BlakkSpring: ‘Watch This Sound’ – pioneering audiovisual experiences
Back in 2011, Beautiful Crime worked with BlakkSpring, a amalgamation of Roland Hamilton and Remi Kabaka who work with Gorillaz Sound System, Nuwella on vocals, Pauli the PSM and a few other supremely talented musicians and technologists to create a one-off event that demonstrated new technologies’ ability to further our understanding and push the limits of audiovisual experiences. And for those of you that might think it, we’re not talking VJ-ing here, or even video projection with accompanying music – like so many video projection and mapping projects only currently achieve. Here the images are controlled and manipulated by the sounds made by the musicians.
Watch this and then read below what we gave each attendee at the event…
WATCH THIS SOUND…
You have just been exposed to BlakkSpring;
a groundbreaking and innovative example of the future of live music and experiential interactive visual art.
The dose you have received will be enough to suggest that the live music experience is moving into a new and unexplored territory – a new visual music performed in real time.
Live bands have often used staged film and video as a backdrop to their sound. BlakkSpring push this tradition by creating multiple layered images which are triggered and distorted by the sounds their music makes.
The band explain it to us layman thus: ‘The DJ, percussionist, drummer and keyboard player actually play the images you see, powered by the sounds they make – the beat of a drum is the light from a projector… the shadow of the drummer modulates the signal. Dedictated musicians and artists are working together with new technologies to launch a rollercoaster live set like no other.
You didn’t just hear and watch live music, you saw it interplay and morph with light, image and movement. You are hearing what you see, whilst seeing what you hear… a synergy of your senses, if you like.
Do not exceed the stated demonstration dose.
Consult a qualified music journalist if you have feelings of doubt or confusion.
_________
ENDS.