#the visual aesthetic of a lot of the album art is extremely similar

[explosionshark]

Listen to me. Listen.

Currents. ERRA. Volumes. Structures. Monuments. Periphery. Novelists. Reflections. Textures. Boundaries. Northlane. Landmvrks. Counterparts.

We have to stop naming our metalcore bands this way, it's boring, it's confusing, it's completely unremarkable and I WILL ignore your band for longer than I should because I'll assume you're a different band I don't care about. Please. Please. I'm begging. Please.

[ystk-archive]

[Translation] L.D.K. Lounge Designers Killer interview (BARFOUT! magazine vol. 122, Oct. 2005)

(Yes, there's really a long-running arts and culture magazine in Japan called Barfout. Click here to view full-page scans of the feature, and feel free to contact me with any questions/comments.)

What surprising developments took place on capsule's new album!?

I'm crazy about capsule's newest album, L.D.K. Lounge Designers Killer. It includes "Flying City Plan" [Soratobu Toshikeikaku] — featured in a collaborative music video created by Ghibli subsidiary Studio Kajino and directed by Momose Yoshiyuki — for a total of ten songs (perhaps I should mention that video is on the same level as many sci-fi films!). capsule is a creative unit made up of Nakata Yasutaka (producer) and Koshijima Toshiko (vocalist). The two have been entertaining listeners with their extremely poppy releases that'll take you on a virtual joyride through a world of music inspired by interior design and mass-produced goods. That said, I was taken aback by the song "Glider"! Even with their cool, plastic charm, capsule launched a dramatic pop track with a melody that tugs at the heartstrings the minute it begins. If I had to compare it to works by other artists, it's got a similar feeling to Quruli's "Wandervogel" and Supercar's "YUMEGIWA LAST BOY." Geez, I've really been wearing this song out! (At this point, "Glider" is going at #1 on my top ten favorites of 2005!) Including a club-oriented track with an enjoyable guitar sound, capsule's new album is filled to the brim with groundbreaking songs that overflow with human emotion. It'll definitely add a certain je ne sais quoi to your own space!!!

Original interview text by Fukushima Ryutaro, translation by ystk-archive

"From outerspace to the ocean, I wanted it to have a sense of vastness" (Nakata)

barf: How in the world did you arrive at something like L.D.K. Lounge Designers Killer? Nakata: All the tracks on this album definitely make me go "hey, I can make good songs too!" (laughs). barf: The jacket photo is a picture of grass. Nakata: It's fake. The clothes we wear in the "Glider" video are also made out of that. I'm not much of a nature enthusiast, but in Japan we sure do have a lot of state-manufactured parks, don't we? The album cover's aura is sort of like that, how it's natural but somehow artificial at the same time. barf: The first track, "Flying City Plan," was used as the basis of a short film, following the examples set by "Portable Airport" [Portable Kuukou] and "space station No.9." They're even screening it before the movie Touch. Nakata: The first short "Portable Airport" showcases a fantasy town in capsule's type of aesthetic. After that was the resort concept for "space station No.9." So for this third one, we aimed for it to be more visually spacious and panoramic. From outerspace to the ocean, I wanted it to have a sense of vastness, so that's why I went with "Flying City Plan" for the music. barf: It has a majestic feel. Nakata: I tried to give it an easygoing sort of speed. When you're flying in an airplane, you can't feel the wind, but you know it's going by extremely fast outside. So the music follows along those lines, with a relaxed pace, kind of giving off an executive's suite type of vibe. And they retired the Concorde planes, so... (laughs) barf: Did you have any thoughts on the video, Koshijima-san? Koshijima: It's dramatic. She's a damsel in distress (laughs). barf: The second track "Teleportation" sounds so much like capsule's usual while simultaneously feeling quite new. Nakata: That's because, in a rare move, I played the guitar. I've used it before but only for riffs and whatnot, this time I played it more messily. barf: Speaking of guitars, the third track "Lounge Designers Killer" is rather rock-influenced. Nakata: To be totally honest, I was given a guitar. So I was just thinking like, "What if I use guitar sounds for this album?" There wasn't a deep reason behind it (laughs). barf: What kind of guitar did you get? Nakata: The one I used in the music video.¹ After we finished the shoot for "Glider," I added guitars to the song (laughs). Originally I thought it'd be interesting that the video was going to show a guitar being played with no guitars in the music, but since we went through the trouble of getting it, I threw some in the song after the fact. barf: That would've been a bizarre visual element (laughs). I get the sense that capsule is strongly influenced by cool instruments. Nakata: I really like changes of scenery and instruments. With bands, new ideas are sparked by the members interacting with each other, right? I pull my inspirations from instruments and checking out stores I haven't been to before.

"capsule does things without focusing on whether or not it's 'too late' to do them." (Nakata)

barf: "Glider" really comes to life as the seventh track following the science fiction-esque "Antenna." Nakata: I tried to make the transition sound unnatural. There used to be a sense of flow even though songs weren't actually connected to each other, but nowadays there's a high possibility that people will import albums into a computer and listen to everything out of order anyway. I wanted to put something there that would make the listener go "huh?" when the song changed over. "Antenna" starts and ends abruptly: the intro begins and cuts off halfway through, giving the impression that it's broken; it's the same type of weird feeling you get when the TV channel suddenly changes. So I put that in there to make the connection between the songs worse, not better (laughs). barf: "Glider" stands out strongly. Koshijima-san, how was it singing this song? Koshijima: Honestly, my voice was in really bad shape during recording and it was at its worst when we got around to "Glider" — it wouldn't come out at all. But when I got to listen to the song in the studio, I was struck by how long it's been since I heard something so good, and because of that my voice somehow managed to power through (laughs). barf: The title of "Progress and Harmony for Mankind" [Jinrui no Shinpo to Chouwa] feels a bit out of place, doesn't it (laughs). Nakata: It's from the 1970 Osaka Expo. barf: Really!! I didn't make the connection. Nakata: It's so like us to not use the theme from this year's Expo (laughs).² The Osaka Expo happened during a time when people really valued science. They thought like "with science, anything is possible!" Along with the ecological issues, I think the idea of creating another earth is fascinating (laughs). barf: With the kind of rhythm it has, the song's got a cool spacy feel to it. Nakata: That track is close to the type of music that pushed me into doing music. I felt like how I did in junior high, making songs like this when I started recording at home. Koshijima: You definitely did material like this when we first met. It was pretty heavy (laughs). Nakata: That's why when I listen to recent releases, I feel like I've gone back in time. These days, a lot of the songs I hear that people say are "good" are nostalgic. Bands have started making house and electro-ish music with '80s sounds and I wind up thinking, "Can they really do that?" barf: It has gotten like that. Nakata: capsule does things without focusing on whether or not it's "too late" to do them. It's not that I'm bitter about it though; that's just what happens when you do what you enjoy. barf: But if that's how you naturally go about about things, then it's okay. Nakata: It's not a recent phenomenon, but I do think people who create things feel confined. If they do this genre, then they have to use certain sounds — they have so-called rules like that. I make music thinking it'd be nice to ignore those rules.

¹ Nakata owns a Yamaha RGX A2 which he "played" in the Glider music video. I think. I was told that it was actually a different guitar but I guess not! ² 2005 was the Aichi Expo with the theme of "Nature's Wisdom." He's saying this in reference to his disinterest in nature.

[jihanesroom]

Branding: Inspirations and Development

As my music video is for a pop-punk song, it would only be appropriate for my band to be a pop-punk or punk adjacent brand. Though the punk movement is heavily rooted in music and has a very specific set of aesthetics it is connoted to, punk has evolved in sound, aesthetic and most importantly: mindset. Despite this, even with modernity, the core axioms of punk remain largely unscathed:

★ Non-conformity: Refusal to conform to societal standards or norms ★ Anti-corporatism: Activism against private ownership, specifically large corporations ★ Anti-consumerist: Opposition to consumer culture in which material goods are unsustainable ★ 'Do-it-yourself' ethic: Construction by the individual in opposition to third parties

All of these factors reduce the risk of 'selling out', that being the attempts to appease a mainstream or commercial audience. Despite these mentalities being rooted in punk, they are often harboured by artists outside of the punk genre, specifically in the underground or alternative spheres. As such, I want my brand to follow these mentalities, and so I looked towards the branding campaigns of similar artists to understand their craft of remaining popular and relevant.

★ Aphex Twin - Richard D. James

Known for his contributions to IDM, ambient and techno, Aphex Twin adheres to all of the above mentalities.

Aphex Twins visual branding fails to conform to societal norms and standards, with his album covers being often provocative, featuring distortion of his own face, amalgams and overall reading as disturbing and unsettling. This, in turn, makes James' work anti-consumerist, as the visual branding is incongruent to popular and marketable graphical trends.

James also adheres to the do-it-yourself ethic in his album covers, creating his own through editing his own photography on photoshop as per the 'Richard D. James Album' and painting, as per 'I Care Because You Do' .

James, in the branding of his persona, utilises an aura of mystique and inaccessibility. This is done through his low-key online and press presence, with James not doing many interviews and, although being in possession of social media such as Instagram, does not actively post. James does, however, feature in underground magazines. This makes James appear distinctly anti-corporate, only platforming his music, thoughts and most importantly himself in more intimate, underground settings or analog media.

James also makes use of alternative and subversive forms of advertising for his music, relying largely on guerrilla marketing such as street art, in which the Aphex Twin logo was stencilled across major cities, especially in liminal, transient spaces such as metros and street crossings. Despite this, James' most iconic and ambitious guerrilla marketing campaign was for his 2014 release 'Syro', where a neon green blimp was flown across the UK.

Upon analysis, James' branding is fundamentally punk, and left me wanting to emulate aspects of his marketing, specifically being in niche, indie magazines and street art, though due to Singapores laws may be a bit difficult to achieve.

★ Death Grips

Death Grips is an experimental hip-hop group, however does draw from genres such as punk rock, noise and industrial.

Death Grips, much like James, adheres to many aspects of the punk mentality though diverges in certain ways whilst still maintaining a punk outlook. An example of which Death Grips' album covers having a tendency to not divulge a lot of information on either the band itself nor the music it pertains to. This is distinctly non-conforming to how albums are traditionally created, often used to represent the artist, and their individual character and ideals effectively.

In a similar manner to Aphex Twin, though possibly to an even more extreme extent, Death Grips and it's members lack a press presence, doing few interviews and even fewer magazine appearances, a notion that follows the anti-corporate mentality. The group pushes this even further by their enigmatic online presence, specifically on Instagram, appearing and disappearing for years at a time, with surreal, offbeat posts which border on non sensical.

Despite this, the only time the group exhibits any trace of seriousness would be in the promotion of their music. This balance of offbeat eccentricity paired with genuine attempts to market their music demonstrates Death Grips as a group who cares about the livelihood of their brand, yet still maintains an eccentric and idiosyncratic demeanour.

This research has given me an insight into how the punk ideology manifests in modern artists, as well as enabling me an understanding on guerrilla or alternative methods of marketing. There are also now aspects of the artists that i've studied such as the lack of press, an enigmatic presence and an offbeat persona that i'd like to attribute to my up and coming artist.

