The tune in the attached is a cover (by Vessels) for a remix (by James Holden) of the rambling ambient techno classic, `The Sky Was Pink` by Nathan Fake. My first introduction to any of its many incarnations was via a Tiefschwarz DJ set at the 2007 WMC; I was there specifically to hear (and dance to) their remix of Phonique’s `The Red Dress` and the ‘Holden Tool’ followed it.
I was instantly smitten.
To some, dub techno‘s hallmark layering of super-straight-forward-and-stripped-down 1-to-2-bar loops can be relentlessly irritating and abrasive but, to me, that kind of ultra-repetition is just right. When I’m locked into the pocket of an agreeable groove the present moment enlogates, freeing me to appreciate it. I’m not a ‘live in the moment’ kind of person but I want to be and, as a result, tend to get attached to whatever helps me get over my instinctual aversion to now.
Hearing the same thing over-and-over again, especially if it’s imperceptibly evolving either by a shift in composition or the slight tweak of a filter knob, gives me the space to unpack and understand exactly what about it is motivating my body to move.
The visuals on display above, by Morgan Beringer, inspire that same inquisitive spirit. The colorful psychedelic sloshes keep hinting at images but we never get to know exactly what they are. Was that a bee? A white pine branch? A set of fluffly clouds? Right as your mind catches on some known object it’s already been washed away and replaced by another.
Over a year ago I posted a similar video Morgan made for Matthew Dear (go watch it!) and it’s great to see he’s still exploring this layered datamoshed style.
Enjoy!
[ Vessels - The sky was pink ]
posted by respondcreate on May. 19, 2013 in Videos | tags: colorful, datamosh, hd, morgan beringer, morph, music video, nathan fake, psychedelic, trippy, vessels
I’m not quite sure I understand the credits for this one. It was made by Barcelona-based Dvein for ‘The Vein’ but the client was Adobe? Maybe you can make better sense of it...
The Who’s and What’s don’t really matter though cause the visuals in the attached are off-the-chain great and super-trippy; if you’re a regular visitor here I’m confident you’ll love it. My only gripe is that it’s far too short, I can watch stuff like this for hours.
P.S. If you’re interested in process then definitely give the ‘making of’ a watch, too.
[ The Vein / Magma ]
posted by respondcreate on May. 12, 2013 in Videos | tags: adobe, atmospheric, bizarre, black and white, dvein, hd, nature, paint, spiritual, the vein, trippy
Tetsuka Niiyama dropped a note in the suggestion bin with a link to some animation he created, “that depicts saltation and growth of life in the sea using jewelry as the motif for illustrating the theme ‘Jewels of Sea’”. It’s expertly done and über-chill...ENJOY!
[ HINODE ]
posted by respondcreate on May. 08, 2013 in Videos | tags: animation, atmospheric, chill, colorful, contemplative, ethereal, hd, jellyfish, jewelry, mellow, nature, ocean, tetsuka niiyama
The vast majority of suggestions I receive are accompanied by rather lengthy and well-written messages explaining exactly why the suggestor thinks their submission is perfect for the site. The best ones tend come from the original creators themselves and, the better and more passionately they are written, the worse I feel when I decide not to share their work.
It’s strange to me that there are talented, creative people out there who want ME SPECIFICALLY to see their work. It never fails to validate my existence which, as you might expect, feels good man. My natural tendency in those moments is to post what they’ve shared, thereby increasing my good feels by way of returning their original kindness. But I have other feels to think about! As stated previously, I am rather obsessed with making all of you happy which means that, by extension, I am terrified of wasting your precious time.
As evolved social primates we are all tasked with balancing this ‘feels economy’ and my experience has taught me that any temporary twinges of pleasure I might derive from validating the time someone took to write in are vastly inferior to the satisfaction of knowing I consistently enhance your collective leisure hours.
