Google Cube is a six-sided psychedelic music video player

By Malarie Gokey July 2, 2014

google cube music video experiment — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Google experiments with a lot of different things. It’s known for taking ideas for super futuristic gadgets such as Glass and Project Tango tablets, and making them a reality. Google also undertakes a lot of bizarre artsy projects like Cardboard, Project Ara, and now, Google Cube.

Cube is a virtual six-sided, 3D music player that syncs different videos and music tracks on each side to create a multi-faceted music video. The first band to test out this psychedelic music video concept is the Australian indie group The Presets, who designed the music video for their new single “No Fun” specifically for Cube.

You can play with Cube on recent Android devices or in the Google Chrome browser. As you spin Cube around to show its different faces, you’ll see a separate part of the music video on each side of the music player. One side shows the bright, flashing lights in a smoky club, while another shows a person’s face morphing into other people’s faces with a trippy neon color scheme.

If this were a normal music video on YouTube, you’d most likely see only a few seconds of each part of the video cut into the main storyline. With Cube you can decide which parts of the video you want to watch. If you’re not into the girl in the bathtub, you can just watch the endlessly morphing tangram puzzle on the other side, or the blue sky on another, and so on. The Cube also lets you look at all the sides simultaneously if you click to unfold the box icon in the right corner of the player.

The idea behind Cube is to create a new platform for performance artists, musicians, and other creative types to display their work in a new way. Google says it could also be used for unique presentations. The Cube is still considered experimental, but the guys who made it at Google’s Creative Lab in Sydney plan to market the idea to other artists.

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