[lonelyvomit]

abby, can we have an arty analysis of the album cover (now it's confirmed) 🙏🏻🎨🖼🤲🏻

dunno about an analysis but I'll happily give an uneducated art rant ✨😌

what stands out to me first is that using a band feature photograph it's a step out of line from their previous album covers, which in the past have been 2 designed graphics and a stock photo. but it's not like band feature covers are out of character for them either - they've done a lot of those with their singles (I didn't even realize they did it this much until now lmao). it's not uncommon for bands to use a mix of covers, but I've noticed most bands do have their preferences in terms or illustative vs. photograph covers, and whether or not the band itself is featured in it. so far BC has definitely favored band photos for single covers, but leaned towards design heavy covers for the main album releases.

that being said, LOTSAD follows Violent Pop really closely with the black and white color theme, heavy texture filter, fairly similar font choice, and most of all opting out from having the band name on the cover and counting on the logo to do it's thing. if the album name wasn't there and you told me the LOTSAD cover is just the cover for Violent Pop Deluxe Edition, I'd probably believe you.

in terms of the photo itself - I like the composition and the visual flow. it has Kiril's signature style (which Niko confirmed on ig literally while I was writing this lmao), and the result is great. there is however some things with the editing that I'm sure work perfectly fine in most people's eyes, but I'll nitpick it anyway.

first is the fact that it's impossible to mangle someone's face like that, stretching it from natural live proportions into a hanging mask, without messing with the skin texture and lighting. which means there's some little spots where the lighting bothers me or I think there's been some airbrushing. tho not much, because most of it gets blended with the scratchy texture filter. which is my second point - I'm not a fan of the texture overlay. it can be an artistic choice, BC does love their heavy editing, and it does include the words "sick & dangerous", so it was clearly created specifically for this cover. but filters are also a quick way of hiding photoshop mistakes, so something this heavily edited always makes me squint to see if it's something that was actually planned from the start, or if there's some photoshop fuckups it's being used to hide or distract from. knowing how much stretching people's faces does undeniably fuck shit up, I think here it's a case of both. it's fine, it fits BC's aesthetic and is hell of a lot easier than trying to reintroduce the old skin texture to every part you've had to edit. Ossi did a good job with what he had to work with and what he was asked to do, and I do appreciate the texture overlay being personalized for the album.

overall it's an awesome cover, it's extremely on brand for them, and well executed 🔥

[studiesinconnoisseurship]

Sicily's Triumph of Death

Triumph of Death – Palazzo Abatellis, Palermo

Palazzo Sclafani, Palermo

The Triumph of Death – il Trionfo della Morte – is a huge fresco filling most of the end wall of a large and lofty hall in Palazzo Abbatellis, the National Gallery of Sicily in Palermo. It was not painted for that room, but for a wall of the courtyard of another palazzo in the city, Palazzo Sclafani, still standing  and still to be seen, though not visited, close to a public garden east of the Cathedral. That palazzo was built in 1330, originally for a Count, Matteo Sclafani, but exactly a hundred years later, in 1440, the City Administration (the Senate), wishing to rationalise its hospital provision and have one big hospital rather than seven small ones, requisitioned the palazzo, by then in a poor state, and set about converting it into the main hospital for the city. This development evidently included commissions for artists, and one of those was given to the painter of the Triumph. It is unfortunate that the commission document has never been found, but we can be thankful that aerial bombardment of Palazzo Sclafani in 1943 did not destroy, only damaged, the fresco, which was soon after removed, restored and displayed where it now is.

Details from Triumph of Death (clockwise from top): Death rides of a skeletal horse; The Fountain of Life; Death’s Victims; Lute Player

The painter’s choice of subject was a natural one for the courtyard of a hospital in those days. Sclafani’s palazzo dated from the time of the Black Death, but in Sicily, as in mainland Italy and the rest of Europe, Death in the form of plague had galloped back into people’s lives unpredictably and most often fatally ever since. Skeletal Death rides his skeletal horse full tilt across the fresco; his victims lie in a heap at the bottom of the picture. There is, however, Life, a Fountain of Life, beside which a harpist plays his silent music. Elegant ladies converse with animated gestures of shared alarm; there are men to the left, young and old, but, one observes, no children. Above the men a menacing wolfhound and another dog strain at the leash. Death, in short, threatens Life, for the mitred as for the unmitred, but Life is there. Memento  Mori, you who enter this place and may not leave it alive; but remember, too, that you have lived, and life, with all its music and conversation, will continue after you.

Such is the general message. I have chosen this work as the focus of my latest Studies in Connoisseurship partly because we are living through a global pandemic. The hospitals of Palermo, as of many other cities in Italy and beyond, have once more been filled with very ill people dying, or threatened with dying, as life outside them struggles to continue.

As a connoisseur my motive is different. The fresco, unsurprisingly, has captivated many visitors and inspired some writers, but the fact that without a surviving contract or other document from the early 1440s we still do not know who painted this work surely plays its part in our fascination: we see it as a unique phenomenon, sui generis. This of course is unreal: someone painted it. Sicilians wonder if he was Sicilian. The last owner of Palazzo Sclafani lived in Spain; could he have proposed a Spanish artist? Some, bizarrely, have suggested that the painter may have come from the Netherlands. If he was Sicilian, did he afterwards leave the island to seek his fortune, like Antonello da Messina, on the mainland? Or did he come from the mainland, invited by the hospital’s rector, Pietro Speciale, or someone else who was commissioning works of art for it? A work like the Triumph of Death does not appear from nowhere; what other works by its creator preceded it?

I cannot answer these questions, but privately I have shared the quest for answers over many years, and I think I can at least contribute to our understanding of this anonymous artist by adding other works that may reasonably be attributed to him. As with all exercises in connoisseurship, what is ‘reasonable’ is what can be argued visually through juxtaposition of  images.

First, a general observation should be made about the work from an aesthetic point of view. Iconographically, the Triumph of Death is well known and quite a lot has been written about antecedent examples of the theme, at the Campo Santo at Pisa, in the work of Orcagna, and elsewhere. In this case, however, the horse and the rider are not enough to pull the composition together, because all around them are disparate groups of figures and animals and objects that relate awkwardly to each other and fail to bond into a coherent whole. Whatever else he was, this artist cannot be said to be a great composer. Seen from a distance – as the fresco can be – it reminds one of some large and similarly incoherent tapestries. This is a serious defect which no doubt excludes it, as a whole, from the very highest rank of artistic achievement.

Details from Triumph of Death (clockwise from top left) – Death’s Horse; The King; a Survivor of Death; Death’s Victims

The words ‘as a whole’ are to be emphasised, though, because as soon as we draw close and our eyes take in the details (as would those of anyone standing or walking under the arcade of that hospital courtyard in 1442), they are everywhere amazed by what they discover in the sphere of draughtsmanship. There the artist excels, both in ‘disegno’, his brilliant invention of representational forms, and in the extraordinary refinement and elegance of his line, whether in the tail of the hound, the head of the horse (like something out of Guernica), in the aristocratic ladies or, most originally of all, in the heads of the dead tumbled together at the bottom. It is the quality of this artist’s drawing, rather than his colour or composition, that makes it less important that all the colour reproductions offered here are of questionable fidelity.

Comparing drawings at the Louvre (top left and top centre) with details of the noble women from Triumph of Death

Comparing the similar hand gesture of the drawing of a Lady (left) and a Survivor of Death (right)

To pick out the draughtsmanship is, I believe, to pick up the key that can unlock the mystery of what else this artist did. Over many years of intermittent study I have kept a look-out for any drawings that might be associated with him by virtue of their extreme linear elegance combined with a certain oddity. Among the drawings in the Vallardi Album at the Louvre are a few that are not by Pisanello, and among these is a pair of profiles, one of a mature Lady, the other of an older Man. The one of the Lady is the more developed and the more remarkable, for the fine lines of the hair and the purity of contour in her profile. Compare this drawing with the depiction of the aristocratic ladies in the Trionfo, especially the one seen in profile who likewise wears an eardrop, and I think a definite similarity is observable. It is confirmed when we turn to the raised left hand of the Lady in the drawing. Artists describe hands and their gestures in such interestingly different ways: this one favours two fingers (first and second) straight, two fingers (third and fourth) bent. Anyone who tries to put their own fingers into the same position will soon realise that it is not natural and not sustainable; but there it is, not only in the drawing but in the Trionfo, exactly in one instance, and to varying degrees of bentness in many more. To anyone acquainted with the history of connoisseurship this could be a textbook illustration of Giovanni Morelli’s ‘method’.

Drawing of a Man with a Fur Collar (Staatliche Graphische Sammlung München) 

Comparing the Louvre Drawing (left) and Munich drawing (right) with faces from Triumph

At the Print Room at Munich (Staatliche Graphische Sammlung) there is another drawing, this time of a Man with a Fur Collar seen close-up, his head turned to our left, his neck emerging from a fur collar encircling it. this is not finished, but those fine lines drawn in long parallel strokes that distinguished the tresses of the Lady in the Vallardi Album are also here, along with a very particular shape given to the eye (upper lid and corner nearest to the nose) and to the ear, philtrum> and lips. These features are most clearly matched in the face of the young man on the extreme left of the Trionfo, and that of his companion.

Portrait of a Lady – Johnson Collection, Philadelphia

Comparing the Drawings from the Louvre (Top Left and Bottom Right) and Munich (Bottom Left) with the Painting of the Lady at Washington

At this point in my quest for drawings by the Trionfo Master the trail goes cold. There is, however, a painting in the Johnson Collection at Philadelphia, attributed, unconvincingly in my view, to Ercole de Roberti, which exhibits exactly the eye-shape, ear-shape, lips and philtrum of the Munich drawing, as well as the sharp, rounded eyebrows of the Vallardi Lady and the ear of the Vallardi Man.The Johnson painting has morphological similarities with the Trionfo, but it seems to belong to a later period, and there is reason for thinking that it does. It may indeed be the link between the Trionfo and a whole body of much later work by this artist, not in Sicily but in Ferrara.

Comparing faces with fresco in Palazzo di Schifanoia of Virgo recumbant with her Decani (bottom panels)

In the Salone dei Mesi of the Palazzo di Schifanoia in Ferrara  it is possible to distinguish fairly clearly the work of Francesco del Cossa, but there is another artist, credited with many of the Months whose identity has always puzzled art historians. He has been called the ‘Maestro di Ercole’ or the ‘Maestro degli Occhi Spalancati’, but these names have not led to much development of an oeuvre for an artist of such weird imagination and invention, a man capable, as Cossa was not, of creating extraordinary images like the figure of Virgo, for August, the giant lobster, for June, or the sign of Libra, for September.

Scenes from the Fresco at Palazzo Schifanoia: Virgo in the Allegory of August (top); The Lobster from the Allegory of June (centre); Libra from the Allegory of September (bottom)

From Palazzo Sclafani to Palazzo Schifanoia is not only a leap of geography; there must also be a gap of many years, perhaps a quarter of a century. It is frustrating and unsatisfactory that there is, as yet, so little to fill that gap. I do believe, nevertheless, that Palermo and Ferrara are connected in the career of this painter. The argument depends as always on a juxtaposition such as this one: the Munich drawing, the Johnson portrait, the heads of Virgo.

Detail of Virgo (top left) to compare with the Lady in Philadelphia (top centre) and the Man in Munich (top right), and comparisons of the horse from Triumph of Death (bottom left) and horses from the Allegory of March (bottom right)

From August we can move to other Months in the astrological zodiac, and discover that the eccentricity manifest at Palermo has not deserted this artist, but it has changed. In the many years that have elapsed he has developed, for example, a bizarre way of representing drapery – like sharply creased paper folded one way and then another – and rocks – like laminated tombstones. Despite the lapse of years there is a horse’s head whose structure can still remind us of the one at Palermo.

The Allegory of August, Triumph of Ceres and representation of Virgo – Palazzo Schifanoia

The Allegory of September (top) and detail of Mars in bed with a Nymph (bottom) – Palazzo Schifanoia

There is also a change of theme. The work at Palermo is dominated, very obviously, by Death, his work at Ferrara quite largely by Sex, especially so in August. The bare-breasted figure of Ceres brandishes the reaped corn and then, recumbent, sprawls luxuriously across three divisions while looking out seductively at the spectator. In September Mars is in bed with a nymph, Ylia, and the figure of Libra is set between two figures of a physique reminiscent of male ballet dancers, their calves developed like athletes on Greek pots. Sex, yes, but also, to complete the trinity, War. There is now a definite martial streak to the artist’s imagination, no doubt fuelled by the idea of ‘triumph’ and expressed in images of Mars, Vulcan’s Forge, armour.

Detail of Vulcan’s Forge from The Allegory of September

His contributions to the Triumph scenes are at least as ill-composed as the Triumph at Palermo, but under them, in the Months, he wisely sets his figures and creatures against plain dark backdrops. We remember them all the better for their standing out pale, even white, against the deep blues and browns. At Palermo this had only begun to happen in the upper left quadrant and behind the horse.

Clearly I and others must look diligently for other works by this artist that will allow us to see how he developed between the two periods of activity and what he was doing before the first one. The drawings that I have proposed as his must belong to the earlier, Palermitan  phase of his career, but how did he draw in later years? His name is more likely to be discovered by historians and archivists. I would like him to be a Sicilian – the island has too few major artists besides Antonello da Messina – but I must declare a doubt that he was. We need the evidence in any case to tell us whether he was brought to Palermo from the mainland or was native to the island at the time of the Sclafani commission. Without the facts we are left in ignorance. If the thesis presented here, of a connection between Palermo and Ferrara, should find acceptance, I hope that it will have armed us with a little more understanding of his character as an artist. He has an abundance of character. As painter, as draughtsman, as inventor of images, he appears to be one of the great eccentrics of European art, and one that can speak to us, of life and death and love, in another dark time.

[cheonsans]

★ ＬＯＶＥＲ

ｔｈｅ ｓｅｃｏｎｄ ｍｉｎｉ ａｌｂｕｍ

Lover is the second mini album released by Superbia Entertainment’s five-member boy group, ULTRAVIOLET. It dropped on November 9th, 2017, and featured the title track Eyes Wide Shut, as well as five other tracks. 

