On their first album as SCALER, the Bristol quartet manage to expand their scope of sound to naturally incorporate elements of trip-hop, EBM, grime, and drum ’n’ bass—all of which gets filtered through industrial and ambient textures and further altered by the sounds of a traditional live-band set up clearly schooled in metal. Somehow, all of that descriptiveness seems less effective than merely pointing out that the band operates as a musical expression of the titular Thing in John Carpenter’s gnarly 1982 remake of the 1951 horror classic, surely abetted by the highly collaborative nature of the new LP.
It’s no surprise, then, that SCALER’s members seemed just as eager to discuss the non-musical influences that informed Endlessly, even if some of their musical influences peripherally come through in the items they’ve selected (there’s just as much of Adam Curtis’ late-stage capitalist horror stories in these songs as there is Massive Attack’s post-industrial Bristol sound, for example). Elsewhere, Leonardo da Vinci feels like a natural figure for them to gravitate toward in his inability to let the world around him seep into his creative life. “He let his many interests bleed into his artworks and they’re all the better for it,” the band notes.
With Endlessly dropping this Friday via Black Acre, check out all five of the non-musical influences the band shared with us below, and pre-order the album here.
Alberto Mielgo
True visionary animator/artist whose style is hyperrealistic compared to most other animators, yet hyperstylised compared to actual filmed content. He was fired from Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse despite having come up with the film’s entire style.
Harmony Korine
While Spring Breakers had a woozy, narcotic, sweaty, cinematic feel to it (helped by Cliff Martinez’s incredible score), Aggro Dri1ft, featuring Travis Scott, doubled down on this by being shot on infrared cameras, augmented by AI.
United Visual Artists and Adam Curtis’ stage visuals for Massive Attack
Pushing the boundaries forward, UVA shows that stage visuals don't have to be just wallpaper. Their visuals for Massive Attack present themes including algorithmic bias, fake news, context collapse, and the industrial-military complex.
Akira
The ultimate dystopian animation film—still copied to this day, never bettered. Japan does it best, be it animation or toilets.
Leonardo da Vinci
Instead of sticking to art, which he was quite good at, he tried his hand at many things: science, engineering, anatomy. He let his many interests bleed into his artworks and they’re all the better for it.
