Japanese breakbeat duo Hifana have released a kaleidoscopic new video for "Hanabeam," from their forthcoming "24H" album.
+ Video
Tag: ‘Music’
Fact – ‘Behind A Smile’
02 Jul 2010
Melodic hardcore quintet FACT have released a new animated video for "Behind a Smile," from their latest album "In the Blink of an Eye."
+ Video
Musical Nikes vs. Our Park
16 Apr 2010
Japanese breakbeat duo Hifana bang out a funky rhythm on sensor-embedded Nikes that function as sound controllers (sound programming by Daito Manabe, hardware by 4nchor5 la6). [Via: SNOW Magazine]
+ Video
Meanwhile, the homeless residents of Shibuya's Miyashita Park (now known as "Miyashita NIKE Park") are getting the boot as the local government uses Nike money to transform the public space into a private commercial sports facility. "Our Park," a short documentary directed by Emil Langballe, looks at the issues from the perspective of the homeless. [Via: Hypebeast]
+ Video
Dance, kappa, dance
18 Feb 2010
Japan's legendary kappa grooves it up in the new animated music video by electropop group Omodaka.
For more kappa coolness, check out the video for "MOGU MOGU" by Chinza Dopeness, directed by Fantasista Utamaro. (Thanks, chee!)
‘Bad Apple!!’ stop-motion animation
28 Jan 2010
"Bad Apple!!" is a magical piece of stop-motion animation made from 6,566 still photos of printed bitmaps.
+ Video
The creator, Nico Nico Douga user "shige-ruuu," says he made the video without using photo-editing software. The images were captured with a webcam, and the effects were achieved by changing the camera position and adjusting the focus, brightness, zoom, exposure and gain.
The original stills and music come from this video for the song "Bad Apple!!" (arranged by Masayoshi Minoshima, featuring vocals by nomico) from the Touhou Project game series.
scoreLight turns shapes into sound
08 Dec 2009
"scoreLight" is a laser-based musical device that generates real-time sound based on the shape of drawings or objects.
Relying on 3D tracking technology developed at the Ishikawa-Komuro Laboratory in 2003, scoreLight uses lasers to trace the outline of a drawing or object. As the laser dances along the contours, scoreLight produces and modulates sound according to the curvature, angle, texture, color, and contrast. An abrupt change in the direction of a line generates a discrete sound (a glitch or percussion sound), resulting in a steady rhythm when the laser follows a looped path (the size and shape of the looped path determines the tempo and structure of the beat). The device creates a layered tapestry of sound when multiple laser points explore different parts of a drawing.
Here is some video of scoreLight making music from a sketch of a brain:
+ NOU-ISE
scoreLight's developers include Alvaro Cassinelli (concept, hardware and software), Kuribara Yusaku (software), Daito Manabe (sound concept and programming) and Alexis Zerroug (electronics). See Cassinelli's YouTube channel for more videos.
[Link: scoreLight]
Apocalypseなう: ‘the TV show’
07 Dec 2009
A frenetic animated version of the Japanese television apocalypse is depicted in "the TV show," a video by Kousuke Sugimoto with music by Takayuki Manabe.
[Via MetaFilter]
Video: 8-bit ‘Thriller’
24 Nov 2009
As a tribute to Michael Jackson, Japanese chiptune pioneer Saitone has released an 8-bit version of "Thriller."
+ Video
Watch the full live version here.
[Link: Hear Japan]