imnotchristinaamiwhoami

February 10, 2010 12:32 PM

A fourth music video clip has appeared on iamamiwhoami, a YouTube channel set up in December, complete with cryptic title and enigmatic imagery. The quality of the music as well as the apparent high budget of the videos has people guessing as to who's behind it. Is it Poe? The Knife? Goldfrapp? Is it Margaret Berger? Lady Gaga? It's not Christina Aguilera, is it?
posted by creeky (71 comments total)

Yaweh, perhaps?
posted by dortmunder at 12:36 PM on February 10, 2010 [1 favorite]

Popeye?
posted by Babblesort at 12:38 PM on February 10, 2010 [1 favorite]

It's the smoke monster, no question.
posted by jbickers at 12:38 PM on February 10, 2010 [4 favorites]

your mother.
posted by jonmc at 12:40 PM on February 10, 2010

I like the idea that, if something short set to music has high production values, it must be from a top 40 musical artist.
posted by shmegegge at 12:40 PM on February 10, 2010 [7 favorites]

Why are people so excited about videos of Rodney Dangerfield covered in mud?
posted by demiurge at 12:40 PM on February 10, 2010

It's me.
posted by Saxon Kane at 12:41 PM on February 10, 2010

I sometimes wonder, if William Gibson hadn't predicted in Pattern Recognition that people would obsess over short, cryptic videos online, would people still obsess over short, cryptic videos online? I know that for my part I can't really get into that kind of obsession because I always feel like I'm a character in Pattern Recognition when I'm looking at them.

In short, that book latched onto my brain and has yet to let go (ask me about offbrand clothing... actually, don't).
posted by Kattullus at 12:41 PM on February 10, 2010 [13 favorites]

Sorry to ruin the mystery for everyone, but clearly it's Heidi Montag.
posted by drezdn at 12:42 PM on February 10, 2010 [5 favorites]

...I always feel like I'm a character in Pattern Recognition...

Funny enough, my reason for not having read Pattern Recognition is that within the first few pages I got the same "ohgodno" feeling the protagonist gets to poorly-made advertising.
posted by griphus at 12:44 PM on February 10, 2010 [2 favorites]

I just read this blog post and it was filled with a lot of adjectives and shit and the poster used a pseudonym and I'm thinking maybe it was Dan Brown?
posted by defenestration at 12:46 PM on February 10, 2010

I haven't checked out the videos (I'm at work) but this reminds me of something from David Byrne's mailing list:

In the meantime, I have decided to rebrand myself, inspired by Philip Morris changing their name to Altria, Blackwater to Xe, and the train I'm riding on right now that calls itself Acela - none of which mean anything, but they are cleverly evocative. When I decide on the magic word, you'll be the first to know.

That was December 14, and the youtube channel started December 4.
posted by Schmucko at 12:50 PM on February 10, 2010

Well, the numbers are simple numerical cypher a=1, b=2 etc. The latest spells out Mandragora.

Yup, feel like a Gibson character
posted by Kattullus at 12:51 PM on February 10, 2010 [1 favorite]

Heidi Montag is somebody's mother?
posted by jonmc at 12:52 PM on February 10, 2010

Is Pattern Recognition a good read?
posted by defenestration at 12:52 PM on February 10, 2010

Goat Owl Whale Bee, this is wtfery.
posted by cashman at 12:53 PM on February 10, 2010 [1 favorite]

Stop being so silly on the internets, Trent Reznor!
posted by june made him a gemini at 12:54 PM on February 10, 2010 [1 favorite]

Heidi Montag is somebody's mother?

Not yet, but she's got a team working on an animatronic baby. She says it will bring her plastic lifestyle to the next level.
posted by defenestration at 12:55 PM on February 10, 2010 [1 favorite]

Kattullus: "In short, that book latched onto my brain and has yet to let go (ask me about offbrand clothing... actually, don't)."

Does it fill you with dread to call it a dremel tool as you're grinding logos off the buttons on your jeans?
posted by boo_radley at 12:56 PM on February 10, 2010

I think The Knife/Fever Ray. The music is good.
posted by cashman at 12:56 PM on February 10, 2010

Oh yeah, and the others are IAM, ITSME and EDUCATIONAL.

june made him a gemini: Stop being so silly on the internets, Trent Reznor!

My first thought upon hearing the music was Trent Reznor... then it reminded me of Animal Collective. It would be kinda cool if Trent Reznor made an Animal Collective inspired album. Oh, and that's precisely the kind of stunt he'd pull.

defenestration: Is Pattern Recognition a good read?

