The new Decemberists album has leaked online! I’m more than a little excited given it’s one of the two albums I’m most looking forward to this year. Can’t wait to give it a listen.
[Update: Verdict = Hmmmm…]
New Decemberists! 7 Mar, 2009
Creativity & Effects 18 Feb, 2009
I used to be something of a music video fanatic — it’s fun to see the small-scale testbed for special effects that later show up in movies. Unfortunately with the collapse of the music video industry (not to mention the larger music industry), it’s been a while since anything interesting has come along.
A couple days ago, however, director Keith Schoderfield put out a new music video for mediocre rapper Mims. The song won’t win any awards for originality, but the video takes a couple cool effects — slow motion breakdancers, looping back and forth — and runs with them. Simple, but a lot of fun. Best is the slit scan warping technique that comes in about halfway through. Good beat, too.
More creativity from the same mind comes via the video for “Knights” by Minus the Bear. It looks like the old mirrored image trick until you start to notice some things lacking perfect symmetry. Then one or two items cross the border from one side of the screen to the other. It all flies by at such a pace your brain has a hard time keeping up. It’s good visual trickery in the vein of Michel Gondry.
It’s Time to Set This Off 11 Feb, 2009
To those new here, welcome. And to those making the trip far across the internet from my old site, welcome back! I’m more than a little pleased at the results of the hard work that have gone into this site. Bits and pieces will continue to change as I work out the kinks and kick the tires. But while I do the hard work, please make yourself at home. Settle in for a read, visit the gallery, and listen to some music. Subscribe to this site or check back weekly. I’ll be keeping things fresh.
Of Stars and Leaders 16 Nov, 2008
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| Bon Iver concert at the Music Hall of Williamsburg, From Spring / Summer |
I wonder at what point Obama realised he had become a pop culture icon. The fact that many young people treat him like a rock star is old news by now, of course, but to see it in action is still startling.
I went to see The Decemberists the night after the presidential election.1 In another life, Colin Meloy, the lead singer, would be a school teacher. I could see it in the way he led the entire packed venue to slowly crouch down, then stand up, over and over, faster and faster, until the entire audience was jumping up and down and the band kicked off a boisterous song. And in his spontaneous interactions with the audience, whether it was playing a guitar solo with a peacock feather a fan was waving around, or borrowing a cell phone from someone in the audience, calling a number in the phone book, and singing an entire song into the phone.
But the most amusing part was seeing everyone go nuts when the band brought a cardboard cutout of Obama on stage. At one point they tossed it into the audience and the cardboard Obama crowdsurfed around. People were as excited as if it were a 1997 Radiohead concert and Thom Yorke had jumped into the crowd.
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| Image courtesy of Faith-Ann Young |
- The picture at the top of this post is from a separate concert by Bon Iver, possibly the best show I’ve been to in New York. Now that it’s winter time it seems appropriate to showcase one of his tracks.
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Hidden Lives 13 Nov, 2008
Sam recently told me about a moment she remembers clearly from many years ago. She was walking down the street and saw a homeless woman rummaging through a trash can. As she pored through it, a homeless man walked up with his cart, dug in it, pulled out an apple and offered it to the woman. On the busy street, no one paid attention to the generosity and care of the ragged people at the trash can.
As I sit in a coffee shop in DC taking a short break from work, I’m thinking of that moment she related to me for various reasons. What jolted my memory was seeing a homeless woman walk in a couple hours ago and take a seat at the window. A while later another woman joined her and they sat talking. As I sat with my drink, secretly eating a sandwich I brought with me, a man walked in and also joined them. It looked as though he wasn’t familiar with the other two, as he introduced himself. I saw him ask one of the women for some money, which she lent him with a pat on the back. Who are these people? Where do they live? What do they do every day? As they catch shelter from the grey rainy day outside, it’s an interesting glimpse of a community I know nothing about.