What Music Looks Like

What happens when an album campaign expands into an alternate reality of imagined 90s-style ads, brands and retro consoles? In this week's episode of What Music Looks Like, artist and art director Jonathan Zawada unpacks the extraordinary, sprawling visual universe behind The Avalanches’ No Bad Memories.

Host: Paul Weedon

Music: Andy Kelly

Artwork & Design: Alex Vissaridis

From her 2010 debut Philharmonics to the recent The Meaning of Flowers, acclaimed singer, songwriter, and composer Agnes Obel has constructed an exceptionally intimate, timeless visual world that exists in direct conversation with her music. In this episode, she reflects on fifteen years of visual world-building and how her creative partnership with her husband, photographer and director Alex Brüel Flagstad, and graphic designer Andrea Caderin helps shape her visual world.

Host: Paul Weedon

Music: Andy Kelly

Artwork & Design: Alex Vissaridis

Best known today for his sweeping orchestral scores for Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy and 007 Blood Stone, Ivor Novello-winning composer Richard Jacques began his career in-house at SEGA in the 1990s, soaking up influences from UK rave culture, acid jazz and hip-hop. In this episode, Richard reflects on three decades of visual world-building - from writing the upbeat pop joys of Sonic R on his kitchen table and making the legendary 'Everybody Jump Around' for Jet Set Radio, to pioneering in-car radio systems for Metropolis Street Racer and making gaming history at Abbey Road Studios with the sweeping orchestral score for 2001’s Headhunter. We also explore how the cyclic time-stretch on classic Akai samplers helped shape an entire era of music, and why revisiting electronic breaks on Denshattack! earlier this year marked a welcome return to familiar musical territory.

Host: Paul Weedon

Music: Andy Kelly

Artwork & Design: Alex Vissaridis

Over the past two decades, Dutch rock band De Staat have earned a reputation as one of Europe’s most visually ambitious live acts. In this episode, we sit down with frontman and visual director Torre Florim to explore how their music videos have undergone a unique transitional process, translating from screen concepts into real-world, interactive live rituals. Where the viral 3D crowd simulation for 'Witch Doctor' continues to inspired audience-led circle pits that define their live shows, 'Kitty Kitty' has brought live split-screen camera setups into venues space, turning them into a kind of living, breathing performance art. This is the story of how a one-man musical project became an experimental, creative powerhouse.

Host: Paul Weedon

Music: Andy Kelly

Design & Artwork: Alex Vissaridis

Photography: Kees de Klein

For their self-titled third record, Scottish alt-rock band Walt Disco sought to reinvent themselves almost entirely. Written against a backdrop of career crossroads, evolving personal identities,and singer Jocelyn Si’s journey navigating self-worth and gender dysphoria as a trans person, the album turns the disorientation of growing up into a liberated, fearlessly ambitious alt-rock statement.

Moving away from over-complicated narrative concepts, the band immersed themselves in Glasgow’s thriving queer DIY art scene to create visuals rooted in industrial textures and subcultural irreverence. Here, singer Jocelyn Si, drummer Jack Martin, and graphic designer/art director Tom Joyes reflect on the creative process.

Host: Paul Weedon

Music: Andy Kelly

Design & Artwork: Alex Vissaridis

In this mini episode recorded at Bristol’s Encounters Film Festival, we sit down with director Oliver Laxe and composer David Letellier (Kangding Ray) following the UK premiere of Sirāt Live, a live AV reimagining of Laxe’s apocalyptic road movie Sirāt.

The performance transforms the film into an immersive existential rave that sees Letellier performing a live electronic overhaul of his award-winning score while Laxe selects and mixes unseen film footage live on stage alongside him.

Here, the duo discuss their early memories of music and design and the unique experience of translating a devastating, transcendental piece of filmmaking into a collective, euphoric live music experience.

Host: Paul Weedon

Music: Andy Kelly

Design & Artwork: Alex Vissaridis

Photography: Tamara de la Fuente

Since their very first gig in 1994, director, filmmaker and visual director Adam Smith has worked with The Chemical Brothers, acting as the creative driving force behind their live visuals. Working alongside creative partner Marcus Lyall, he has constructed some of the most iconic live imagery in modern electronic music - from towering, laser-firing giant robots to catwalk-voguing pink figures and even helmed their stunning 2012 concert film Don't Think, which chronicles the duo's 2011 Fuji Rock Festival show. Here, we explore his unique creative partnership with the duo, alongside reflections on his recent collaboration with TOMORA - the madcap, ethereal pairing of Tom Rowlands and Aurora.

Host: Paul Weedon

Music: Andy Kelly

Design & Artwork: Alex Vissaridis

From 1984 to 1988, art director Laura LiPuma sat at the helm of Prince's visual identity, shaping the look and feel of his imperial run. This is the story of how a right-place, right-time lunch-hour miracle brought Laura face-to-face with Prince for the first time, and how their meeting would change the course of their respective careers.

Host: Paul Weedon

Music: Andy Kelly

Design & Artwork: Alex Vissaridis

In this mini episode, Deafheaven frontman George Clarke reflects on the unexpected visual legacy of 2013's Sunbather. From repeat collaborations with designer Nick Steinhardt to seeing their artwork serve as the basis for countless graphic designers' mood boards and even internet memes, we discuss the art of finding a balance between the grotesque tropes of metal and clean, minimal design.

Host: Paul Weedon

Music: Andy Kelly

Design and artwork: Alex Vissaridis

Unlike many of his peers who emerged from the world of graphic design, French producer, DJ and composer Myd's unique visual philosophy was shaped by the study of sound design. From the sterile uniforms of cult electronic four-piece Club Cheval to signing with Ed Banger Records, Myd has established his own high-concept visual universe of pastel holiday aesthetics, Dubai car-boats and anarchic self-referential live shows where nothing is quite what it seems. This is the story of how self-irony and electronic music collide.

Host: Paul Weedon

Music: Andy Kelly

Design and artwork: Alex Vissaridis

As frontman of Converge and founder of Deathwish Inc., musician and visual artist Jacob Bannon is uniquely positioned to talk about the ways in which design and music intersect. For over three decades, Bannon has spent his career defining the visual aesthetic of underground heavy music - from the immortal iconography of 2001's Jane Doe to designing artwork for acts across the musical spectrum. This is the story of how he straddles multiple worlds across music and design.

Host: Paul Weedon

Music: Andy Kelly

Design and artwork: Alex Vissaridis

Composer duo Joe Henson and Alexis Smith reflect on over two decades of experience composing for video games. From the claustrophobic scares of Alien: Isolation to a modern retelling of James Bond's origin story in 007 First Light, The Flight have taken two of cinema's biggest franchises and translated them into a unique sonic world of their own. This is the story of how they did it.

Host: Paul Weedon

Music: Andy Kelly

Design and artwork: Alex Vissaridis