Clutter-rock band Deerhoof release their new album The Magic today via Polyvinyl Records, along with a music video for “The Devil and his Anarchic Surrealist Retinue.” The claymation reverie was created by Joseph Baughman, who has previously created videos for Cool Uncle, Tuxedo, The Roots and more. In the video description, Baughman explains:
Stop-motion improv is probably the slowest form of spontaneity, but even so it allowed the characters and actions to take shape as I was animating them. It was a strange way to animatate, but it felt appropriate for this track. I’m grateful for the freedom Deerhoof gave me to animate in this style and for getting to work with such an interesting tune (both lyrically and musically). The visual’s landscape is full of multi-colored Minotaurs, spinning chessboards and celestial pinballs that charge like rogue molecules alongside Satomi Matsuzaki’s vocals.
From: https://www.pastemagazine.com/music/deerhoof/deerhoof-share-the-devil-and-his-anarchic-surreali
The song’s title is taken from Alex Ross’ book The Rest Is Noise, describing Stalin-era Soviet Union. Full quote: “…in Mikhail Bulgakov’s novel The Master and Margarita, written in secret in the 1930s and not published until 1966… that Russian-Soviet version of the old Faustian tale the devil and his anarchic-surrealist retinue expose the madness of Stalin’s society by way of violent farce.”
From: https://genius.com/Deerhoof-the-devil-and-his-anarchic-surrealist-retinue-lyrics
