Bicycles get hacked into music-making machines in inventive short film "Bicycle Sounds." The spokes of a bicycle wheel, which turn while brushing against two clothespins, provide a kick-drum beat. The clatter of a bike chain brushing against gears sounds like busy snare drums. Bike bells provide a melody.
The film, directed by Brooklyn artist Stephen Meierding, garnered the top prize at the recent Bike Shorts film festival in New York City.
Many people have experimented with using bikes to make music, but few attempts have been as beautifully shot as Meierding's. As the film progresses, the sounds – and the visuals – get crazier. Two bike wheels spin close together, and the buzz as the wheels touch generates an incredible, bass-heavy noise. Playing cards and balls of plastic, attached to the spokes of the wheels, become psychedelic swirls of color as they spin.
Want more ingenious visuals? In the short film below, a collaboration between Meierding and artist Craig Cutler titled "One Sander, One Drill," power tools are used to create motion.
