Yes, if you read one of my recent tweets, I have set up shop on Virb and will be getting rid of this dinosaur within the next few days. My new site will focus solely on my film work, as I have found little use for this blog, and felt that I needed something a bit more professional to guide people to so they can see examples of my work. The DiMattiaFilms blog was a fun and exciting experiment, one that got me through my college years and then some! Not to mention Jump Cut Radio, which was fun, but in retrospect, felt like the biggest ego-stroking project I ever got involved in. Sorry, Nathan. :-)
Just FYI, this blog isn't going away anytime soon. It will still be available at its original URL of http://dimattiafilms.blogspot.com. I'm just officially announcing that I will no longer be updating it, and that dimattiafilms.com will soon point to my new site on Virb before the week is through.
Thank you, everyone who ever visited my site, and I hope to see you on the other side!
It's ironic that I return from a long hiatus to talk about a mixtape I made centered around songs about endings. I submitted it for the Yewknee Summer Mix Series, and you can view the tracklist and download it here. It features a wide variety of musicians new and old, including a handful (Jeff Hanson, Sparklehorse, J Dilla) who are sadly no longer with us. This mixtape is dedicated to them. Enjoy.
Some of my FFFs (fellow film friends) have gotten together and put up a Kickstarter page asking people to pledge funds so they can put together a bad-ass performance of Rocky Horror Picture Show at the Browncoat Pub & Theatre. They only need $250, and there's a wide variety of rewards for pledging, including signed posters, t-shirts, your name in the program, and more! If you got a minute to spare, swing on by their page and drop 'em a couple bucks.
One of the big surprises I received at the Cucalorus 14 launch party back in 2008 was a performance by Greensboro experimental rock band Invisible, a group that utilized ingenious homemade devices that produced beats from a variety of found objects. It was a fascinating performance, one that preceded a screening of a documentary made about the band, and kept me interested in what Invisible would do next.
Well, one of the members, Bart Trotman, has just delivered a free album under the moniker Workday/Schoolnight entitled Plastic Ocean. It's a sprawling work, combining minimalist glitch-pop with sound collages utilizing dozens of thrift store cassettes, including "self-help tapes, self-hypnotic tapes, daily affirmations, and vocabulary lessons." The songs alone are fairly interesting to listen to, but it's the ludicrousness of the samples Trotman uses to bookend each song that keeps me listening. I will say that the length of the album (70 min.) left me wishing some more editing had taken place before its release.
Still, it's hard to look a gift horse in the mouth, especially when that gift horse has such a wide variety of interesting samples at his disposal. You can get the whole album for free on Megaupload or Mediafire, but only for a limited time.
Click on the album titles to stream them, courtesy of La La.
Honorable Mentions: Andrew Bird, Noble Beast Animal Collective, Merriweather Post Pavilion Basement Jaxx, Scars Cursive, Mama, I'm Swollen Discovery, LP Helado Negro, Awe Owe StreightAngular, After and Before Wilco, Wilco (The Album) Yo La Tengo, Popular Songs
I had a hard time narrowing down my list of favorite music videos for this year to just five. Also, I decided I was sick of dealing with embedding issues with YouTube, so for this list, I turned to my new favorite video provided, Vimeo, for this playlist of clips, which are as follows:
5. Coldplay, "Life in Technicolor II" (dir. Dougal Wilson) No stranger to the Hall of Awesome, Dougal Wilson returns with a decidedly more lighthearted video featuring an overly elaborate Coldplay puppet show, ending with one of the funnier gags I've seen in music videos this year.
4. Justice + Lenny Kravitz, "Let Love Rule" (dir. Keith Schofield) I've already waxed poetic about the awesomeness of director Keith Schofield, but I can't stress it enough: the guy knows his shit. Not only did he put out a killer Charlotte Gainsbourg/Beck video a month ago, he made this glorious gem pairing '80s kitsch with end credits meta madness. (UPDATE: Now available with director commentary!)
3. Bodies of Water, "Under the Pines" (dir. Andy Bruntel) This video made an appearance in my annual Scary Music Videos list, and it reappears here for two reasons. One, the video hasn't been making a lot of lists considering it came out all the way back in January, and so most people have forgotten about it. Second, every element of this video, from production design to costumes to the aged look of the film contribute to the eerie Grimm fairytale vibe of its story. It's a story that seems utterly ridiculous on paper, but works as an effective visual companion to the propulsive song it's set to.
2. Ramona Falls, "I Say Fever" (dir. Stefan Nadelman) Oh. My. God. Such a great video. Scary, gorgeous to watch, perfect pairing of song and visuals. So many things I could say about this clip, but it really speaks for itself.
