Playlist: Tim Brown

Tim Brown, one of 1stAveMachine’s directors, has collaborated with a diverse set of musicians, from rappers Tinie Tempah [below], Adian Coker and dance/electronic artists, SBTRKT to alternative rock singer, Saint Savior and folk musician, Charlie Winston.

What’s the best music video you’ve seen recently and why?

A music video that caught my attention recently was Leningrad’s Kolshik, it kind of blew up the internet for a few days and I can see why. It’s absolutely insane! They have gone with a reverse storytelling concept, with all the footage played in reverse but it’s the scale and complexity of the action that’s impressive. They have really pushed the idea to the next level, with bouncing severed heads, explosions, a huge cast and just a crazy amount of setups. Stylistically, it seems to fit the frenetic nature of the track and I think it’s quite rare to see a music video that appears to have had a pretty decent budget.

I also really enjoyed the new long format Sampha Process video but I’m not quite sure I would classify that a music video. Maybe it’s the new breed of music videos, where content and narrative are mixed together to offer up something different.

What’s the first music video you remember being impressed by?

I grew up with all the Michael Jackson music videos as a kid and they were just magic to watch. It seemed like back then, everyone was just going nuts with the size and scale of each production.

Artists competed to try and outdo each other. Thinking back though, a video that really stuck in my mind, just because it was so fun, was Beastie Boys’ Sabotage.

And what’s your all-time favourite music video?

This is a really hard question, there are so many good ones to choose from, I’m gonna cheat and put three:

Faithless - We Come 1 (super-iconic)

RjD2 - Work It Out (love the vibe of this one)

Food For Animals - Tween My Lips (cause it’s weird)

What other directors/artists do you look to for inspirational?

I think the thing with inspiration is that you need to keep mixing it up. If you spend all your time looking at 90’s photography or renaissance painting, you can get blinkered. My main thing is to see things firsthand. It’s too easy to just jump on your laptop and scroll the internet when working on ideas. I find I get much more inspired when I get out the studio and go ti an exhibition or try and dig up some old books from the library. 

What are you listening to at the moment?

My Discover Weekly on Spotify has been on fire recently. I’m not quite sure what they are doing with those algorithms over there, but every Monday, they are serving up a nice new mix that usually gets me through the week. It’s generally a mix between quite relaxed techno like The Blaze and some African-influenced electronic music like Brenda by Art Koufax.

What’s your favourite bit of tech, whether for professional or personal use?

I’m still pretty enamoured with my Leica Q. I had it for a while now and I was a bit hesitant about the fixed lens but I love it. It means I don’t have to lug a huge camera bag around on recess. It’s a very simple point and shoot that’s still a treat to play with. Other than that, I got these waterproof headphones because I swim a lot, but if I’m really honest, I stopped using them because I felt like a bit of a dick at the pool, in the same lane as those Bluetooth headsets, I guess.

What artist(s) would you most like to work with and why?

I really love collaborating with artists on the concepts for their videos, so along as they are up for getting involved, I’m pretty open about who I work with. It’s nice when you can get inside the head of the person who has made the actual track. That being said, I like what James Blake [below] does with his video work so maybe him if I had to choose.

How do you feel the promo industry has changed since you started in it?

What I like about the music video world these days is that people are branching out from conventional formats and trying to offer up a bit more in terms of narrative. There seems to be a demand for something that feels a bit more honest. Fusing documentary ideas with real people and a great track to create something unexpected.

Tell us one thing about yourself that most people won’t know…

I’ve spent the last year working on a documentary project following a group of young migrants that travel through Central Asia from Tajikistan to Moscow for the prospect of work. I teamed up with a reportage illustrator, George Butler, and decided to shoot the piece myself. It’s been a tricky story to tell but it’s finally coming together and should be out in the next month or so.