Tampa Calling

It used to be that MTV would overplay videos to such a degree that it was impossible not to know the latest singles by Madonna, or Prince, or Michael Jackson (may he RIP). Those artists blew wads of cash to make miniature movies for their songs. (Michael and sister Janet’s 1995 acclaimed video duet, “Scream,” cost $7 million alone to produce.)

Nowadays, MTV doesn’t play videos so much as it airs clips of them during the closing credits of its neverending reality TV programming, so many artists have turned to YouTube to get the vids out and are likely alot more budget conscious when making them. The results vary from fun and inspired to downright garbage. Here’s a look at two Moby videos created in support of his ninth album (out today on Little Idiot). I’ve also included a preview clip of Bjork’s live Voltaic CD/DVD release. (Complete clips from the DVD would be nice but sadly, there are leaked or uploaded as yet.)

Artist: Moby
Album: Wait for Me
Songs: “Shot in the Back of the Head,” “Pale Horses.”
Both of Moby’s new singles have intrigued me with their raw electro-meets-organic feel. The video for “Shot in the Back of the Head” is David Lynch’s dark and abstract translation of the song, which is rather gloomy all on its own; and “Pale Horses,” the second single with haunting female vocals by Amelia and melancholy overtones, is directed by Elanna Allen and follows a lonely alien who takes a train to the moon to find some companions. Both are animated, but in very different styles.
Grade: A for both; the music was good and the videos compelling enough to make me want to check out Moby’s new album. (CHECK OUT THE VIDEOS AFTER THE JUMP). Read the rest of this entry »

Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse
Dark Night of the Soul

From the first reports of a new project by artist/producer Danger Mouse and singer/multi-instrumentalist Sparklehorse (Mark Linkous), to the freaky 16-second video revealing filmmaker David Lynch’s hand in its artistic direction, to its Internet leak after the dispute with EMI turned into a permanently unresolved issue, Dark Night of the Soul has been generating a shadow-shrouded hype that reflects the album’s own bewitching eeriness.

The 13 songs were written by DM and SH in collaboration with a noteworthy cast of nearly a dozen guests, who not only provided vocals but helped compose and produce their respective tracks. Each one retains its own individual feel, but all remain within Dark Night’s moody boundaries and feature DM’s skilled multi-layering production techniques. Read the rest of this entry »

What’s probably the coolest electronic show of the summer is going down tonight at the Crowbar in Ybor. Soft Rock Renegades, CL’s Best of the Bay winner for Best DJ Night, are celebrating their one-year anniversary with live performances from two well-respected electronic artists — The Juan Maclean (DFA/NYC) and The Field (Kompakt/Sweden).

The Juan Maclean are touring in support of their new album, The Future Will Come. You can expect a full-on live show, somewhat reminiscent of LCD Soundsystem (and not just because Nancy Whang is also in the band). With The Field it’ll be a little different as Axel Willner creates huge soundscapes via a minimalist approach from behind his set-up. The Field just released a new album, Yesterday and Today, though hopefully, Willner won’t forget about material from the standout 2007 release, From Here We Go Sublime.

As always, the price is right for Tuesday nights at Crowbar: $5 liters, $10 cover, all ages kids; showtime is 9 p.m.

Check out a David Lynch/The Field video mash-up after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

A while back I had heard vague and unsubstantiated rumors that Danger Mouse (one half of Gnarls Barkley) and Mark Linkous (Sparklehorse) were collaborating on an album. My first reaction was something near to a cliched Napolean Dynamite “YESSSSSSSS!” The project was to be called Dark Night Of The Soul. Read the rest of this entry »

Hollywood director David Lynch is one freak-minded mutha. Although I was far too young for Twin Peaks (only 10 when it premiered), my parents never stopped me from watching Lynch’s two-season ABC drama and I was compelled to continue after the first episode.

It was television like none I’d never seen before, one that both intrigued yet completely and utterly disturbed me with its dark, bizarre aesthetic, tortured characters, and intriguing storyline, about an FBI agent who’s sent to a small town, Twin Peaks, to investigate the murder of the town’s young, seemingly innocent, homecoming queen, Laura Palmer. The soundtrack was full of slinky and somehow sneaky jazz, and melancholy compositions with ethereal vocals, motifs borrowed from Julee Cruise’s 1989 album, Floating into the Night, which was written in large part by Angelo Badalamenti and Lynch. Quite interesting and haunting music, and some that I’ll not soon forget.

This time, the enigmatic Lynch (who, in addition to being a filmmaker and composer, is a visual artist as well) has used his deranged imagination to create 50 or so original photographs for the upcoming Danger Mouse-Sparklehorse album, Dark Night of the Soul. The director’s photographs will also be published in a book to be released along with the album. (Videos after the jump.) Read the rest of this entry »

Wayne Coyne’s film Christmas on Mars is an abysmal clunker, even by vanity-project standards. It’s a mostly black-and-white, sci-fi, faux philosophical adventure strongly indebted to Stanley Kubrick’s infinitely superior 2001:A Space Odyssey and David Lynch’s pioneering, if equally obnoxious, Eraserhead. Whereas Flaming Lips live shows are charmingly weird and fun, the band’s silver screen debut reeks of film-school pretentiousness and art-house arrogance.

Lips frontman Coyne wrote, co-directed and appears in the flick, as do his fellow band members, but there are no musical performances – which makes Christmas on Mars less appealing than The Song Remains the Same sans the concert footage. Even with a head full of high-grade acid I can’t imagine finding this film more entertaining to view than, say, the popcorn ceiling of your average shitty apartment. As for the CD part of this twofer package, it’s the instrumental soundtrack to the film: 32 meandering minutes of trite, trippy washes that ebb, flow and then dissipate before leaving any real mark on the listener – just like the movie itself. 1 star