1. U2, "I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight" (dir. David O'Reilly) First, an explanation. I don't like this song. Musically, it's pretty mediocre, a desperate revival of U2's standard pompous stadium rock. Lyrically, it's abysmal, with Bono stumbling through lines like "Every beauty needs to go out with an idiot" as if he decided to scribble them down at the last minute and not bother asking anyone if they were good or not. Thankfully, animator and Best Short Film of 2009 shoo-in David O'Reilly was brought in to direct a video and it more than makes up for U2's lax songwriting. In fact, it almost works to the video's advantage that the song is so forgettable, because it makes the visuals that much easier to pay attention to.
Honorable Mention: Bob Dylan, "Beyond Here Lies Nothing" (dir. Nash Edgarton) Charlotte Gainsbourg and Beck, "Heaven Can Wait" (dir. Keith Schofield) Depeche Mode, "Wrong" (dir. Patrick Daughters) Fever Ray, "If I Had a Heart" (dir. Andreas Nilsson) Matt & Kim, "Lessons Learned" (dir. Taylor Cohen and Otto Arsenault) N.A.S.A. feat. Sizzla, Amanda Blank and Lovefoxxx, "A Volta" (dir. Logan) They Might Be Giants, "Meet the Elements" (dir. Feel Good Anyway) UNKLE, "Heaven" (dir. Spike Jonze and Ty Evans)
Thanks to Yewknee for the heads up. Check out this Flickr photostream for a collection of gorgeous re-interpretations of Calvin and Hobbes by some very talented artists.
Every year, I compile a topten list of my favoritealbums of the year. However, there are a ton of individual songs that deserve some props as well, even if their respective albums didn't impress me enough to make my best-of list. So, without further ado, enjoy these 19 tracks that epitomize the best music 2009 has to offer. As with last year, there's a La La playlist at the bottom of this list (and in the sidebar) featuring all of these tracks, which you can stream in full.
It doesn't matter how many "tributes" people will be making to Michael Jackson in the coming years. They won't be half as awesome as this cover from Vampire Weekend/Ra Ra Riot side-project Discovery.
I thought I would kick off this year's Hall of Awesome with my favorite music videos of the decade, but Pitchfork pretty much beat me to it with their Top 50 Music Videos of the 2000s, a list so well-conceived and compiled that all I can do is simply present to you five more music videos I thought should have made their list. As usual, all the videos are compiled in a single YouTube playlist, viewable at the bottom of this post.
Supergrass, “Low C” (dir. Garth Jennings/Nick Goldsmith; 2005) This decade, the documentary music video became a go-to style for bands wanting to stand out from the crowd. Most recently, the genre has been picked up by Massive Attack, whose video for "Paradise Circus" features an elderly woman reminiscing about her days as a porn star, intercut with definitely-NSFW scenes from one of her films. This 2005 effort from Supergrass finds the band reteaming with "Pumping On Your Stereo" directors Garth Jennings and Nick Goldsmith (a.k.a. Hammer & Tongs) for a nostalgic visit to Weeki Wachee, where a group of women are trying to keep their mermaid-themed tourist attraction from going under. It's a rare chance to see the usually SFX-heavy directors deliver a simple story with a minimum amount of style, but with a lot of heart.
Wintergreen, “Can't Sit Still" (dir. Keith Schofield; 2007) When television stopped being the preferred delivery method for music videos, bands soon realized that in order to get people watching, they were gonna have to come up with something that fell into one of three categories: bizarre, hilarious, or controversial. And by the end of the decade, no one was doing it better than Keith Schofield. Every video of his falls into one of the three categories, and oftentimes he covers all three in one clip. Case in point is "Can't Sit Still" by Wintergreen, an elaborate little video that he posted on YouTube with the sure-to-score-a-ton-of-hits title "How to Make Meth". While the video didn't go batshit viral, it did ruffle the feathers of some people who were afraid kids would actually try to make the harmless concoctions the band ingests in the clip, and Keith eventually had to admit the thing was satire after YouTube threatened to pull it from their site. As usual, this video has embedding disabled, so click on the link above to watch it. As a consolation prize, I've included in the playlist below Keith and the band's less controversial (but equally informative) video for "When I Wake Up".
Gorillaz, “Clint Eastwood” (dir. Jamie Hewlett/Pete Candeland; 2001) This decade proved that a band can not only sell an image, the band can become the image. Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett long-shot concept of an animated rock band turned out to be a worldwide success. And while the songs are top-notch, they wouldn't be half as good without their accompanying videos, animated by Hewlett and his team at Zombie Flesh Eaters.
The Strokes, “Last Nite” (dir. Roman Coppola; 2001) I can't really explain what I thought of The Strokes' and their video for "Last Nite" when I first came across it one night on MTV (surprisingly, MTV was still showing videos back in 2001). The video's concept is almost insultingly simple: The Strokes, on a soundstage, performing the song live, under a sheen of '70s gloss provided by director Roman Coppola. The video is fun because of its sheer "fuck it" attitude, as Julian Casablancas throws his mic stand offstage like a javelin, and Fab Moretti's drum mics keep falling down. As a result, the version of "Last Nite" they perform is unique from the version that actually appeared on Is This It.
