As the name suggests, Eclectic Method creates art that is not easily categorized, but even a cursory look at the response to these audio-visual creations confirms that they're in a class by themselves. Jonny Wilson, who originally called himself Eclectic Method as an alias, is a video-remix pioneer who helped originate video mashups during the early days of bootlegs and went on to create viral videos in which rapid-fire edits turn almost any sound into music and beats. DJ Magazine called Eclectic Method the "remix king," Wired dubbed him the "future," The Guardian said it "boggles the mind" and even Newsweek gushed that it "must be seen to be believed."
Speaking of "must be seen," you've quite possibly seen Eclectic Method's handiwork already. Wilson's super-charged "Wolf of Wall Street" remix claims more than 5 million views and counting, and several collegiate football and basketball teams now use it as their pre-game anthem. His Star Wars remixes racked up more than 20 million views, while his full collection of music, movie, television and sports remixes combine for hundreds of millions of views. Stephen Colbert, who jokingly called him a "DJ Jazzy jerk-off," played one of his videos on The Colbert Report, and an enthusiastic James Corden aired his "Carpool Karaoke" remix to immense applause on The Late Late Show. Campbell Brown called Eclectic Method a "genius" on CNN, the Copyright Criminals documentary included an in-depth profile on his work, and Apple made Wilson the main subject of a promotional video before sending him around Europe to perform at its flagship stores. Wilson also excels at collaborating with other artists on stage. For example, he performed live with Chuck D, Questlove and Clyde Stubblefield in a funky drummer tribute on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and again with Questlove at a Beastie Boys tribute in NYC.
Eclectic Method is "the gift that keeps on giving,” said Questlove.
The music tracks that Eclectic Method pairs with the video edits are all original creations, not samples, which make the remixes ideal for licensing and official releases. Showing support for video remixes of their own works, Mark Ronson described Eclectic Method as "sick like the flu" and Anthony Bourdain exclaimed, "I like it! A lot." Ricky Gervais, Mike Judge, Snoop Dogg, Edgar Wright, RZA, Nardwuar and others also endorsed and promoted remixes, while U2, Fatboy Slim, Rick & Morty, Dr. Who and Phish are among the many big names to recruit Eclectic Method for official videos. Donald Glover collaborated with Eclectic Method to create, from scratch, the audio-visualChildish Gambino Mixtape, and Monty Python added his remixes to their YouTube channel and used one of them for their comeback show at the O2 Arena in London.
Eclectic Method is also far from just a studio project. Wilson can recreate the video remixes live on stage, which led The Star Toronto to call his sets "the coolest video dance party you’ve ever been to.” Most EDM fans know him from playing alongside artists like Diplo, Axwell, Deadmau5, Porter Robinson and Pretty Lights, while rap fans might recall his all-star performance with Childish Gambino and the Wu-Tang Clan at South by Southwest or from his "Meta Hip Hop" video that Noisey called "[possibly] the GOAT of all time remix track." Music fans in general know Eclectic Method from festival performances at Glastonbury, Bonnaroo, Outside Lands, Ultra, Lovebox, Virgin, Oxygen, Winter Music Conference and Bestival, while the film and television industry saw Eclectic Method perform live sets at the Cannes Film Festival, Toronto Film Festival, Playboy Mansion parties and at the closing night party for the Sundance Film Festival in back-to-back years. Wilson, who currently splits his time between Spain and London, previously lived in Germany, Bosnia and Brooklyn, and he has performed more than 600 shows in 36 countries on every continent except for Antarctica.
As one Paper Magazine writer described the live show, Eclectic Method is "the best of both worlds: Girls get to dance, and guys get to watch TV.”
Eclectic Method won the Vimeo People's Choice Award in large part because his remixes connect with millennials raised on Snapchat and EDM while offering a level of originality and sophistication appreciated by ad agencies and media companies. In fact, Eclectic Method's client list is a who's who of top brands and agencies that include Apple, BMW, VICE, Coca Cola, Adidas, Red Bull, AT&T, Twitter, Sony, Saatchi & Saatchi, Ogilvy & Mather, Mashable, ESPN, Puma, Pioneer, Oakley, Nokia, MTV, Motown, LionsGate, Maker's Mark, Smirnoff, Getty Images, Universal, Hewlett Packard, Activision, the British Broadcasting Company (BBC), Evian, Yahoo, Spike TV, TruTV, Heineken, Google, Gawker, ESPN, Turner, Reebok, Microsoft, Ustream, Vevo, Ultra Records and Vimeo, among many others.
Says Wilson, "Pop culture is reflected in the music of the moment, and EM can do what other DJs and visual artists cannot, which is bring it all together in real time. I can take films and zeitgeist moments and put it out there right away in music form."
Eclectic Method's "mesmerizing" (LA Weekly) work truly earned him honors as the world's finest "digital pop culture surgeon" (Gawker).