Alphabethead Shares ‘Misanthrope’ Music Video Ahead of NZ Tour

Alphabethead is the musical project of David Morrison (he/him), a producer and turntablist based in Whanganui.

At any point in time Alphabethead finds himself adrift in the musical cosmos, somewhere between the constellations of Hip Hop, Electronica and Experimental Rock. At the age of 18 Morrison won the 2002 New Zealand DMC DJ Championship and this title sent him performing across the globe. Over the next twenty years he would go on to make six albums as Alphabethead, five albums as one third of cult genre-shredders The All Seeing Hand and two records as half of the psychedelic Hip Hop duo Bad Taste alongside Young Gho$t. Morrison also contributed production or turntable scratching for  Home Brew, Tourettes, Benny Tones, Death & The Maiden, The Etymologists (featuring Richard Nunns and David Long (The Mutton Birds) and The Village Of The Idiots (a modern jazz ensemble led by Anthony Donaldson (The Front Lawn, Six Volts, Primitive Art Group)). Morrison’s musical prowess has led to tours through Aotearoa, Australia, UK and China and performances at festivals like WOMAD, Splore and Camp A Low Hum.

In 2025 Alphabethead reintroduced himself with the release of his seventh album My Name Is David. Tracks became signature sounds on Aotearoa’s alternative radio stations and garnered acclaim from Undertheradar.co.nz, RNZ’s Music 101, Rolling Stone AU/NZ, The Spinoff, Graham Reid’s Elsewhere. Alphabethead would go on to support three-time DMC World Champion DJ QBert and perform alongside Drook for two shows of their A Low Hum tour.

With support and assistance from NZoA Music, Alphabethead has collaborated with renowned animator Dr D Foothead on a music video for My Name Is David‘s focus track Misanthrope. The video presents a hunk of organic matter lying dormant in a Cronenberg-esque laboratory. As this undulating subject is fed aural and visual stimulation we marvel at its mutation and evolution in real-time! To celebrate the release Alphabethead will take a jaunt around Te Ika-a-Māui with Grecco Romank & friends throughout September/October. Tickets are available now from Undertheradar.co.nz.

Misanthrope sputters into life before wiggling its way into an irresistible percussive groove. Alphabethead masterfully weaves blips, boops and other synthesized noises with crisp snares and rolling hi-hats. Just as the listener is comfortable Misanthrope begins to soar, screeching searing synths take off towards the track’s conclusion.

“I love synthesising short ‘non-musical’ noises!” says Alphabethead. “I’ve made hundreds and this family of curiosities I call ‘computer interface sounds’. The sci-fi sounds you’d hear on the bridge of the USS Enterprise or aboad the Nostromo! My intent was to create a bold but minimal backing beat that I could populate with all my favourite blips and bloops. Misanthrope was informed by my love of ‘sci-fi textures’ starting with Star Trek: The Next Generation! And, even prior to this video, David Croneburg’s biomechanical, new flesh aesthetic was a major influence. The Fly and Existenz left an indelible mark on teenage Alphie and imagery from those films ripples through my mind weekly!”

The sci fi basis for the Misanthrope made a perfect pairing with Dr D Foothead, a New Zealand animator known for his mesmerising imagery defined by hypnotic detail, hyper saturated colour and dynamic, flowing form. Dr D Foothead’s style has seen him create animations for Adult Swim, Melody’s Echo Chamber, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard along with local talent Opossom, Balu Brigada, The Phoenix Foundation and PollyHill x Samara Alofa.

“I fell in love with Dr D Foothead’s drawing in 2012 when I was given one of his beautiful art zines. I’m fond of the organic and ‘stream-of-consciousness’ nature of his work and composition and colour choices just tickle my brain. My crush has only intensified over the years seeing his incredible animated video work with the King Gizzard, Osees and Kamandi!”

“The initial seed I sent to Foothead was just ‘an inhospitable world where the electronic blips and bloops represent life finding a way’. The other direction was that those long synth moments are the peaks of the song and ‘cataclysmic events’ that accelerate the mutation of any creature/blob/organism on screen. Foothead and I would refer to these as ‘beaming rays of radiation.’”

“Since it’s completion I’ve watched this video an inordinate amount of times in the lounge, lights off, bopping along on the big screen. Super stoked! The overall Cronenberg meets claymation aesthetic is sooo appealing to me!”

To celebrate the release of Misanthrope we urge you to join Alphabethead and his comrades Grecco Romank this spring for a thrilling evening of turntablism, brutalist sewer-pop and dirty, chaotic, electronic dance music! Tickets are available now from Undertheradar.co.nz.

ALPHABETHEAD – MISANTHROPE 2026 TOUR DATES

18 September @ Meow, Wellington
w/ Grecco Romank, Bone Chapel and Lady Lazer Light
Tickets

19 September @ Porridge Watson, Whanganui
w/ Grecco Romank and Body Beat Ritual
Tickets

2 October @ Goblin, Auckland
w/ Grecco Romank, Guardian Singles and Living Perfection
Tickets

Cover Art Credit: Dr D Foothead