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PolyKB is out

Friday, April 2nd, 2010

Lately we’ve covered XILS-lab’s work in a couple of articles: a review of their VCS3 emulation, XILS 3 (by the way, they’re offering a special deal to ANR readers, 25% off the regular price, read more here) and an interview with its founder, Xavier Oudin.

As mentioned in the interview, a new product has just been added to the company’s catalogue. It’s called PolyKB, in their words “a recreation of a very rare, very powerful, polyphonic synthesizer released in the 80′s by the french company RSF. Because of the unique sounds, the RSF Kobol synthesizers were used by J.M Jarre, Hans Zimmer, Depeche Mode, Vince Clark, Vangelis, and many more. In true XILS-Labs fashion, the PolyKB is true to the original sound but with a very modern twist.
The PolyKB is a subtractive synthesizer based on two waveform morphing, aliasing free oscillators and a self oscillating 4 poles low pass filter.
The oscillators create a large part of the sound of this synthesizer. But along with the help of of very complete modulation section and the filter recreating a standard analog

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Off-the-record: XILS-lab

Saturday, March 27th, 2010

XILS-lab is a new French company, focusing on virtual instruments with an analog touch.
A few weeks ago we’ve reviewed their first release, XILS 3, a synth inspired to one of any synth lover’s wet dream, the EMS VCS3.

EDIT: we’ve just partnered with XILS-lab and they’re offering a special deal to ANR reader, 25% off the regular price. Get XILS 3 at 111 euro, click here to read more…

While I’m usually not too keen on the emulation trend, I have to confess XILS 3 is really a brilliant and inspiring musical instrument. It captures the spirit of an age where unpredictability and non-linearities were the norm, adding all the goodies you would expect from a modern software. Mission accomplished!
We’ve asked a few questions to Xavier Oudin, the man behind XILS-lab, read on…

Hi Xavier, would you like to tell us something more about your company?

XILS-lab, based in Grenoble, France, is a music software company I started around the end of 2008.
Having developed some of the best-known virtual instruments and effects on the market for Digigram, Arturia and various companies over the past 20 years, I’m now bringing my passion for music, audio, sound and instruments to my own company.
In order to make top quality software, I decided to work with highly qualified professionals, including Yannick Bonnefoy (graphic design) and many other musicians and sound designers. I think of these collaborations as a sort of expertise network for music software creation. XILS-lab is a node of this network, where I can focus on my main job, the development of new products and concepts
For all the commercial and marketing aspect of its development, XILS-lab works with Michael Logue from MiiM Corp for North American and Ian Morton from Smart Distribution for the European zone.

You mentioned that you worked for Arturia. Why did you leave? Is there something about the synths you helped develop that you’d like to change today, if you had the chance?

After more than 6 years of working for Arturia, I felt that I was always doing the same things and I wanted to achieve something else. So I decided to leave, and began working on this new adventure. After some time spent developing effects with Eiosis, learning a lot about filtering algorithms, I came back to my main passion, synthesis.
My time at Arturia was quite a while ago. They’ve since released new versions and I can’t say anything about their products now.
XILS-lab algorithms are based on important improvements of some well known algorithms, different from those I used when I worked at Arturia.
That’s why the sound is not the same, even if something of the same spirit can be shown.

Making the XILS 3 (inspired by the VCS-3) and now the PolyKB (based on a more obscure eighties synth called PolyKobol), it seems you enjoy challenges.
Why do you think nobody has tried to re-create such beasts of the past and what do they have to offer that can’t be replicated by more modern synths?

Challenges are what keep us awake and vibrant. So yes, I enjoy the challenge, especially when creating musical instruments which have never been remade, or that have been realized without enough features to make them all they could be.
There are already some other soft synthesizers that have been created, based on the VCS3/AKS architecture, and the challenge for me was to keep its very special and acclaimed character, which is so difficult to reproduce in the digital domain.