Which brings me to the attached, a suggestion (via Facebook) from Tilio Canicola accompanied by a simple, two-character message: :)
It’s all he needed to say.
GENESIS is two-minutes of pleasingly-smooth, constantly-evolving abstract shapes (and a few wormhole dives) directed by Francisco Miranda and Guillermo Daldovo with animation/compositing/editing/sound design from MALEVO and set to a song by adapt.
It’s gorgeous stuff and, as far as I can tell, absolutely worth your time: so full screen, volume up and – most importantly – ENJOY!
[ GENESIS ]
posted by respondcreate on Apr. 28, 2013 in Videos | tags: abstract, adapt, animation, colorful, francisco miranda, guillermo daldovo, hd, malevo, psychedelic, tooco, trippy, wormhole
Happy Holidaze everyone! First, might I interest you in a bit of nature-centric, fractal animation from cyriak set to a contemplative, driving instrumental by El Ten Eleven?
Secondly, considering that today is a bit of a special occasion for those who tend to frequent this little corner of the internet, I thought it’d be fun to celebrate by compiling a playlist of what are, in my opinion, the best ten videos posted to the site during this past year. Without further ado, I present…
10. Little Boat by Nelson Boles: “It, like all great animated shorts, appears to be a snapshot taken from within a fully-realized unique world, wholly separate from our own.”
9. LAMENTO by Joshua Catalano for John Talabot: “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.”
8. GOLEM by Patrick McCue and Tobias Wiesner: “My first thought after watching the attached was, ‘this could have easily been in The Animatrix,’ so prep yourself for some late-night, cerebral, sci-fi shit.”
7. Hide by Mathieu Bétard for Kris Menace: “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.”
6. Crossover by Fabian Grodde: “I’ll leave the flowery prose to a minimum; it’d be a crime to spoil the surprise….”
5. The Ancestor by Crazy Lake Pictures for Darlingside: “An emotional cocktail of gorgeous visuals and poignant tunes; this one’s a winner, folks.”
4. I, pet goat II by Heliofant: “Oh shit. Do yourself a favor and prime your environment for an optimal viewing experience – lights down, full-screen and volume up – this gem deserves your undivided attention.”
3. Bye Bye Macadam by Dimitri Stankowicz for Rone: “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…”
2. Shelter by Carl Burton: “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.”
1. Evoking Spirits by Ori Toor for Kingdom Crumbs: ”[Ori’s] 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.”
[ El Ten Eleven "Yellow Bridges" music video ]
posted by respondcreate on Apr. 20, 2013 in Videos | tags: animation, cyriak, el ten eleven, fractal, hd, music video, nature, trees, trippy
File under: LOLWAT
The attached morsel of bizarre animation was created by The Line over a two year period of unpaid night-and-weekends work. It was directed by Sam Taylor and Bjørn-Erik Aschim but, like most passion projects of this calibur, couldn’t have come together without a supporting cast of creatives who generously donated their time and skills.
You can see a full list of who contributed here but I wanted to call out one in particular, Box of Toys Audio, who supplied the excellent sound design. It’s easy to underestimate how much credible foley work can add to a film but, from my point of view, having audio that ‘sells it’ is one of the key contributors to its immersive potential. The first two minutes and fifty seconds are awash in pedestrian, familiar noises – the bark of a dog, the rattle of a chain link fence or the ‘bop’ of a fully inflated ball – that, when the soundscape shifts as the cube descends, you have no doubt that something alien has just entered the scene.
Enjoy!
P.S. The Line also created Easy, a color-drenched gorgeously animated music video we posted last month that’s absolutely worth your time.
[ Everything I Can See From Here ]
posted by respondcreate on Apr. 16, 2013 in Videos | tags: alien, animation, bizarre, bjørn-erik aschim, box of toys audio, colorful, hd, horror, lolwat, sam taylor, the line, trippy
I often implore y’all to watch the videos I post here ‘full screen with the lights down’. I think properly ‘setting the scene’ for any worthwhile experience is well, worth it, but in the case of the attached it’s an absolute necessity.