The overall concept this era was odd to say the least, and featured an aesthetic best described as technological surrealism. The music video was a stunning but confusing amalgamation of technological imagery, glitching text effects, and hypnagogic themes that seemed to blur the boundaries between dreams and reality. 

Album playlist: (here). 

Era Pinterest board: (here). 

TRACKLIST

Intro: Noise - insp. Stray Kids’ WHO?

Eyes Wide Shut - insp. NCT U’s The 7th Sense.

Redlight - insp. Vixx’s Circle.

Won’t Let You Go - insp. GOT7′s Sunrise.

Still Don’t Know - insp. Stray Kids’ 해장국 Hero’s Soup.

Fragile - BTS’ House of Cards

ERA/AESTHETIC NOTES

Despite the complexity and the confusing nature of the concept, the styling and overall visual aesthetic was kept pretty consistent. There was an emphasis on screens in the music video and in the teaser photos, especially when considering the manner in which the members were posed amongst TV screens in their individual concept photos.

The hair colors for this era were as follows:

King - Black

Siyun - Rich blue

Taesong - Silver

Minsung - Black with silvery strands

Jamie - Mid-toned purple

Some of the key points in styling were colorfully tinted glasses, long coats, messy, wet-looking hair, and slightly glossy makeup. 

Many of the shots in the actual title music video were especially artful. Most notably, there were a variety of scenes that incorporated the usage of TV and computer screens, including transitions into them to reveal another member, and an iconic scene with Siyun lying down on top of a multitude of TV’s with surreal, colorful images glitching behind him. 

The fan theories were honestly pretty wild. Many of them surrounded identifying when a scene was supposed to be considered dream or reality. Despite the potentially playful title of the album, UV truly focused on the darker side of things, including cognitive and romantic dissonance, as well as the shifting nature of reality as intertwined with technology and the advance of media. 

The choreography is notably very difficult. It relies on the members having extremely fine-tuned body control, and has been described as similar to Taemin’s Move in its emphasis on fluidity and difficulty. However, there were instances of sharper movement that didn’t seem to match the portions of the song when they occurred. Many fans attributed this dissonance, as well, to UV’s overall concept, in order to truly emphasis the point that not everything can always be as it seems. 

Taesong and Siyun’s rapping portions were especially notorious for being killer for fans. 

Honestly...a lot of fans went pretty feral this era. While more skin was out, technically, during their debut era, their concept wasn’t obviously sexy for that fact. This era, the boys truly allowed their more mature and alluring sides to take the spotlight, and the sheer number of hard stans that joined the fandom when the music video dropped was...almost astonishing. 

Jamie worked on the production of Eyes Wide Shut with successful producer and member of X2, Lim Junsik. Additionally, Minsung worked extensively on the lyrics for this album. 

The physical album packing was gorgeous. There were two versions, a dark orange, blue, and black version, and a white, blue, and purple version.There was a particular Minsung photo card that became very sought after, as he’s showing a bit of collarbone in the selfie, and everyone knows Minsung stans go feral over the slightest amount of skin.

[bak3r]

‘Case Study’ Presentation (2/3)

9 - The aesthetic as a whole, in my opinion, is quite reminiscent of what I’ve seen of the old school late 80s / early 90s era of tech. Hard ware was obviously a lot more limited and the layout of applications and general display was very much simplified to combat that. As well as the look, it also feels similar to this era. It makes me me think of the introduction of the internet to the public, and the concept of connection that had now suddenly surpassed a simple phone call with a loved one or a hand written letter. How you was now open to a world in which it’s really a possibility that you could connect with anyone, no matter where you were or who they was. 

10 - Obviously, that feeling doesn’t really exist anymore, as things such as social media, chat forums & whatever else has developed into the norm. Now that its one of the main ways we connect with each other, interacting with someone across the globe with ease doesn’t really seem like that insane of a concept at all. The visualiser however, truly does make you feel connected to all of these people through music. I can’t see them, or hear them but they are there, represented as little i’s spread across the globe and so am I. For me, it really helped me visualise how many people truly are listening in real time, past the simple statistic of ‘streams’ that’s normally presented on Spotify.

11 - There is an argument that the ‘streaming’ era we’re in has killed off a lot of avenues for visuals through music, and I agree. Cover art is now demoted to a little square on your screen, and both the back covers & booklets that come with physical releases aren’t particularly needed / show cased digitally at all. Of course, physical releases of albums still exist and vinyl records are selling increasingly at extreme rates - but streaming is still the largest factor to music consumption now, especially for teenagers & young adults like myself. It all comes down to accessibility, and streaming services tick off all the boxes for the consumer.

12 - Spotify seems to be trying to shift towards a new era of music related visuals, with the visualiser I just covered being a prime example. Things that weren’t possible in the physical age are possible now, and maybe the concept of an album booklet is outdated in comparison to something miles more interactive like a website or pop up shop. They’ve even attempted to reinvent the album cover with their introduction of Spotify Canvas, a phone screen sized visual that appears & loops according to whatever song you’re currently listening to.

13 - After all of this I was quite curious as to what else Spotify’s In House had worked on, and if any other projects of theirs was pushing and enhancing music in the same way I believed this visualiser had.

14 - I came across quite a few different projects, one them being the very popular ‘Spotify Wrapped’ which I was already very well aware of. Spotify Wrapped is an interactive website / in app feature in which you’re presented some very interesting and sometimes embarrassing stats at the end of each year, based on your own listening activity. However, there was two different projects that I thought correlated quite well with the ‘i, i’ visualiser I touched on earlier.

15 - The first one was “Alone With Me”, an AI experience centered around The Weeknd and his newest album ‘After Hours’. 

16 - The website invites fans to interact with a personalised AI deep fake of The Weeknd. He verbally greets you by your name, gives you a run down of your listening history with him, & personally thanks you for being a fan of his for however long - all based on your own Spotify information. You can also interact with this site in a similar fashion to Bon Iver’s visualiser, you can drag your mouse across the screen and cause him to glitch & distort like a broken hologram.

17 - https://vimeo.com/501698319

18 - The website was made possible using deep learning and pre-existing footage of The Weekend. The entire concept of using a deep fake to promote yourself & interact with your fans was actually really interesting to me. There has been tons of conversations around the ethics of deep fakes, and how much danger can come from it (for example: fake revenge porn, or impersonating public figures etc). Researchers have said that deep fakes could lead to a distrust of audio and video evidence in general, causing an inherent societal harm. Due to all of this discourse, there hasn’t really been many conversations surrounding things such as making a deep fake of your own likeness, rather than of someone else. While I’m still not too sure of it as a whole, It somewhat made me look at it in a new light.

[fluidsf]

Polar Visions Amplitude reviewing -

Sissy Spacek - Featureless Thermal Equilibrium

Released on September 4, 2020 by Helicopter

Reviewed format: CD album

Connected listening - there are various ways to order a selection of Sissy Spacek’s further discography. The Helicopter mail-order stocks various Sissy Spacek releases and solo works by John Wiese and associates, you can find it here: https://helicopter.storenvy.com/collections/924915-sissy-spacek

Sissy Spacek’s releases on both physical and digital format are also available from their Bandcamp page here: https://sissyspacek.bandcamp.com/music

For an overview of Charlie Mumma’s solo releases as well as the releases he’s featured on as part of various bands, you can check out Discogs here: https://www.discogs.com/artist/1491175-Charlie-Mumma

In a similar manner, Jay Randall’s solo and band releases can be found on Discogs here: https://www.discogs.com/artist/393304-Jay-Randall

Several solo releases by John Wiese are available on physical and digital format from his Bandcamp page here: https://johnwiese.bandcamp.com

As I mentioned in the previous Polar Visions Amplitude review on this blog, 2020 has proven to be quite a fruitful year for both new Noise releases as well as reissues of classic Harsh Noise albums, mentioning the recent Helicopter / Troniks batch of CD releases and today we’re going to start diving into these with a review of one of the most recent Sissy Spacek albums, Featureless Thermal Equilibrium. Sissy Spacek is a John Wiese formed band which as being one of his most well-known projects not only carries a very prolific discography of a big number of albums, EPs, singles and many miscellaneous releases but is also an ever-changing line-up of extreme music artists and performers from various directions of experimental and contemporary music. This makes Sissy Spacek a rather versatile band with the kind of music / Noise you’re going to get on every release being quite unpredictable at times as this could vary from monolithic Harsh Noise to gritty Noise filled Grindcore to free-wheeling electro-acoustic cut-ups of instrumental and vocal recordings created by John Wiese. On Featureless Thermal Equilibrium we get to listen to Sissy Spacek as a raw power filled anarchist Grindcore unit which is continually blasted through with screechy Noise courtesy of John. Sissy Spacek’s core of John Wiese’s streams of Noise (and vocals in this case too) and Charlie Mumma’s fiery thunderous drums and vocals is strengthened here with Jay Randall (of Agoraphobic Nosebleed and various other terror-filled extreme Grindcore and Harsh Noise themed projects) providing particularly aggressive and appropriately screechy screamed vocals to the general energy-filled chaos that is this 24-minute new album. The album is one hell of a ride of dissonant murky noisy sonic energy that blends John Wiese’s screechy layers of Noise with surprisingly crisp sounding vocals and drums which in the case of this album still have quite a dynamic and roomy sound to them, creating some kind of balance in what in other cases could end up being more of a wall of Noise with all elements blending into eachother. Before we dive into this speedy album, it’s good to mention the neat looking presentation of Featureless Thermal Equilibrium, designed by John Wiese. The CD version of the album comes in a sturdy thick 6 panel digipak featuring some great minimalist artwork. The cover artwork is quite striking with its eerie grainy image of a face (which looks familiar but I can’t quite place where I saw it before) with the name of the band and album title set in some quite classy looking serif type. It has quite the classic LP sleeve look to it which purely based on the cover could suggest that the music contained within would be more like Hard Rock or Metal but its grittiness does express the actual music rather well. Other than the cover artwork the imagery on the digipak and CD face feature mostly grainy undefined composed textures that do very well carry that visualised Noise look that best expresses the crumbling shapes of texture that Noise can often conjure up in your mind when you dive into it and start to notice its many subtle variations. John Wiese’s signature type-writer style typography is looking great on the album’s digipak as always with the spine featuring the more recognisable all-caps Sissy Spacek “logo” with wide spacing and while the extra dirt John applies to the letters to make them look more degraded (again matching the music) can make some text a bit harder to read, especially in the credits listed on the back of the digipak, the design looks excellent and adds to the experience of the album’s raw power in visual form. Besides the artwork itself looking great, I also want to point out that the artwork is also printed in very cool looking silvery metallic ink making all art reflect and shine in a subtle manner, giving it some premium edge and the attention to detail that I appreciate a lot in the design of music releases even when it’s extreme music which often carries a much rougher, dirtier and at times lo-fi edge to it which might make it seems like premium artwork isn’t fitting its aesthetic that much. Now that we’ve looked over the presentation of Featureless Thermal Equilibrium, let’s dig into the album itself.

