The Future of Music:
Adventures in the Eye and Ear Trade
Words: Sandy Hunter
But perhaps the most succinct examples of the visually-equipped music release are the DVDs released by Super Furry Animals, Stina Nordenstam and Orbital. All of the discs contain an album's worth of music in crisp 5.1 sound, as well as custom-directed short films accompanying each track.
Orbital's The Altogether 5.1 was made by a stable of directors (Giles Thacker, Luke Losey, Paul Donnellon, Grant Fulton, Chris Grottick, Martin Goodwin, Jes Benstock, Sean Ash and Phil Crowe) who created the film/design/animated clips accompanying each track. Dancing bric-a-brac ("Tension"), a girl in a suitcase ("Funny Break") and giant marauding dolls destroying Paris ("Oi!") are the visual complement to the off-kilter electronics of the London duo. Navigating the DVD offers viewers chances to stumble on hidden tracks or make use of various audio options, an interactive game and Internet hookups.
Independiente, recording home to eclectic Scandinavian chanteuse Stina Nordenstam, also accommodates the music cinema dream. Mark Richardson, Independiente managing director, came up with the idea of a disc that would "run as a piece of film and work very much as an album does, in that each track is represented by a director's visuals" and could be screened in cinemas prior to release. Ten directors were handed £5000 and a track; results include animation, music videos and performance pieces.
"The premise was a cinematic representation of the album, not literally what the artist was saying, but an interpretation by these 10 directors," explains Richardson. "It was a creative exercise that would produce something of interest. It was very free form. [The public] expects there to be a visual back up, and now promo videos [look too] basic. Artist's films and increased background information are demanded by the audience."
Apparently, the Super Furry Animals concur. Their 2001 DVD Rings Around the World contains 13 films accompanying 13 tracks, as well as bonus films, songs and remixes. The visuals offer the listener/viewer the all-important "more" and give the band's fan base the requisite trippy eye candy.
Pete Fowler, the Welsh band's default illustrator, says the disc brings the Super Furry tendency to mix music and visuals live to the home hi-fi/flat screen. Fowler and a host of others (including Johnny Hardstaff and Foreign Office) directed the animated, erotic and/or spiritual pieces using a wide variety of media, from Flash to film.
"A lot of people are interested in the idea itself and the content on the DVD, the diversity of the movies and shorts," notes Fowler. "I hope it's a groundbreaking concept. Music and animation have been linked for a long time, since the first cartoons of Disney. What's new is the DVD format and the intended scenario that is watching from start to finish with the full on surround sound."
More modest in scope and expense are the scaled down DVD singles Sony Music has been releasing. Generally these include a video, photos, discography and other EPK-style content. So far, Sony artists as diverse as Celine Dion, Nas and Kelly Osbourne have gotten the DVD single treatment.
