Artist Feature: Music Videos
My first real job was assistant to the head of music videos at Geffen Records. It was a glorious era for music videos. Music videos
Search blog
Today’s Artist Feature is all about the unconventional. What would a wire chair sound like if it were translated into music? What does an exploding ball of yarn sound like? Find out as we dip into videos and clips that step beyond the conventional ideas of composition and video. Creativity has no limits or boundaries and this collection of videos is a great example of that.
Antenna Research used the Bertoia Side Chair designed by Harry Bertoia in 1952 as inspiration for this track. “We wanted to make something a bit more “clangy” than usual,” the duo explains, “With the chair being made from metal wire; a piano seemed like a good place to start.” The chair and its unique design are considered a symbol of mid-century modern design and this track with its moments of metallic sounds, beats, and piano captures the essence of Bertoia’s own words about his design, “If you look at the chairs, they are mainly made of air, like sculpture. Space passes through them.”
“A Sullen White Surf” from Der Geist 66 is a visual feast of color and waveforms. The pulse and grooves of this modular synth track come to life in trippy and geometric fashion. Lex was the pedal of choice for this live recording.
This beautiful piece by Tyrone Douglas pairs Native American flute with BigSky for a truly expansive and warm sound. The added drone underneath the ethereal sound of the flute provides an immediate sense of place and mood. See Tyrone’s YouTube page to for more pieces that create natural sounds using instruments and percussion.
“I like to Groove (a lot)” from Jeremy Nattagh takes us on a creative slinky black light trip complete with sanzula, synth, handpan, flute, and drums. Be sure to watch and listen to the very end.
John Biotno’s preset of the day is pretty nifty sounding combination of part whale song, part siren.
Deco meets a curious electronic musical instrument called the Sidrassi Organ by Ciat Lonbrade in this clip. This unique analog organ is based completely on touch with two oscillators modulating the tones of the seven wooden bars. The amount of pressure applied effects the tone produced. The 42 nodes can also be touched to make “weird and unique tone and gesture combinations”. Steel wool can be gently applied to the nodes for even more variation (as seen here.) Be sure to listen with headphones to get the full effect.
Enjoy this article?
Subscribe to our newsletter to be the first to hear about new Strymon products, artist features, and behind the scenes content!
October
October Crifasi is musician and writer based in Los Angeles where she lives with two cats, five guitars, and a pet dragon named Scorch. She has written for Acoustic Guitar and Classical Guitar magazines and also runs a guitar program for girls in Los Angeles called Girls Guitar School. When not making or writing about music, October leads a parallel life as a comic book writer and overall nerd.
Related Articles
Artist Feature: Found Sounds
This artist feature focuses on artists that either use found objects or found sounds in their recordings. Usually, the term “found objects” refers to the
Artist Feature: Visual Artwork
This time we are sneaking away from the music side and looking at all the wonderful visual artists out there in the music world. It’s