Pattern Recognition and Spook Country are, after Neuromancer, my favorite Gibson novels (and I quite liked the Bridge trilogy).
posted by Kattullus at 12:58 PM on February 10, 2010 [1 favorite]

I saw a Deerhoof show in Seattle a few years back that caused a minor stir because one of the openers, Blackblack, came on stage completely painted black. When someone in the crowd yelled, "why are you wearing blackface?!", the singer's response was, "we're not; we're shadows." The Stranger has more on the fallout.

Anyway, they looked exactly like this performer.
posted by eggplantplacebo at 12:58 PM on February 10, 2010

The image halfway down here (vs. the latest video) suggests that it's Xtina
posted by DanCall at 1:00 PM on February 10, 2010

Kría Brekkan.
posted by naju at 1:01 PM on February 10, 2010

Is Pattern Recognition a good read?

William Gibson has turned from prophetic visionary into a gawking wide-eyed gaper at the modern world. Your call.
posted by griphus at 1:07 PM on February 10, 2010 [1 favorite]

Now that I've scanned the Gorilla vs. Bear comments I see commenter Jawon (juju) had noticed the number cypher thing before. And the ohnotheydidnt LiveJournal community is way ahead of me. Well... and this is about as much as I care... someone let me know when they've revealed who it is.

griphus: William Gibson has turned from prophetic visionary into a gawking wide-eyed gaper at the modern world. Your call.

Sorta... he's still inventing fabulous things, they're just things you could go and do yourself right now.
posted by Kattullus at 1:09 PM on February 10, 2010

The production sounds really similar to Jon Hopkins in places, like this track. I do like the style of the clips so far - hopefully whatever it's promoting lives up to that.
posted by Jon Mitchell at 1:09 PM on February 10, 2010

You fools! You're playing right into their hands!
posted by bicyclefish at 1:10 PM on February 10, 2010 [2 favorites]

I mean, visually looks like the ODDSAC director is behind this; Kría's already very weird; psychedelic nature-fetish fits her MO; she has lots of talented friends both in and out of electronic music; her husband is Avey Tare of Animal Collective; the owl sample is right out of Panda Bear's "Bros"; it all fits together.
posted by naju at 1:10 PM on February 10, 2010

then it reminded me of Animal Collective

Me too, especially because the owl sound used in the middle of the 9.1.13 video is the same as the one used at the beginning of Panda Bear's song Bros.
posted by lalex at 1:14 PM on February 10, 2010 [1 favorite]

Yup, feel like a Gibson character

That's because it's obviously Wintermute.
posted by quin at 1:17 PM on February 10, 2010 [2 favorites]

Also, honest to God, I had a dream a few days ago that there was a noisy electronic musician who was remaining anonymous, and I was the only person who knew that her true identity was Joanna Newsom. So, just throwing that one out there.
posted by naju at 1:31 PM on February 10, 2010 [1 favorite]

naju: Kría Brekkan

Funnily enough, I almost posted these two videos of Kría Brekkan and Ólöf Arnalds in my last post, but decided against it, sound-quality-wise.
posted by Kattullus at 1:36 PM on February 10, 2010

So I scrolled through a LOT of channel comments on youtube, and I found this posted a week ago:

iamwhoiamami

iamwhoiamami (1 week ago)
This video campaign just goes to prove that what you focus on you attract more of. All of those who thought, guessed and assumed it was Christina just found more evidence supporting what they thought even thou it's not her. It's the same for those who think it's NIN/Trent Reznor, A Perfect Circle, Kanye West, etc.. you can find evidence linking it to anyone you want. So why even bother trying to figure it out until the person behind the campaign let's you all know. They didn't even tell you to find clues or evidence linking anyone to anything. How do you even know this is a promo to someone's album or a upcoming movie? You don't. Yet you let your mind trick you. Your mind is your worst enemy when it's not used properly. It's time for RE-EDUCATION. More to come soon, until then check out my favorites.

Totally odd.
posted by hal_c_on at 1:52 PM on February 10, 2010 [1 favorite]

You've got me singing the pepsi blues.
posted by w0mbat at 1:54 PM on February 10, 2010

Well, the numbers are simple numerical cypher a=1, b=2 etc.

Be... sure... to... drink... your... Ovaltine. Ovaltine!?!?!?
posted by King, in the hall of the mountain at 1:58 PM on February 10, 2010 [5 favorites]

I don't know who it is and I don't care to speculate*. I do know, though, that the artist or artists have my number. That was some good stuff.

