Gatekeeper have released the first-person gaming experience that accompanies their recent debut LP on Hippos in Tanks, Exo. Designed by digital artist Tabor Rybak, the game pairs each of the album’s tracks with an immersive, interactive visual experience to be played as an independent level.
When discussing the album with Noisey last month, Gatekeeper’s Aaron David Ross and Matthew Arkell noted that the origin of the record’s sound came from “playing around with sound library effects from commercial trailer sound effect packs.” With this approach in place, Gatekeeper defined the project as an ‘HD’ audio experience, and thus it needed an appropriately over-the-top visual experience to accompany it.
Since their last project was a set of 3D videos created in collaboration with Thunderhorse for their EP Giza, Gatekeeper really had to push boundaries to feel like they were doing something new. After watching a good portion of the playthrough video for the Exo game, I think they’ve accomplished what they set out to do. The game starts out in space, moves into what appears to be a futuristic spaceship, then settles into exploring various naturalistic environments on an Earth-like planet. The crisp (yet clearly digitally rendered) visual paired with Exo’s action-movie brand of IDM makes for a nice combination — the peanut butter and jelly of the video game-electronic music hybrid, if you will.
Tourdates (all w/ Teengirl Fantasy and Thunder Horse):
08.10.12 - San Francisco, CA - DNA Lounge
08.11.12 - Los Angeles, CA - Los Globos
08.12.12 - San Diego, CA - The Casbah
08.17.12 - Vancouver, BC - Waldorf Hotel
08.18.12 - Portland, OR - Mississippi Studios
08.24.12 - New York, NY - Rocks Off Cruise *
08.31.12 - Minneapolis, MN - 7th St. Entry
09.01.12 - Chicago, IL - Lincoln Hall
* Lemonade (no Thunder Horse)
• Exo: http://e-x-o.com
• Gatekeeper: http://hipposintanks.net/artists/gatekeeper
• Hippos in Tanks: http://hipposintanks.net
More about: Gatekeeper