With the polyKobol, things are different; The RSF synthesizer was the only analog sound machine capable of a creating a modulated morphing waveform, creating wonderful new sounds. The challenge was to recreate this specific oscillator in the digital domain without aliasing, keeping all the modulation and synchronization features as well as its warm and big sound.
By the way, I’m not sure RSF and Kobol was that obscure – J.M. Jarre used 8 connected Kobol expanders for his China concerts, it was only the polyKobol that wasn’t well-known due to the factory problems RSF had.

I have a love-hate relationship with your XILS 3. While I love its organic and lively sounds, I really find the matrix too small. Do you think a future release could offer a different GUI approach?

The size of the matrix seems to be a problem for some users and this will be addressed in one of the next updates. A first obvious method should be to increase the overall size of the XILS 3. For those who work with high resolution, this could be more comfortable. Other GUI approaches could be taken if this doesn’t work.

While reading up on the history of the VCS-3, i noted that the synth was famously inconsistent, especially in the reproduction of sound – it seems that it was almost impossible to re-create the exact same sound. What about adding some sort of ‘inconsistency’ element to the architecture of XILS 3? Like a selection of ‘broken’ patch pins, for example?

Adding some more drift or creating a special keyboard follow to detune it in a sort of random way could be interesting. While I want to keep the sound and the character of analog synthesizer, I don’t think there is interest in keeping some of the more disagreeable things. For example – emulating the time a analog synthesizer has to be powered up before being used correctly and in tune with their other plug-ins wouldn’t be appreciated by users.

Now that most classic synths of the past have been covered, I’d actually love to see skilled developers working on original concepts, possibly more performance oriented (i.e. with a less traditional GUI). What’s your take on the touch-based synths developed for iPhone, for example?

I developed some programs for iPhone and began to adapt a synthesizer for this platform. I think it is a funny controller, but the available CPU power doesn’t allow a very wide range of possibilities and keeps the application on the toy side.
But I agree that the way programs are controlled by the iPhone, especially using a touch screen and an accelerometer, is very interesting. When more powerful computers get these kinds of control parameters (a 19 inch touch screen and an accelerometer wireless mouse for instance, or better some sort of sensitive gloves) things will be different.

About classical synthesizer VS new oriented sound machine, I think both are important and are worth developing. Each classical synthesizer has its own character and is a source of inspiration for the user. There are a lot of machines waiting to have their chance to inspire creative people: we just need to make their best features available again, setting their issues aside.
But I’m thinking of a new plug-in with a totally new approach. I just need the time to improve the concept and develop it, keeping in mind my main purpose: creating an easy, powerful and inspiring musical instrument for musicians.

Which are the artists (just a few names) and musical genres you’re into? And how, if it happens, do your musical passions influence your products?

I love classical music, especially Schubert, Mozart and Brahms, but when I was younger, I enjoyed listening to Pink Floyd, Zappa and Ange. It was also during this time that synthesizer sounds grabbed my attention, with Tangerine Dream and Vangelis.
Much more than my listening interests, I found that playing the clarinet for years led to my understanding that the synthesizer IS a musical instrument, provided its sound keeps freedom, and influences the development of my products.

What are the weirdest/funniest requests you’ve received from users?

I never receive very weird requests from users; it’s usually requests that I can’t achieve, involving CPU power or GUI possibilities.
For instance, one request was for getting the XILS 3 reverb polyphonic, which would mean getting 18 instances of the reverb running all the time (due to the tail, it is not really possible to disable voice after the note off). Another was a request for a total polyphonic sequencer including the clock management (for sequences with various clock speeds and step numbers running at the same time). This would be funny, but creating a GUI to make it easy to use would not be so obvious (although I may keep this idea in mind, to maybe offer a part of this feature for a future version of the polyKB).

Maybe the weirdness comes from myself; a musician once told me I’m insane…

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Off-the-record: XILS-lab

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XILS-lab announces polyKB

Thursday, March 11th, 2010

11th March 2010: XILS-lab has announced its next product: polyKB, a recreation of a very rare, very powerful polyphonic synthesizer released in the ’80s by a French company. It’ll be released soon for Windows and Mac …

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XILS-lab announces polyKB

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XILS 3 review: a modern VCS3?

