Show Notes
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
More from What Music Looks Like
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