Liquid Sky

Nightclubbing Volume 1

Tron remake

and totally inadvertently, i stumbled across this remake of the snake/SNAFU/lightbike game from Tron. some french dudes used miniatures, cardboard, and papier-maché to turn a camp classic scene into, well, pretty much a camp classic scene.

one aspect i hadn't noted when i last watched tron was gee whiz, was this movie a star wars knock off or what? (that star wars video is sure to get taken down fast, so watch it if you want to compare similarities and dig the semi-amusing queen soundtrack)

Tron
Uploaded by freres-hueon

the original:

Cabaret Voltaire

While angry punks morphed into hardcore and angsty post punks made new wave, Cabaret Voltaire still seemed to have a way to merge menace with the avant garde. More than a little self-conscious at times, both CV and Throbbing Gristle might be comparable to a Beatles and Stones of industrial music, always pushing the envelope a little further. Unintended analogy: Does that make Blur and Oasis the Cabaret Voltaire and Throbbing Gristle of Brit-pop?

Excepter - Kill People

This is the video for "Kill People" off Excepter's outstanding new album Debt Dept. This video was just released yesterday and features some very smooth effects and camp galore.

Tom Rubnitz, Ryan Trecartin.

From Wikipedia: "Tom Rubnitz was a video artist most often associated with the New York East Village drag queen scene of the late 1980s. His video tapes were mainly inspired by pop culture and Las Vegas style shows. A number of his works featured RuPaul and members of the B-52's. He also made the 1987 documentary Wigstock: The Movie about the annual drag queen festival."

Below is his video for "Pickle Surprise". Ham!



Ryan Trecartin, whose video piece "I-Be Area" is currently on display at Okay Mountain, displays obvious (and self-proclaimed) influence from Rubnitz. Here's a snippet from "I-Be Area" - you can find more scattered around YouTube in no particular order.

Michel Polnareff

Introduced to Michel Polnareff through Cristina's ironic cover of "La Poupée qui fait non," I'm impressed by his versatility.

The guitar twirl (wait for it):



The Man of la Mancha:



The heartthrob:



And far and away, best of all, ALIEN HIPPIE SAILOR IN THE DESERT:

Jacques Doriot

French fascist gets a little hot under the collar, July 1941. The gist of the speech is that the British are losing, the Jews are conspiring, and Pétain is going to lead France to a new golden age. Somebody hose this man down please! Seriously, he is soaked.

Tavalodet Mobarak!

Special Guest Poster: Amy D. L.
Googoosh is the Queen of Persian Pop, the Daughter of Iran, the most famous Iranian pop star. After the revolution in 1979 she was banned from performing due to the laws of the Islamic Republic and she was also not allowed to leave the country. Eventually, about 20 years later she left and has released a number of albums in a short amount of time.
This video is from before the 1979 revolution and she is singing at Reza Pahlavi's birthday. At the end you hear her singing "Tavalodet Mobarak" (happy birthday).

YouTube Phenomena Lesson 2: Videos of Records

So I started this series of posts calling the subject matter "internet subcultures" but I've realized they are more easily classifiable as YouTube phenomena. The phenomena are sub-cultural, though the videos may not represent a specific subcultural group. Today's lesson is on videos of records.

Sometimes, when searching for a video or performance of a specific song, typically mid-20th century, you'll find a video of a turntable playing the song. It's basically an easy way to share a song. The songs that are played are usually, but not necessarily, out of print or hard to find. For someone without equipment for record digitization, recording a quick video requires very few steps to share a track via the internet. Here is a typical video, "Then He Kissed Me" by the Crystals.



You see a flash of the label at the beginning and then a hand, presumably the video-maker's, reaches in, setting down the record and placing the needle down to play the song. This format is typical of a video maker that does minimal editing of the raw footage. The purpose of videos like these is rudimentary so most of the footage is unedited.

Up next is a recording of "Four on the Floor" by the Super Stocks. This video-maker gets a little more creative, showing off the album artwork and self-consciously zooming in and out on the record player.