Wednesday, March 10th, 2010

The French software company Xils lab has recently introduced a soft synth, inspired by one of the first truly portable modular analog synths – the EMS VCS3. The VCS3 has a rich history of users: Brian Eno, Pink Floyd, Aphex Twin and the Chemical Brothers are on the list. The original synth has a reputation for brilliant inconsistencies, and is famous as a quirky sound-mangler as well as a beautiful sounding instrument. Click here to see the original VCS3 in action.
The XILS-3 modular soft synth was created with a large nod in the direction of the VCS3, while taking advantage of modern and more reliable technology.

Architecture

The XILS-3 is available as a plug-in in all major formats. There is no standalone version, so it has to be used within a DAW. The installation process is a simple download and license transfer. (you need either Ilok or the syncrosoft license dongles to use the XILS-3) The plug-in comes in two forms – one as a virtual instrument, and the other as an effects processor plug-in, that can be used directly on audio tracks in the DAW.
The layout is in the form of two modules: the synthesizer and the sequencer.

The synth module’s GUI is a replica of the original VCS3. There, you will find three analog style oscillators, with level and shape control for sine, saw, triangle and square waves. Shaping the sound waves are 3 low/high pass filters, envelopes (ADSR and Trapezoid), spring reverb, ring modulation, and a noise generator. At the bottom of the module are a signal routing matrix (more details later), and an XY joystick.
The sequencer module has the same retro design style: it contains a 128-step sequencer, and all the associated control elements. On this side of the instrument are also sections for the audio inputs (pitch and transient tracking), a master section (Mono/Poly/Unison, Glide time, etc) and universal effects for the instrument, such as delay and chorus.
For more details on the features of the instrument click here

Sounds

Upon first play, the instrument sounds absolutely fantastic! The company boasts no aliasing on the oscillators, as they are using their own custom DSP algorithm, and I couldn’t hear any from sweeping up and down the frequency ranges. It certainly sounded warm and crisp. The XILS-3 contains several pre-installed preset banks, designed by some heavy hitters in the audio synthesis world. They are of excellent quality, and are a great jumping off point for deeper exploration into the architecture of the synth. The audio examples give an excellent demonstration of what’s possible.

So this synth sounds great, but there are a lot of software emulations of analog synths out there. How does this one make its presence felt? To me, this instrument really stands out with the modular Matrix. The simple grid layout enables over 450 different signal routing possibilities, without the virtual cable spaghetti you might expect (The vertical axis of the matrix being the source of the signal, and the horizontal axis being the destination, you can place a pin at the intersection between source and destination, and there’s a signal path created). I found it to be an intuitive way of quickly routing sound, and with 16 different sources and destinations, you can get very creative! It’s possible to route the same signal to different places at the same time, which has very unpredictable and sometimes beautiful sonic results. The only slight issue I had the matrix was the relative difficulty of placing the virtual pin exactly where I wanted to, due to its small size. But that’s a minor gripe.
The sequencer is also a great component of this synth. It too has a matrix, and you can route the sequences to destinations other than the oscillators, such as to the filter, envelopes or the reverb.
I also enjoyed using the pitch and transient trackers with various audio loops, to create synth and bass lines that locked in with the groove of the loops used. It took some time to figure out the signal path for using incoming audio, and there is some basic video tuition on the website, but perhaps it could be more comprehensive.

The processing requirements of the synth were quite varied. I was mainly running the plug-in with Ableton Live, on a 2.4ghz core2duo Macbookpro with 4GB Ram. The patches averaged around 10%, but sometimes used up to 40% (Of Ableton’s CPU percentage), especially when the keyboard was on the circular poly setting. So be aware of CPU-intensive patches.