All the sounds in this film by Takashi Ohashi are syllables in the Japanese language but aren’t joined together with any formal syntax; there’s no meaning to discern whatsoever. The same goes for the animation, it’s just bright shape and form on a black field, a visual representation of how your eyes might interpret what your ears are experiencing.
I had a strange realization as I watched it. My initial reaction was “Yeah, that looks about right” but then, in the very next moment, I wondered why it looked right. What in my instinctual thought process is validating the authenticity of how these moving forms relate to the sounds my ears are hearing? Where is that process taking place in my grey matter?
Stranger still, I never had any doubts that you would have the same experience. The human mind is a deliciously strange and delightful thing to both observe and observe with. So yeah, maximize your wonder quotient by clearing out the distractions before clicking play, the extra effort is well worth it.
P.S. When you’re done here, be sure to give With My Umbrella – a music video by Takashi Ohashi we posted last August – a watch next.
[ こうこう | koukou ]
posted by respondcreate on Apr. 15, 2013 in Videos | tags: abstract, animation, black and white, hd, japanese, music video, takashi ohashi, trippy
“In states of delusion, my father has danced on the rings of Saturn, spoken with angels, and fled from his demons. He has lived both a fantastical and haunting life, but one that’s invisible to the most of us. In our differing understanding of reality, we blindly mandate his medication, assimilate him to our marginalizing culture, and entirely misinterpret him for all he is worth. CALDERA aims to not only venerate my father, but all brilliant minds forged in the haunted depths of psychosis.”
The attached runs over ten minutes in length, easily double (if not triple) most animated shorts I post here. As you probably gathered from the quote above, it tackles to pretty heavy subject matter and the extra time is used to full effect; CALDERA naturally blooms empathy as it steadily draws you in. It’s won a slew of awards and rightly so, each exquistely rendered moment – as directed/animated by Evan Viera and co-produced by bit films and Flicker Dreams Productions – is overflowing with visual touches that demand an immediate rewatch. Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous stuff…ENJOY!
[ Caldera (2012) ]
posted by respondcreate on Apr. 07, 2013 in Videos | tags: animation, atmospheric, bit films, colorful, drugs, ethereal, evan viera, flicker dreams productions, haunting, hd, mental illness, nature, ocean, orchid animation, trippy
WHOOOOAAAA HOLY SHIT THIS IS SO FUCKING GOOD!
Premier Automne was created by a dream-team of French filmmakers/animators from Je Regarde, Melting Productions and InEfecto and is so out-of-this-world wonderful that, beyond mentioning my über-affection for the final sequence that runs from 8:34-9:01, I don’t want to say anything else as it might ruin the magic of watching this gem for the first time in a dark room with with a nice pair headphones strapped to your ears.
If you’re interested in process than the ‘Making of’ is can’t-miss – as is Do I Have Power?, a music video we posted a couple of Halloweens back by Carlos De Carvalho, one of the co-directors of the attached. Enjoy!
posted by respondcreate on Mar. 29, 2013 in Videos | tags: animation, atmospheric, aude danset, carlos de carvalho, colorful, etheral, fantasy, hd, inefecto, je regarde, melting productions, nature, summer, trippy, winter
Paul Dini meets Interstella 5555; this Mat Zo & Porter Robinson animated music video by The Line is a candy-colored, atmospheric, neon-laced, future-Tokyo treat. Enjoy!
P.S. Give Fantasy a watch next…or maybe Manners; I honestly can’t decide which would be a better follow-up to the attached.
[ Easy - Mat Zo & Porter Robinson (Official Video) ]
posted by respondcreate on Mar. 17, 2013 in Videos | tags: animation, atmospheric, colorful, electronic music, future, hand drawn, hd, louis & mccourt, mat zo, music video, porter robinson, the line