Just like what I found to be often the case with Grindcore or Grindcore related albums, Featureless Thermal Equilibrium is best to be listened in one go as being one long track as the 13 listed tracks are actually split up into at least 40 separate tracks especially about half-way into the album. It’s pretty much blast after blast after blast of raw and particularly rough power rooted in almost absolute dissonant chaos that with its relentless energy over so many blasts becomes an exhaustive but especially thrilling 24 minute ride that keeps the group on point throughout and proved to me that length doesn’t matter that much with this kind of album as it’s better not to let the band burn out after its first half but keeps things as consistent as Sissy Spacek are here. Amusingly the track titles (Fffff Eeeee, Aaaaa Ttttt, Uuu Rrr Eee) directly seem to reference the choppy nature of the blasts as well as spell out the album title, pointing out how Sissy Spacek themselves also point out that the album is like a continuous 24 minute recording rather than a collection of tracks recorded over several weeks or months (this is also confirmed on the back of the digipak as this album was recorded in a single day). Whilst this album is really best enjoyed by rocking out wildly to the energy blasts the band provides to let it all out, listening to this album on headphones does reveal some nice shifts in the separate layers that make up the bands sound on this album. Let’s start with the Grindcore layers of vocals and drums. The vocals are made up of these murky groaning lava like rumbling screeches with the “lead vocal” (most likely Jay Randall) driving the tracks themselves with rough gravel like screechy grumbling in words that are mostly quite indiscernible though you could guess mostly along the lines of “you motherfuckers” and related aggressive words thrown at us, as I heard. The lead vocals vary in intensity throughout with the shorter blasts being moments when the grumble layers take over at times with the lead vocals quickly returning with further bursts of grit but what I generally noticed from the album as a whole is that they form a bit of a circular pattern, starting off intense, falling a bit in intensity in the middle until rising again the most right at the end of the final track, Equilibrium as being a final screechy Harsh Noise finale to burn up the last remaining drops of fuel into a sparkling explosion. The drums in the pieces are somewhat between rumbling bass layer and an almost Free Improvisation like acoustic edge to the tracks, varying from blast-beats to many different often cymbal filled fills. The first few tracks showcase Charlie Mumma’s tumbling but tight drum performances with some surprisingly clean sounding tom tom and aforementioned hi-hat fills that also literally fill in most of the stereo field within the mostly centred noise and vocals that have a rougher more mono sound to them. The short blasts obviously mostly feature very fast blast-beats but after the lengthy sections of short blasts Charlie returns to the more free-flowing mixture of slower blast-beats and drum fills at the end of the album, but definitely blasting away at the finale of the last track however. The noise layer within the pieces never changes that dramatically, being quite like a gritty hazy mass of extra lava that drives the sonic mayhem forward however it’s noticeable that it does shift from screechy, mid / high frequency focussed sharp lines of Noise to lower rumbling streams during the short blasts until reaching a critical state at the finale of the last track. Interesting to notice is how most of the time the sources of the Noise are pretty hard to discern but within the first few tracks a few notes and even bass tones can still be heard throughout the continuous streaming screeching, giving away how the Noise within is created on this album. In the end I can say that Featureless Thermal Equilibrium showcases Sissy Spacek’s strengths especially in its focussed thunderous dissonant energy and excellent interplay between the performers but also does offer some rewarding subtle variations within the screeching streams of manic gritty sound which make for an enjoyable listen on the performance level too. This is another entry within the ever-growing Sissy Spacek discography of ever-inspired sonic freedom and anarchy, a recommended listen for fans of Grindcore, Noise and Sissy Spacek’s other (noisy) albums and with awarding this album a Polar Visions Amplitude of 90 dB I do recommend this album very strongly.

Featureless Thermal Equilibrium is available on CD and as a download from the Helicopter Bandcamp page here: https://helicopter.bandcamp.com/album/featureless-thermal-equilibrium

[fayewonglibrary]

Leah Dou, Faye Wong, Dou Wei: They are the most beautiful individuals in music (2016)

Leah Dou’s new album was officially released on April 22. The fresh psychedelic rock style is perfectly fused with her whole temperament: low-key, comfortable, a little cool, but not cold.

The release of the album was also a hot search topic online. But maybe because her music career is still in its early stages, it did not cause a spectacle of Leah Dou being overhyped all over the place for most netizens. Those who like her are low-key about it and repost it in their circle of friends. After all, this music style follows closely between Dou Wei's "Black Dreams" and the music literacy of most Faye Wong fans.

Fans who simply like Leah Dou's music are still "in reserve". After all, she is still a newcomer in the music industry who has just debuted.

Faye Wong's influence?

Leah Dou made her debut and the media and onlookers are all gearing up. Everyone always thinks that you can get Faye Wong related stories from her. Therefore, regardless of whether it is during Taiwan or Hong Kong promotions, after the veteran reporters and hosts ask two or three questions, they will still talk about Faye Wong. The traditional safe topic is generally: "Does Mom have any input about your music?"

The answer is naturally no. According to Faye Wong’s natural character (type O blood loves freedom), she never guided her daughter to listen to any particular type of music. But during her touring years, she often brought Tong Tong by her side. Leah grew up listening to Faye’s songs since she was a child, so even if Faye didn’t provide a playlist for Leah, her preferences are in the same line as Faye's music.

Leah Dou’s pure English album seems to be different from Faye Wong’s music style, but in fact her creations are still influenced. In an interview, she talked about two Faye Wong songs she likes:  "Only Loves Strangers" and "The Flower on the Other Shore".

The former was released in 1999 on the album of the same name. While the latter was the fifth song on "Fable" in 2000. Around 2000, Faye Wong's music production quality was quite high and classic songs multiplied. At that time, she had broken up with Dou Wei and fell in love with Nicholas Tse. Her emotional life was spread out in front of the public and became the hot news of the times. It also gave the media and songwriters many stories and pictures to play with. The lyrics of "Only Love Strangers" reveal a deep sense of sadness but not misery. The melody and arrangement are in a psychedelic pop electronic style that was avant-garde and fashionable at the time. This album is a classic. Except for the three lyrics written by Taiwanese manager Sister Kwan and Yuan Wenren, the rest of the lyrics were written by Lin Xi. The whole album focuses on broken love. Faye Wong’s attitude towards these feelings gave Lin Xi a lot of inspiration and creative space. By using music to treat people who are broken in love, Lin Xi had a lot of fun in this album. He made the broken relationship less shameful. 

Faye Wong’s love affairs combined with Lin Xi’s words and Zhang Yadong’s psychedelic ambiguity, made this album a classic in the hearts of fans. But in fact, "Fable" from 2000 might be a better reflection of Faye’s music preferences and taste. This was a concept album in which she composed five songs by herself:  "Cambrian Era", "New Tenant", "Chanel", "Asura", "The Flower on the Other Shore". In fact, you can hear the influence in Leah’s music today.

Looking back at Faye Wong's music itself, you will find that Leah Dou’s music is quite similar. Faye has many love songs, but this is the "bundle of love" by Lin Xi and other writers, or in other words, the bundling of the market. After all, her era is different from the era in which Leah made her debut. In Leah’s time, Chinese pop music has no commercial power, so her creative space is actually very large. In the 90s and 2000s, as a representative of mainstream singers, Faye Wong didn’t have many opportunities to be herself in music. "Fable" is one piece and "Di-Dar" is another. The rest of her perception and understanding of music and preferences are scattered in various mainstream albums aimed at the commercial market.

Faye Wong is quite smart. After many years, when we look back, we found that she is actually a musician who combined the best of business and art. She had enough talent and expressiveness to do this. When she needed to cater to the demands of the market, she did it with her personal style. The market wanted love songs, so she had Lin Xi help her write the most out-of-the-world love songs. The market wanted melodies, so she sang the most basic pop songs with a distinct flavor.

Old music fans also know that her singing voice did not take shape in one day. Her understanding, expressive ability and excellent musical taste makes her music enduring.  By making popular music avant-garde and fashionable, this is the absolute reason why she can stand firm in the Chinese music industry. Psychedelic, rock, pop, rap, the concepts and styling... The music she produced brought too much content to the Chinese pop music industry. Classic lyrics that influenced fans. Concerts that made the music beautiful and visual.

But now that there is no such icon anymore, the music world is really lonely. So we must cherish Leah Dou because even as a newcomer, we are greedy for her potential.

Dou Wei accompanied?

This is what the gossip reported. For Leah Dou’s debut, Faye Wong accompanied the rehearsal and Dou Wei accompanied the recording. If it is indeed true, it is also very pleasant to hear.

The public still has a lot of misunderstandings about this talented family, both good and bad. Aside from their ordinary life, just talk about their connection in music. Dou Wei and Faye Wong are actually very similar to the two poles in the same dimension. They have a certain degree of similarity, such as artistic talent, musical taste, aesthetics, and spirituality. So they were attracted and fell in love with each other, and they also influenced each other musically.

Of course they have many differences too. Different living environments and attitudes towards life, different values, different personalities, so they will eventually part ways. However, their short marriage created the most precious treasures for the music industry. They produced great music and they had great live performances. In the classic Faye Wong concert “Scenic Tour”, when the drum beats and the music sounds, the two rose from the darkness on stage together, which was the most beautiful moment in the world.

The world's supreme illusion of love is not like this: we are together, we like each other, imitate each other, worship each other, we collaborate, and we appear in the most perfect and beautiful way.

Dou Wei also did not give his daughter any so-called detailed guidance. He is a genius. His parenting to her comes in the form of exchanging talents. Needless to say, it is teaching by example. Dou Wei also doesn't need to provide a playlist for his daughter because as she grows older, she will naturally listen to her father's classics whether it was in the Hei Bao era or after flying solo. Of course, the reclusive music road that he eventually went on, only playing instrumentals in the later period, may not be understood by everyone. But she has grown up to an age when she can thoroughly understand the inner peace of her genius father.  Ordinary music lovers may only interpret Dou Wei in the three albums of "Black Dream", "Sunny Days", and "Mountain River", but they cannot understand the position he expressed in later periods. If we limit the criteria for success to the commercial scope, it can be said that as a non-commercial musician who has not gained benefits in proportion to fame and respect in the music industry, Dou Wei has suffered from the great changes of the times. Faye Wong was lucky enough to step on the right point each time, while Dou Wei finally chose to withdraw and not participate. Of course, such an independent position is consistent with his music, unique aesthetic, independent thinking, and independent walking outside the circle. This is actually very good, he has not become a grandson and veteran of the times. He still became the only Dou Wei in his own way.

Child

In 1998, Faye Wong's "Sing and Play" album included the song "Child" written for her daughter. Faye Wong is not very good at expressing love face-to-face, but the lyrics are extremely loving. Leah Dou was not obedient and dropped out of school at age 16 but she did not learn bad behavior. She is humble, polite, bright and confident. She did illuminate the darkness of Faye Wong's heart and became her dependence.

Why is the saying "the whole Chinese music industry is waiting for her to grow up" a bit annoying? Because in those years when we grew up, there was always music related to her to accompany us, whether it is the song “Child”, "You're Happy So I’m Happy", or the babblings recorded by Faye Wong in various singles. For music fans who loved Faye Wong, Leah Dou seems to have verified our youth. But now she has grown up and created her own album, her voice is slightly low but also in the shadow of Faye Wong’s voice. Her raised eyebrows and surprised look is exactly like Faye Wong. She is languid with a slightly shy look. She accidentally pulled people into their memories, but you snap out of it in three seconds. She is the most independent individual. She is like Faye Wong but is completely different from Faye Wong. Her thoughts are systemic rather than sentimental and fragmented like Faye Wong. She said that she does not rely on inspiration to write songs. “Inspiration has no continuity. It just comes and goes for a while.” She just loves to write. When inspiration comes, write faster. When there is no inspiration, she is still willing to do it.  She likes Radiohead's "Creep", it feels very bare and the music sounds honest. She also likes psychology, philosophy, and language...

She is rational and calm. She is a very independent individual. She came from her parents, but she is very different from them. She is Leah Dou, the most anticipated newcomer in the Chinese music industry in 2016.

------------------------------------------------------------------  

SOURCE: TENCENT // TRANSLATED BY: FAYE WONG FUZAO

[ibythetidepromotions]

An interview with Wormhole

Thank you for your time, Could you introduce yourselves to the readers?

Noni: Thank you so much for having us! I am Sanil Kumar, but everyone calls me Noni. I play guitar in Wormhole. 

Ansh : Hello, you FILTHY readers, I'm Ansh, I've been the vocalist for Wormhole for about two years now, as well as guitar for Noisays, Codex Orhova and Perihelion.

Sanjay : I am Sanjay, I play guitar in Wormhole as well as Equipoise and Greylotus

How did Wormhole come to be?

Noni : Wormhole started sometime in 2015 between Sanjay and I, but really this band has been together for a lot longer than that. We’d known each other and been playing music together for a while but stopped for a bit in 2015. At that time Sanjay and I just write and release some music of our own. We saw how other slam bands at the time were making music in their homes and were able to cultivate a cult following through social media and Slam Worldwide and we thought if we could get a small following like that it would have been really cool if we could manage to get a couple people into our music.

So Sanjay and I had some doodles from our old band(s) that we more or less put together for an album and released it under the name Wormhole. Since it was just the two of us at that time, we needed to find a vocalist. We ended up having Duncan Bentley from Vulvodynia do most of the vocals. This must have been right after he finished recording his parts for their album Psychosadistic Design. That resulted in Genesis which was released in 2016.

Ansh: Back in the day we had a comedy slam band called Rotting Phallus that we all left except the vocalist. Later, Sanjay and Sanil used some of their Rotting Phallus tracks, wrote some new tracks, and released Genesis under the name Wormhole. Matt and I joined the band again and we started to really find our sound. New and improved, now with ugly-ol' BASIL, all has been smooth sailing!

Sanjay: Technically Wormhole was originally a ‘comedy slam band’ in 2014 called Rotting Phallus.  Noni, Ansh, Matt and I were all a part of this.  The band kind of died and we stopped being a band because we had a toxic asshole vocalist who we all hate now.  When the band died noni and I got duncan and recorded all the OG Rotting Phallus tunes under the name Wormhole.

On the start of 2020 you guys released ‘The Weakest Among Us’ the cover art reminds me of a boss fight about to happen in some Doom/Halo-esque battle, what is the story behind the cover art?