Soul Design

As a part of this review, I imported some presets patches that are available from Soundsdivine, a company that creates sound presets for many of the quality softsynths available today (check out the interview we did with them).
There are two banks available, as part of the package, and they definitely compliment the preset banks that come with the synth. They cover various elements: bass, synth, pad, sequence, and FX patches, and are clearly labelled. The patches are of good quality, a lot of them reminiscent of the sounds used by Boards of Canada, Aphex twin, and Milosh. At $25 they’re definitely a worthwhile addition (especially if you’d like to get the most out of this synth without spending too many hours tweaking it). You can check them out here

CONCLUSIONS

For someone with little knowledge of synthesis, this instrument could be fairly intimidating. There is a manual, and a quick start section of the website that helps with understanding the layout of the instrument. If you’d like to understand more about synthesis – the web is a great resource. I’ll start you off here and here.

The XILS-3 is a great sounding virtual analog synthesizer, which looks to the past in emulating the warm and quirky nature of the VCS3, but also to the present by adding consistency and flexibility to the architecture. Regardless of your experience, if you are willing to invest the time and energy, you will be richly rewarded.

Price: €146.00 (including tax). An iLok or eLicenser dongle is required.
P.S: stay tuned, we should announce a special offer in the next days…

The instrument sounds absolutely fantastic!

Product page

PROS

Sounds rich and warm – a great analog emulation
Massive depth and flexibility – the routing possibilities seem endless!
Can be used as a quality effects processor as well as a synth

LOVE-IT OR HATE-IT

This is a synth for people who love synths. For the preset junkie, pass on by (and miss out). You need to invest time creating. It’s definitely worth it.

CONS

Matrix is a bit fiddly
Steep learning curve
Video tutorials could be a bit more comprehensive (look at Spectrasonics RMX tutorials)

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XILS 3 review: a modern VCS3?

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Émilie Simon, Making Homemade Sessions in Her Apartment

Thursday, March 4th, 2010

Émilie Simon is a fantastically-talented artist with a unique background: her work now falls clearly into pop territory, but her lineage is just as much experimental and classical. Conservatory training gave way to time at the avant garde nerve center of Paris, IRCAM. IRCAM’s Director, Cyrille Brissot, still plays alongside her – more on his wild invention in a moment.

Simon has been a big hit in France; you may know her composition from the soundtrack to March of the Penguins. But now, she’s a New Yorker, which brings us to the topic of the headline. The singer-pianist-artist released a new record last fall, The Big Machine. I do miss some of the quirkier style on her older records, and I rather liked the singing in French (I’m sure NYC has its share of Francophones). The new record tends in a Kate Bush-influenced direction which has divided some fans. They are just as well-crafted, however, and Simon’s writing and performance is inventive as always. It’s a new direction, but it’s worth giving it some time. I think you’ll like the results, and it shows Simon’s continued versatility and artistry.

One thing with which you really can’t argue is Simon’s exceptional musicianship. I love her new series, which has her releasing studio sessions shot in her Bedford Avenue apartment. In the edition at top, the work begins with the expected ballad form, but takes a very different direction. Commanding sounds and effects from a militaristic, future-punk controller on her arm, Simon adds electronic textures, aided by a Yamaha Tenori-On and Doepfer Dark Energy synth. The wrist-strapped controller is Cyrille Brissot’s invention, aptly named “The Brissot.” Somewhere, Thomas Dolby is very jealous, indeed. (They would match his goggles.) Episode two, released yesterday, is after the jump.

Few of us would do a multi-cam rig in our apartment (I’d better make some friends), and I could do without the faux-film effects, but there’s still a terrific intimacy of the sessions, and her stage presence shines through. It’s a reminder that adding technology doesn’t have to mean removing that sense of a live performance – quite the opposite, in fact, as a solo act wouldn’t be able to do this much of this on the spot. Electronics are, as I keep saying, the ultimate renaissance of the one-man- (or one-woman-) band.

So, if you think you can do better – heck, even if not – let us know if you release a similar session. And Cyrille, Émilie, if you’re out there, I’d love to catch up on your work for CDM.

