Video of the Week: Odonis Odonis’ “Order in the Court”

I don’t know how it happened, but as a kid I wound up with a gigantic, hardbound book collecting famous works from Spain’s Prado museum. There was a lot of fucked up shit in there, including Goya’s “Saturn Devouring His Son,” but I always returned to the paintings of Hieronymous Bosch, which probably explains my modern day fascination with detail heavy artists like Moebius, Seth Fisher and Ulises Farinas. So naturally Odonis Odonis‘ video for “Order in the Court” would have me at hello.

An animated tour through The Garden of Earthly Delights, Bosch’s most famous work, Lee Stringle’s video is a perfect fit for the nutty, imaginative chaos of Odonis Odonis’ “Order in the Court.” The indecipherable lyrics of the song and the glitched out temper tantrum of its rhythm already hint at a bizarre nightmare realm, but Stringle’s appropriation of Bosch’s visuals drives home the dream-like logic of the song’s structure, as elements come and go as they please. Eerie and unsettling, the video is nonetheless also goofy in the way anything featuring waddling dog-monkey-sea creatures inherently is, which is fitting given the way Odonis Odonis themselves balance dark, menacing sounds and cheekiness, something that becomes pretty clear when you notice track names like “Office Sluts.” Of course, the noisy apocalypse that closes out “Order in the Court” inevitably ends in the realm of the hellish third of Bosch’s painting, so maybe all that goofiness is just a distraction for the demons and monsters emerging from Odonis Odonis’ sound.

Where Stringle’s work really succeeds, though, is in the way it captures that same childhood wonder I had when I discovered Bosch’s paintings. I was already a fan of Odonis Odonis, but now I have a new reason to blast “Order in the Court” endlessly as I struggle to pay adequate attention to all the insane little details Stringle has brought to life. How many other music videos can you say you’ve lost entire afternoons to lately?
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Nick Hanover got his degree from Disneyland, but he’s the last of the secret agents and he’s your man. Which is to say you can find his particular style of espionage here at Loser City as well as Ovrld, where he contributes music reviews and writes a column on undiscovered Austin bands.  You can also flip through his archives at  Comics Bulletin, which he is formerly the Co-Managing Editor of, and Spectrum Culture, where he contributed literally hundreds of pieces for a few years. Or if you feel particularly adventurous, you can always witness his odd .gif battles with Dylan Garsee on twitter: @Nick_Hanover