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Watch the haunting Ray Bradbury-inspired music video for Infinity Shred's 'Mapper'

Watch the haunting Ray Bradbury-inspired music video for Infinity Shred's 'Mapper'

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via puu.sh
via puu.sh

"Oh, it's a long way down. Oh, it's a long way down, a long, long, long way down," said a voice. "I don't want to die, I don't want to die, it's a long way down."

Ray Bradbury's "Kaleidoscope" captures a few minutes of sad inevitability, as a dozen astronauts prepare to meet their death after escaping an exploding spaceship. Short film and music video "Mapper" evokes the same feeling, with an added touch of surrealism. The video, just released by electronic and chiptunes band Infinity Shred and Brooklyn film studio Calavera, strips Bradbury's short story to a nearly silent 8-minute film, filtered through the lens of '70s Soviet science fiction and 2001: A Space Odyssey. It's retro-futuristic without being kitschy, desolate without being grim, and held together by Infinity Shred's song of the same name, from their recent album Sanctuary.

The first half of "Mapper" is drawn from "Darkmatter," a 2010 short film produced by Calavera and directed by Dean Marcial. Marcial expanded on "Darkmatter" for the video's second act, where the astronauts' journey takes a turn for the strange, and Twin Peaks fans will see a familiar face: Dana Ashbrook, otherwise known as Bobby Briggs. If you've watched On the Verge, you might also remember Infinity Shred's performance last year.