Noteworthy

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Album Design - Andrew Bird's Armchair Apocrypha

Andrew Bird is a singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist who dazzles fans by playing everything from the guitar to the violin to the glockenspiel. His albums each have their own unique sound, yet he is also known to rework his songs, expanding on songs from previous albums and constantly creating new versions of songs during live performances.

I'm personally most drawn to Bird's 2007 album Armchair Apocrypha, an album that ventured away from acoustic and features an electric guitar and strings. The resulting sound is one that always reminds me of the eerie, hushed atmosphere of winter so it's no surprise that I always find myself listening to the album when the temperature drops. I'm also always drawn to the cover art of this album, which features the reposeful image of an exotic bird turned away from its viewers.

The cover art was created by photographer Lynne Roberts- Goodwin and is just a small sampling of the vibrant, environmentally-centered projects that the artist takes part in. The native Australian's work focuses on a deep concern for nature and her "photographic artworks relating to endangered species and their environments... transcend geographic representation." 

The image used for Armchair Apocrypha is taken from Goodwin's 2003 series Bad Birds. The series features portraits of deceased birds from the Australian Museum in Sydney's collection, photographed in a museum diorama setting but without a traditionally painted backdrop. By placing each bird away from the camera, Goodwin felt that it would give viewers less conventional clues as to each bird's identity--requiring us to focus on each bird's plumage rather than a face.

Not surprisingly, just as the series title suggests, Goodwin also faced each bird away from the viewer to suggest that she or the birds were purposely withholding essential information. We are left to imagine that these animals have been told to face the wall as a punishment or that they are so shy that they refuse to meet the camera's gaze.

Bad Bird #1, 2003, C-type photograph, 1.5m x 1.2m, Edition of 10, ©lynneroberts-goodwin

Jay-Z Creates Art at the Pace Gallery

While music videos serve as the ultimate example of performance art within the music industry, we rarely get the chance to see that form of art created directly within a museum setting in front of dozens of patrons.

Jay-Z recently stepped up to the task though and created just that to highlight the second single from his twelfth studio album Magna Carta... Holy Grail.

The music video for "Picasso Baby" was recently shot at the Pace Gallery and features the artist performing to patrons as they come up one by one and individually take a seat in front of his stage. Some patrons dance with joy as he raps to them while other gaze at him solemnly and still others even break Jay-Z's flow with their unique costumes and personas. Individuals like Judd Apatow, Adam Driver, Wale, and artist Marina Abramovic even make an appearance.

Directed by Mark Romanek (Fiona Apple's Criminal, Nine Inch Nail's Closer, MJ & Janet Jackson's Scream, and Jay-Z's 99 Problems), the performance art was inspired by Abramovic's work, most notably Abramovic's "The Artist is Present." In 2010, Abramovic was featured in a retrospective at the MoMA and sat on one side of a table while patrons, one by one, sat on the opposite side and were invited to gaze into the artist's eyes for one minute.

Album Design - They Might Be Giants' Nanobots

Brooklyn-based alternative rock band They Might Be Giants has been around for more than thirty years now and has found success topping modern rock charts, writing theme songs for television shows, and even creating children's music.

Earlier this spring, the band released their 16th studio album, Nanobots. The album has garnered largely positive reviews despite it's unconventional content of 25 songs totaling less than 45 minutes in length, and features four works of art, including a striking 19th century portrait of a young girl in blue combined with a contemporary collage that tears through the album's name.

The painting of the young girl was originally created by French neoclassical painter Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres. Titled Princesse Albert de Broglie, the mid-19th century painting is found today at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. 

Ingres - Princesse de Broglie (1851-1853)

Ingres - Napoleon I on his Imperial Throne (1806)

Ingres disagreed with the stylistic qualities of artists who favored visible brush strokes and the shifting effects of color and natural light. Instead, he would sometimes spend years perfecting a single painting in order to tediously create a softness and beautiful realism. 

Contemporary artist Sam Weber took Ingres' delicate portrait of a young girl and transformed it as part of his recent collage series from photos of antiques and old master paintings. His work transforms the painting, giving it a more dark and futuristic quality that leaves the viewer to believe that they are staring at human innards or the robotic wiring of the subject at hand. 

Mykki Blanco Collaborates with MOCA

After receiving their largest endowment in the museum's 34 year history (more than a whopping $60 million to anyone that is curious), The Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles has been actively taking part in more artist commissions than usual over the past few months. 

One such artist who was recently commissioned by MOCA was Mykki Blanco, otherwise known as Michael David Quattlebaum Jr.. Quattlebaum is sometimes referred to as a performance artist, other times referred to as a rap artist, and still other times referred to as a poet, cross dresser, or GLBTQ activist. Quattlebaum spent time studying at both the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Parsons before dropping out and has stated that he uses hip-hop as a performance medium.    