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Émilie Simon, Making Homemade Sessions in Her Apartment

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n-Track Software updates n-Track Studio to v6.0.8 (Build 2548)

Wednesday, January 20th, 2010

20th January 2010: n-Track Software has updated n-Track Studio to v6.0.8 (Build 2548). New Features: Spanish, German, French and Italian translations. Save as template: saves song removing all tracks parts. Envelope…

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n-Track Software updates n-Track Studio to v6.0.8 (Build 2548)

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Put a Hex on You: New Game, Crazy Music Sequencer with Hexagons

Thursday, January 7th, 2010

Hexagons are the new squares.

After years of square grids, music is discovering the hexagon in a big way. Hexagonal lattices have advantages of their own, in terms of how efficiently they pack space and the way adjacent sides align. Don’t believe your local mathematician? Ask your local bee.

What’s interesting is that, as musicians experiment with interfaces and structures, they may wind up with either a wild, experimental music synthesizer, or a fun game.

On the game side, at top, we have a trailer for the upcoming “Fractal.” It appears to match the productivity-annihilating addictiveness of puzzle games with reactive music. As the creators put it, it’s “a fierce intersection of fractal gameplay, dynamic audio, and kaleidoscopic visuals” and “a new ambient music puzzler experience. Combo, Chain, and Cascade your way through a pulsing technicolor dreamscape that reacts to your every move, while manipulating Fractals, creating Blooms, and expanding your consciousness at 130 BPM.” They cite Andre Michelle’s ToneMatrix, a Tenori-On-like Flash app (see videos), as a major influence, in addition to games like Lumines.

It could also be that the developers have been reading CDM and decided to engineer the perfect solution to permanently steal your lives, oh reactive music-loving, gaming nerdsters.

The game is from the creators of Auditorium, a beautiful puzzler that simultaneously involved arranging ambient music. I couldn’t get entirely sucked into Auditorium’s gameplay, but now, if CDM’s blog posts suddenly disappear for a few days when this comes out, I may realize that was a good thing. For more:

Cipher Games Lifts the Veil on Synaesthetic Puzzler Fractal [Bytejacker]
playfractal.com

Bee tested, bee approved! You’ll never see these guys hanging around square grids, or using a monome. Photo (CC-BY) Peter Shanks.

If you’re wondering if these same sorts of structures could be transformed from game rules to musical rules, you’ll like the next project. Paris-based Composer René Micout has built an elaborate musical application inspired by the Reactogon music sequencer / “chain reactive performance arpeggiator.”

If you’re comfortable with French, there’s an extensive three-part demo on YouTube.

Part 2
Part 3 (if you want to skip to the end and just watch the resulting demos)

As in other similar nodal and hexagonal sequencers, Rene’s work applies interactive musical events to spots on the grid. Different modules control the flow of events from one space to another, transposition, tempo, and other events.

It’s an experimental project at the moment, and not necessarily one he may distribute, but as a way to see some ideas, it’s fantastic. Rene tells us he built this application using RunRev, a rapid-prototyping development environment and spiritual successor to the legendary HyperCard. Unfortunately, that tool lacks strong music and sound components, so he actually had to hack it in, using AppleScript events to control the built-in Mac QuickTime synthesizer.

He’s got other projects on the way, too, including a “Stocastofon, Stocastovox, Ritmofon, Rizomofon, Acordofon.” Excellent!

So, keeping score, a few of our previous views of hexagons:

Music on the Game Grid: Interactive Arpeggiators Al-Jazari, reacTogon
Alternative Sequencers: Elysium Generative Mac App and the Joy of Hex

And I think it’s time for me to go visit some of these hexagonal controller manufacturers at NAMM next week.

Your help wanted: The hexagon deserves its own master list of hardware, software, iPhone applications, experimental installations, etc. Nominees? Links I may have missed? Anyone doing turn-based strategy role-play games that are also musical sequencers? (Now that I’d like to see: Machinedrum Fantasy Tactics.)

Go here to read the rest:
Put a Hex on You: New Game, Crazy Music Sequencer with Hexagons

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Driven Machine Drums

Tuesday, December 1st, 2009

During the last couple of years we’ve seen some nice improvements in the drum machines sample libraries’ field.
The thing is there are hundreds of average sounding sample libs, so some smart developers have started introducing a new variable: a unique recording chain. We’ve had Hugo from Goldbaby with his lovely tape-recorded drums (see our Tape Drum Machines review), and now it’s the time to talk about a new developer and a new product: Driven Machine Drums.

