The issues raised surrounding the marriage of music with visuals is likely to be discussed forever. Here we give some examples which, although they might not end it, certainly add to the discussion.
Music backed up by visuals has been setting music lovers against each other for some time. Some listeners prefer the images they have created in their own minds, making the experience of listening to that piece of music truly their own. These are the listeners who claim to recognise the details in music relatively easily. Another group of listeners though, love the experience of music accompanied by a predetermined, and well-designed visuals. Visuals here might refer to the videos projected on a screen behind the stage at a live show, the music videos for songs, or they could simply be the visuals in those tiny pamphlets designed to be the album covers.
And then there are works which elevate this team of music-visuals to another level. These kinds of works, maybe visual albums, are typically movies with traces of the musicians’ concept. Being the product of the same mind that created the music, these films are edited to accompany the music. So with the visual albums, it’s unlikely that the visuals might overshadow the music, which can sometimes be a drawback when it comes to music videos, for example Time To Dance by The Shoes. Obviously these well-packaged films try to find the visual equivalents of the transitions or ups and downs of the music.
I personally think visual domain, where you can process the concept of the album thoroughly, should not be neglected. Especially today, with millions of people listening to music on YouTube, musicians have every right to seek to create their own visual language. Following are some examples.
MGMT – Optimizer
This movie is actually is the inspiration behind this piece subject file. Optimizer is the movie created for the latest, and highly addictive, MGMT album. The movie, which can be downloaded with a code that comes with every format of the album, does not detract from the music. It is composed of psychedelic collages, a mish-mash of colours, through which there is the occasional appearance of a figure. It offers an alternative listening of the album. If you were intrigued by the other three music videos from the album (“Alien Days”, “Your Life Is A Lie” and “Cool Song No:2”), you can expect something similar from Optimizer. Still, the movie follows a much simpler understanding of aesthetics. But it’s not exactly something you could watch at any time though, as it is obviously created in a mood so far away from daily life rush.
Animal Collective – ODDSAC
If you were asked to define what a visual album is, you could easily come up with ODDSAC. Animal Collective had worked on it for four years with Danny Perez when it was released in the summer of 2010. Although ODDSAC opens up with an easy to follow song like “Mr Fingers”, it’s highly hard to listen to the entire album. But the movie somehow flows in a unique way, thanks to the visual charm of what they did with Danny Perez. The 53 minute movie was made by uniting the music composed for visuals and the visuals created for the music. Other than the colors and digitally created moving images, we also see Animal Collective members dressed as miserable vampires or grumpy warriors.
TV On The Radio – Nine Types of Light
Some member of TV On The Radio are already familiar with film making. Lead singer Tunde Adebimpe is one of the creators of MTV’s cult 90s show, Celebrity Deathmatch. This team have made different kinds of movies and music videos before, and recently produced separate music videos in various genres for each song from their latest album Nine Types of Light released in 2011. The band directed some part of the videos themselves. For some of them, they worked with different directors. When united, the music videos make an hour-long visual album. It’s hard to talk about a flowing narrative or a visual coherence in Nine Types of Light. Still they used different approaches for each of the music videos and they have united 11 short stories instead of creating a single one. These are the details that make this visual album different. Among the people who worked for the movie are directors like BAFTA-winning animator Michael Please, Hawaiian director Jon Moritsugu and the band’s old friend Johnerick Lawson. It’s possible to watch the entire movie on YouTube.
Liars – Drum’s Not Bread
Drum’s Not Bread is one of the most exceptional albums of the Brooklyn=based band’s discography. The entire album suggest a certain theme. There are two imaginary characters: Mount Heart Attack and Drum. The band constantly shot videos for the movie while recording the drums that dominate the album in Berlin, and they processed the videos in different ways to match them with songs. The videos show the members of the band recording in the studio, or stop-motion animations, the Liars dolls visiting the zoo, or even simply video art pieces consisting of collages. Drum’s Not Bread, being the combination of all these videos, is a treasure for the listeners who liked the album. If you get the Bonus CD, you have the chance to listen while watching the video called Helix Aspersa in which a snail slowly crawls on a white ground for the entire thing.
Dirty Projectors – Hi Custodian
Even if you’re only a bit familiar with Dirty Projectors’ music, you could guess how experimental their movie would be. Hi Custodian is originally the band’s lead singer David Longstreth’s movie and it is almost an exact visual counterpart of the band’s music. Hi Custodian involves songs from the album Swing Lo Magellan. The movie, where the music was used as a narrative, carries just the same surreal nature as that of the album. The lyrics of the album focus on the themes of death and resurrection and as the movie runs we get to see the characters playing certain characters. Being Longstreth’s first and ever directorial practice, Hi Custodian is a solid parallel to its music, parallel like no other example above.
(Translated by Ege Yorulmaz)
