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
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
“I don’t want the right to be rude, I just want the right to be cool –
However I chose to do it, I do whatever I chose to be or whom.
Hey I don’t need your money, I can grow my own food.
I don’t need your beauty standard, I can be my own dude.
And I don’t pay tuition, I can be my own school.
I don’t need your prescriptions, I can change my own mood.”
I was alive in the early eighties but didn’t become cognizant of its peculiar pop-cultural flavors until years later when I’d embark on mid-day marathons of tee-vee re-runs. I enjoyed playing outside sure, but there’s something about being locked into a screen that I’ve always found cathartic. I felt guilty about it then but I’m not sure why; whenever I’d try to tune out some inner voice would chime in, reminding me that I was wasting precious time. In all honesty, I figured it was God trying to communicate that I was sinning but – considering I’ve ruled that line of reasoning out – I’m returning to these old shame-markers in an attempt to unpack them.
Almost immediately after I began watching the attached, random memories surfaced of couch-locked sunny Summer afternoons where I allowed my brain to spool itself down to catharsis via hours-long binges on such shows as Airwolf, Knight Rider, A-Team and Mission Impossible. I don’t know when the compulsion to cram my head with media started but, as far as I can tell, the fixation has always been with me; it’s what I love to do.
I know now that, in this regard, television was an aperitif, a mere warm-up to the full-on high that would deliver itself in stunning revelatory clarity when I first found the internet. I still hold affection for the older form, one in which it was someone’s else’s job to decide what I’d see next. There’s a sentimental comfort in watching simple characters act out uncomplicated plots (whose resolution you could reliably guess by paying close attention to the first few scenes) over a grainy analog signal.
In that regard, this music video for Brooklyn-based Friends – directed by Hiro Murai – delivers handily, leveraging a heavy nostalgia vector without getting too mired in it; there’s a modernity to the execution that keeps it fresh. I’m down. Plus: kaleidoscopes. Fuck yeah.
posted by respondcreate on May. 24, 2012 in Videos | tags: bizarre, friends, hd, hiro murai, kaleidoscope, music video, nostalgia, trippy
“In that dream I’m as old as the mountains, still is starlight reflected in fountains.
Children grown on the edge of the ocean; kept like jewelry kept with devotion
In that dream moving slow through the morning…”
More goodness from Sub Pop, this time for Fleet Foxes’ nostalgia-rambler ‘Grown Ocean’. The quick-cutting clutter of casually captured documentary footage compliments the ethereal cadence of the tune so well that I found myself blissfully zoning out each time I watched it. Maybe you’ll like it, too? Their new album, ‘Helplessness Blues’ drops on May 3rd, 2011 which you can conveniently pre-order on either CD or LP here.
[ Fleet Foxes - Grown Ocean (OFFICIAL VIDEO) ]
posted by respondcreate on Apr. 25, 2011 in Videos | tags: colorful, ethereal, fleet foxes, hd, music video, nostalgia, sub pop
One night to be confused, one night to speed up truth;
We had a promise made, four hands and then away.
Both under influence, we had divine sense,
To know what to say; mind is a razorblade.
Heartbeats is one of my favorite tunes, whether it’s this cover the original by The Knife, the original by José Gonzalez‘s cover or Rex The Dog’s remix (my personal favorite). The official music video – directed by Johannes Nyholm, Andreas Nilsson and Bo Melin – is a treat but it’s hard to put my finger on exactly why I like it so much. After some reflection I realized that, in part, it made me feel nostalgic. Which is weird, cause I was never into skateboarding or grew up in the 60/70s. If you can make me nostalgic for a period I never existed in then, well done sirs.
EDIT (2/25/11): A regular reader of the site, Adrian, has informed me that ‘Heartbeats’ was originally written by The Knife and not José Gonzalez as I had originally stated above. Turns out he was right so my sincere apologies. Giving proper credit where credit is due is very important to The Tripatorium™ so if you find anything amiss don’t hesitate to drop us a line. Thanks for sending in that correction, Adrian!
posted by respondcreate on Feb. 23, 2011 in Videos | tags: andreas nilsson, bo melin, electronic music, johannes nyholm, music video, nostalgia, skateboarding, swedish, the knife, trippy