Noni: You’re kinda close haha. The cover was inspired by the Metroid Prime series. We are super inspired by those games in more ways than one. There is a cut scene before a boss battle in one of the games that we based the cover art off of. We’ve been really inspired by the soundtrack too. It sets such a cool vibe.Sanjay and I grew up playing those games, and we’ve played them over and over. The universe, atmosphere, character design, everything about those games is so cool to us. Pretty metal. If it weren’t for those games I don’t know what I would make this band about.

Ansh: Sanjay and Sanil are BIG and STUPID nerds who like SPACE and other SILLY THINGS like METROID PRIME and ANIME.

Sanjay: Metroid Prime is the main source of visual and lyrical inspiration, but I love Doom (especially Doom 3) and you can tell I think Mancubus looks brutal as fuck.

Since the world is at a standstill for the foreseeable future and you released  ‘The Weakest Among Us’ on the top of 2020 how hard has it been to get the word out about the album since no one can tour currently?

Noni: It has been really shitty having tours cancelled and not being able to promote the album properly, but we also know that we are not the only ones in this boat so there is no sense in complaining I feel. Social media is our friend though and people still seem to be pretty responsive to the album anyway.  

It seems like going forward, bands are going to have to figure out how to do this anyway. So, if Wormhole (or any band) isn’t really working out because we can’t tour, then we have to figure something out.

Ansh: In general I've been happy with the online support but not being able to tour is beyond frustrating. As tough as it can be at times, touring is kinda like the celebration of your music and all the hard work you put into it, so not being able to get that live show release is truly devastating. Compounded with the potential fans we could have made and merch we could have sold, it's more than a bummer. But all the love and support the record has gotten online has also been one of the only things keeping me sane whilst I'm stuck in my house.

Sanjay: It’s definitely not as easy since touring is one of the main ways to reach new audiences but it’s not as hard when you have some dedicated fans who genuinely love spreading some Wormhole gospel.  Those fans are the realest MVPs in these trying times.

I always find it fascinating when the band's cover art describes what the album is going to sound like, when talking to the artist how do you project your ideas out of your head coherent enough to be understood?

Sanjay: We kind of got lucky with Lordigan (the artist of both covers) on Genesis.  We were kind of winging it and knew we just wanted a slam monster album cover.  We had some help from my bud Ryan Wolanski on getting the colors we wanted as well.  With TWAU I had a general idea of the color scheme and setting we wanted.  Lordigan was very aware of the Doom/Space Marine aesthetic so it was not hard to communicate.  Our album cover is not really a reflection of the music I would say because we kind of just pick what we want because it’s cool and we’ve seen similar things work for other bands.

Ansh: I usually just get an artist I really love and ask them to listen to the music and draw whatever comes to them, but maybe that's why I'm not allowed to do merch for Wormhole. 

Noni: We just tried to be specific and nit-picky. The most important thing for our artwork was to have a center focus, the classic slam monster, with a few other things to look at in the background/foreground. The album’s production wasn’t going to be super futuristic and modern, so the color scheme kind of reflected that. We wanted more browns to dominate the image, to give a bleak and miserable vibe. We went to Lordigan Pedro Sana for both of our albums and he was super responsive to every change we wanted to make. The best thing for them is a reference in my experience, especially if you can find something in artwork they made to use as a reference.

I see the album artwork as just as big a part of the album as any of the songs or riffs. The way I see it, both the music and the artwork and song titles all work together to create a vibe and atmosphere. They need to feed into each other. Not only that, they need to somehow stand out from the other million extreme metal records being released everywhere. It’s really important and one of the places I see newer/local bands cutting corners or not going all in, and maybe settling for something that isn’t stellar.

Crowdkill Apparel has some of the most unique merch options I've seen from car seat cover to a shower curtain, when given the opportunity what would be the weirdest merch you guys would like to release?

Noni: I would love to see the Wormhole logo on a cereal box. I imagine our cereal would have marshmallows.

Ansh: A bong??? A worm shaped bong??? Like from the first album??? Or maybe a big spikey worm dildo/butt plug??? Done tastefully OBVIOUSLY.

Sanjay: Wormhole weed called “The Dankest Among Us”.  Any weed paraphernalia honestly like rolling papers and some Wormhole glass.  We did a small run of grinders before which was cool.

With the state of the world that it is currently, touring as you would of guessed is a no go, Suicide Silence they have the right idea about having a virtual “world tour” where the show is streamed has the touring bug been bad enough to where you’ve considered this?

Noni: I think rather than trying to make “touring” work, we are going to try to put out content that is a little more practical for people to enjoy. Music analysis, lessons, playthroughs, stuff like that. Comedic or podcasty type stuff where people get to know the band members and develop some kind of a personal relationship with them despite not being able to meet with any of our fans in person. Not everyone who listens to this stuff plays an instrument or makes music, so we want to put something out that engages with that group as well.I’m sure we’ll do some full band stuff too, but not everything will just be us playing the songs. I think in this current era, and consequently the future, bands will have to do much more than just play their music to get out there. It was already kind of like that but now I think the big emphasis isn’t really on the music anymore. I think it will be kind of analogous to how gaming consoles used to be all about gaming. But now your Xbox or Playstation has to be able to have Netflix and YouTube and still regularly release and develop games over time.

Ansh: My other band Noisays was recently part of Mathcore Index Fest, the fest raised a reasonably sizeable donation for the Justice for George Floyed and Breonna Taylor Relief Fund, and it was sick to hang in a chatroom with a bunch of homies that i would be chilling with at the show. It was sick to do something good, share music and connect with friends and fans but virtual life is never going to be the same as real life to me. Whether it's teaching online, hanging out with people on video chat, or attending a virtual show, it's always just gonna be virtual and it'll never be a replacement for real life, to me at least. So please do everything you possibly can to make sure WE CAN COME PLAY FOR YOU ASAP.

Sanjay: I don’t think we can compare ourselves to Suicide Silence because our fanbases are vastly different.  I would hope we could do something like that but i definitely don’t think we are at a point where it would make sense.  Would be fun though.

Dream tour with Wormhole on the bill?

Noni: For the band obviously we just want to go out with the big boys like Obscura or The Black Dahlia Murder or Thy Art for our egos. But for my satisfaction I would want Wormhole to play with Dethklok just because Sanjay and I worship Brendon Small. Dude is a fucking genius and clearly has something figured out that neither of us do. Defeated Sanity would be on there too. If we’re talking defunct bands as well, I would want Necrophagist and/or Death in there somewhere too. But the real dream would for us to tour with Metallica and just play in Metallica and it’s also 1991.

Ansh: Warped Tour and we play right before All Time Low or some shit like that, Old Town Road guy opens right before us and does all the remixes. Miles Davis joins Limp Bizkit for the headlining set.

Sanjay: I would want to be direct support for Gojira.  That’s all really.  I think a bunch of bands (including Wormhole) have a lot to learn about the energy they project live and I would love to be a part of their show.

Anything else you would like to tell the readers before we go?

Noni: If there is some crazy guitar player or musician out there that you really admire and put on a pedestal you should understand that you are capable of literally anything that person is. That guy may have some special X factor but that is really only like 10% of it. The other 90% is the hardwork. Also thanks for reading and supporting and all that. It is really sick and cool and makes us feel good.

Ansh: Play and listen to lots of music, work stupid hard, and do whatever the fuck you want, the only people that'll say you can't do it are lazy as FUCK. Fuck'em.-ANSH OUT.

Sanjay: tech-slam

Wormhole Social Media:

Facebook

Instagram

Bandcamp

Merch

[soundfromlostfutures]

3rd of April - Eneko Artwork Design Collaboration - Track 3 - The Manner of The Ghost

Future Tragedy Artwork Collaboration

This week was spent collaborating with graphic designer Eneko Belamendia, professionally known as Future Tragedy. Eneko was approached to format the monoprint artwork that I created with Patrick into a size that would fit onto the cassette tape cover. Initally this collaboration was going to take place face to face, however, following the Corona Virus lockdown this was not possible. Instead, the collaborative process with Eneko took place via facebook messenger. This collaboration process is briefly documented in the screenshots above. A concious effort was made to be polite and respond quickly to Enekos messages to ensure that he felt happy and comfortable working with me which would utimately optomise the final outcome of the collaborative process. Although face-to-face collaboration may have enhanced the quality of the artwork as my input may have been more clear, I was very happy with the final cassette tape design which is shown above. 

Eneko was approached as his previous work aligns with the conceptual goals of this project as he has previously made a lot of dark, textural and eerie designs which are shown in the ‘previous work’ photo above this entry. This helped with project quality assurance felt that Enekos input would reflect the hauntological conceptual goal of this project hauntology appropriately based on his previous work. After I recieved the cassette tape design, I felt that the overall visual aesthetic of the project could be improved if Eneko reworked the album and sample pack cover, that I designed with Patrick, in a similar way to the cassette tape design. Eneko’s album cover and sample pack cover designs are shown above. I felt that there was a discrepancy between the album cover that I designed with Patrick and Eneko’s tape design and so Eneko desigining the album cover and sample pack cover helped the project to look more visually cohesive and proffesional. Further, Eneko’s work has a very high quality rendered quality to it which helps it to compete along side other high quality artwork in the modern music market. Regarding social and ethcial dimensions, Patrick’s signature is included on the artwork for the album and sample pack artwork. It is imperative that Patrick’s input is recognised as largely contirbuted towards the monotype creation and I really appreciated this. Further, Eneko and Patrick’s input will be specifically noted in the project description along with their contact details to ensure that their hard work is recognised and others can contact Eneko or Patrick if they want to collaborate with them.  The last track title was decided before it was created to ensure artwork was generated quickly.

Further, the album cover features both mine and Patricks signatures as it is imperative that the creative input of the collaborators are noticed. All of the collaborators are credited in the write up and description.

crediting collaborators for social / ethical standards making sure their work is noticed.

Track 3 - The Manner of the Ghost 

This week Track 3 - The Manner of the Ghost was created. The drum programming is very straight without any swing to represent the militant march of the ghost of the past returning to the present. Overall the track is extremely dark to convey a sense of dread as the ghost returns. The pads are dissonant and noisy to depict a sense of unease and apprehension as the present moment is unsettled by the spectres of the past. Further, dissonance is slightly unsettling to the ear, similar to how the past is unsettling the present. Drawing reference to Moore’s sonic descriptors, reverb is added to the lead bass to make it sound hollow representing the fluid and hollow form of the ghost. Eerie vocals are added from the telephone experiment to submerge the listener in the the ghosts and spectres as the prevail. 

Reference List:

Moore Sonic Descriptors - https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=NZ7DCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA14&lpg=PA14&dq=sonic+art+descriptors+moore&source=bl&ots=W0FJ75rabS&sig=ACfU3U0PCLgTosJESmXXj9z2MF66X45X0A&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj4l77l5rbpAhWmTxUIHdeKBYAQ6AEwDXoECAoQAQ#v=onepage&q=sonic%20art%20descriptors%20moore&f=false

[3ternaln0w]

Journalist Jaroslaw Kowal interviewed Luton for Dni Muzyki Nowej Festival, Jan 2019.

Jaroslaw Kowal: Is that correct that “Black Box Animals” were written and recorded in various places across the Europe? How long did it take to make a whole album?

Rob: Yes, That’s correct. The whole thing took about 7 months, If I remember well.

Attilio: I think we had a clear vision from the beginning, it’s been a delicate and complex process but at same time everything was quite instinctive and so, step by step, we ended up at the crucial part of the album and for what I remember the last month was something really intense.

J: Was it initially planned to record music in several places or did You made that decision spontaneously?

R: It wasn’t initially planned, but since I was traveling quite a lot in Europe at that time, at some point I just realized it was way more enjoyable and spontaneous writing/composing on the road, getting ideas whilst hiking in the wilderness instead of being isolated in a studio like we normally do, so I personally tried to keep that way as much as possible. It was like a back and forth nature/studio.

A: Being all the time in a studio could be extremely boring and unproductive, sometimes. The fact the Black Box Animals was recorded in several different places is in my opinion what makes this music authentic and possibly with a so called wild character. So even without planning that much, that happened eventually.

J: “Black Box Animals” is a very dark album, with field recordings included and many different instruments, yet I wouldn’t call it a 100% experimental music - there’s a lot of melody in it. What is a perfect balance between those two worlds that for many musicians are opposite and can’t be combined?

R: Melody was already part of the intuition when Luton thing started, but at the same time nothing was really planned as we were open to the different explorations and sonic practices. I remember when I initially spoke about the idea to Attilio, I was probably way more into the orchestral part of the package but the bigger picture eventually came to us ended up in this sort of collision between those two worlds, strings and abstract electronics.  We weren’t interested in being stuck in a single genre or label, though. In this terms we probably see Luton like a sort of open laboratory.