The sound sources are a juicy mix of analog and digital devices: Elektron Machine Drum, Symbolic Sound Kyma Capybara, Eventide H8000FW, Korg ER-1, E-mu SP-1200, Oberheim DMX, Yamaha DX200, Roland TR909, TR808, TR707, TR606, Jomox MBase 11, Vermona DRM-1 MKIII.
The following gear has been used to capture and process the sounds: Thermionic Culture Vulture, Anamod ATS-1 w/ all cards, Neve 1073 Preamp, Atlas Pro Juggernaut Twin (Iron + Nickle Transformers), A-Design EM-Gold (Steel Transformers), Source Plus Tube Amp w/ 1957 NOS French Mazda Tubes, Moog Mooger Fooger, Empirical Labs Distressor, Mutronics Mutator.
Yes, pure gear porn!

Keep in mind that you won’t get a complete sampled version of each of these instruments though. Driven Machine Drums is all about a careful selection of sounds coming from different sources, well categorized (Kicks, Snares, Claps, Toms, etc.) and well recorded (also leaving headroom to the final user, a good choice).

I’ve tested the EXS24 version (other formats available too, see below) and while I’d like to have a proper PDF manual with all the info about the library (it should be available in the next weeks), the sounds and their organization makes this library a nice add for every electronic music producer.

Here’s what the developer, Nathaniel, told us: “I’m primarily a musician, producer and I’ve become very aware over 16 years of how my creative process works. I wanted the musician to remain in a flow state of pure artistic concentration while using the library. That is why I grouped the sounds by texture instead of machine. The name of the machine is “logical” info, while texture is a “musical” choice.
If a ”deep kick” is working in a song, I didn’t want people to be forced to change directories from Vermona to Machine Drum, then find the kicks, then scan all the kicks until they find another deep kick. It should be as simple as going up and down the keyboard here, or scanning the deep kick folder in GURU.
Similarly, I didn’t want 250 kicks in one folder. I tried the best to small chunk them in a musical manner”. It definitely makes sense…

The good news is that you can buy and test the entire collection for 30 days, with a full refund/no questions asked policy.

For those who’d like to try before buying, there are more than 100 sounds available for free here.

That said, talking of marketing and strategies, there are a couple of things that need to be pointed out: first, I can’t get how someone that spends so much money and time on a product like this, then chooses an ugly and definitely “anti-usability” website to promote it. I assume you’re working on it, isn’t it?
Also, and this is quite surreal since we’re talking of a digital release, the developer says “I’m only going to make 997 copies of this library available. Then I’m removing the library from the market. Why? I want to you to have an exclusive, limited edition library of designer drum sounds”.

Dear Nathaniel, you have a very good product in your hands, just promote and sell it for what it is, and forget about this VIP Club bull**it…

The price of the library is fair, also considered the number of sounds you get and the quality of the gear behind them:
- Driven Machine Drums (GURU, WAV, AIF) $77
- Driven Machine Drums Deluxe (KONTAKT, EXS-24, WAV, AIF) $87

P.s: more stuff is coming (for free) for Driven Machine Drums’ customers. A whole new section of fx sounds, with filter, reverbs, flangers, should be released in the next days.

More here:
Driven Machine Drums

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Loopmasters releases Danny Thompson Double Bass

Monday, November 23rd, 2009

Loopmasters has released Danny Thompson Double Bass, a sample library featuring Danny Thompson, one of the world’s leading Double Bass players.

Danny’s dedication to the double bass has given him a rich tapestry of musical knowledge, which meant that he was in a unique position to record this collection of exquisite and versatile loops and samples for you to use in your musical productions, royalty free. The collection features Danny’s inimitable playing style and sound throughout – a much sought after commodity.

