Pogo is an Australian DJ who has been getting a lot of internet respect for his technique of building textured trip-hop out of minute samples from classic and contemporary movies. But his equally adept film-editing skills and his inclination toward the whimsical are what turn otherwise casual Youtube channel stumblers into true fans all over the world. Above is the most commonly noted among his videos, "Alice" (composed entirely of Alice in Wonderlandbits and pieces). Its dreamy, thumping beat has ensnared over 4 million viewers on Youtube.
This is "Gardyn" his first attempt at mixing real world sounds. A gift to his mom on Mother's Day, it features her voice as well as sounds found around her garden. This is a beautiful gift. I'd have to say "Goddamn, well done!" if he were my kid. [Incidentally, Pogo is younger than I am, at 22 years old.]
and most recently, "Toyz Noize" [Toy Story, 1995]...
and "Buzzwing" [also from Toy Story].
As you may have noticed, several of those films are famous classics that are owned by Sony. In 2009, Sony made a big fuss about Pogo posting "Alice" and "Bangarang" on Youtube and required that he take them down. I thought his response was admirable, which is where I got the idea for this post:
My work serves as free viral marketing to the organisations that own the films I sample from. It's high time the music industry pulls its head out of its ass, and realises that today's remix culture is an asset, not a liability. To shoot down the potential here would be utterly illogical.
[Update 5.8.10: Pogo has just designed a new logo, which I'm in favor of. This guy designed it for him.]
No comments:
Post a Comment