MOCA had Quattlebaum make a video and the result is "The Initiation," a sinister, dysotopian, fight club of a music video in which Mykki Blanco prowls a seemingly abandoned city with two faces on her head and eventually joins a cage fight of similar looking individuals. 

Watercolor + Stop-Motion Animation = Joy

I'm a longtime fan of Iron and Wine. Sam Beam, who happens to live here in Austin, creates beautifully delicate songs hushed by mostly soft acoustics. Although he's an incredibly talented musician though, the singer/songwriter actually began his career in film and directed a number of his own music videos. Check out "Naked as We Came" and "Southern Anthem" for the wonderful evidence. 

For his latest single "Joy," Beam decided to veer from his own directorial work and sought out artist/animator Hayley Morris. Morris is known for combining mediums such as drawing, painting, sculpture, textiles, lighting, and sound and using traditional stop-motion animation to tell stories that contain a layering of experimental visuals.

In order to make the music video for "Joy," Morris projected hand-painted water color animations into stop-motion landscapes. The project took her more than two months and every item featured in the music video was handmade from found objects, clay, and paper.

Album Design - Yeah Yeah Yeah's It's Blitz

When I think about some of my favorite album cover designs that have been released over the last few years, one album that immediately comes to mind is the Yeah Yeah Yeah's It's Blitz (2009). The album cover features a striking, action photograph of lead singer Karen O crushing a raw egg in her hand.

As the music blog Sleevage explains, "[The] cover appears destined for iconic status because it conveys so much with so little. The aggressive fury in the fist plays in stark contrast to the sensuous colors and textures of the egg."

Considering the memorable, minimalist design of It's Blitz, it's no surprise to learn that the album cover's photograph was taken by well-known Swiss contemporary artist Urs Fischer.

Fischer is predominantly known for creating art installations that incorporate unconventional objects found in our everyday surroundings. Whether using fruit, candles, chairs, or bread, Fischer has said that he enjoys placing the spotlight on imagery commonly found within today's consumerism.

The artist is also known for creating installations that incorporate dramatic anti-art or Neo-Dada gestures. For example, he cut enormous holes out of the gallery walls for the 2006 Whitney Biennial and then drilled through the entire floor of a room in a West Village gallery. 

The Baroque Stylings of "Losing My Religion"

It's hard to believe that this video is now over twenty years old, but R.E.M.'s music video for "Losing my Religion" still serves as a prime example of the ways that fine art movements can transform a song from an auditory experience to a visual one.

"Losing My Religion" was directed by Tarsem Singh, an Indian director whose filmography includes various music videos, The Cell, and most recently, Mirror Mirror. Singh wanted to create a melodramatic, dreamlike music video reflective of art from the Baroque period. In particular, he drew inspiration from Italian artist Caravaggio.

Caravaggio created paintings that featured realistic figures amidst sharp contrasts of light and dark through a practice known as "chiaroscuro." He used live models, positioned in theatrical, dramatic settings, when developing his paintings and much of his artwork was seen as sacrilegious. A death warrant was even issued for Caravaggio by the Pope.

"Losing My Religion" was hugely successful during its release in 1991. The music video won six MTV Music Awards, including awards for Best Art Direction and Video of the Year.

Album Design - Buke and Gase's General Dome

Buke and Gase are an inventive Brooklyn-based music duo who use handmade instruments to create an indie-rock sound all their own. Members Aron and Arone predominately play a buke (baritone ukulele) and a gase (hybrid of a guitar and a bass) while performing, hence the band's name, and as a result, their music has a fresh, progressive sound that evokes a simultaneously played orchestra of assorted instruments.

With a duo as creative and inquistive as Buke and Gase, it's no surprise that they put as much meaning into their album cover design as they did with the new tracks of their latest album, General Dome. Buke and Gase's album artwork evokes a minimal yet playful combination of dynamic designs. As it turns out, Aron and Arone were inspired to create their album  artwork after visiting a Sol LeWitt exhibiiton at the Dea:Beacon museum in Beacon, NY. 

Sol LeWitt, Wall Drawing #1085 (1968/2003)

Sol LeWitt, Wall Drawing #273 (1975)

LeWitt's drawing series featured at Dea:Beacon were first created by LeWitt in the late 1960s. The series is composed of wall drawings divided into squares of vertical, horizontal, and diagonal lines and the animated path of the various lines form crisp geometric shapes.

Album Design - Brokeback's Brokeback and the Black Rock

Brokeback is a side project of bassist Doug McCombs from the post-rock band Tortoise. Brokeback's new album, Brokeback and the Black Rock, features a striking photograph as its cover art that strongly resembles the work of pop artist Ed Ruscha.  