A: Neither do I consider Black Box Animals as a 100% experimental album and even  the use of field-recordings is something marginal in my opinion. Creating compositions for classical instruments, sometimes even really ancient ones like russian zithers for example, and blend them with their opposite in terms of nature of sound, that was the main effort in this case. The contrast between a certain dark atmosphere that permeates the whole work and melody is just the natural consequence of the process in itself.

J: Is experimental or improvised music actually evolving? Do You see it changing across last five-six decades or is it more or less the same? On the other hand pop music - which is often seen as music without a soul - is clearly changing year after year. That makes me wonder, which of those is actually more progressive?

R: That’s a tricky question. I’ve never considered pop music a thing without soul, anyway. Music is music but also it is much more than that. We could discuss about that for a long while now and I’m pretty sure that would be very exciting to find out where every word could lead us at some point, the language-like stuff would come out, but at end of the day, I don’t really believe separateness is a great idea, so if you relate the word “experimental” in a John Cage way, thats perfectly fine by me then. We experiment with sounds. That’s what we do and lots of musicians in every genre do, after all. Everything else changes all the time and nothing really ends. It’s not like the world’s gone to shit now and stuff like that, almost the opposite I’d say. It’s a feedback loop, we -as human beings- don’t really need to put some language on it.  

A. I personally think that experimental music is always in a never ending evolution. There are several artists keep going in really interesting directions, and this for me means looking for a personal expressive code, basically. But, in my opinion, there’s an annoying downside in contemporary music which is in the difficulty to perceive distinctly the artistic value from the marketing side. Marketing has nothing to do with quality in music or in art in general. Everybody knows that but unfortunately is really frequent that poor and soulless music are sold as sensational hype in really closed circuits, which is something we don’t really like or support honestly. About pop music, well, my preferences are often limited to what I used to listen to when I was younger, so for me it has an almost exclusively emotional value.

J: You are both from Italy, but at Your facebook page Stockholm is set as a home town. Are You located there at the moment and why did You decided to leave Italy?

R: We’ve been to Stockholm a couple of times. We were involved in a sound residency in electronic music at Ems Studios, a truly magical place with an extraordinary vibe and amazing staff. We recorded massive amounts of raw sounds and crazy “bleep booops shshshs trtrrtrtr” (…) from this incredible Buchla modular synthesizer but nothing from those sessions really ended up Luton, eventually. Sad story. But a couple of tracks in the album were recorded there and especially “Sodermalm Phantom Cab” is something really influenced by our Swedish adventures at EMS studios and good times spent together in Sweden. Said that, I’ve been living in Manchester (UK) for a couple of years now and Attilio lives in Southern Italy. There’s not a really specific reason why I have decided to leave Italy I’m afraid, I guess I was interested in leaving my comfort zone for a while at that time.

A: The connection between Black Box Animals and Stockholm is something really strong and without our time spent together in Sweden, our music would not be made in this way, I’m pretty sure. I personally have always lived in Catanzaro, a small windy city in the deepest south of Italy. But generally speaking, traveling is always a great inspiration for the musical composition. However, I tend to always come back to my hometown. I’m going to spend at least three months in Madrid in Spain in the next few months and I am curious to see what this will bring to my music.

J: Stereotypically Italy - or even whole southern Europe - is seen as a sunny place with parties from dusk till dawn, but Your compositions are very far from that. Is it actually that rare to hear Italian band playing so dark and melancholic music?

R: It seems we’re definitely far from that then ahah, but yeah lots of music from Italy it is indeed. It’s not that rare at all. And If you have the chance to check out some experimental music from ‘60-70s too, Archivio Rai or early minimalism, Luciano Cilio, and many others, well, that’s not sunny music at all. Speaking about melancholia, well could be probably because of a sort of mediterranean DNA, couldn’t be? It’s a cultural thing or something like that I guess. But yeah, sun is good. FACT!

A: What Roberto said is true, I believe that the melancholic connotation of music reflects a character, but it is something really difficult to explain with words indeed. Søren Kierkegaard said: “if you ask a melancholic what reason he has for his condition, what do you know what is it, I can not explain it? “Therein lies melancholy’s infinitude.”

J: I’ve seen Your rider and it seems that You have a very clear idea of how Your live shows should look like - no front lights, just monochromatic light behind You or completely dark room with the smoke. I can see how it fits music from “Black Box Animals”, but do You need that only for visual aspect or does it help You get into right mood? Is it somehow helping You on stage?

R: Something truly interesting happens when you listen, performing or doing things in the darkness and/or in self-imposed situations/conditions. I mean, it doesn’t have to be complete darkness, but we try to avoid any interference from music, like visuals, heavy lighting or too many things going together at the same time. Maybe in the future could be different, we are open to explore different ways actually.

A: Darkness is something really helpful to stay focused, but also for meditation and contemplation in general, and I believe it can facilitate people joining any kind of experience. In regard to the live show we would like not having any kind of aesthetic or sensory impulse to interfere the sound. This is also really helpful for us to play in the right condition in order to enter in our dimension. A black box.

J: First sentence in Your bio states that “Luton is an anti modernist duo” - is that because modernism is mostly about realism and it seems that Your music is more about “magic”?

R: That was a statement by Attilio so I would like to ask him if he could explain to us. But yes, about magic, what could I really say? I really do like the idea about that, if you ask me. Music or I would say sound primarily is magic indeed to me, like a primitive force or an invisible spirit world that I pretend to comprehend, and in my mind disturbing a system that I can’t understand and see what happens, well that’s what I call an experiment. At the same time the nature of sound is really similar to botanic or biology. With sounds you can say these big abstract things, something you can’t express with the alphabet. When the word fails the magic happens. Paying attention, contemplation, contradiction, moving all things back where there is nothing is probably my subconscious purpose. And -in this purpose- nature of sounds is my white light, my teaching voice.

A: You should add something really crucial to what you said, Rob. Capitalist Realism, the book by Mark Fisher was a great inspiration for the making of the album. We both are into Fisher vision of the modern life, and we are sadly observing that the widespread feeling of resignation and unhappiness that permeates our lives in general really depends on the capitalistic system and the neoliberalism that has changed any aspect of the social sphere. So work and life, social and real life became inseparable, capital follows us when we sleep, and unfortunately as you can imagine music and arts are included in the symptoms of our current cultural malaise too. Luton is anti-modernist in the sense that we try to reject our frustration of dealing with a so called entrepreneurial fantasy society, by trying to support ourselves to the ritual, the shamanic, the primitive, but also the anarchist side of the music, possibly without being attached too much to something in particular in terms of genre or hype.

J: It’s a bit of a cliché to call an album a soundtrack to non-existing movie, but “Black Box Animals” sounds very cinematic.  Did You draw any inspirations from cinema art?

R: I personally studied cinema and wrote about that quite a lot when I was younger, so most probably thats still a big influence to me, but yeah we are both inspired by movies for sure. In terms of sounds, I think the way I worked with the orchestral part in this album is what makes the whole thing very cinematic, stuff like 4d sounds, spatialization, timbres etc. We are now interested in a different approach for the new material which is slightly more like painting or drawing abstract lines but with sound dynamics. You have to capture the right thing, but you don’t know what the right thing means exactly. Most of the times, I have not any clue about what’s going on, I’m just one of those dots between all these abstractions around me like a string extending from the top of my head to a distant cloud or star. It’s really odd.

A: Ours is a cinematic music for sure. Rob and I often discuss ourselves a lot about cinema and we constantly share different point of views about that. This in fact has played an important role in our friendship, I must say. For a song of the album, “Sodermalm Phantom Cab”, we asked Ion Indolean, a young Romanian filmmaker, to direct a videoclip. His style is in some ways similar to new Greek neorealism. We would also like to experiment with other forms of cinema and filmmakers in the near future.

J: What I’m quite sure is that dance and theatre are inspiration for You - both of You have experience in that field. How different is that to writing music without a script You need to fit to?

R: They are, indeed, especially contemporary dance personally. Writing music for commissions is challenging, sometimes frustrating, not always rewarding but you generally learn a lot from it which is good.

A: Experience I had with dance and theatre helped me to develop the ability to adapt my sounds to a context that was almost completely unknown to me. I find it much easier to express myself with self-defined limits. The work I did for Luton was facilitated by the complexities of previous experiences.

J: There are lots of the instruments on “Black Box Animals”, but I guess it’s not possible to bring them all on a live show? How different is this material live to what can be heard on album?

R: Thats considerably different. I would say the album is more like a sort of slow journey whilst the live version maybe a bit more like a black vortex, and consequently more physical, droney and abstract, but also we’re trying to get the job done with some reiterative piano moments in between and we’ll see how it goes. Does it make sense? I don’t know, everything is a process indeed.

A: At this stage we should prepare ourselves to the darkest side of Luton. However, there will be the presence of the piano which is something we’re really into at the moment.

J: What struck me the most is that You’ve started Luton just recently, but it feels like You understands each other perfectly. Were You a friends before starting Luton?

R: Well, I think we impersonate each other in a way, as we actually met each other only twice in the real life and we also live in different countries. But -you know- in Luton we’re just two guys swapping these sort of messy lines on a white canvas, making a lot room for fuckery if you know what I mean. For me that makes sense and it’s way more interesting and flexible that being in the same room jamming on ideas or having strict roles. There’s a kind of mix between mistery, alchemy and playfulness between us and I think we really enjoy.  

A: We live in different countries, that’s a fact, but that doesn’t make much difference. Sometimes our level of interaction might be really intense and so our conversations. This is one of the positive sides of the internet age, after all. We’ve known each other for several years but in my opinion he’s like a childhood friend of mine. Connections between people have something mysterious and impossible to understand on a deep level, sometimes.

J: In January You’ll perform in Poland for the first time. Do You have any favorite artists that comes from here?

R: Penderecki and Eugeniusz Rudnik.

A: Apart from Penderecki, I enjoyed the music of contemporary ambient-experimental musicians like Gregg Kowalsky and Jacaszek.

A mention for my friend Nicholas Szczepanik too, American but with Polish origins.

J: Thanks for Your time.

R: Thanks so much, guys

A: Dziękuję, do widzenia.   

[gamedesignerben]

Baldessari’s (optional) assignments for his 1970 Post-Studio Art class at CalArts

I could only find abridged versions, or blurry photos of the original handouts, so I transcribed everything, and here it is.