Danny has recorded this collection with his bass, Victoria, which was made by the French maker Gand in 1865. For Danny she is invaluable and will never be out of his life. “Yeah, my absolute beloved. I’ve tried other instruments but we come as a pair, a partnership. I know every crack, every splinter on her body.” Danny and Victoria were recorded using Neumann U47 and KM84 microphones, through a Focusrite IS A430 Mic-pre and a RCA Valve mic-pre. A little of the pickup sound was mixed in – just for seasoning and some very subtle compression was added using a Neve 33609 and a little EQ from a Neve 1073.

Danny Thompson Double Bass features

374 double bass loops and phrases.
360+ MB of main ZIP content.
Tempos 70-160 BPM.
Different playing styles. Included are lyrical phrases, a wide range of bass lines, walking parts, glisses and slides, plus some bowed bass parts and there is even a separate bank of 23 slides and FX.
3 Velocity-layered patches for different soft samplers: a multi patch of Danny’s bass which features 4 velocity layers, a multi patch of slides & FX and a multi of the bowed bass.

Danny Thompson Double Bass is available to purchase for

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Music Video Favorites: Birdy Nam Nam’s Wonderful Animated World

Thursday, September 17th, 2009

BIRDY NAM NAM – THE PARACHUTE ENDING from Steve Scott on Vimeo.

This is the music video you’ve always dreamed of getting when your track gets a music video. It’s been round the Web a few months ago, but I only discovered it today via the lovely 8-bit punk Anamanaguchi (see our interview), on their Twitter feed. It’s like what you worked out when bored in grade school Chemistry class with your best friend who planned to become a comic book artist for a career, scrawled in the margins of your notebook. There’s an evil Egyptian alien sarcophagus shooting what appears to be evil sugar cubes from orbit. There’s a crazy space alien superhero who’s all Shriner and Freemason and gets special powers when he replaces his hand with a vegetable squid … thing. And good triumphs over evil, which is what we all root for. It’s the sort of trippy album art we don’t get any more, but animated.

The animation, creative direction, and concept are by Will Sweeney, who under the name Alakazam Label makes fantastic, far-out illustrations, toys, and animations with edible acid-neon colors, and hamburgers for heads, and organic tendrils like pasta or vines or tentacles wrapped through the dreamscapes. You can see more of Sweeney’s work:

http://alakazamlabel.com/

Steve Scott directed the video, did concept design, and did his own compositing, which shows you he knows his stuff. Scott, based in Australia, has his own brilliantly wonderful stuff.

Birdy Nam Nam are a French DJ crew, cool enough to name drop Peter Sellers references in their actual name. They’re proper turntablists in a world in which that has become a rarity, with the prizes to match. Remix did a good write-up of their work in 2006; the best way to keep up with them now is to follow MySpace and, unfortunately for the world’s other continents, to live in Europe.

Justice did the production, in case that wasn’t evident; the marriage works.

And, seriously, special squid vegetable hands?

Credits:

Will Sweeney – Concept designer and Illustrator
Steve Scott – Director, Concept designer and compositor

James Littlemore – Editor / Compositor
Geoff McDowall – Animator
Ed Willmore – Animator
Roland Edwards – Animator
Dele Nuga – Digital Painter

Lottie Hope – Producer
Dan O’Rourke – Executive Producer

Not To Scale – production

Thanks to Big Active

Theoretically, all of this could have gone on Create Digital Motion, but I love watching a video that makes me feel differently about the music. Having that experience, to me, is what it’s all about.

See more here:
Music Video Favorites: Birdy Nam Nam’s Wonderful Animated World

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...now browsing by tag

PolyKB is out

Off-the-record: XILS-lab

XILS-lab announces polyKB

XILS 3 review: a modern VCS3?

Émilie Simon, Making Homemade Sessions in Her Apartment

n-Track Software updates n-Track Studio to v6.0.8 (Build 2548)

Put a Hex on You: New Game, Crazy Music Sequencer with Hexagons

Driven Machine Drums

Loopmasters releases Danny Thompson Double Bass

Music Video Favorites: Birdy Nam Nam’s Wonderful Animated World