Tag: Non Plus Ultra

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Surreal and Psychedelic Visuals for HOTT MT’s “Tranceforming”

Earlier this year, I wrote about the Los Angeles, CA-based experimental pop Hour Of The Time Majesty Twelve (HOTT MT) — and you may recall that the duo, which is currently comprised of Spooki Tavi (guitar, vocals) and Ashi Dala (bass, vocals) have a developed a reputation for their former collaborative warehouse-based art space Non Plus Ultra, for crafting shimmering, psychedelic-leaning experimental pop, and for ambitious collaborations with The Flaming Lips, Ariel Pink, Erykah Badu and Ke$ha. Adding to a growing profile. the duo have opened for The Flaming Lips, Bat for Lashes, and Galaxie 500.
The duo’s sophomore full-length effort AU (Alternate Universe) is slated for a May 2017 release through the duo’s Mutation Records, and the album’s previous single “A Night in China Town” was a moody and dreamy song featuring shimmering synths, tinny and distorted Casio-like beats and angular guitar chords paired with a soaring hook while Spooki Tavi’s ethereal vocals floated over the mix. And while drawing from 60s psych pop and bubblegum pop and classic shoegazer rock, the song manages to also be reminiscent of Washington D.C.’s The Galaxy Electric but with a chillier air. AU (Alternate Universe)’s latest single “Tranceforming,” continues on a similar vein as its preceding single as you’ll hear a song that clearly draws from 60s psych pop and bubblegum pop — thanks in part to the use of what sounds like vintage, analog synths; but unlike the previous single, “Tranceforming” possesses a plaintive and visceral yearning, proving to be a subtle shading on a particular series of emotions.

Directed by the band’s Spooki Tavi, the recently released music video for “Tranceforming” builds upon a picture within a picture motif, as part of the video consists of its protagonist shoving a videocassette into the VCR — and the video is full of appropriately sugary and psychedelic imagery that at points features our very three dimensional protagonist in a 2 dimensional world. Pulling back to it’s viewer, the same protagonist is in a mind-altering trance.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Nostalgic Visuals and 60s Psych Pop-Leaning Sounds of Hour Of The Time Majesty Twelve

Comprised of primary songwriter duo Spooki Tavi (guitar, vocals) and Ashi Dala (bass, vocals), the Los Angeles, CA-based experimental pop Hour Of The Time Majesty Twelve (HOTT MT) have built a profile for their collaborative warehouse, art space Non Plus Ultra, for crafting shimmering, psychedelic-leaning pop, and for ambitious collaborations with The Flaming Lips, Ariel Pink, Erykah Badu and Ke$ha. And adding to a growing profile, the Los Angeles-based experimental pop duo have opened for the aforementioned The Flaming Lips, Bat for Lashes, and Galaxie 500.

The duo’s sophomore full-length effort AU (Alternate Universe) is slated for a May 2017 release through the duo’s Mutation Records. “At Night in China Town” features the duo pairing shimmering synths, tinny and distorted Casio-like beats, angular guitar chords with Spooki Tavi’s ethereal vocals and a soaring hook in a moody yet mischievously anachronistic song that sounds as though it simultaneously draws from 60s psych pop and bubble gum pop, shoegazer rock — and in a similar fashion to Washington D.C.’s The Galaxy Electric but with a chillier air.

The recently released music video for “At Night in China Town” features footage shot at their warehouse art space Non Plus Ultra, which was recently shut down. And much like losing a favorite bar or a favorite music venue, there’s a palpable sense of friendships being made and possibly lost, of uncertainty as to what’s next and what everyone will do now that their place is gone; but along with that a hope that there may be someplace new that will leave some indelible memory on you. As the members of HOTT MT say of their recent loss ” “All of us at Non Plus Ultra have been together for years. Our ideals brought us together, and we built a space and a business on them. Non Plus Ultra showed us that we aren’t alone in our desires. There are so many people in this town who share our values. We’ve made and lost spaces before, but this time we’ve got an incredible support system.”