1. Imitate Baldessari in actions and speech 2. Make up an art game. Structure a set of rules with which to play. A physical game is not necessary: more important are the rules and their structure. Do we in life operate by rules? Does all art? 3. How can we prevent art boredom? 4. Write a list of art lies, un-truths that might be truthful if we really thought about them. However consider this: Art truths that we have often are boring in their correctness. 5. How can plants be used in art. Problem becomes how can we really get people to look freshly at plants as if they've never noticed them before. A few possibilities: 1. Arrange them alphabetically like books on a shelf; 2. Plant them like popsicle trees (as in child art) perpendicular to line of hill; 3. Include object among plants that is camouflaged 6. How can gallery use be subverted, as in land art? Exchange locations with another business? Photo gallery sq. ft. for sq. ft. and paste up in another space? One way glass in front of gallery? 8. Give police artist verbal description of Baldessari and have him do drawing. Perhaps everyone in class do verbal description. 9. Describe a neutral object completely with fileand tape or video. Do it until you have fully translated all its qualities to the medium. Perhaps better a class project in that more insights would be available. 10. Create art from our procedures of learning. How does an infant learn? How do we continue to learn. How do we learn speech? To count? To know danger? Investigate Montessori methods, books and learning and perception. 11. Do a tape recording of raw sounds and edit into a composition. 12. Make up a list of sound as art projects (see example). 13. How can a gallery space be used rather than put art objects into it? 14. Two man film project. Each shoots up an amount of film. Each edits the others film. A film collage problem. Important that the footage be "found" 15. Given: The availability of an airplane or helicopter for a short time use i.e., an hour. What would you do? 16. Given: $1. What art can you do for that amount? 17. Cooking art. Invent recipee. They are organizations of parts, aren't they? 18. Subvert real systems. I.e., dial a number that records passages while the person is out and dial another number that gives recorded messages. Put the two phones together. Put a sigh that says "SLOW" in the middle of a street. Get it? 19. What art can arise from magic and myth. Or just a magic trick on video. 20. A sensory deprivation piece. A sensory overload piece. 21. Ecological guerilla art. 22. Disguise yourself as another object--a tree maybe. Or becoming a tree. A big bird? 23. What are the minute differences in things that are supposed to be the same? And vice versa. If you took 36 photos of a lawn, would they all be the same? Or of 36 sections of the same lawn? Or of a wall? Or 36 identical nails (either, finger or kind you hammer). 24. File loops of slides of all the objects one stares at in a given interval when in an arbitrarily chosen room. Or recorded on a tape recorder as one's eyes look on them. 25. 36 slides from start to finish of simple motion like picking your nose, scratching your ass and so on 26. Slides of #24 projected in correct places in another room. 27. Wet and dry. I.e., how does wet gravel in a parking lot look next to another dry area. Perhaps an actual situation, where something would be constantly wasted. 28. Recreate sculpturally with other materials in a magic realist approach any 12" sq area of earth land. Perhaps better yet to keep your own seeth out of it would be to have another choose it for you. 29. Have some take a photo portrait of you just before you go into a store to steal something. Have your portrait taken immediately after the act. Photo the object stolen. 30. Design and have printed your calling card. 31. Steal the trash from Pres. Corrigan's wastebasket and make a collage of it. 32. Have yourself photographed in act of insulting a person. To repeat each time insulting a new person. 33. Pay homage to a movie star, rock musician, etc. in form of a pilgrimage visit. Photograph is required of the two of you with a personalized signed greeting by the culture here. Or it could be a famous person's grave. In this case a photo of you at the grave. Person's name on the gravestone should be visible. No signiture necessary. 34. Defenestrate objects. Photo them in mid-air. 35. What kind of art can be done with real animals? 36. Record all actions, thoughts, for 1/2 hour on tape recorder. 37. What kind of works can be done literally under the earth. 38. Liquid works. 39. Chemical works. 40. Biological works. 41. Photograph landscape in color. Make 8x10 color print. Make some color changes. Color landscape to match retouched photo. Color landscape to match photo. Rephoto. 42. Class make up list for scavenger hunt. Exhibit works at end of day. 43. Forgeries. Each in class tries to forge my signature on a check by looking at an original. Or forgeries of forgeries of forgeries, etc. 44. Take any sentence of text to 6 signpainters to be lettered in letters of same style and height. Study differences. 45. Punishment. Write "I will not make any more art" "I will not make any more boring art" "I will not make make good art" (or something similar) 1000 times on wall. 46. One person copies or makes up random captions. Another person takes photos. Match photo to captions. 47. Serial TV works. 25 ways to fold a hat, to comb your hair, 25 different people spitting. 48. Develop a visual code. Give it to another student to crack. 49. Disguise an object to look like another object. 50. Do a film or TV script or scenario. Use TV layout paper. 51. A video tape that is a result of reading a book. You give book report in front of camera. 52. Smell pieces. 53. Touch pieces. 54. Art that you see by looking up or down 55. How do we get eyes off the visual and into experience. Rent a service rather than an object from Yellow Pages. 56. Take a canvas stretcher, size of your choice, to an upolsterer and have it upolstered with fabric of your choice. 57. A piece that deals with measurement--up, down, right, left, etc. and where spectator is located. 58. Make up list of distractions that often occur to you. Recreate on video tape 59. Make up art parables. 60. Edmund Scientific Catalog project. What art can you make my ordering from this catalog. Maybe grow plants chemically. 61. Hypnosis. Can art ideas be planted and removed in a mind? 62. A wall drawing based on numerous persons height--each marks his height on wall with line, signs name and date. 63. What art can arise from such phrases as: 1. Entasis. 2. Gestalt with some left over information. 3. Simple shape, simple experience. 4. Unitary form with reduced relationships. 5. Unitary form with line of fracture. Or can pure information be art? 64. The structural movement of cameras as subject matter. 65. Performance pieces. I.E. Speak thru your hand to your thigh but not with your head. Or talk with your knees t osomething knee-high. Or what are your dog-like traints without imitating a dog. Or the delivery of a speech to an imaginary person in different spaces in a room. Do a series of artificial voices. Can the various positions of the hand change the resonance of the voice? Say "good morning" every morning into a tape recorder for the length of the tape. See Growtowski, Towards Poor Theater. 66. A snapshot album of things to see in Los Angeles with exact locations so that others could locate sights (sites). 67. Document change, decay, metamorphosis, changes occuring in time. 67. Do good an bad compositions (by photo) of same scene, object. Frame a photo in viewfinder and move camera a foot to side before shooting. 68. Make up a list by looking at art books. Talking to artists on things to avoid in making art. Do them. Ask yourself if results are good or bad art. 69. What art can come from the use of a set of walkie-talkie radios? 70. By using movie camera to follow actions and by your observations into cassete recorder, document the movements of someone secretly for an entire day. Or have someone follow you. 71. Photos are flat. Photograph flat surfaces. Maybe exchange them. 72. Change, control, alter, arrange light in room environment. 73. Art Powers. How much and what kind of art can you make from kleenex and masking tape, for instance. 74. A film video tape etc that deals openly with a physical flaw of yours (in your estimation). A film called PIMPLE? 75. Information exchange. You writer letters to someone and they to you and so on. Framed letters of Refusal (I am sorry, but...) for instance. Or Thanks (That you for your ...blah blah etc). 76. Random photos. End of, beginning of, roll photos. Camera sent up with pidgeon, balloon, given to another person with shooting instructions, shooting from hip, etc. How do we avoid our good taste? 77. Using of time devices. Time clock (that prints time in and out), random time devices (red dot on cash register tape), a fuse, a candle 78. Large scale art that can be seen in its entirety. For instance, if you dyed sheets each a separate color and arranged them checkerboard like, say a hundred or more, they could only be experienced by walking through them, but the ycould be seen (also photoed) by helicopter or airplane. 79. Photograph backs of things, underneaths of things, extreme foreshortenings, uncharacteristic views. Or trace them. 80. Put labels on things that list their contents. 81. Design an art test. 82. Can one give and take away aesthetic content? 83. Street works, art determined by locaiton. What would you do on top of a 30 story building? What would you do under water? 84. Given $50, could you increase the sum in a period of time? 85. Describe the visual verbally and the verbal visually 86. Film of, or video of, children's play activities--walking on a ledge, drawing a line in the dirt, etc. 87. Do a work of art by telephone. Or use TBA (John Collins). 88. An all word TV tape. Or a single word. 89. A real time movie or video tape. A steaming cup of coffee. 90. If photos come from reality, what kind of reality comes from photos? Reconstruct a photo tree-dimensionally. 91. Scenarios. Do a movie for an existing, stock scenario. Or 1 person write scenario, another shoot movie. Or grabag scenario--everyone write 2-3 scenes, drop in box, someone pull out maybe 10 and they are shot in the order drawn out. Or everyone do their version of the grabag scenario. 92. Video tape of making sound effects. 93. Design a secret handshake (for our class members?) 94. Verbally describe a landscape instead of painting one 95. A distinctive work that is based on parts and not a whole, that is one see the parts and never teh whole 96. Prove a point as in a science fair diorama, display tableau such as, "How quickly does bread mould under certain conditions?", or "a plant growth hampered by use of conditioned water?", "The effect of colored lights on plants", "Is untreated seaweed useful as fertilizer", "What effect does ultra Sonic vibrations have on plants?", "The effect of asperin on potato plants", "Why is a rainbow round?", "Do race, color, texture affect the strength of hair?" and etc. 97. Take the titles of any amateur art exhibit and illustrate them. For instance much titles as, Ah, Toro!, Autumn Leaves, Mexican Patterns, Xenogeniala #2, Xanadu, Wharf Enchantments, French Restaurant, Boat Patterns, blah blah 98. Repaired or patched art. Recycled. Find something broken and discared. Perhaps in a thrift store. Mend it. 99. Art that requires the rental of a Service rather than an Object. 100. How does one react to a minor stress problem. Perhaps compare what he is thinking to his outward behavior. 101. Put new canvas over old paintings. 102. Composition based on the duration of say, one gal of paint. 103. A 30 day continuous line of adding machine tape. 104. The shapes of shadows of well known people (or well known artists for a specific example) 105. Reversals. Be black, say things backwards, all while standing upside down. 106. Put make-up on dogs and other animals. On trees and plants. 107. "If each of us were to confess his most secret desire, the one that inspires all his plans, all his actions, he would say: 'I want to be praised.'" (E.V. Cloran). Do a piece that deails with Praise as a theme. 108. Photograph of umbrella and sewing machine on an operating table. That's Surrealism isn't it? 109. Blow powdered color through straw on drawing made with fat on wall underground. That's cave art isn't it?

[raygoodwinphotographyjournal2]

Marc Wilson - Visiting Talk & Tutorial 

Marc Wilson is a U.K based photographer, whose work documents WW2 sea defences and Holocaust related locations is captivating and intrinsically detailed. I had never come across Wilson’s work, but I am extremely glad that I had, and also glad that I got to show him some of my work and get a constructive insight to improving said work.

The Talk

The talk started with Wilson mentioning how he started with photography. He was going back and forth with degree programs and eventually worked as a photographers assistant for three days...and hated it. Wilson then worked in bars for 10-15 years before his then girlfriend (now his wife) persuaded him to get back into photography as he still had a love for it.

The next portion was an eye opener and really made me think about the working photographer: “without commercial work, I couldn’t of done my personal work”. To me, it made me realise that it can be done, and you can make it as a photographer. To be able to undertake personal projects in the working world, you have to actually work as a photographer with clients etc. He mentioned that in a three week commission, Wilson would of made around £20,000. To me, that’s an absurd amount of money and no way guarantees anyone else’s chances of that (besides, that’s more than some people’s yearly wage). Wilson showed us his current itinerary, travelling across Lithuania, Ukraine and New York in the space of a couple of months, managing to mix commissioned work as well as shooting projects. After this he said: “Life as a photographer can be fantastic”. Alluding that being able to go around the world and take photographs is great, but you can miss out on family time.

Wilson shoots all of his commercial work digitally. This makes for a faster and easier workflow for the clients, as well as Wilson who does very minimal editing (with commercial and personal projects). His personal work is shot on digital as well as medium format and large format film stocks - using Fujifilm Pro 400H as well as Kodak Portra. Wilson mentioned after the talk that he prefers Fujifilm as he finds Portra to be too warm for this work, and the Fujifilm has a certain coolness to it’s aesthetic - which I totally agree with. On a personal shoot and at a location, he would do a recce and use his mobile phone to see where his compositions will be, he would then go to those locations and only take around 4-5 images. Again, this is something else that I agree with; minimal editing and shooting. Why bother spending more money on sheets of film when you can take a handful of perfect shots. Wilson reiterated the fact that one should get it right in camera and not rely on multiple images and heavy editing when you know what you’re getting. This is something I have personally been doing for a while, with Wilson mentioning in the tutorial that he treats digital and film the same (something I also do). 

‘The Last Stand’ was a documentation of coastal sea defences across the U.K and Europe. Wilson wanted to contrast the parallel between the man made concrete brutalist structures with the natural landscape. He wanted to connect the stories between the defences and the locations, but that never happened with Wilson saying “It’s all about telling stories”. In some instances, Wilson only ever used one sheet of film (using his mobile in location recces). The Last Stand ultimately became a collection of 84 images from a distance of 24,000 miles of travelling. Wilson would also choose certain times of the day to get the perfect shot, sometimes camping out at the location and getting there at said certain time of day. The Last Stand was featured in Vice, The Guardian and The Daily Mail. Although he wasn’t exactly pleased that he was interview by The Daily Mail (I don’t blame him), it ultimately made him some money as they linked his book sales in the article.

‘A Wounded Landscape’ is the documentation of Holocaust locations and their connected stories. This project is currently in progress so it’s still being worked on and shot (hence Wilson’s movements to Ukraine and Lithuania). He has currently 20 stories connected to his images. Some included semiotics of a certain location’s flowers reminding him of the children that were herded like animals. Another location was photographed with the discarded bone fragments coming up from the soil, showing these small white flecks within the dirt. The images (as well as The Last Stand) were powerful and thought provoking. Imagine each flower as a person, or each fragment of bone another one of us. It brings home the reality of the atrocities of war. 

Wilson doesn’t necessarily know how and images fits within a certain brief. His approach is usually collecting all of his taken images, and go through them to see which ones actually fits the bill. This made me think of my own work and how I produce images. Instead of knowing what to shoot, perhaps one can shoot and then think how it fits later? Although this does juxtapose Wilson’s rather pragmatic approach to minimal shots. 

A coda. Marc’s talk was fantastic. I found is work incredibly engaging and his thought behind his imagery thought provoking. I haven’t really attended many talks, as I find a lot of the photographers that come in really aren’t my sort of thing, with them being mostly portrait or fine art photographers. However, Wilson’s work resonates with me from an aesthetic and work-flow point of view. The Last Stand is especially relatable and influential to my work. It manages to capture the juxtaposition of the natural and the man-made, whilst also creating an isolating mise en scene. I don’t feel that very often that I find a photographer that really works for me, and thankfully Wilson did. 

