If the combination of whisky, music, and art sounds like it’s up your alley then good news! You’re probably a human being. (Just kidding.) But seriously, I have something cool to tell you about.
Europe’s No. 1 Scotch whisky brand, Ballantine’s, has paired up with London-born audiovisual artist Reeps One to kick off their new True Music Series. The series was created as a way to give “uncompromising artists an innovative platform to share and visualise music, transforming the Ballantine’s Finest and 12-Year-Old blends into true works of art”.
Reeps One was the natural choice to feature in their first collaboration because of his work bringing together the audio and visual mediums. The artist is able to achieve this through the use of his invention, the audio visualizer—a speaker that contains liquid, illuminated with various colored lights. When the speaker is in use, the liquid inside creates ripples and patterns that correspond to the sound coming through. Add in the lights, and you end up with some pretty spectacular imagery. While Reeps One typically uses water for his performances, for this partnership he swapped out the usual dihydrogen monoxide with Ballantine’s whisky. As whisky has a higher viscosity than water, the result was “beautifully complex and chaotic patterns, which made the creation process all the more exciting.” -Reeps One
The production itself was done at Printworks London on September 5th, where Reeps One debuted his track “Surfaces” as part of the partnership. The patterns that resulted from the use of his audio visualizer were filmed in macro and projected onto the walls. Later, choice patterns were pulled and will be featured on the Ballantine’s Finest sleeves and Ballentine’s Twelve-Year-Old tins for the Ballantine’s True Music Series Limited Edition gift packs.
Check out the video of Reeps One’s performance—made from original and fan-filmed footage—below:
Download “Surfaces”
Find out more at ballantines.com
