DiggingTheGreats

Visualizing Voodoo

Added 2025-01-28 16:00:05 +0000 UTC

In last week's video, I broke down D'Angelo's 2000 album "Voodoo". One of the unique things about this album is how the time is very loose. D'Angelo told Pino to play his bass part far behind the beat, Questlove said he had to play drums like a "drunk 4 year old".

In order to visualize how the parts don't necessarily line up perfectly, but it still FEELS amazing, I made a visualizer for a section of the opening song. You can see the drums, bass, and guitar/horns visualized with different colored lines, and I loved seeing the song presented this way.

Well, one thing led to another, and I ended up making a visualizer for not just a short clip, but the entirety of the opening song "Playa Playa". But then I wondered what "Chicken Grease" would look like. And then "Feel Like Makin' Love".

I was mesmerized. It's almost like the Windows Media Player visualizer from yesteryear, but specific to the instruments being played. And as a bass player who obsesses with the way a groove fits together, I loved seeing these song that I knew inside and out presented in a new way.

So today, I have Patreon Exclusive for you: The full visualizations of each of these songs. So kick back, put some headphones in, and watch this on the biggest screen you can. It's time to visualize "Voodoo"