Haugesund I, Rogaland, Norway. 2014

The Tutorial

A sign up sheet was made avaiable to have a tutorial with Marc for him to look over one’s work and give them some pointers on how to improve it and his thoughts. Oddly enough, only a handful of people actually signed up (probably because they have no work, despite the fact you can use older work) which I found very odd. Surely, you’re paying £9250 a year, so why wouldn’t a budding photographer want actual profession go over their work? But, I jumped at the opportunity to show him some early work form ‘Alienated Spaces’.

Wilson liked where my work was headed, and seemed to enjoy my visual aesthetic. He understood where I was coming from with my ethos and some advise was given to me. 

The images I showed didn’t have the similar composition that I have mentioned before, and this probably wasn’t the best of ideas as it didn’t show a ‘visual consistency within compositions’. So I was right in my initial thoughts, I do have a form of visual consistency (from Wilsons POV, which he didn’t see) when it comes to my imagery. Wilson also mentioned that I would benefit from a tilt-shift lens. Yet another thing that I am wildly aware of and something that I plan on using at a later date. 

A coda. I found the tutorial very insightful and enlightening. I (as well as a select few) managed to be with a professional photographer and get some helpful pointers to improve one’s work. Opportunities don’t come around that often, so it’s best to grab them while you can (unlike everyone else). I plan on taking on board Wilson’s recommendations, and I wish to come across him again. 

Bibliography

Inside the Outside. (2018). THE LAST STAND | Marc Wilson - Inside the Outside. [online] Available at: https://www.inside-the-outside.com/the-last-stand-marc-wilson/ [Accessed 13 Oct. 2018].

Pixelrights. (2018). The Last Stand. [online] Available at: https://marcwilson.co.uk/albums/9U8LSb/the-last-stand-1 [Accessed 13 Oct. 2018].

[raygoodwinbaphotographyjournal]

PHOT103 - Evaluation

PHOT103 started with ‘Abstracted Self’ and then ‘Exploded Image’. PHOT103 was a project mainly based around the alternative process in the photographical world, and to show that photography doesn’t just have to be undertaken with a DSLR. Through this evaluation, I shall express my thoughts on this project as well as what went well, what didn’t go so well and how I would improve on these things. 

It all started off with ‘Abstracted Self’. This portion of the project was based around self portraits and abstracting the image. For the most part, I hated this project entirely. My caustic view on self portraits hasn’t changed:

As someone who doesn’t take self portraits or even use social media all that much, I found this part of the brief narcissistic and extremely futile. I find the act of self portraits time wasting and useless, almost like someone is begging for attention for ones self. I wanted to abstract and obscure myself from the photographs as much as possible. I didn’t want the images to be about me; I wanted them to be about the techniques and the aesthetic quality of the image rather than the subject.

PHOT103 Abtracted Self Images

I honestly don’t see the point of taking self portraits, unless you are totally in love with yourself or want other people to notice you. I don’t feel a need to document myself with photography, in a way all of my images are self portraits from my eye’s view. Positioning the camera facing to me is something I’m not into; I’ll leave that one for the narcissists. 

Despite my controversial views on self portraits, I do like the technical aspects to the photographs. I felt that mixing the influence of Uta Barth and Vivian Maier was quite interesting. Perhaps I can fuse double exposures with off focus scenes once more in the future. Apart from the technical aspect of this portion of the project, I hated it. I don’t plan on taking any self portraits in the near future as I have no need; what am I going to do? Show people how I look? It’s a waste of time. 

This is where PHOT103′s mood changed. It went from something I detest with an abhorrent hatred to something I am really fond of: collage/montage. In the early stages of starting PHOT103, I already had the idea in my head that I could continue with my work from a previous project titled ‘Your Home May Be At Risk’; a set of collage/montage images themed of my feelings of the modern societal system. Themes of alienation, social isolation and estrangement were themes that ran along both of these projects. I wanted to continue with this work, but I knew that I had to improve on what I had already created. I wanted to have more of my own photography in the images as well as some content that I had scanned using found books and magazines. With this, I had partly done what I wanted. 

I kept to a similar aesthetic, I have always been inspired by Stanley Donwood’s artwork for the ever inspirational Radiohead. I have always felt that Donwood’s work as accompanied Radiohead’s audio experience so well, I feel that his artwork almost sets the scene of the album before even listening to it. I was also inspired by artists such as WK Interact and Mark Lazenby as they had created artwork that was standing out in a world of similar and boring montage art. Of course, I had to research Richard Hamilton as well as I have always found Hamilton’s work to be visually impressive and relevant. 

The images I created for this project are a vast improvement to my work from last year. I have managed to expand my visual aesthetic with researched artists as well as keeping the ethos and theme of the project. I also read more into the alienation of a capitalistic society. Although Karl Marx’s theory of alienation is more aimed towards the proletarian, I felt that there is an aspect that can be brought into the lives of people who aren’t a part of the proletarian; the alienation and estrangement is found with people who feel as if they don’t fit in with the other wage slaved mentalities and serial consumerists. On a personal level, this alienation, social isolation and estrangement has been felt due to my differences to my contemporaries. While I am a similar age to said contemporaries, I don’t tend to undertake the same activities such as social media use, partying or vernacular. The feeling of not fitting in anywhere makes one feel these on a constant basis. This, is the driving force behind PHOT103. Perhaps this can also be used against ‘Abstracted Self’, my disgust for self portraits stems from my alienated view of my cohort. 

A coda. PHOT103 was a roller coaster of a project. It started with a project of which I hated with an unhealthy disgust. It was something I initially detested in practice, but I came to enjoy the image making process in the technical aspect. I’ll use the techniques again, but I won’t undertake the self portraits again. ‘Exploded Image’ is where I finally started to enjoy image making again. Across a lot of projects, I felt as if I was producing work instead of creating; just making work to pass the year. Exploded Image is where I started to enjoy making images, not just for my course but for me. All to often I found myself feeling burnt out with creating images, nothing felt good anymore in terms of photography and I feel as if this has shown in my work in certain projects. Sometimes, it just takes doing something different or taking another approach to revivify ones creative process. Exploded Image’s ‘Your Home May Be At Risk...Again’ will continue as a personal project. It could return in terms of college work, but for now it will be a personal endeavour. 

[nofomoartworld]

A CGI Master Made a New Artwork Every Day for 10 Years. Here Are The Results

I'm relatively comfortable with commitment. I've been in a relationship for several years, I still have my email account from high school, etc. But when I realized that Mike Winkelmann, the prolific CGI artist and animator behind some of our favorite Flying Lotus and Brainfeeder videos, was approaching a decade with his everydays series, it blew my mind.

For 10 years he's been posting a new digital illustration ranging from the abstract to representative, sci-fi to surreal, somber to sarcastic. Meanwhile, I barely have a consistent relationship with breakfast, much less making something creative. Today the Appleton, Wisconsin-based artist publishes his 3,650th iteration of the series, which has gone interrupted through sickness and health, music videos and advertising work, and two children.

Here is Beeple 3,650th everydays picture

These days it's a common Instagram or Tumblr challenge to make a new artwork every day for a year or so. In nearly every case, the improvement from the first piece to the 3,650th is palpable. Beeple started his everydays series under the self-deprecating moniker Beeple Crap before it was the meme it is now. After the first year, he just kept going, and still hasn't stopped in 2017.

The overriding rule behind Beeple's video work is diegetic sound: every sound in the track is also visible on the screen. He's also made hundreds of open source VJ loops that inspire unique sets around the world. It's an awesome, if time-consuming process, which has amazing results when combined with the technically brilliant musicians he normally works with. The limitations on his everydays, however, are more abstract, revolving around available software, mental states, and above all else, time.

Nevertheless, he insists it's well-within the reach of any artist: "Just start an everyday," he tells Creators. "It's become more popular on Instagram, but there are always more people who would benefit from doing it. Any time you're putting in the work, it pays off. And if you're worried about commitment, I miss breakfast all the time."

We spoke to Beeple about making art while shitting your pants and becoming a father (not at the same time):

Creators: Did you ever think you would make it to 10 years of everydays?

Beeple: No. I was focused on trying to get better at drawing. I wasn't thinking about an end date. After the momentum of the 2nd year, I realized I could keep doing this for a while. Once you get the momentum, that's what carries you forward.

Some days, you don't have that much ambition. It's like, "I'm fucking tired, I don't want to keep going." The momentum really helps you. You think, "Am I really going to ruin my streak for this?"

How long do you spend on each entry?

From five minutes, if that's all the time I have—like the day my first daughter was born—to a couple of hours.

How did your wife feel about you were making art while that was happening?

My wife was in labor, which isn't as dramatic as they make it seem in the movies. You're not racing, you're just driving to the hospital. So I just said, "I need to do this real quick before we go." There's no way I would have been able to make it this far without the support of my family.

The artwork Beeple made the day his now three-year-old daughter was born.

What still challenges you about everydays after so long?

Challenging myself comes naturally. People are going to see it, so I don't want to make crap.

But "crap" is right there in the name.

Even though it's in the name, I still get tired of doing something similar to what I've done in the past. I push forward to find different styles, different tools. I embrace the tools that are available and appreciate and have fun with new plugins. It's like having a new toy to play with.

How do you know when you're done?

Mostly it's time. I have to go to bed or something. A lot of times there's a sense of defeat. I'm out of time and this was the best I could do?

Do you ever worry about repeating yourself?

I don't focus too much on premeditating things. Even if it might be similar to something I've done before, I just focus on that piece that day. It's too hard to focus on how a piece is within the context of the whole project.

Do any of the pieces from the past 10 years stand out in your memory?

There are certain pieces where I tried a new technique or idea, but mostly my growth is incremental. It doesn't come in huge breakthroughs. There are small discoveries like, "That's what that button does," or, "That's a nice color," rather than giant breakthroughs. But when you get thousands of those, you can see real growth.

Do you have any other rituals? Church? Gym? Tan? Laundry?

I don't, but I wish I did! everydays is the only thing I'm this devoted to, and there are plenty of other things I have trouble committing to. I'm not a unilaterally driven or focused type of person.

Momentum is so important. With most habits, something weird can happen and you lose the momentum. After a certain amount of time, the habit becomes more important than the distractions. "I'm not going to miss today, just because [insert distraction here] happened."

To me the gym is harder. I'm not sure you can do it every day. The thing that makes everydays possible is that it doesn't depend on any outside factors. That's why it's tough to compare to athletic things to aesthetic.

Have you really never skipped a day? No vacation, no hangover, creative block, plain laziness?

I really haven't. I define a day as by midnight, and there are definitely days where I go really down to the wire. Last night I cut it pretty close. The thing is, you don't always have an hour, but you always have five minutes, and you can make something creative in five minutes.

There are numerous times throughout the past 10 years when I've had food poisoning or something, and I'm puking and shitting my ass off. I come over to my computer huddled in blankets, put down some stupid crap I didn't give a shit about, then I post it and I'm done. It only takes a couple of minutes. Those are days when you're completely carried by the momentum of the project.

The other thing is there are certain days you know are going to be weird. Plan in advance. If you going to go out drinking, do your everyday first. You're not going to do it afterward. If you're traveling, wake up early and do the picture, then go through your day.

Do you think you'll ever stop? You did it for 10 years, why not take tomorrow off?

I think it's going to run it's course. I'm surprised I haven't forgotten a day. I feel like I'm still so far from where I want to be. I look at artists in a variety of mediums and think, "Why would I stop now?" Part of it is not looking at it too far down the line, and focusing on short term goals.

Who inspires you when you're working on these?

Lately the Ghost in the Shell VFX work, and GMUNK just did a piece for Lexus that was super awesome. There are so many people doing amazing work in a variety of fields. There's no shortage for me of people to look up to.

Who is your dream collaboration?

Aphex Twin would be awesome. He was extremely influential back when I started everydays. He was one of the first people making songs on his computer by himself in his basement. It was like, "Holy shit. He didn't need a team of people, or permission, or on someone else's schedule!" That was very influential on my work.

What's next for you?

Lately I've been doing some concepting for AR as well as concert visuals, album art. And I'll probably be doing that for a while.

Keep following Beeple on his website or Instagram.

Related:

Beeple's Glowing Virtual Tunnels Give Viewers A 'Warm Neon Birth'

CGI Mastermind Beeple Takes on China—U.S. Cyber Warfare

7 Years and 2,555 Drawings Later, Beeple Looks Back on his 'everydays' Project

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