Billie Jean yeah, she's just a girl

I'm digging on this version of Billie Jean by The Civil Wars

Over The Rhine at Cactus Cafe

Over the Rhine is playing at the Cactus Cafe this Sunday and I think we might just have to go...

Happy Holidays!!!

Life at Typographic Speed

I was doing some research on wedding photography yesterday--for a potential photoshoot--and I came upon Leo Patrone. He has a blog and he posted about a friend of his who did the music for this video...

Robert Longo

I was trying to remember who did the "Men in the Cities" drawings that I vaguely remembered from college. I just think these are amazing--from the skill of drawing, to the idea, to yes, the fashion. I'm a sucker for them.

And I still couldn't remember his name until I came upon this post in a new blog that I absolutely love. Black*Effiel.

She wrote about a music video, directed by Bienvenido Cruz, by CircleSquare that uses the Longo project as inspiration. I dig it.

Pop Princesses

I went to yet another sing-a-long at the Alamo last night. I inevitably end up drinking way too much at these things but that does seem to be the point--along with booty shaking in theaters, getting hoarse from singing, and seeing shenanigans up on stage. This time it was an ode to all the ladies of pop. I completely had my fill of Britney Spears, Love Is A Battlefield, Madonna, and a little "punk" from Avril and Katy Perry.

I never did see the music video for Straight Up by Paula Abdul but they played it last night and Kat and I both thought that it had some cool ideas for a photo shoot; a black and white split backdrop and the man with a cane, wind, and a long trench coat would all lend themselves well to fashion. The youtube video has the embedding bit disabled so just click on "Straight Up".

And then there was Beyonce. Her new song Sing Ladies (Put A Ring On It) has an amazing music video. It's really simple black and white and the costumes are real simple as well. However, it's all totally hot. The hairdos and the super tight choreography all hark back to Motown girl groups (with a bit more sex appeal). Just love it. ~ Oh my god! I was just looking around youtube and found this clip of the same-ish dance choreographed by Bob Fosse! Good lord. Fine. I still enjoy the Beyonce video despite the ripoff.



And then there's Crazy in Love. Also terribly hot.

Saturday's Playlist

I've been camped out online today and have come across several excellent songs. I figured it would be more fun to see the music videos too. They're all whimsical. I think that's my new favorite word. Whimsical.

"Hail Mary". Pomplamoose.

"Just A Boy". Angus & Julia Stone.

"L'Autre Bout Du Monde". Emily Loizeau.

"Crooked Legs". The Acorn.

Just

I know this is a bit old, but I was going clearing out all my old emails (I've kept them since 2004) and found that a friend had sent this to me ages ago when I was super into graffiti as an art historical movement. And well, it's held up over the years; it's still damn cool.



One of the great Radiohead tracks and drummer Phil Selway's favourite song on 'The Bends', 'Just' combines self-loathing lyrics, a particular viscous guitar riff and middle-eight to die for. For his cover Mark Ronson not only enlisted the help of the formidable Daptones horn section (The Dap Kings) but Alex Greenwald, the lead singer of Phantom Planet (best known for 'California', the theme to 'The OC').

A dynamite combination of snappy horns and dusty drum breaks, 'Just' belongs to the cover canon of Quantic Soul Orchestra's 'Get a Move On', Alice Russell's 'Seven Nation Army' and the Daptone's own 'What (Have You Done For Me Lately'. The man behind 'Just' is one of the most sought after DJs in the world and, as one half of AllIDo Records, Ronson is currently working with Chicago rapper Rhymefest, Australian soul singer Daniel Merryweather and fabulous pop goddess Christina Aguilera. His cover of 'Just' won early support from Gilles Peterson, Zane Lowe and Jo Whiley on Radio One as well as Eddy Temple-Morris on XFM, making this one of the most exciting BBE releases in years.

Indian Thriller

This is the most beautiful thing I have seen in three weeks. Priceless! Priceless!



My mom sent this to me today and I couldn't stop laughing. It's the Jackson moves interpreted in the Bollywood style that does me in.

Glukoza

Kevin showed this video to me the other day and I really liked it. This hot Russian songbird became popular because she always makes these CGI music videos. It rocks. Watch it.

Well Whatever, Nevermind

My friend Lauren is such a good sport sometimes. After reading up on music video history of the 90's I discovered that the Alamo Drafthouse was having a 90's Alternative Sing-a-long. I had to go and relive my formative musical years amongst other 20-somethings whilst dancing in our movie theater seats, drinking beer, and belting out as much Nirvana, Tori Amos, Smashing Pumpkins, and Nine Inch Nails as we could handle. The evidence is below.

I was hung-over, hoarse, and totally broke the next day. However, it's the most fun I've had at a theater in a long while. I think this karaoke-at-the-movie fad should take over the nation. Word in the local press is that next week is a special Micheal J sing-a-long--are you ready to Beat it! (insert cheez grin here)

Music Videos?

Honestly? I can only tolerate videos that are slightly abstract, not quite so narrative. I think for the most part, music video is a dead art form. It renders your imagination obsolete by supplying one visual landscape for a song. And as a music lover, imagining that landscape is half of what makes a song mine. I like videos that are abstract enough that they don't steal that away from you.~Micheal Stipe. (TV-Guide. Dec 4th, 1999. "MTV 100 greatest music videos ever made".)

Oskar Fischinger

I have become interested in the history of the music video after watching an old Beastie Boys music vid while working (Deliverance was taken off-screen to show someone the "it's a robot--doing the robot!"). That got me thinking how fun it would be to take a class in the evolution of the music video. Thus, I started scoping it out on my own since I know of no such class at UT, nor am I student.

According to Wikipedia, Oskar Fischinger is one of the earliest filmmakers who experimented with music and film. He made animated films based around a pre-existing musical score--popular and classical music were both used. A few of his short films used tunes produced by German record label, Electrola, and ended with an advertisement for the newly released album. These films were screened at movie houses around Germany before the feature began...the first music video!

Getting himself into serious financial trouble and being in Munich at the turn of the 20th century, he picked up only his best equipment one night and ran away to Berlin. He choose to walk in order to get away undetected. While walking he would take single frame shots of the countryside as he went. He later released all of this as Walking From Berlin To Munich. While in Berlin, Fischinger found work as an animator and set designer on Fritz Lange's Frau Im Mond.



He continued to experiment with abstract art, music, and film until Nazism made working and distribution difficult and uncomfortable. He moved to LA with a job offer at Paramount Pictures. Fischinger made several films during this time that were quite notable (3 of them were included in the Olympiad of Animation's list of top films in 1984). He also worked on Disney's Fantasia opening sequence of Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor. However he did quit without credit because Disney simplified his work too much. Irreconcilable artistic differences.

The non-profit Center For Visual Music has compiled his films into a DVD series. The first collection of 10 films were released in 2006.

I can't find any of his films online, but here's an example in the form of an Homage.