Oh christ, I've just been sucked in by a viral, haven't I?

*I doubt it's The Knife/Fever Ray, as they tend to stick with FM synthesis-style sounds and the sounds I'm hearing are samples and analog/analog-modeling.
posted by lekvar at 2:10 PM on February 10, 2010

This is the work of Pete Birrell, the bass player from Freddie & The Dreamers.
posted by soundofsuburbia at 2:23 PM on February 10, 2010 [1 favorite]

Come on, guys, it's obviously viral marketing for Halo Reach. The shear fucked-upedness is their cry into the wilderness that they be allowed to work on something, anything rather than yet another Halo game.

(The puppies represent Spartans.)
posted by Caduceus at 2:28 PM on February 10, 2010

Definitely doesn't sound like The Knife/Fever Ray or Animal Collective. At all.
posted by rbf1138 at 2:28 PM on February 10, 2010

Why are people so excited about videos of Rodney Dangerfield covered in mud?

Look not everyone has the usual fetishes okay?
posted by Pope Guilty at 3:00 PM on February 10, 2010

Heh, the person in the wig looks like Maynard James Keenan to me.

"William Gibson has turned from prophetic visionary into a gawking wide-eyed gaper at the modern world."

Yeah, he's been doing that since the 1980s. Culture just caught up with him. Pattern Recognition is a fantastic book for that exact reason. It makes me wonder if we'll bypass him and he'll stay stuck in 2004-ish.
posted by saturnine at 3:00 PM on February 10, 2010

Pitchfork speculates:

Most of them star an unidentified blonde woman covered in ashy muck traipsing around the woods (she licks a tree in one of them), and there's plenty of birthing imagery. Each one corresponds to a different animal: whale, bee, owl, goat. There are weird numbers involved, as well as tags like "wood" and "disciple" and "orifice" that probably add up to something or other.

Their guess is The Knife (but they hedge, 'just a hunch'.)
posted by msalt at 3:14 PM on February 10, 2010

pattern recognition is an atmospheric collection of nouns and obscurities.

gibson doesn't miss a chance to mention the exact brand of coffee maker the protagonist uses, what precise brand of jacket she wears; after a while this gets tiresome.

all qualifications and a few cliches aside, yes, do read the book. it will introduce you to the curta.
posted by vostok at 3:32 PM on February 10, 2010

"...my reason for not having read Pattern Recognition is..."

"...William Gibson has turned from prophetic visionary into a gawking wide-eyed gaper at the modern world..."

How would you know, you haven't read Pattern Recognition.
posted by markr at 3:56 PM on February 10, 2010

Glad I'm not the only person who went immediately to Pattern Recognition with this...
posted by nonliteral at 4:15 PM on February 10, 2010

How would you know, you haven't read Pattern Recognition.

Well, I read enough chapters into it to give it up. As far as the latter, I've been following his Twitter feed since he got one, and I can honestly say that "slack-jawed amazement" is the operative word for it. And that attitude is precisely why I stopped reading PR.
posted by griphus at 4:36 PM on February 10, 2010

Yeah, he's been doing that since the 1980s.

I disagree. I might be a little young to have first-hand experience with technology in the 80s, but the proverbial created-cyberpunk-on-a-typewriter thing is why Neuromancer is my favorite novel. He wasn't just piecing real-world tech together, he was working it into the future, occasionally ad absurdum. I don't want to read a Gibson who has decided he is Stephenson ca. 1999.
posted by griphus at 4:38 PM on February 10, 2010

hal_c_on -

iamamiwhoami is the video account


iamwhoiamami is the youtube commenter.

They're different.
posted by cmgonzalez at 5:39 PM on February 10, 2010

If it is Christina Aguilera, good for her.

I don't think it's Lady Gaga -- it's too earthy for her style. She's more into space aliens and such than the forest.

The Knife or Goldfrapp are possibilities, but the music doesn't really sound like Goldfrapp's new stuff.

