Sonic Landscapes

British music video director and video artist Chris Cunningham is known for his surreal, twitchy film work for artists such as Aphex Twin, Autechre, Portishead, Squarepusher, and Björk. From that short list of clients one can get a sense of Cunningham’s unconventional aesthetic preferences. Just as these musicians and bands push the limits of what can be done with sound and technology, Chris Cunningham experiments with light, color, film quality, and eccentric speeds and tempos in his videos. His style is distinctively creepy, as you will surely see in the videos below, but there is always an underlying sense of sick humor which pervades his films. As The Telegraph articulates, Chris Cunningham’s films are “like…Looney Tunes short[s] for a generation raised on video nasties and rave music.”

Here is a selection of some of my personal favorites of the work of Chris Cunningham.

NOTE: Cunningham’s video for Aphex Twin’s “Windowlicker” is considered by many the crown jewel of his portfolio. As it has already been featured on a previous Sonic Landscapes music video list, it has not been included in the following selection.