This mind-blowing video, directed by Franck Trebillac, is for Stretta’s Calculus.
The video is one of twelve music videos produced for Clear Notice’s debut release, Enter Calico – available on Bandcamp, Amazon and iTunes as an audio album and iPad App. More videos from the release are available on the Clear Notice Vimeo channel.
About the music, Stretta (Matthew Davidson) notes:
I like to think that if you’re going to create something within the field of electronic music, you should offer an experience that can’t be achieved though other means.
For example, Pixar makes movies about talking fish, robots in love, and a rat that cooks in a restaurant kitchen. Arguably, they’re telling stories that almost have to be realized with computer animation.
So, this is music that, I believe, has to be realized synthetically.
This time change is messing with my head
Love this sh**,
It's very cool, with the audio on mute, though.
Need to open your ears and your mind up a bit!
I did, but the word "pretentious" jumped in.
🙁
Mind not blown. Well, the video almost, kinda, makes up for the music, which sounds like someone flipping through Reaktor snapshots, but I am sure it's far more complicated than that, and based on some pseudo-academic crap that my little mind could never understand . Really though haven't we seen and heard this before ? IamwhoIam meets fruity loops/ableton/moldover knob twiddling leprosy ? It's like Aphex Twin if he totally sucked, and had no ear for rhythm and melody. Of course I probably need to "open my mind" too, but if this has any chance of sneaking I think I'd rather keep it closed, thanks.
I never thought I'd see the day when I'd rather see and hear Nerd Revolt.
Nerd Revolt Forever!
It's episodic and as such the rhythmic component frequently changes meter and speed. It's like much classical music of the last two centuries in this regard. Maybe this is felt these days to be a frustration of the groove rather than complex shift in nuance. I guess what I'm saying is that how one hears what it's doing is a good deal affected by where one's coming from, musically…
IMO, the music is Fantastic. it is stretta's style and is really personal. and it certainly does not sound like someone flipping through reaktor snapshots for sure.
once again, Well Done stretta!
Sorry–strikes me as very pretentious as well. Sounds like what happens when my system malfunctions.
excellent dp work. didn't care for the editing, and thus the shape of the piece visually. the climax came too soon. once the human metamorphosis occurs, seeing more insects is kind of anticlimactic.
musically, i dig it.
Check out the directors' "making of" video (for Caculus and The Emancipation) :: http://tinyurl.com/343bnw9
Thanks for the link!
And very cool series of videos for this release!
Sounds interesting, but I thought we were over this kind of music since about the end of the 90s. As for the comparisons with modern classical music: I don't get it, I'd rather listen to Stockhausen, Schönberg, Ligeti, etc. Music that has a dynamic range and tempo changes that don't sound like they are done by a machine. But after hearing this I guess I finally understand Stretta's aesthetic. Maybe something really good might come out of all this experimentation. Rome wasn't built in a day either, so why should we judge this intermediate product as the best he can do. Probably the right direction, still lots of room for improvement. And maybe someday all the hyperbole will come true.
I liked it too.
The marriage of music and video is really nice, and I actually likedhow he messes with the tempo. Made me think of old Morton Subotnick, a bit, which may be what's putting some people off of it.
The music is genius. I wouldn't expect it would be for everyone, because it doesn't have a simple meter and doesn't use the same trance/house sample packs/wobble bass, blah blah that people want to hear or are used to hearing, but it's fucking brilliant.
My simple rule when listening to something out of my wheelhouse is, did they achieve what they were trying to achieve, how well did they execute it, & could I do it. To my mind, the answers are yes, fantastically, and I wouldn't even know where to begin.
You don't have to like or understand something to appreciate it and the work that went into it. To flip through a bunch of reaktor settings etc. wouldn't take much artistry. To intentionally conceptualize and then execute something this layered, varied and complex is genius, even if it's not something you would normally like or listen to.
That people who don't/won't take the time to see that snub it, is sad but predictable. Go back to your prepackaged drum loops and 4/4 time and have a nice day.
Here's a little background to the rhythmic technique stretta used in Calculus:
http://hebb.mit.edu/courses/9.29/2003/athena/audi…
"I'd rather listen to Stockhausen, Schönberg, Ligeti, etc. Music that has a dynamic range and tempo changes that don't sound like they are done by a machine."
