When you think Christmas, you envision floating cyborg skulls with glowing wires and then let yourself drift off to some dense ambient pads, right? Well – this is for you. And stick around for a Notch download, visualists!
Our friend DEFASTEN is here – and sees you with a creepy cyperpunk mech-eye! It’s ENTER THE CHRISTMAS SPIRIT, for a holiday special on VOID TV.
Plus, dear Create Digital Motion fans, it comes with a complete source download in Notch format. Details:
Dystopian ambient video I made for the 6hrs+ set of VOID TV Christmas Show event, curated by VILL4IN and hosted by Ryan Celsius. with music from upcoming release by SUIGETSU ??☠️✨
Cyborg head by Nika Zautashvili @RyanCelsiusMusic @VILL4IN
source videolink: VOID TV | UNDERGROUND CHRISTMAS SPECIAL https://youtu.be/3VT3SOt_NRQ
Here’s a glimpse of what that Notch rig looks like – it’s somehow aesthetic and beautiful even just in the UI. (I’m probably biased by seeing great work done by Raster-Noton artists with projecting both visuals and UI skeletons in TouchDesigner – I think I was ready to up and move to Europe the first time I saw that at OFFF a decade and a half ago.)
If you’re wondering what the heck Notch is, Ted Pallas did a great explainer for us. Notch has only added features then – including, of course, live streaming features piled on in the early days of the pandemic – but this is a great place to begin.
Now after that teaser, here’s a full 6.5 hours of VOID dystopian-Christmas action:
Want even more? Here’s the stunning full-length set from DEFASTEN for AKIAURA:
And for more ambient, don’t miss DEFASTEN’s project NEXTWORLD, a new series of virtual performances designed to exist both in the virtual and live/real-life spaces. (Oh wait, I even totally missed my track is in here and – wow, Patrick, it’s gorgeous what you’ve done!)
Chilling and beautiful. For more on DEFASTEN’s work, which he was kind enough to share with my music:
DEFASTEN has also worked on a full visual series for DU-BRLN, the Berlin outpost of Detroit Underground which released a compilation I got to join recently. That’s an exciting development, because DEFASTEN’s vision is all about creating work both for virtual, digital space and being able to realize it in physical performance.
More on this event soon, but we’ve put together a DU-BRLN showcase for Berlin’s grimy Urban Spree in January that will do just that, as part of Vorspiel (the project of CTM Festival and Transmediale).
DU-BRLN – Thursday, January 26, 2023 [Facebook event]
Some sonic communities grow even in isolation, in the lonely obsessive moments in the studio as time melts away. Deep inside the Detroit Underground nests a Berlin underground, chasing those resonant shared sounds. DU Berlin draws together some of that love felt through music in the German capital. It’s not the wild city of reunification or Berlin Calling or tourist-style movies or the easyJet set. This is the side of the city that endlessly romances machines for the sheer joy of it, as The Allegorist titles her track, “until dawn.” And with some big names and emerging, ranging from mainstays to veteran agitators, the Berlin DU crew have telegraphed each other through productions and mutual inspiration. The results vibrate and rumble with sympathetic frequencies, but never limited to grayscale or dithered palettes.
Hope we catch up more with DEFASTEN soon. The metaverse may make little sense in the fantasies of corporate overlords and crypto bros, but this kind of expressive combination of visuals for virtual and real-world venues? That’s beautiful and real in the hands of this artist.
The future is bleak. But… well, we knew that. At least we get to enjoy the shiny sci-fi part of the dystopia and not just the bland bits.