''Monkey Drummer'' is a 2.5-minute-long
music video
A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...
created by British music video director
Chris Cunningham
Chris Cunningham (born 15 October 1970) is a British video artist and music video director, best known for his music videos for electronic musicians such as Autechre, Squarepusher, and most notably Aphex Twin on videos for "Windowlicker" and " ...
in 2001. The video was commissioned by the
Anthony d'Offay
Georges Anthony d'Offay (born January 1940) is a British art dealer, collector and curator. His was born to a Seychellois father.
Life and career
Georges Anthony d'Offay was born in January 1940 in Sheffield to a French father.
He began dealin ...
Gallery in London and was meant to be a companion piece to his
Flex
Flex or FLEX may refer to:
Computing
* Flex (language), developed by Alan Kay
* FLEX (operating system), a single-tasking operating system for the Motorola 6800
* FlexOS, an operating system developed by Digital Research
* FLEX (protocol), a comm ...
commercial, but it was not completed in time for the exhibition in September 2000 and instead made its debut at the
Venice Biennale
The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...
's 49th International Exhibition of Art in June 2001. It subsequently went on to run in several exhibitions such as the Edinburgh Festival,
Edinburgh College of Art
Edinburgh College of Art (ECA) is one of eleven schools in the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Edinburgh. Tracing its history back to 1760, it provides higher education in art and design, architecture, histor ...
, Scotland. The short is a humorous, kinetic study of a mechanical being with nine appendages—six arms, two legs, and one drumstick penis—all seemingly controlled by the head of a monkey, though it is unclear what is in control. Each flesh-and-blood body part juts from a black steel appendage and acts human, while being controlled mechanically.
Making the video
The music playing in the video is the first two and a half minutes of "Mt Saint Michel + Saint Michaels Mount" by
Aphex Twin
Richard David James (born 18 August 1971), best known as Aphex Twin, is an Irish-born British musician, composer and DJ. He is known for his idiosyncratic work in electronic music, electronic styles such as techno, ambient music, ambient, and jun ...
.
[ It is the 10th track on his album '']Drukqs
''Drukqs'' (stylised as ''drukQs'') is the fifth studio album by Aphex Twin, the alias of British electronic musician Richard D. James, released in 2001 on Warp. It is a double album alternating primarily between tracks of meticulously programme ...
'', which was released in 2001.
The owner of the different body parts playing in the video is Sigtryggur Baldursson
Sigtryggur Baldursson (born 2 October 1962) is an Icelandic drummer and singer.
Sigtryggur was born in Norway to Icelandic parents. He was a founding member of the Sugarcubes and has been a longtime fixture on the Icelandic punk and alternativ ...
,[ a founding member of Icelandic rock band ]The Sugarcubes
The Sugarcubes ( Icelandic: Sykurmolarnir) were an Icelandic alternative rock band from Reykjavík formed in 1986 and disbanded in 1992. For most of their career, the band consisted of Björk Guðmundsdóttir (vocals, keyboards), Einar Örn Bened ...
, and a retired member of the band Kukl. He was shot multiple times in various positions with his torso being removed in post-production
Post-production is part of the process of filmmaking, video production, audio production, and photography. Post-production includes all stages of production occurring after principal photography or recording individual program segments.
The ...
and replaced with a mechanical torso.
"The idea came from those little mechanical windup monkeys from the last century, the ones with the red faces. ... Thought it would be really amazing to see a 21st Century one that was drumming to something ridiculously insane like a really fast Aphex Twin track."
Head puppetry was performed by Paul "Slash" Morris and Justin Flack.
Further information
*The video was distributed on a Creative Review
''Creative Review'' is a bimonthly print magazine and website. The magazine focuses on commercial creativity, covering design, advertising, photography, branding, digital products, film, and gaming. The magazine is published bimonthly in print and ...
DVD in November 2001, and is also featured on the DVD ''Directors Label
''Directors Label'' is a series of DVDs devoted to notable music video directors.
First released in 2003 by Palm Pictures, the series was created by Spike Jonze, Chris Cunningham, and Michel Gondry, the subjects of the first three volumes. Four ...
: The Work of Director Chris Cunningham
Chris Cunningham (born 15 October 1970) is a British video artist and music video director, best known for his music videos for electronic musicians such as Autechre, Squarepusher, and most notably Aphex Twin on videos for "Windowlicker" and " ...
'', which was released in 2003.
*The video went on to win Best 3D animation in a music video in the International Monitor Awards in 2002.
See also
* Rubber Johnny
''Rubber Johnny'' is a 2005 British experimental film, experimental short film/music video written, directed, and produced by Chris Cunningham.
Plot
The film, entirely presented in infrared vision, begins with an out-of-focus closeup of Johnn ...
References
{{Reflist
External links
Video on YouTube
Music videos directed by Chris Cunningham