Laura over at ‘SUP hooked us up with this choice Phenomenal Handclap Band remix from London “chop-pop” merchant Clock Opera. Frankly it’s refreshing to see “Baby” get some love- it’s always been my fave track off the entire album. Besides the best dresser in the band (you know the one stage left with the glasses and unbuttoned shirt) sings it!
Here’s some live video footage of the first single I got at Southpaw last year. We totally need a video intern at ‘SUP so we can get the rest (including “Baby”) online!
Watching the Kristoffer Borgli footage this morning made me start to think about how music videos really became a huge part of my vernacular in the early nineties, WITHOUT the help of Youtube. I know it happened for a lot of reasons- I was a tween and the music being produced was insane, blah blah blah, perhaps mainstream culture was recognizing just how influential Generation X and Y were… whatev I’m no scholar on the matter. However if you are familiar with the terms X-Girl, Milkfed, or Lick the Star we need to be friends! Needless to say, Spike Jonze was king of the effing hill- bringing a sense of wonderment and whimsy with an underlying current of DIY-can-do-anything attitude, and the songs were SOMUCH better for it. Granted the budgets got bigger and special effects more elaborate, but it was totally validated. Seriously would Weezer’s “Buddy Holly” have done so well without the Happy Days video?
Ok, so beginnings. 1992 seems to be when the skateboarding films cross over into music video directing. Sonic Youth’s “100%” is a composite of the band throwing down at a house party while he wanders on camera throughout the scene, coupled with raw black and white footage he shot himself (sometimes from a skateboard) w/ friends, including Jason Lee. A little known fact: Kim Gordon’s yellow Fender bass used in the video was on loan from Keanu Reeves. The video itself alludes to the shooting death of JOE COLE and the song is dedicated in his memory on Dirty. Sonic Youth also have a track entitled “JC” which was inspired by the same event. This was a collaboration with director Tamra Davis (Tammy D getting biz on the crop!) which must have dropped right before CB4. Read the rest of this entry »
Kristoffer Borgli, mastermind behind the video for Donkeyboy’s “Ambitions” (aka one of our faves of last year) has helmed the vid for Casiokids‘ new single “En Vill Hest.” Yay! Yet again Borgli taps into that subtle Scandinavian sensibility of being so calm- YET SO COOL. Perhaps that’s why I often feel like the biggest spaz when I’m over there… nothing to do w/ the schnapps. Promise. At least Norwegians have nights where their TVs talk to them and their Cheerios strike back with a vengance like we do too. Check out the Oslo native’s show reel below, and download one of our fave CK singles while you’re at it. If you’re in the UK this month by all means dance don’t walk to the nearest Hot Chip gig and get their early for Casiokids. Their Moshi Moshi anniversary set at the Seaport Music Festival this summer was by far the best we’ve seen.
This one goes out to all the kama`aina kids on the mainland that have been waking up in actual “winter” environments over the past few months and wondering what and why the hell did they (and by “they” I mean “we”) end up so far from home. Here’s the Sandals theme from Bruce Brown’s 1966 docu-surf masterpiece the Endless Summer to start the weekend off right. Many thanks to Heather from I AM FUEL, YOU ARE FRIENDS for helping me track down the song!
On another note, I’ll be guesting on DJ Elhaam’s Guilty Pleasures show on East Village Radio this Monday, February 22nd 2010, from 8-10 PM EST (aka 3-5 PM Hawaii time). My mom is coming to town, so expect some surf-rock in the mix. Love you Mom!
It was out of sheer awesome concert overwhelm-edness during the Pixies’ reunion shows at Hammerstein Ballroom in 2004. There were some tears wellin’ up action. I had waited to see them live like my entire life, and then I did. So imagine my glee this morning when I got the latest Frank Black news, complete with TMI. Squirnge-worthy but if you barrel through the first coupla sentences it ends up sounding exactly like his lyrics… just with more use of the word VAGINA.
When I was a boy the plant we boys called a fern was code for vagina, and to this day I love fern plants. In my heart the vagina is almost everything, and almost everything else could be summed up in what cock and seed have to offer; and everything else? The love of the father, dead or alive, the pain of too much pleasure, till death do us part, the voice of another song man from the other side, with or without God, Teri and the Possibilities, where ever you may be, the smell of sex in the air, seduced, slain, on my knees in prayer, sucking at the only thing that matters, my own personal Meret Oppenheim, I am Man Ray and I want you and to be all the way inside you, the cameras whirring as we put some elbow grease into the scene, the audience watching us in the dark. - Mister Frank Black / Black Francis / Charles Michael Kittridge Thompson IV / Sir Now All Women Will Self-Consciously Cross Their Legs In Front Of Me A Lot
His album NonStopErotik (and accompanying documentary) drops March 30th 2010 on Cooking Vinyl.
They are called Jump Into the Gospel. They are playing Tuesday at the Webster Hall Studio. They are not Lo-fi from Brooklyn. They will be huge. They are jaw droppingly amazing live and every song sounds like a single. Trust us! Go! Happy Monday.
Lucking into attending the Drums first ever shows, we’ve taken to getting lots and lots of video of them from Day 1. So now that they’re on the cover of the NME and all (how long did it take? May 2009 debut to the January 2010 issue… so 7/8 months tops) and the BBC is freaking out over the new single “Best Friend”… we might as well share the footage. It’s pretty swirly. Seriously there is some classical ballet training in there. Ahhhhh AHHHHAH, Ahhh HAHA….
One of the may things that is super awesome about this band is how well they remix. Our 2 faves are below. Happy Monday y’all.
Working in the indie community and living in NYC often presents the amazing opportunity to pop up in Brooklyn DIY video crowd shots. Wheeee. Now having slept through/ spaced on the TVoTR, YYYs and Titus Andronicus shoots over the years, when Kanine Records enlisted friends and family for the Surfer Blood video for “Swim” I made it a point to show up. Seriously JP, Thomas, TJ, Brian and Marcos are stellar gentlemen with a massive future in front of ‘em and one of my fave bands ever to work with. Total pros. Please note that the end crowd surfing footage was taken during the encore of the New Year’s Eve Kanine Records beach party at Cameo gallery- click *here* to check some photos and vids from that event!
To get more info on the video masterminds behind this piece, visit http://www.neuefilms.com/- they did the awesome one for Blind Man’s Colour “Warm Currents Pull” as well.
Ok, so another reason that I’ve fallen off the face of the earth is because I was recovering from 2 Hot Chip shows in 24 hours. Best B-day week ever, especially when you add Yeasayer to the mix! *Anyway* I nabbed some video from the Myspace gig at Highline Ballroom the first night. Considering that it was being filmed by Ustream it felt rude to be “that girl” in the crowd waving a digicam in the air, so I only snuck 2 songs. 1.75 to be exact- torwards the end of “One Pure Thought” I got punched square in the back. I reflexively thought it was a security guard; alas it was just an enthusiastic crowd goer. PS Shout out to Self-Titled mag for the hook-up- much aloha! Best 2 shows we’ve ever seen ‘em play….
