Eddie Whelan/Grass Giraffes – Better Alone

Better Alone

We’ve followed Eddie Whelan’s work from the very beginning and enjoyed it all the
way.
More than enjoyed, actually. Been impressed and moved by the care, thought and skill
with which he approaches everything and particularly by his forging of a very personal,
nuanced and beautiful
language from the practice of data-moshing.

He has recently turned his talents to the making of music videos
and the constraints of the form, both in terms of time and the unity demanded
by serving a soundtrack make for small jewells of lyric visual poetry.

I gather he also plays on this one, and they,Grass Giraffes, have an EP forthcoming in May.
I’ll certainly be investing in a copy.

Business – Junu Ahn

Business
Business (2007, 67.9MB, 9:33 min)

I find it easier to admire this piece, to respect its clear integrity,
than to actually like it much – it’s a pretty hardcore glitch
assemblage & it doesn’t let up …oooooh noooo… not at all
(Strikes me as a bit of a video analog for something like Lou Reed’s (in)famous
)
It’ll be interesting to see where Junu Ahn goes next…

Data Moshing with Eddie Whelan

caralion
caralion (2009, 10 MB, 1:03 min)

metalbear
METALBEAR (2009, 11 MB, 44 secs)

atlasbear
atlas bear (2009, 9 MB, 54 secs)

There’s a wonderful strangeness and abandon to Eddie Whelan’s work.
Here he indulges in some rather winning datamoshing.
It all looks garishly gorgeous but the icing for me is his choice
and use of music/sound, which resonates very effectively with the visuals.
The lion piece, in particular, seems to me to be deeply melancholy, lovely
and pretty funny, all at the same time.