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The Open Reel Ensemble adds a unique twist to the old-school art of reel-to-reel tape scratching, with USB controllers that manipulate the switches inside the tape decks and with solenoids that create vibrato effects by tweaking the speed of the tape as it passes over the heads.
In his latest video, experimental media artist Daito Manabe choreographs a synchronized face dance for four friends by hooking them up to the Face Visualizer, a device which converts music into electrical impulses that stimulate the facial muscles.
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[Via: Daito Manabe - YouTube]
As part of an online marketing campaign for the Walkman media player over the past few years, Sony has produced over a dozen short videos featuring a stellar assortment of underground Japanese musicians cutting loose in the studio.
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- Tucker
DJ/keyboardist Tucker shows off his mad cooking skills by whipping up a spicy blend of rhythmic kitchen noise topped with crunchy guitar. >>> Video
+ More Tucker: Clocks, toys & turntable // Oil drum, thumb piano, bass & keyboards // Guitar, bass & keyboards // Misc. items in aquarium
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- Fuyuki Yamakawa
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Armed with a bone conduction microphone and electric artificial larynx, performance artist/body musician Fuyuki Yamakawa drops a flurry of skull-thumping, mouth-tweaking beats.
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- Tomo Yamaguchi
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Wearing an assortment of tin containers, junk percussionist Tomo Yamaguchi crashes and bangs his way through quiet residential backstreets.
+ More: Studio solo // Collaboration with Tucker
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- Goma da Didgeridoo
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Goma da Didgeridoo plays the aboriginal wind instrument with a twist of techno.
+ More: Collaboration with chef Tucker
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- Atsuhiro Ito
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Atsuhiro Ito gets down with the Optron, a miked-up fluorescent light tube run through an array of effects pedals.
+ More: Collaboration with drummer Yoichiro Shin
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- Taeji Sawai
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Interactive media designer Taeji Sawai shows off his scintillating light-controlled sound generator.
+ More: Ito's Optron vs. Sawai's light-controlled sound generator
This captivating promo video for the ARROWS' "Karada no V" track (on the recently released AROI album) features footage from the award-winning "Frog in the Well" performance by the Okayama University Modern Dance Club.
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Video artist The RP (a.k.a. rokapenis) created this fanciful promo video for Ove-Naxx, an Osaka breakcore/raggacore artist whose quirky sound incorporates elements of everything from dancehall to death metal and J-pop, along with bits of Latin American music and farm animal noises.
More videos on The RP's website and YouTube channel.
This pleasantly deranged promo video for Maximum The Hormone's "Bikini Sports Ponchin" was directed by Kouki Tange (Yellow Brain).
Jemapur - Maledict Car (Dir. Kosai Sekine)
Tokyo gets mirror-tweaked to kaleidoscopic effect in Jemapur's "Maledict Car" video directed by Kosai Sekine (produced by W+K Tokyo Lab). Sekine's previous work includes the quirky "Right Place," which won the best short film award at Cannes in 2006.
A well-choreographed troupe of synchronized (and anonymized) high divers splash it up for Denki Groove in the new "Fake It!" video. Directed by Hideyuki Tanaka.
[Link: Denki Groove - Fake It!]
More:
- Denki Groove videos
- Video: Mononoke Dance
Freelance creative designer Ryosuke Tei has done a few animated motion IDs for MTV Asia/China that are inspired by Saiyuki ("Journey to the West"), the classic Chinese adventure novel about a monk's trek to India in search of Buddhist texts.
In the first video, followers of the monk Genjo Sanzo (Xuanzang) psychically transmit a message from the Buddha urging him to go west.
The second one introduces the three protectors that accompany Sanzo on his quest: the powerful monkey king Son Goku (Sun Wukong), the gluttonous and libidinous pig Cho Hakkai (Zhu Bajie) and the river ogre Sa Gojo (Sha Wujing).
Check Tei's YouTube page for more animated shorts, including this music video for French electronica artist DJ Missill's "Forward," which features a giant guitar-playing robo-rabbit that frees the oppressed minds of jackbooted soldiers.
The video was produced by Furi Furi Company, the creative design agency Tei established and directed for 10 years before going freelance in 2008.
[Link: Ryosuke Tei]
