10 Years of Psychic TV's Frenetic Visuals Become Looping Video Art

Mutation, 6.55 kHz @ -6dB; 7.01 kHz @ -60dB: Yoshihide Sodeoka from Undervolt & Co. on Vimeo. All GIFs via video, courtesy the artists

The magic of Christmas gets loopy this year, at least for New Yorkers, visitors of the Big Apple, and experimental music aficionados: this Friday and Saturday, to celebrate the release of Snakes, their new full-length record, English experimental video art and music group Psychic TV (PTV) will take over the Brooklyn Night Bazaar for two nights of free gigs.

Surrounded by a semicircle of five video screens, the near-mythical band will play alongside a stunning visual setlist of new material by New York-based multidisciplinary artist Yoshi Sodeoka, who in the past created technicolor maelstroms and founded experimental music video label, Undervolt & Co. The images injected into this psychedelic visual journey correspond with the band's evolution since 2003.

Sodeoka first captivated the band with his powerful aesthetic signature, a well-oiled creative process that merges digital and analog technology, and a collaborative approach to working that aligns with the band's own inclusive spirit. "I know that how Yoshi works is very much in tune with Gen's [Genesis P-Orridge, co-founder of PTV] original ideas for the group, in terms of his own processing techniques but also his collaborative interests," Sam Zimmerman, half of Psychic TV's visuals team, told The Creators Project.

Last year Sodeoka participated in the creation of Dreams Less Sweet, a collaborative film celebrating the 30th anniversary of the second Psychic TV record. "Gen's ideas about accidental connections between visuals and music are very much at work in Yoshi's visuals, where there is continuous frenetic activity to latch on to and assimilate whatever sounds are passing by," Zimmerman continued.

We were waiting nervously to be immersed into the forthcoming audiovisual universe, Zimmerman concluded: "I simply have a lot of faith that Yoshi gets what Psychic TV is about." To gain insight into the visual origins of his work and his creative process, we talked to Yoshi Sodeoka while he was putting his finishing touches on the show.

The Creators Project: Hi Yoshi. Can you tell us about starting to create these visuals? What were your main inspirations and what awaits the viewer?

Yoshi Sodeoka: The video that will be used for Psychic TV show is based on a piece called Mutation, 6.55 kHz @ -6dB; 7.01 kHz @ -60dB. It is a video that I’ve been planning to release through Undervolt & Co. I was always interested in the idea of making a noise piece that could be remixed and mutated further by people including myself. So this is one of the few that I have been working on. It is abstract, it has no distinctive moment in the flow, and it is anticlimactic. I just wanted to make it noisy-looking but flat in a way so it could be adopted to different purposes. Maybe it’s like a stock footage from a bizzaro world. Or, I should say, it’s an unrelaxing ambient video.

How did you adapt your visual aesthetic to the music of PTV?

A good friend of mine, Sam Zimmerman, who does projection for Psychic TV, asked me to see if I wanted to show some of my videos to be used for their live show for the release party of the new album Snakes at Brooklyn Night Bazaar. Since this piece was made for remixing purposes, I figured it could be a perfect situation to use it. So, I decided to remix this on my own with some of Psychic TV’s graphics. I’ve been a huge fan of Psychic TV since forever and I knew that they have always put a lot of emphasis on their visual art, especially with experimental videos. And that’s been a big influence on me. So, this just seemed like a perfect opportunity. I probably wouldn’t have used this if it wasn’t for them.

Did you work in the same way as usual? Could you give us some insight into your creative process?

The technique I used for this is a little bit of everything. I took an analog video feedback footage as a starting point. I warped that footage by slowing it down a lot and applied countless amount of effects to make it look like that. It’s been mutated so much that I can no longer trace what I have done to it.

2014 was a busy year for you and your music video label. What's your first objective for 2015?

I’ve been working on a new title for Undervolt & Co. It will probably include this video and few others in the similar direction. I expect to finish it by the Spring of 2015…

Psychic TV, with visuals from Yoshi Sodeoka, will play two free shows at Brooklyn Night Bazaar on December 26 and 27. Click here to learn more.

Related:

Yoshi Sodeoka's Newest Video Is A Technicolored Maelstrom

Yoshi Sodeoka's Music Video For Yeasayer's "Henrietta" Is A Feverish Jungle Dream [Q&A]

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Experimental Label Undervolt & Co Creates Online Video Art Party