Memories of a Scientist – Retrospectacular

by: Joseph Johnson

Where would contemporary music be without its past? It might sound like an obvious question, but you only need to listen to the latest pop music in order to realise how many artists look to the past and take elements from the music of yesteryear to create something different and “new.” This happens in many fields, but particularly the Arts. The results vary wildly between post-modern genius and pastiche pop.

Somewhere on that scale is the brilliant and whimsical new video from Morgan Z’s solo project, Chrome Canyon. Whereas some artists merely nod to their influences, Chrome Canyon throws subtlety out of the window. This entire side-project seems to be born out of his disappointment in the dissonance between the “future” he perceived and the reality of the world he currently inhabits. Where are the flying cars, hover boards and robot servants that we were promised? His bio says it all: “If we can indeed recover yesterday’s fantasy of what tomorrow would (should) be, then Chrome Canyon is the temporal technician for the job.”

Both song and video are unashamedly 80s, but after the initial laughs at the [purposefully] cheesy sci-fi clip, you start to realise how weirdly modern and refreshing “Memories of a Scientist” is. The music is not too dissimilar from the work of Ed Banger Records artist, Kavinsky, whose work featured heavily on the soundtrack to the phenomenal 2011 film, Drive. Fans of some of Stones Throw’s other releases might be a little perplexed at first, but the label is all about variation and Chrome Canyon is definitely something different and something they may grow to love.