jerk hyperbole is, on the whole, unhelpful and (embarrassingly) dramatic but it also belies my childlike, underlying passion for the art form and its potential power. Beat-making is getting easier and easier these days but the core challenge remains the same: can you tease warmth and depth from a handful of overlapping loops? More often than not – with legions of producers tripping over each other to mimic Skrillex’s latest ‘drop’ – the answer is a terse and adamant ‘no’. But when it’s ‘yes’? Absolute fucking magic.
One of my favorite producers ever is Bonobo, a one man operation who has an uncanny ability to craft transportive electronic music. I could make my case with some flowery prose but it’d be far more economical to just have you listen to Recurring for the necessary evidence. This, a music video for a remix by Machinedrum of his tune Eyesdown, channels the fluid complexity of the original while ratcheting the mechanical syncopation to eleven.
Enter director/animator extraordinaire Anthony Francisco Schepperd (of The Music Scene, Wail to God and Two Against One fame) who leverages the organic-and-wispy-yet-bass-heavy-robotic intrigue in the tune as an agar plate on which to grow his infectious, signature visual approach. Oh and he crafted it all for Ninja Tune in just under a month. Pro.
The bass on this one is especially nice so get your headphones out. A big thanks is due to Sam Lillard who sent this one our way last night. Cheers!
We’ve posted loads of other fantastic Ninja Tune music videos, click here to see the complete list.
[ Bonobo - EyesDown (Machinedrum Remix 5" Edit) ]
posted by respondcreate on Feb. 13, 2012 in Videos | tags: animation, anthony francisco schepperd, bonobo, colorful, electronic music, hd, machinedrum, music video, ninja tune, trippy
More Steve Smith, more Slugabed, more Ninja Tune. All good things, friends. Ensure HD is on, click full screen, don the headphones and bask in the ever-shifting strangeness.
posted by respondcreate on Jun. 23, 2011 in Videos | tags: animation, bizarre, datamosh, electronic music, music video, ninja tune, pixelate, psychedelic, slugabed, space, steven smith, trippy
Don Whitaker, the mind behind Squircle Zoom, just completed another fractal video backed with a tune by Eskmo, one of the many fine artists from Ninja Tune. Serving suggestion: full screen + headphones. Enjoy!
[ Fata Morgana 0.9 ]
posted by respondcreate on Jun. 22, 2011 in Videos | tags: animation, don whitaker, eskmo, fractals, hd, ninja tune, psychedelic, trippy
Celyn Brazier directed and animated this video for Wagon Christ, one of the many aliases of Luke Francis Vibert and an arrow in the reliably excellent Ninja Tune quiver, with some help from his colleagues at Nexus Productions. Perfect for a late-night-chilled-out-full-screened-headphones-on session of reflection and relaxation. Cheers!
[ Wagon Christ Chunkothy Promo (official music video) ]
posted by respondcreate on Mar. 19, 2011 in Videos | tags: animation, celyn brazier, colorful, electronic music, hand drawn, hd, kaleidoscope, music video, nexus productions, ninja tune, trippy, wagon christ
Another great music video for a Ninja Tune release, this time it’s directed and animated by none-other-than Sir Cyriak himself. It’s just as you’d expect: fantastic.
[ Eskmo 'We Got More' (Official Video) ]
posted by respondcreate on Feb. 22, 2011 in Videos | tags: cyriak, eskmo, hd, music video, ninja tune, trippy
“Ariel, there was a fire in your house they say, and that your bedroom is all up in flames.
There was a fire in your house they say – they say you’ve been dancing with the devil.”
Another great release from Ninja Tune, this time from UK-based Stateless. The digital dance video (conveniently embedded in this post) was generously commissioned by Oscar & Ewan with improvisational dance duties handled by Dominic North.
P.S. If you’re interested in how the talented folks at FIELD made this video then you’ll probably want to click on this hypertext link.
posted by respondcreate on Feb. 19, 2011 in Videos | tags: animation, colorful, dance, electronic music, field, hd, ninja tune, stateless, trippy
Anthony F. Schepperd (of ‘The Music Scene’ fame) created another stunning video for Ninja Tune, this time for Philadelphia-based Ape School.
NSFW WARNING: There’s nothing especially naughty about this video, but I imagine your boss would frown on you watching anything with large towers comprised only of breasts while on the clock.
posted by respondcreate on Feb. 07, 2011 in Videos | tags: animation, anthony francisco schepperd, bizarre, hand drawn, hd, music video, ninja tune, nsfw, trippy
The official music video for ‘The Music Scene’ by Blockhead. An animated mind melt into a post human New York where TV and animals rule.
[ The Music Scene ]
posted by respondcreate on Oct. 29, 2010 in Videos | tags: animated, anthony francisco schepperd, blockhead, music video, nature, ninja tune, technology, the music scene, trippy