In the notes for the above video, the YouTube member mentions that the track is being played on a 1956 Philco E-1762 floor model turntable. This is not really necessary considering the horrendous loss of sound quality on YouTube videos. The poster of "The He Kissed Me" doesn't mention any specifications of the recording other than the dated it was recorded, but does field questions in comments about his record player or reissues of the song.

Up next is a 1928 recording of Harry Bidgood & His Broadcasters. The record is badly damaged, but the video gives YouTube users a chance to hear a recording they wouldn't otherwise. A true record snob, or so I imagine based on the stereotype I learned from Ghost World, might consider digitization to bastardize the recording, much less a low quality YouTube video like this one. This video is particularly psychedelic and even has some video effects for the introduction.



So, this concludes lesson two of the series on YouTube phenomena. Though it's not a particularly unusual or intriguing trend in web video use, I think it's a phenomena that deserves mention. A close cousin to the record player video, the slide show music video will be featured in another lesson.

Rod

Did you know there are videos on YouTube of almost any Faces song you can think of? The first two are the only "awesome" videos of the group, but all have a certain degree of Rod value. I don't know why I like Rod Stewart; I think it started as a running joke but then I decided one day that I really do think the Faces kick butt, and you can't fault me for ironic Rod love. Plus the phallic overtones just add the right degree of sleaziness to everything about Rod. Not to descend into cheap psychoanalysis here, but I'm a little put off by dudes who are too macho to admit appreciation for gay culture or for the iconic pin-ups of middle-aged moms.

"Stay with Me":



Rod & Ronnie singing "Maybe I'm Amazed":



Rod gets fat, gets a perm, and sings "Every Picture Tells a Story":



One of my earlier music video memories is of this song:

Big Star live 1993

When I saw Yo La Tengo at Austin Music Hall last night, I was reminded in part of seeing Big Star at the same place at a different time with a different person, but Yo La Tengo was more beautiful and potent. Everything changes and we change along with it.

YouTube Phenomena Lesson 1: Animated Game Hybrids

My favorite thing about YouTube is that it's like a World's Fair of every internet subculture you've never heard of. Today's lesson is in videos that combine an animated game (such as the Sim's or World of Warcraft) with another element like music, an invented plot-line or some other spin.

First example. Famous dance scenes are paired up with Warcraft characters dancing the same moves:


Second, there is an obscene number of shitty pop music videos that have been remade by what I always assume to be middle schoolers using the Sims' video games. I think the the video below may actually contain the worst song ever.



Here's another Sims video. This one is with Harry Potter. Look at their little digital pantomimes. The premise is: Harry and Ron set the house on fire and try to put it out while "Sweet Dreams" plays and people shout in, what sounds, like Russian.



Now I'm sure there are lots of other virtual type games with corresponding fan videos, so if you know of any please share. Next is a mash-up of "Sexy Back" with shots of Link from Zelda.



Finally, a video of someone's "dream crib" from Sims 2. On the notes it says "Shout out to Mr. H's 6th Period! Sorry if I didn't put everyone in the class." and the final shot in the video is a group of kids, presumably Mr. H's class... suspicion of middle schoolers confirmed! I like the lack of frills with this video; quick, jerky shots and no sound.



Thanks for enduring the length of this post. This entry briefly touches on issues of Harry Potter fan fiction, sexualized animation and meme phenomena. There is a new type of intelligence that is allowed by internet culture. In many ways the access that young people have to technology now is unleashing a new and unusual amount of creativity, though I imagine the negative effects on youth outweigh the positive.

Talk Talk "Living in Another World"

On my way to Houston for the second time this weekend, I listened to Talk Talk's greatest hits from start to finish, and it was perfect. The music made me feel happy/sad, my favorite feeling!

