Posts tagged 'Trippy'

Let’s Go

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 ) ]

Shelter

First off, you better have some killer headphones at the ready before diving into the attached. I honestly can’t remember ever featuring a video with better sound design; it’s easily the star of the show.

That’s not to say the visuals are in any way lacking – they aren’t – but having such well-mixed, tangible foley work and layered, atmospheric background noise goes a long way to selling the immersion…especially when dealing with subject matter as conceptually out-there as this.

I don’t want to spoil where this one is headed but my favorite sequence kicks off at 4:38. Over the course of a scant 30 seconds, director Carl Burton makes four perfectly-timed cuts that both establish the scene and give you a concrete sense of place within it. My first viewing was late last night and the instant sense of ‘cozy’ I felt at 5:00 was palpable; it was as if I was there, temporarily shielded from the rain. It’s magic; just stellar stuff.

A big thanks is due to the aforementioned Mr. Burton who took the time to write-in and share his work with us. For the measly asking price of $3 you can own an HD download of Shelter, an 18-page making-of PDF and a bunch of wallpapers. It might seem silly to spend money on something you just, moments ago, saw for free (legally, too) but whenever I do I feel better. Why?

  1. He didn’t have to ask.
  2. I didn’t have to give.

It’s a truly voluntary act that helps break up the monotony of my daily obligations and an opportunity to express my appreciation for art someone made beyond a ‘Like’ or a ‘Comment’. It’s IRL ‘Like’. It’s ‘Here, I want you to make something else awesome real soon, please.’ Facilitating that is easily worth the price of a coffee.

[ Shelter ]

Hide

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 ]

Mutual Core

“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 ]

Kyonghwan Kim

'Stran' by Kyonghwan Kim (http://www.tahraart.com/)
'Stran' by Kyonghwan Kim (http://www.tahraart.com/)'Siflo' by Kyonghwan Kim (http://www.tahraart.com/)'Tor' by Kyonghwan Kim (http://www.tahraart.com/)'Liz' by Kyonghwan Kim (http://www.tahraart.com/)'DD' by Kyonghwan Kim (http://www.tahraart.com/)'Sicaf' by Kyonghwan Kim (http://www.tahraart.com/)

Kyonghwan Kim is a concept artist based in Korea with a portfolio that reminds me of both Yoshitaka Amano‘s muted, richly textured figurative illustrations and Miyazaki’s signature bright, cartoonish style. The six I’ve selected here are but an aperitif; check out Kim’s website for loads more. Enjoy!

[ KYONGHWAN KIM ]

Origami

The attached animated short by Joanne Smithies, Eric De Melo Bueno, Michael Moreno, Hugo Bailly Desmarchelier and Camille Turon (all students at ESMA Montpellier) is gorgeous, atmospheric and sumptuously textured; an absolute treat. ENJOY!

[ Origami (2012 HD) ]

Manners

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:

  1. Get the attached loaded in HD on your largest available screen and position your head close enough to it so that the majority of your field of vision is filled.
  2. Put your headphones on.
  3. Stare directly into the center of the screen and keep your eyes fixed that way for the duration of the video.
  4. Enjoy the magic that happens in your peripherins.

Cheers to Peter Verner for passing this along on Twitter. Thanks!

[ Arca - Manners (HD) ]

Dig Your Own Hole

“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 ]

Ryohei Hase

'Tayutau' by Ryohei Hase (http://ryoheihase.com/newimages/01.html)
'Tayutau' by Ryohei Hase (http://ryoheihase.com/newimages/01.html)'THE ANATOMY OF HACKING (an illustration for the November 2011 issue of Playboy magazine)' by Ryohei Hase (http://ryoheihase.com/newimages/32.html)'Repetition (2011)' by Ryohei Hase (http://ryoheihase.com/newimages/03.html)'Untitled (2011)' by Ryohei Hase (http://ryoheihase.com/newimages/newimages.html)'Drown in the empty dried-up room (2008)' by Ryohei Hase (http://ryoheihase.com/newimages/room.html)'Blood (2008)' by Ryohei Hase (http://ryoheihase.com/newimages/26.html)

Ryohei Hase is a freelance illustrator based in Tokyo, Japan who cut his teeth as a concept artist at NAMCO Bandai. To see more of his work, visit ryoheihase.com.

[ ryoheihase.com via Axis Animation ]

The Miracle

“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 ]

Dissimilated Vision

Absolutely loving this two-and-a-half minute dose of delicate, hypnotic, hand-drawn, constantly-morphing line animation from Katayama Takuto. The sparse, plodding piano backing (by Kikuchi Ryouta) compliments the visuals quite nicely, too. Enjoy!

[ 異化した視覚 / Dissimilated Vision ]

Ballpit

Kyle Mowat‘s thesis film, Ballpit, is a haunted toymaker’s fever-dream with its psychedelic tangle of fluid, soft-edged gizmos, trinkets, and doo-dads that spontaneously erupt into morphing, frenzied movement. The ethereal, echoing Fisher Price-instrument soundtrack by Lido Pimienta is a just-right accompaniment to the madness. ENJOY!

A big thanks to Mr. Sam Lillard, fresh back from his three-month Alaskan sojourn, for the suggestion. Welcome home Sam, we’ve missed you! Cheers!

