Because A Panda Thing Swallowing You Is Not Nightmare Fuel.
So far we've had an audio and album review post. Now it's our first video post! Hooray!
It took me awhile to figure out what genre and what visuals I wanted to present for our first video catch. Should it be super artsy? Would it be better to defy all metaphorical thought? Should I just not give a damn? While browsing around and thinking, a conversation in a bookstore with Curtigh caught my attention. We were in the arts section and glanced upon a book on very simple designs and patterns. Clean, neat, stylized and pretty easy to conceive. The style we immediately thought to compare the book to was of this video. And so I simply present to you Fantastic Plastic Machine's Different Colors:
For info and thoughts, click below~
Many people would recognize the branding on this even if the name wasn't obviously shoved into your face. Takashi Murakami and Louis Vuitton decided to unite forces to create fashion accessories with unique art from Murakami's superflat theory, resulting in the love child of high-end fashion and art. I'd suggest checking out Murakami's art outside of this video because it's a lot of gorgeous eye candy and his theory and statements are interesting to take into account. To many of you anime fans out there, the human character designs may look familiar and nostalgic. Well the director of the video, Mamoru Hosoda, was also the director of Digimon: The Movie, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, and Summer Wars. Surprisingly, the designs fit rather well in the world of superflat and the animation is refreshing. I also suggest watching his films if not for the story, then for the art.
However, moving onto the music! Fantastic Plastic Machine -real name Tomoyuki Tanaka but mostly known as FPM- is a well known DJ and contributor to the Shibuya-kei movement. Shibuya-kei is a sub-genre of music originating in the Shibuya district of Tokyo, Japan. The sub-genre embraces an array of sounds, mostly from jazz, pop and electropop. FPM's music generally mixes lounge music, bossa nova, house and French pop. He's been around for awhile, at least since the late 90s. I think because of the huge surge of internet access, he has gained even more support and fans along with many other musicians not internationally available.
Different Colors is a bright, bubbly piece of electronic music with its multiple blips and whorls with guitar and bass strummed rhythms as initial support. The intro tantalizes you, beckoning into a new, strange world like Alice falling down the rabbit hole. Once the perks have reeled you in, your ears hit the deep drum and bass beat, making it impossible to not foot tap at the very least. Every now and then you do hear certain noises, like the strange slithering waves, horn blares and right after it an electric guitar strum and piano keys. The music keeps going, repeating on itself while swerving in and out before slowing down, immediately stopping altogether. It's only at that last bump do you wonder where the time went.
The intro is a bit different from the audio off his albums, but it isn't much of a difference overall. The video does an excellent job of adding in sound effects (baby cry was adorable) to fit with the flow of the music and animation. It's a wonderful combo of audio and visual delight and a bunch of wholehearted fun.
The last I had heard of him, I was listening to Ravex's Trax, a collaborative effort between FPM, Taku Takahashi from M-Flo, and Shinichi Osawa aka Mondo Grosso. They were working together for music label Avex's 20th anniversary along with Tezuka Productions (God Almighty Osamu Tezuka). It's a fantastic collaborative with other artists and very interesting MVs. I'm looking at you, DJ Ozma.
Some links to wander to. Fetch!
-wtJ
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