WARP: FILM FOR MUSIC
Seminal UK electronica label Warp challenged a group of exceptionally talented young filmmakers, designers and animators to put images to music selections from the label stable. The remarkable quality of the results speak for themselves - a dizzying assortment of approaches are represented in this outstanding programme. We have also hand-picked a few classic clips to bring the uninitiated up to (top) speed. Key = Music/Track Title/Images.
Brothomstates/25101999/Ariane Geil Photonic ribbons dervish whirl to bastard electronica. Whips of light pulse throught the spectrum. Plaid/Itsu/Pleix Inside the Pork Corp. HQ boardroom lurk psychosexual secrets that give new meaning to 'hiding the sausage'! Chris Clark/Gob Coit/Richard Fenwick A J.G. Ballard fever dream. Fractured beats and vocals propel swooping aerial images of a modern megapolis. Prefuse 73/Half of What/Ed Holdsworth City lights melt and Noir-ish drive-bys transform the city by night into a pleasure playground.
Mira Calix/Little Numba/Daniele Lunghini A bizarre Dickensian dystopia. The colonisation of space means the spread of a virus called 'humanity'. Chris Clarke/Gob Coit/Lynn Fox A twitching loner tortured by visions of insects. Psyche and body are eventually subsumed by the hive mind. Plaid/Itu/Geoff McFetridge Bored high-schoolers trawl the Net looking for mischief. "I've warned you kids about firing homemade laser pistols in the house!" Mira Calix/Little Numba/Sam Tootal Animated typography and digitally scalpelled landscapes. Brothomstates/25101999/Nano Pixel pushin' poetry. Fragmented screen grabs dissolve into cut ups of epilepsy-inducing flicker. Prefuse 73/Half of What/Mitgetvideo Primary coloured, rigorously minimalistic and humourously informed by 70s advertising. Plaid/Eyen/Jean-Luc Chansey Ralph Steadman meets The Nightmare Before Christmas for Atom Age re-processing.
Squarepusher/Go Spastic/Patrick O'Brien, Shawn Killebrew An overdose of military strength Ice. The 200+ BPM drum and bass hybrid barely keeps pace with the hyperactive on-screen animation. Vincent Gallo/Honeybunny/Vincent Gallo Burlesque babes parade the least sexy range of lingerie this side of Nana's knickers. Squarepusher/Come On My Selector/Chris Cunningham The Osaka Home for the Mentally Disabled: a six year old super hacker subdues guards with midget martial arts before executing a terrier-human mind swap.
Autechre/Second Bad Vibe/Chris Cunningham A Sci-Fi mini-epic involving malevolent alien intelligence and menacing robotics. Antipop Consortium/Ghostlawns/Carlos Arias Beamed back in time from a Top of the Pops appearance in 2009; anorexic ballerinas battle mini-skirted cheerleaders for Tech Pop supremacy. Antipop Consortium/Perpendicular-Vector/Markus Wambsganss A monochrome William Burroughs fantasy. A flickering dream weapon blasts brains to a score of hallucinogenic MC-ing.
Aphex Twin/Come to Daddy/Chris Cunningham The rarely seen full-length version of Cunningham's soul-devouring classic. A helpless granny is tormented by a pack of feral children before a final nightmare encounter with a shape-shifting terror lurking in the bowels of a crumbling housing estate. Autechre/ Ganz Graf/Alex Rutherford The sound (and vision) of digital hardware tearing itself to pieces before spontaneously reassembling. Remove all metal objects from your pockets, make sure you know where the exits are, make no sudden movements.