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[Premiere] Slugabed Hates Computers, So His New Music Video Is Filled with Them

Illustrator and animator Steve Smith made a video about computer history because apparently Slugabed is not a fan.
Screencaps by the author

In computing, a "graphics benchmark" is a test that involves running a computer program, or several, to assess the performance of the graphics on your device. In a new music video for Slugabed's single, "Infinite Wave," illustrator and animator Steve Smith (Globo Digital), runs a surreal kind of graphics benchmark in the real world, using a comical cast of real characters.

The video opens in a digitally-constructed landscape featuring a desolate volcano, a large body of water, and a number of floating polygons. Then, we watch footage of this digital space as its played over two separate computer monitors that have running "Frames Per Second" meters. These visual markers play with the voyeur's sense of space and time, leaving us wondering what is real and what is a fabrication.

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The video then cuts to a series of shots that look over the innards of a CPU. After a few detail shots of the hardware, we begin to notice the presence of a few quirky looking actors standing next beside CPU stations as if they were at a car show. Three men and a woman dance awkwardly around their modems and monitors, making seductive gestures towards them. By the end of the video, each character gets a benchmark score based on… well, we're not quite sure—and that's the point. In a conversation about the video over email, Smith tells The Creators Project, "So Slugabed told me that he hates computers so I made a video about computers for him. When I first showed him he said 'This is so confusing, I don't get it. What's a graphics benchmark?' That's when I knew it would be a viral hit, I predict it gets #43 trending video on youtube [sic] and 4th page of reddit. Fingers crossed!"

Ride the "Infinite Wave" below:

"Infinite Wave" is a single off Slugabed's upcoming LP

Inherit The Earth

, slated to release April 7th on Anticon records. Pre-order it

here

. Listen to more tunes by Slugabed

on SoundCloud

and be sure check out more work by director Steve Smith

his website

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