I've actually mentioned Ed Ruscha before in a post about the design for an album by Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds, but the old post focused on Ruscha's silkscreens of dramatic angles and bold colors and the latest design more closely reflects Ruscha's iconic, desolate photographs.

In 1963, Ruscha developed what is considered by many to be the first modern artist book, Twentysix Gasoline Stations. Just as the name suggests, the book displays photographs of twenty six gas stations taken along Route 66. 

Ed Ruscha, Flying A, Kingman, Arizona, from Twentysix Gasoline Stations (1962)

Ed Ruscha, Texaco, Vega, Texas, from Twentysix Gasoline Stations  (1962)

Get Your Daily Dose of Art from Hold Your Horses' "70 Million!"

I always love the artistic aspects of music videos, particularly when the music video gives a nod to a particular visual artist or movement, but this video takes the cake for its understanding of Art History 101. 

French-American band Hold Your Horses created the above music video in 2010 for their single "70 Million." Why this video didn't receive more recognition is beyond me. Not only does the video portray members of the band in recreations of famous works of art from throughout hundreds of years and numerous movements, but some of the reconstructions are incredibly realistic down to the same lighting, body language, and costumes. Here are a few of my favorites:

Gustav Klimt, The Kiss (1907-1908)

Michelangelo, The Creation of Adam from the Sistine Chapel (1511)

Need a Pick-Me-Up? Watch "Girl Walk"

Greg Gillis aka Girl Talk is an incredibly talented DJ and music mixer with the ability to combine genres spanning from 70s punk to 90s hip hop to contemporary pop music into seamless new dance songs. Over the years, he's created full albums of mashups and most recently listeners enjoyed his 71 minute, 372 song sampled album All Day (2010).

Filmmaker and photographer Jacob Krupnick was one of the many listeners inspired by Girl Talk's music and the same year of the album's release he decide to approach and handful of talented dancers (in particular Anne Marsen) about starring in an extended music video set to All Day's music. 

Thanks to a successful campaign on Kickstarter, the result is "Girl Walk," a charming, vibrant short film that Krupnick says "is about self-discovery and love... about finding community and vitality in shared public spaces."

Girl Walk is broken up into 12 videos on youtube and I dare you to try only watching one of them. The music video follows a girl who breaks away from her blase dance class and ventures through the street of New York to connect with the city and its diverse inhabitants.

It's almost as much fun watching the New Yorkers' reactions to the spontaneous dancing as it is to watch the dancers themselves. Some of the residents look unfazed, others uncomfortable, and still others actually join in with the dancing. At one point, Anne's character even gets kicked out of Yankee Stadium.

Since its completion, "Girl Walk" has since been screened at places like the SXSW Film Festival, SF Indiefest, and the Munich Film Festival.

Happy Holidays from Bing and Bowie!

I'm a huge fan of Christmas, to the point where my roommate and I keep our Christmas tree up from about mid November to the end of January (that's due to laziness too) and I listen to Christmas music non-stop throughout the month of December whether I'm at work, at home, or in the car. In particular, Bing Crosby & David Bowie's collaboration in "Peace on Earth/The Little Drummer Boy" is currently a big favorite of mine.

The song itself is a special part of music history, but the video that was made for the song is iconic enough in its own right. "Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy" was developed for Bing Crosby's 1977 television Christmas special just five weeks before he passed away. It's pretty surreal to see David Bowie alongside Bing Crosby, especially considering the fact that the song/film were made only five years after Bowie's Ziggy Stardust faze, but apparently Bowie was attempting to "normalize" himself at the time.

Visual Artists' Influence on Music Videos

So I recently stumbled upon a post from one of my favorite blogs, Flavorwire, which takes a look at music videos influenced by notable visual artists. The post was inspired by an article from Hyperallergic and seeing as how I’ve previously written about how St. Vincent’s music video for “Cheerleader” was a nod to Ron Mueck, both the post and the article were right up my alley.

That being said, I wanted to give my own take on a few of the music videos that Flavorwire and Hyperallergic highlighted. Enjoy!

"Rude Boy" - Rihanna

Rihanna’s music videos usually carry a hard, dark aesthetic, but in her video for “Rude Boy,” Rihanna pays homage to the colorful, dynamic work of Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, and Jean-Michel Basquiat. The video was directed by Melina Matsoukas (numerous Rihanna videos, Beyonce videos, and most recently, the controversial video for No Doubt’s “Looking Hot”).

I absolutely love the portion of "Rude Boy" that reflects the work of Keith Haring. I’ve always love the animated, engaging qualities of Haring’s artwork. His paintings are often filled with dozens of details that might not be noticed at first glance and his alterations to subway advertisements serve as an ingenious way to capture the attention of pedestrians. 

