Watch Thollem’s “Assorted Flavors” Video
Today we are honored to present another road dispatch from the Who Are U.S. audio/visual project. Experimental musician Thollem McDonas and photographer/videographer ACVilla have been traveling the lower 48 states since March, documenting the nation’s tense political climate during this historic political season, and today we have “Assorted Flavors“, the next “episode” in this evolving project. From a visual perspective, what really stands out in this newest offering, is ACVilla’s facility for “musical” editing. Her vibrant, often run-and-gun footage is expertly matched to Thollem’s strangely nuanced sonic output. The video opens with quickly paced imagery that is often sped up, too, and it follows the keyboardist’s baroque barrage of organ notes in a distinctly rhythmic way. At the same time, the videographer uses her own camera pans and movement to echo Thollem’s hairpin compositional turns while providing the perfect visual compliment to the “Assorted Flavors” American’s come in.
To follow the pair more closely, make sure to visit their Silver Ochre site where you can subscribe to this serialized presentation of Who Are U.S. and learn more about the two artists behind this intriguing work. In addition, the soundtrack for the project is Thollem’s Machine In the Ghost LP out this April via Bob Bucko Jr.‘s Dubuque-based Personal Archives label. According to Thollem, the record is “dedicated to (but not necessarily about) John Trudell, Black Lives Matter, and Rick Bennett“, and thru a recontextualizing of folk and blues, the musician reconnects these traditions to the kind of vital socio-political conditions that initially inspired them.