The videos are fun and I like how everyone has a different theory as to who they're by. I really don't care but I'm interested to see who it turns out to be.
posted by darksong at 6:12 PM on February 10, 2010

The eyes look really Lady Gaga-ish to me.
posted by drezdn at 6:50 PM on February 10, 2010

I'd actually love it if it was Christina. She certainly isn't a stranger to reinventing herself (for good or bad) and the Back to Basics album was very good. Having something in this style would certainly be interesting to hear.
posted by flatluigi at 8:25 PM on February 10, 2010

ahem, speaking of 'pattern recognition', maybe it's time to pull the METAFILTER DETECTIVE SQUAD out of cryogenic storage...after all, we now have pretty clear shots of A) iris pattern , B) dentition, and C) Lady Gaga's nose (i kid, i kid)...we could at least eliminate some of the possible candidates, no? anybody want to give it a try? seems like all we need are some close-up shots...
posted by sexyrobot at 8:47 PM on February 10, 2010

I can't believe I am getting sucked into this but those are some pretty distinctive lower teeth. That and the face shape, hair, and music say to me this is Poe or someone who is...oh jesus I can't stop myself...telling a Poe-faced lie.
posted by melissa may at 8:56 PM on February 10, 2010

well i was about to argue that the upper teeth were all wrong for it to be poe, but looking again at the mystery video, its kind of hard to tell as there seems to be some sort of photoshoppy lens distortion effect going on...the eye color is way wrong though...i mean, the eyes have obviously been 'enhanced', but also obviously not changed from light blue. also, they can't be contacts, the structure is too deep.

my vote: not poe. (though the nose is a good match)
posted by sexyrobot at 9:10 PM on February 10, 2010

lady gaga close-up
(kinda lo-res, but looks like a good match...)
posted by sexyrobot at 9:17 PM on February 10, 2010

Bjork.
posted by TochterAusElysium at 10:33 PM on February 10, 2010

Who is Poe?
posted by msalt at 11:43 PM on February 10, 2010

After seeing the teeth up there, I'm definitely voting Poe. Stylistically, it seems like it could be a fairly natural progression from Haunted's weird/spooky elements. Plus, in this interview last month, Poe was quoted as saying "within the next month or so we'll create a release date for something new." This would seem to fit the bill...

Whoever it is, I'm intrigued.
posted by polymath at 12:17 AM on February 11, 2010

well, whoever it is, they got me - i sub'd to the channel and my brain is spinning on possibilities. i love puzzles. musical puzzles even better. extremely clever campaign.
posted by batmonkey at 2:11 AM on February 11, 2010

gibson doesn't miss a chance to mention the exact brand of coffee maker the protagonist uses, what precise brand of jacket she wears; after a while this gets tiresome.

IIRC, this sort of tapers off about halfway through the book.

My feelings about Pattern Recognition are to my feelings about Neuromancer as my feelings about Hannibal are to my feelings about Silence of the Lambs.
posted by transporter accident amy at 7:46 AM on February 11, 2010

msalt : Who is Poe?

Poe is Annie Danielewski and she is freakin' awesome. She had some success with the songs Trigger Happy Jack and Angry Johnny, but for pure geekiness I have to love Hello.
posted by quin at 8:08 AM on February 11, 2010

AND.... her brother is Mark Z. Danielewski (her Haunted album is a sort-of soundtrack to his book House Of Leaves)... so it's not unknown for people in her family to create odd, puzzle-type works with their art.
posted by hippybear at 9:45 AM on February 11, 2010 [1 favorite]

Poe has also collaborated in grindy electronica with Rhys Fulber of Front Line Assembly in a prject called Conjure One, so she wouldn't be out of place in this project.
posted by lekvar at 10:42 AM on February 11, 2010

I do like it. Your example sounded like an older Bjork. Especially the intro [Earth Intruders], but I don't think it is her.
Really wanted to hear more of Prelude!

After being pointed to Kria...[Kristín Anna Valtýsdóttir] the voice of Múm for their first four albums it lead me to Múm, Ballad OF Broken Birdie (ruxpin remix II). Cool. Posted by one iammusic.


But these sound similar to Boards of Canada or Röyksopp.

I say Karin Dreijer Andersson's [Fever Ray] latest project.

Röyksopp - What Else Is There?

Thanks for this.
posted by alicesshoe at 10:52 AM on February 11, 2010

It's Lykke Li:

It's Lykke Li:

teeth comparison

original image

Lykke Li Music Page
posted by nataaniinez at 10:29 PM on February 21, 2010

Yep.
posted by cashman at 8:33 AM on February 22, 2010

Also, was that a Llama or an Alpaca?
posted by cashman at 8:59 AM on February 22, 2010

Also, I want this music. The dog bark loop in the video is trance inducing.
posted by cashman at 10:21 AM on February 22, 2010

And another. The music is good. I guess the teasing isn't so bad. Monkey at the end of this one.
posted by cashman at 1:37 PM on March 1, 2010

Caught that cashman. Enough of the tease and let's have it, damnit!

Nataaniinez's comparo does hold water....
posted by alicesshoe at 9:37 AM on March 2, 2010