[ BALLPIT ]

Putty Boy Strut

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) ]

Giving Me A Chance

“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 ]

Evoking Spirits

“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 ]

Distance

Here’s another delectable morsel of hand drawn animation from this year’s bountiful Gobelins harvest. It’s by four, third-year students – Todd DeJong, Tom Law, Wandrille Maunoury, Etienne Metois and Jonathan Vermersch – and does a fantastic job illustrating a distinct flavor of anxiety we’ve probably all experienced.

P.S. If you’re into ‘making of’s then you’re in luck: Wandrille, Tom and Todd each uploaded a behind-the-scenes peek of their individual contributions to Distance. Enjoy!

[ Distance ]

Eclipse

This short by Gobelins students Théo Guignard, Nöé Lecombre and Hugo Moreno reminds me of three distinct ‘flavors’: Stanley Kubrick‘s trademark sterile, ominous atmospheric direction, Bruce Timm‘s tight, economical illustrative style and Vangelis’ thick, synth-heavy ambient soundtracks. It strikes a just-right balance between hand-drawn 2D animation’s warmth and character and the immersion-heightening ability of subtly-executed 3D. It’s very nice; don’t hesitate to dive in.

If you’re diggin’ this one, I suggest you watch Countdown next.

P.S. Hugo posted a behind-the-scenes look at how ECLIPSE came together; if you’re into process it’s can’t miss.

P.P.S. Our Gobelins feed is filled to the brim with fantastic short films that are all worthy of your attention. Enjoy!

[ ECLIPSE via mcbess ]

Livin In The Sunlight, Lovin In The Moonlight

“Drawn in their distinctive 80s-inspired kaleidoscopic style, the Layzells take us on a surreal romp through a richly textured cartoon world dreamed up by a hallucinating out-of-work animator.”

File under: LOLWAT

A surreal-silly-psychedelic-good-times romp created at Blink for Adam Buxton‘s new ‘comedy-meets-music-video’ series, BUG, on Sky Atlantic HD. Best served at the height of your sesh in full-screen HD. This one’s a treat; ENJOY!

P.S. The Layzell Brothers (who illustrated/animated/directed the attached) are also responsible for the super-bizarre Reindeer and om-y 8-Bit Mazes so give those a gander when you’re done here.

[ Adam Buxton 'Livin In The Sunlight, Lovin In The Moonlight' ]

Hide & Seek

“My approach to illustration is about paring things down as much as possible.
I try and get to the essence of my subject by using as few lines and colours
as it needs to convey the core of the idea.”

Malika Favre, who wrote the above, has a distinctly minimal and dignified hard-edged style that’s reminiscent (to me at least) of Paul Rand‘s iconic logos, René Gruau’s figures and those muted-future illustrations you might see hanging faded in a dated hair salon’s street-facing window. That last bit of the preceding sentence might seem insulting but honestly, it wasn’t my intention.

Picasso famously said that ‘good artists copy; great artists steal’ which, like most hyperbolic statements, makes sense on the surface but doesn’t hold up to honest, measured scrutiny. Insecure assholes steal; a great artist internalizes the images that inexplicably resonate, leveraging them as a catalyst for iterative exploration until something entirely their own arises from the grind. And, though Ms. Favre’s work might remind me of something else – it is, make no mistake, wholly unique.

Strangely enough, the attached wasn’t made by her but was commissioned by Kemistry Gallery to advertise her upcoming exhibition, Hide and Seek. Maki Yoshikura did the animation while Luke Carpenter and Natural Self handled the compositing and music, respectively.

Credits aside, I like to see such tight, precise illustrations move and Maki did a stellar job bringing Malika’s work to life without compromising it’s rigid spirit. Oh, and the transition from one vignette to the next in stark black-and-white makes the eyes a bit dizzy (in a good way) so get this loaded full screen for sure. Enjoy!

[ Hide&Seek - Malika Favre ]

Nature selects from 1x.com

'Thirsty' by Risquillo (http://1x.com/photo/39149/category/nature/popular-ever/thirsty)
'Thirsty' by Risquillo (http://1x.com/photo/39149/category/nature/popular-ever/thirsty)'The Gateway to Iceland' by Skarphedinn Thrainsson (http://1x.com/photo/46607/category/nature/popular-ever/the-gateway-to-iceland)'Barn Owl' by Robert Adamec (http://1x.com/photo/50042/category/nature/latest-additions/barn-owl)'Halleluja' by mathieu irthum (http://1x.com/photo/43291/category/nature/popular-ever/halleluja)'Dessert' by Alexander Taranin (http://1x.com/photo/49663/category/nature/latest-additions/dessert)'Folding Lava' by Justin Reznick (http://1x.com/photo/41985/category/nature/popular-ever/folding-lava)

I spend the majority of my time staring at a screen which, honestly, has been my primary goal since adolescence; no complaints here. But, like with anything having to do with our in-built desires, balance is necessary and recently my life has sorely lacked it. I’m going away to the mountains this weekend for some much needed relaxation and the closer it gets the more I’m anxious to reconnect with nature – ergo this post. OK, so it’s still taking place via a computer but, whatever…baby steps, right?

Anywho, if you want get a dose of the great outdoors via assembled grids of red, blue and green pixels there’s no better place than 1x.com. All of the attached photos are from there.

One more thing: you guys are awesome. Thanks for all the suggestions; I still can’t believe how much cool shit gets sent to my inbox er’ryday. Keep ‘em coming. Cheers!

P.S. Click here for moar nature-goodness on The Tripatorium™.

P.P.S. If you haven’t seen Nature by Numbers yet you should probably get on that shit.

[ Nature on 1x.com ]