You can have your own taste, of course, but the point Stretta is making is that he IS making music with machines and not trying to cover it up with carefully edited velocities/whatever in an attempt to make it sound more human than it is.
Thank you for your well reasoned response. Your logic is impeccable and your arguments both informed and illustrative, you petulant twat (see I can use offensive words too!)
What a dick *I* am for suggesting that you listen to the music in the context it was intended and judge it based on that, since it's clearly not aiming to be the dance hit of the summer. I'd apologize, but I'm not sure it would be enough to cover the depth of my transgression.
I'm sure your loops and sample packs are really bitchin'.
Did someone find the MiniDisc of missing Drukqs demos and put it on random ? Sounds like a Twin CD that got the Oval treatment.
http://hebb.mit.edu/courses/9.29/2003/athena/audi…
Thanks! This makes it more palatable to listen to! Oh wait, it still sounds the same.
You're right maybe I should go see Avatar in the context it was meant to be judged too.
No loops or sample packs here but thanks for assuming that someone who thinks this music is shit paints from the tube, and is uninformed.
You're most certainly welcome sir!
I don't think anyone's suggesting you have to like it. You're certainly entitled to think "this music is shit". When all you've given me to go on is, and I quote, "Oh, please. You pretentious fucktard, go fuck yourself. " I have no choice but to infer some things from it.
If you have something to say other than "this is shit", or telling me to perform acts on myself that I am nowhere NEAR flexible enough to achieve, let's hear it.
Exactly. No one is suggesting I have to like it, and no one is suggesting I can't voice my opinion, no matter how "petulant" it might be, right ?
Do I need to say more than "this is shit" ? Do I need to give you my artist statement and defend my thesis ? This is an anonymous public forum and I am able to say what I want. Are you familiar with the internet ? It is indeed, a dump truck, and I am dumping.
Anyway Matt, chill out. It's okay if not everyone thinks you are a "genius".
Your first comment was deleted because it was a personal attack.
FYI – clever bitch-slapping usually slips by here.
Your first comment was deleted because it was a personal attack.
FYI – clever bitch-slapping usually slips by here.
Your first comment was deleted because it was a profane personal attack.
FYI – clever bitch-slapping usually slips by here. So step up to the plate next time.
You don't *have* to do anything. You can make baseless personal attacks and one-line criticisms, just don't get sand in your va-jay-jay when that leads me in turn to make some assumptions about who you are as a musician and what your approach is.
I simply made a statement as to why I think it's good work and backed that up with some of my reasoning, you responded by calling me a "fucktard" and telling me to go fuck myself, and you actually have the nerve to bristle at my responding by calling you "petulant"?
Certainly many use anonymous comments as a convenient way to hurl insults and invective without really contributing to the discussion or revealing who they are. It's your right to do so, I don't think it adds much value. I'm @MrBitterness on twitter, and the Synthtopia blog owner knows who I am, as do at least a few in this thread, so I'm not sniping anonymously or without consequence, unlike yourself.
I'd be more interested to hear why you think there's so little worth to the music based on something, some reasoned opinion, some incite to how you approach music, etc. That you don't do this makes it reasonable for one to conclude you don't because you can't.
So since you are clearly "the man" who sits in judgement on other peoples work with a waive of your disdainful hand, lets have a link to your work so we can decide whether or not "it's shit".
Seems fair, no?
Also, based on your comment getting deleted I guess you can't say *whatever* you want. You could choose to actually have a discussion, for instance, instead of just hurling insults.
Well this video is over pretentious, and its a idea rip off…. video tries to be a bad copy of chris clarke gob coitus, and audio track is kinda a generic mash-up without substantiality… Almost every form of art is dead in this post modern universe. Comparing this track to some trans music or similar genre is ridiculous, because u cant compare something by its worst counterparts. The genre is differnet but core is same… empty idea-less music. http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x99aa_chris-clar…
Sounds like you might be the one with the sand in your self-righteous vagoo. It seems you are just as intolerant of my opinion as I am of this music. Why is it that if one has a negative opinion of a post on Synthtopia they need to reveal their music or not be an anonymous poster ? Can I just dislike it and post accordingly or do I need to contact you first ? So, I can't cuss or personally attack anyone, but I can have an opinion that differs from yours, and it can even be "uninformed" and negative so get over yourself.
wish they had an audio sample of how that worked. Will try it out when i get home. I always just assumed they had a single sample that they triggered in decreasing intervals.