#16: i dig the part where he says "around the world"
Welcome to issue #16 of THIS NEWSLETTER CANNOT SAVE YOU. In two weeks, when you receive issue #17, it will be my birthday weekend. That Saturday, May 14, I plan on hosting an evening screening of short films, music videos, animations, and other sundry video treats. I'll be streaming on Twitch from 7pm to midnight - I don't expect anyone to jump on for all or even most of that time; I'm just opening up a window that's hopefully broad enough for folks to drop by throughout the night. I do plan to pull out all the stops, though, to make it a memorable viewing experience from start to finish. Join me, won't you?
Highlights from Scottoworld
Scottovision
I've been deep diving on music this past week, watching concerts, videos, tour visuals. short films inspired by music, that sort of thing. That led to updating the Wikipedia videographies for the Chemical Brothers and Björk, which is not a great use of my time but was morally necessary. And then I landed on a Wikipedia page for an artist that hadn't been updated since 2018, and my brain almost locked up, realizing all the things I needed to do to make this right; but suddenly a powerful voice from within commanded, "Put down the popular internet encyclopedia and walk away." Anyway, that freed up time to tell you about some videos you could watch.
"Around The World (Remastered)" (2021) - One of the more influential music videos of our time is the deceptively simple "Around The World" by Daft Punk, directed by creative visionary Michel Gondry. Originally released in 1997, the barely-SD original video clung to life for literal decades-plus, until last year, when a remastered version of the video popped up on the still-maintained official Daft Punk YouTube channel - potentially in response to a pretty damn good fan remastering that had started to circulate. The remaster is beautiful and vibrant, and what's more, they also just released a spate of behind the scenes stuff. If you like that sort of thing, I recommend you first watch the "making of" video that appeared on Gondry's Director Series DVD in 2003, then take in Gondry's newly released audio commentary to the video, then watch the new "making of" collage video. For extra credit, consider watching Gondry's short lecture on how he crafted this masterpiece as well. At minimum, though, definitely watch the remaster itself - it's a kick.
"Ginkgo Biloba" (2020) - I've mentioned electronic musician Rone a couple times here. I recently had occasion to watch his entire videography - he's typically hands off, trusting the many directors who've tackled his videos - and I'm always struck when I see this one by how luscious and mesmerizing it is, while also being mysterious and slightly sinister as fairy tales can be. The description in the press release seems straightforward enough: it's about "an absurd banquet orchestrated by a mysterious blind master of ceremonies. There, in the middle of the forest, a woman and two men indulge in a gargantuan feast of colourful and sugar-rich pastries in front of a little girl." What does it all mean? This time I finally decided my own interpretation was no longer sufficient (nor interesting enough to repeat here), so I found an artist statement by writer/director Sarah Al Atassi that you can optionally peruse if you like. Regardless, this video makes a stunning impression.
"Stevie (Fixed Focus Version)" (2022) - Seemingly out of nowhere, indie band Warpaint delivered an incredibly psychedelic 3D animated music video for their single "Stevie." It's like riding a kaleidoscopic roller coaster straight through the center of wildly blooming shroom visuals or something, and you can take control if you like via the "immersive experience." (Me, I prefer media to be delivered the old-fashioned way: shoved down my throat.) This looks like the first significant credit for the "art and technology collective" Fascinated By Everything; needless to say, I am now on their mailing list.
"Tacoma" (2022) - Electronic duo Bottler has released three videos over the course of a couple EPs and an album for InFiné, and two of them are brilliant. The most recent, "Tacoma," is a dazzling and singular 3D animated affair, written and directed by one of the artistic directors of the agency Unicorn Paris, who uses the alias EL Popo Sangre (which I regret Google translating). Oh sure, they'll tell you it's "the narration of a visual tale based on the will to know ourselves" but if you watch this video and know yourself in a specific way or whatever, I'll be impressed. However, it's still outstanding visually and as a canvas for other interpretations (if you think that's important), and it led me to a deep dive into the director's videography of short animated films, which was much weirder than I expected, "in a good way!"
"Dreamcatching" (2022) - In this gorgeous video for a track by electropop duo Magdalena Bay, AI generated visuals add an appropriately trippy and dreamlike layer to the underlying video footage and animation, providing a beautiful accompaniment to a spoken word love song by the band from their debut album, Mercurial World. Extra credit: watch their live performance of "Chaeri" if you'd like to focus on their music for a bit (they're a trio in concert).
"The Centrifuge Brain Project" (2013) - "The 'Centrifuge Brain Project' gives an insight on scientific experiments with amusement park rides." No really. A short film by Till Nowak, who was a member of the art department on several MCU movies.
"Delmer Builds a Machine" (2010) - The description of this two-minute short film on YouTube says: "An account of the most important event in recorded History." Surely you can spare some time for young Delmer's heroics. Written and directed by Landon Zakheim, who's currently a curator with Sundance.
"The Existential Threat" (2020) - You may have encountered buzz about the duo Sparks last year due to the documentary about them directed by Edgar Wright. Now enjoy this animated music video by the mad genius Cyriak, for a Sparks track that exemplifies the psychological struggles of our modern era.
"Bathrobe Kids Do Nothing But Dance" (2019) - Self-explanatory.
"Defqon.1 Closing Ritual 2020" and "Defqon.1 Closing Ritual 2021" - Defqon.1 is a hard dance festival that's been running in the Netherlands since 2003, with offshoots in Australia and Chile along the way. The festival always ends on a high note with a "closing ritual" - an elaborate fireworks and laser display that doubles as a celebration of tribal identity for the "weekend warriors" who show up every year. You can watch these going back quite a ways; I've seen the 2018 and 2019 displays and was duly impressed. The 2020 and 2021 festivals were held online due to COVID, but that didn't stop Q-dance, the organizers, from staging and filming elaborate closing rituals on location all the same. And for good measure, the 2020 edition is scored with Queen's "The Show Must Go On."
Exit Music
I'm leaving you with two treats to wrap up our business here. First, a recreation of the entire "Around The World" video by the members of Eva Espuelas, a Spanish dance school, filmed in 2015 - especially impressive since they're dancing at tempo, whereas the original performers shot the video to a slowed down version of the track. And finally, please enjoy this charming footage of Michel Gondry's trio performing a cover of "Around The World" in a hole in the wall in 2009; he's on the drums.
Here is the YouTube playlist featuring almost all the recommendations from this issue; a link to the one item that's missing is provided in the description. If you enjoy this newsletter, please consider sharing it with like minds, lest these videos should someday be forgotten, drifting off into history like a deprecated media format or a dead website the Wayback Machine overlooked.
Until next time, I remain your friendly correspondent, thinking of you,
Scotto