Talk Talk - Living in another world
Uploaded by hakim93200

"hey ho" by the sept nains

arty kid + video camera + la monte young = ?

some kid held his camera sideways on the freeway and set the resulting video to an excerpt of La Monte Young's 'Bb Dorian Blues 28th63', part of an infinite music performance from 1963. You can see the non-pretentious (but still arty!) version of this video here: Chemical Brothers "Star Guitar"... and you know, the latter is directed by Michel Gondry, so it's some stuff white people like.

Slug Sex

Oh boy, my first official video blogging (vlog?) experience. I'd like to start with some required viewing...



This is from Life in the Undergrowth, a BBC documentary with David Attenborough. He's getting so old and there are some hilarous animated scenes on the documentary. The whole thing is great, but this definitely one of the highlights. This slug mating ritual made me cry, it's kind of beautiful and I'm kind of sappy.

"Rebel L"

"I was born to go la la la at the top of my la la lungs!"

Lio "Sage (comme une image)"

Zé records artist Lio continues Belgium's proud tradition of messing with France's delusions of grandeur and affected high culture. Other examples of such Belgian acts include Plastic Bertrand and Poésie Noire. One French girl I spoke to refused categorically to talk about Plastic Bertrand except to groan that such music is an insult to French honor. At age sixteen, Lio was already a pop star. Here's a song from her second record.

Lio-Sage
Uploaded by val6210

Here's a more recent performance of her most famous song, "Amoureux Solitaires":

Lio - Amoureux solitaires 2007
Uploaded by seidrik

RAF "Self Control"

While on the Euro-disco theme (and more to come I'm sure), here's RAF with the original version of "Self Control"



I don't have much to say about this song, except I love it and it kicks ass and I will never get tired of it. Also, I like the Laura Branigan version:

Supermax "Love Machine"

*Warning: this video contains disco*



From time to time, I'll scan through old videos I've posted on Facebook because some deserve a second life here on the blog, and I'm lazy besides. This Austrian disco band scraped the charts here in the US, hitting #96 for one week. Once dead and buried, this song returns like a brain-eating zombie. Feelings of despair and/or a strong desire to renounce pop music may result from watching this video.

Brainiac Three Songs

*Warning: This video contains punk rock*



I was briefly obsessed with the performance of the third of these three songs, "The Draag" (easily the highlight), and now two others have been appended before the climactic finale. Timmy Taylor makes sarcastic remarks and spazzes out. Pretty excellent. He later died in a car crash, and his loss is still poignant, as Brainiac seemed in 1998 on the cusp of greatness (a typical abridged rock'n'roll story). Owen from KVRX told me a couple months ago that he was friends with Tim and invited him to move to Austin, but Tim never had the chance. For me, Brainiac has a certain mystique, in part nostalgic I'm sure. This performance is from a bar in Nashville, 1993.

Interview with Colin Newman and Malka Spigel

An October 2007 interview with Malka Spigel and Colin Newman. Spigel was a member of Israeli rock band Minimal Compact; Newman of British post-punk band Wire. Spigel and Newman, wife and husband, have collaborated for over twenty years and have now formed a band Githead, the subject of this interview.

Githead "Drive By"
Minimal Compact "Dedicated"

Bonus: Jarvis Cocker covering Wire's "Outdoor Miner" (!)

AC Marias "One of Our Girls Has Gone Missing"

Frequent Wire collaborator Angela Conway is here represented by her final single under the moniker AC Marias, an allusion to her maiden name. Bruce Gilbert contributes to this song and the entire album, which has drawn favorable comparisons to Young Marble Giants. I first heard this song on Indie Top 20 Vol 9, an excellent NME comp from 1990. According to Wikipedia, Conway left music after this swan song and focuses her efforts on music video direction.

Some of her other music video work can be seen here:

Erasure "Breath of Life"
Chapterhouse "Pearl" (or as I like to call it, "Male Orgasm")
Pale Saints "Time Thief"
The Chills "Heavenly Pop Hit"
Loop "Arc-Lite"
Tangerine "Sunburst"

So very early 90s-ish! Complete Videography