Aphex Twin, “Rubber Johnny” (dir. Chris Cunningham; 2005) Technically, this is not a music video for Aphex Twin (although the song is taken from his 2001 record Drukqs). It's a short film by music video extraordinaire Chris Cuningham, one of only two videos he made this decade (not counting his commercial work). It's a disturbing and darkly humorous experiment, where Cunningham himself plays the titular character, who has the ability to morph into increasingly erratic shapes as the music of Aphex Twin pumps out of the speakers. It pretty much encompasses the definition of "WTF?" and is a fitting calling card for one of the least prolific, but certainly most watched, music videos directors of this decade.
People who've already gone out and purchased Sufjan Stevens' new movie/soundtrack, The BQE, have probably already stumbled across a couple hidden tracks shortly following the film, a noisy instrumental and this plaintive choral piece featuring Stevens back on vocal duties:
According to this interview from The Quietus, Stevens had originally intended "The Sleeping Red Wolves" to be included in The BQE, but "there just wasn't enough time, so I just threw it in at the end."
It's that time of year again, and this time, I've taken the liberty of compiling all fifteen of my original scary music video picks into one, easy-to-use video playlist. Unfortunately, some of the videos have embedding disabled, so you'll need to visit my playlist page on YouTube for the full list. I've also added three new videos to the mix:
Liars, "Plaster Casts of Everything" (dir. Patrick Daughters) It's official: Patrick Daughters has made my list of Best Music Video Directors of the 2000s, thanks to his eye-catching videos for Feist, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and Grizzly Bear. In this clip, he teams the back-projection used in The White Stripes' "Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground" with a concept straight out of a David Lynch film. The end result is most unsettling.
Fever Ray, "If I Had a Heart" (dir. Andreas Nilsson) Karin Dreijer of Scandanavian electronic group The Knife is no stranger to scary music videos, having appeared on last year's list in her collaboration with Röyksopp for the song "What Else is There?" Now, for her solo effort, she hired Andreas Nilsson, who has been behind most of the videos for The Knife, to pull out all the stops on the express train to Creepy Town.
Bodies of Water, "Under the Pines" (dir. Andy Bruntel) In addition to being an exceptional animator (see: Rilo Kiley's "It's a Hit" and his Roman Coppola collaboration "Red"), Andy Bruntel has made a fair share of kickass music videos for the likes of No Age, The Mountain Goats, and Best Music Video of 2007 nominee Bat for Lashes. In this clip, a hunter is cursed with bad luck after he steals a diamond from inside a dead dog's stomach. What follows is a Grimm fairytale with a twisted sense of humor.
Don't forget to check out the otherthreeentries in the Scary Music Video series.
I just realized I haven't posted a single thing on this site since June. This marks the first time I ever skipped an entire month without posting anything. I apologize for my lack of updates, but here's a brief overview of what's been happening in the world of DiMattiaFilms.
The big news is my crew and I just returned from a week-long trip in New York City and Boston for Firewall of Sound. I spoke with record store owners, venue managers, bloggers, and tons of musicians. I hope to start editing this footage in the next couple of weeks, and will post a new trailer for the film when time permits. In the meantime, keep checking the official website for the film for further details and updates.
Economic crisis? What economic crisis? In Japan, they've built a (totally for-reals) life size gundam!! Now, it can't really move (other than it's head), but it looks totally badass during the day, and even more badass at night. If this (as well as the dismal reviews of Transformers 2) are to be believed, Americans still have a ways to go before we catch up to the Japanese in the field of robot badassery.
How's this for a morale booster? A nationwide depression epidemic + awesome Internet technology = The New York Times Homicide Map. Keep track of all the places in the five boroughs where a murder has been comitted, complete with age and ethnicity of both killer and victim, the murder weapon, and motive. It's like a GPS system, only them dots ain't movin' no more.
As many of you know, I've been hard at work on a feature-length version of my documentary project, Firewall of Sound, focusing on the independent music industry and its relation to the Internet. In order to help raise funds for the project, I've created a page on Kickstarter.com, asking people to donate toward us completing the film, and as of right now, we are only $50 away from achieving our goal of raising $1,000!!
But, the rule is if we don't reach our goal by July 10, WE WILL GET NOTHING, so we need people to come to the rescue and get us over that mark! IF ONLY TEN PEOPLE DONATE $5 EACH, THAT WILL BE ENOUGH TO MEET OUR GOAL, so as you can see, every little bit helps! Thanks for taking the time out to read this, and I sincerely appreciate all your support.
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