Stunderthorm — The Emperor’s New Groove (5 min. 2008) Directed and edited by Lester Alfonso as a private commission for artist Johannes Welsh and Sonic Flame.
The project is the Day-to-day Publishing of My Video Archive — it’s Day 74 and it’s another digital world premiere. This video seems to say “a stunderthorm is brewing…” I’m stunned by this myself. Discoveries from the archive speak their timeless truth. Turn it up or wear headphones. In light of world events, this video barrels in with a kind of hypnotic dread.
It was a great privilege to visually interpret the track called The Emperor’s New Groove from the album Stunderthorm by artists Johannes Welsch, David Hess, and Paul Hinger. Published by Sonic Flame, the “band” described their music as “rhythm pieces, soundscapes, and acoustic recording of drums, gongs, voice, and didgeridoo.
The combination of simple instruments and voices led me to use footage that resonated with this sense of primordial miasma — as if some kind of microscopic being has enveloped the entire globe.
Play it fullscreen. This version was the rough cut that I presented to Mr. Welsch before I published a slightly different final version on my originalplastic YouTube channel with the requisite music video credits that MTV normalized and Sonic Flame insisted on.
Created by using the arKaos video mixer that I use normally for VJing, the controller gave me the ability to “scratch” the video as a DJ would scratch his vinyl records. With large knobs with which to shuttle and jog the playback, I improvised the “edit” by jamming like a musician. I went full-on voodoo — sweating it out — glimpsing my seeing my spirit animal, as I jammed the images to the track. I recorded these video-mixing performances and then later, spliced the “best takes” together with the kind of abstract narrative that I do so well. Enjoy!
Other videos I’ve done this way include: Kanehsataki by DBMG / RAF, Plastic Anniversary by Matmos, Water by FOLD, and more.
More soon! Stay tuned! —LA
P.S. If you’re liking these daily posts, perhaps you can consider becoming a monthly donor for a year or making a one-time contribution. It would seriously help a lot. Your money goes directly into supporting an artist committed to continually become the best version of himself. Thank you so much! Much love, LA