The club scene is not your typical locale for innovation, unless you’re looking for the latest near toxic-level drinks, spastic dance moves, or fashion disasters. But a group of performers has spent the last decade evolving the role of club DJ into a whole other level and have become the proponents of an entirely new art form.
Hailing from London but now based in the States, the trio collectively known as Eclectic Method are audio-video remixers or video DJs who interweave beats, music samples, and video clips into a mashed-up, live concert experience. Their gear consists not only of audio/video mixers, but twin DVD turntables allowing for spinning and scratches of video clips much the same as audio is manipulated. Using video and music editing software in the Sony Creative Suite, the group has a vast library of clips to pull from on the fly.
The performances are more than just videos playing on the walls while people dance to club music — in their own way, they are a means of immersive, digital engagement and improvised social commentary.
The members of Eclectic Method stay tuned into pop culture and the Internet as well as the audience in attendance to create video that could contain clips from that day’s news or respond quickly to what audience members are in real time. And when they aren’t performing live, they are collaborating with some major recording artists, like U2, Fatboy Slim, and Phish.
As the group says on its Facebook page, “A decade ago, corporate lawyers chased Eclectic Method for its digital piracy, but these same companies now chase EM for its unique skill set.”
Here’s a short documentary from 2009 that highlights what the group is all about:
Jonny Wilson, one of core members of Eclectic Method, stated “We release internet projects, collaborations, viral hits and cool little abstract concepts, and we can do it all live on stage at concerts.”
With the rise of YouTube and video consumption in general, these kind of super current, hyper-infused media are sure to become part of the commentary in the both the business world and social culture.
Beyond the live shows, one of the group’s side projects is to produce online mashups along certain themes akin to their live shows. While the range of these videos varies, three of the videos are quite Singularity-friendly and capture a collective vision of where technology is taking us. They are called The Future, Robots, and Lasers:
To learn more about the group, you can check them out either on Facebook or Myspace page.
This is my third post in the Visions Of The Future series. If you missed previous entries, you can watch Part One on the sci-fi webseries DR0NE or Part Two featuring the commercial work of Carl Erik Rinsch.