"On to the Next One" - Jay-Z

Jay-Z’s 2010 music video for “On to the Next One” doesn’t blatantly borrow from the work of a specific visual artist, but there are definite allusions to art like the minimalist, black and white sculptures of Banks Violette, the florescent light installations of Dan Flavin, or the famous Damien Hirst sculpture For the Love of God.

In addition to the references of installation artists, the closeups of Jay-Z in his music video (particularly when the surrounding installation lights are reflected in his glasses) remind me of the closeups of the goggle-wearing Trent Reznor in Nine Inch Nails' video for "Closer."

"The Boys" - Nicki Minaj

Directed by Colin Tilley (Diddy, Chris Brown, Justin Bieber, etc.), the video for Nicki Minaj and Cassie’s “The Boys” concentrates on the work of Japanese artist, Yayoi Kusama. In the early 1970s, Kusama experienced a hallucinatory episode in which she was trapped in a room covered in the floral pattern from her 1954 painting Flower. The episode inspired her to create a series of installations that were entirely covered in polka dots.

Voting in the Land of Confusion

Guess whose voting early tomorrow? This girl! Although my vote won’t make a bit of difference in changing the outcome of Texas, it still feels good to know that I’ll be giving my two cents regarding the future of this country.

With politics dominating the airwaves and less than five days left until we find out election results, I thought it was only appropriate to pay respects to one of the most memorable music videos with political undertones: Genesis’ “Land of Confusion.”

Before mentioning anything further about this music video, I first have to say that this video creeps me out. I’ve never been a fan of puppets (unless they're of the muppet variety) and the raisin-faced puppets created by Peter Fluck and Roger Law stay in my mind far longer than I’d like.

Creepiness aside, this video makes a pretty powerful statement. To some degree, I guess you can look at “Land of Confusion” and recognize that the more things change the more they stay the same. The video opens with a caricatured Ronald and Nancy Reagan who fall asleep in parody of Reagan’s film “Bedtime for Bonzo.” Ronald Reagan then has a nightmare that serves as a metaphor for the problems that result from abusive political authority.

As the song picks up, the music video features various world leaders such as Mussolini, Gorbachev, and Muammar al-Gaddafi giving speeches on a large screen in front of mass crowds. Additionally, numerous key figures from 80s pop culture (Johnny Carson, Walter Cronkite, Prince, Bruce Springsteen, Tina Turner, etc.) make an appearance. 

The music video culminates with Reagan waking up in an ocean of his own sweat. Understandably stressed, he reaches to push a button labeled “nurse” and instead pushes a button that says “nuke.”

The video received a 1988 Grammy Award for Best Concept Music Video and was also nominated for an MTV Video Music Award, but lost to Peter Gabriel's “Sledgehammer” (which is as it should be; “Sledgehammer” might be my favorite music video of all time.)

Janis Joplin at the Monterey International Pop Music Festival

This year’s ACL festival ended last night and the event has been on my mind all day today. As big and crazy as ACL is, I always wonder how it would compare with the truly pivotal music festivals of the late sixties. I’m afraid ACL wouldn’t hold a candle to them.

Case in point: 1967's Monterey International Pop Music Festival.

I recently read Love, Janis and although I had some basic knowledge of Janis’ life and rise to fame beforehand, the book filled in a lot of details that I probably wouldn’t have known otherwise. By 1967, Janis and her band, Big Brother and the Holding Company, were already known throughout the local Bay Area, but they still hadn’t had their big break yet. That all changed at the Monterey festival.

The Monterey International Pop Music Festival was a three-day concert event held in June of 1967. It was the first widely promoted and heavily attended rock festival with an estimated attendance of 90,000 at the event’s peak and it served as the introduction of some of the biggest artists in rock and roll history. It was the first major appearance of Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Ravi Shankar, Otis Redding, and, yep, Janis Joplin.

I can’t even wrap my head around ever getting to go to a festival like that and hear all those artists make their big debut. I hope those 90,000-something people who attended know how lucky they are.

One of the songs that Janis Joplin and Big Brother and the Holding Company performed at the festival was a cover of Big Mama Thorton’s “Ball & Chain.” (Side note: Thornton was also the original singer of “Hound Dog” before Elvis took hold of the song.)

Janis’ singing pretty much speaks for itself in the above video. She starts off relatively subdued, but by the end of her performance, Janis is scatting and crooning like she’s felt the heartbreak of a thousand lifetimes.

In my humble opinion, one of the most iconic moments of the above video is when the camera scans the audience, and in particular, Cass Elliot from The Mamas & the Papas. The first time the camera captures Elliot, she is sitting dumbfounded with her mouth gaped open as she listens to Janis in amazement. The second time Elliot is captured on camera, she looks to her friend while applauding for Janis and mouths, “Wow! That’s really heavy!”