MUSIC|MEDIA|DESIGN

I’m gonna embarrass and date myself all at the same time when I confess that in a previous life I was a musician-turned-VJ, mixing/mashing video clips into something resembling music in real time with my band, Sex Device.  This was back in the late 80s/early 90s, and fortunately I surrendered all rights to the music and videos in my divorce.  So I can’t embarrass myself by linking my past here!

I only admit this to explain my long-standing appreciation for mashups (I force students to make them in my DAAP class), and how I came across THRU YOU by Israeli artist Kutiman who mashes YouTube with Flash on his site.  Now THIS is da shizzat! Unreal, wonderful, imaginative, and dare I say it, an exercise in virtuosity.

Kutiman mashes YouTube clips into amazing, deep music.  Unlike many mashups, these actually sound great and are listenable as well as visually interesting.  Nothing special is done: video is cut straight, relating to the samples you hear.  It’s a visual deconstruction of the mix in real time.  The sources aren’t all or even mostly from famous musicians.  Rather it’s a collection of unknowns and undiscovered, all jamming together in an imaginary space

I apologize for the dodgy image above: Kutiman’s site is entirely Flash-based, dynamically linked to YouTube.  No problem: use the Flash site, which plays like an album.  Much better experience than YouTube ever was.

Now we’re cookin’ with gas!