The Wintergatan Marble Machine

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvUU8joBb1Q

I'll take this over OK Go any day of the week.

Watch this video.

At first you'll think it's gimmicky, created to get your attention and go viral.

But then you'll find the music is actually hooky and good, it starts to stick in your brain, to the point you feel forced to queue it up again and see what it's all about and go deeper.

And then you realize as cool as the machine is it's about the music, a switcheroo we haven't seen since the nineties, when MTV became more about flash than substance.

And you can't help but contemplate the journey involved, building this creation. It reminds you of the sixties, when artists went off on singular pursuits, driven by their muse more than a desire to please the audience, and as a result we bonded ever closer to them.

We haven't had this kind of innovation around here for a very long time. It's stuff like this that will break the logjam, in a world where everybody's trying to do it like everybody else.

And funny how it comes from Sweden, a land of social safety nets that is supposed to be no rival for the vaunted USA. But Spotify came from Sweden, along with Max Martin. It seems that when you're not busy looking for your next meal, when you're no longer desperate and can explore, you end up pushing the envelope in ways those down in the trench cannot.

You don't have to play the game, you just have to be different, and great.

And never forget, indelible art is not about execution, but conception. That's the ethos of punk and so many other notable artistic movements, musical and visual. You may be able to create an abstract expressionist canvas, but could you come up with the idea?

Here's to those throwing off the shackles and trying something new.

This video is not just about train-wreck value, it's not something you view once and pass on. It sets your mind 'a wandering. You start to wonder about this guy, who is he, how did he come up with this, why did he come up with this?

And that's how we got intrigued by our heroes and bonded to them in the old days.

That's right, this hearkens back to the old, but is certifiably new.

Like all great art.

More like this please.

http://www.wintergatan.net/#/news


--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz
--
If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1

If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25

To change your email address http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=preferences&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25




-- powered by phpList, www.phplist.com --