#22: close (to the edit)
Welcome to issue #22 of THIS NEWSLETTER CANNOT SAVE YOU, further proof of the following incisive meme:
Highlights from Scottoworld
Review copies of my next book, "Wild Massive," landed at the Tor.com offices, hooray! Hardback & ebook publication date is Feb. 7, 2023, and if you are so inclined, pre-orders are absolutely critical to the book's potential success.
Meanwhile, the paperback edition of "Battle of the Linguist Mages" is due out Nov. 22, 2022, in case you or someone you know has been patiently waiting for this release. This is the book that one reviewer said "reads like Noam Chomsky and Judith Butler conceived a metaphorical child while high on LSD and blasting Skrillex in a basement." I have no idea what that means, but I put it on my website anyway.
Scottovision
Bob Rafelson & Mike Nesmith on the set of HEAD
Shortly after I sent out the last issue of this newsletter, filmmaker Bob Rafelson passed away. Not to minimize his immense influence in Hollywood over the years, but his primary influence on me was in his role as co-creator of the television series "The Monkees," which he produced with his partner Bert Schneider. He directed many episodes of the show, and went on to direct their motion picture swan song, "Head." My appreciation of absurdist comedy, surrealist aesthetics, and general pop culture mind-fuckery is derived in large part from the Monkees, and while I will spare you my slide deck on that topic, I did want to share a few related items.
"Head" (1968) - Rafelson's debut as a feature film director. In collaboration with Jack Nicholson (screenwriter on the film) and the Monkees themselves, Rafelson exploded the mythology of the Monkees into a million psychedelic fragments. You needn't be a fan of the show to enjoy the movie's slapstick surrealism or subversive attitude. In 2010, Criterion released a box set called "America: Lost and Found," which collected seven of the films Rafelson directed or co-produced on Blu-Ray for the first time, including this one. After years of surviving with a pan and scan VHS version, getting the Criterion edition of "Head" was like the heavens opening up, and you can watch it on YouTube. If you need convincing, three surviving trailers - referred to as "NY Action," "Theatrical Trailer," and "TV Spot 1" - will be of little to no use.
"From The Monkees To Head" (2010) - This half hour interview with Rafelson from the Blu-Ray set packs a treasure trove of fascinating anecdotes into its short running time. If you're even a casual fan of the movie or the TV series, you'll likely appreciate hearing Rafelson's insider take on the entire Monkees phenomenon.
"Head (DJ Food Re-score)" (2005) - In 2001, Solid Steel luminary DJ Food (featured last issue) built an entirely new score for the film, which he performed at film festivals using three turntables and effects, operating in a style sometimes referred to as "plunderphonica" in which all of recorded music is fair game for stitching into the proceedings. After refining it in performance, he released a limited edition DVDr via Ninja Tune in 2005, and then he uploaded his version to the Internet Archive for good measure, where it lives to this day. The thing is - the Internet Archive version uses the pan and scan video, which is sub-optimal. The download link I've provided here is for a version in which the audio from the DJ Food re-score has been synchronized to the Criterion edition of the film. I'll try to leave it up until I publish the next issue of the newsletter.
Meanwhile, here are a few other items you might find interesting:
"The Infinitizer with Alex Grey and Allyson Grey" (2022) - Meow Wolf Santa Fe collaborated with visionary artists Alex Grey and Allyson Grey (founders of the Chapel of Sacred Mirrors) on a new physical installation piece called the Infinitizer, a 3D representation of the archetypal psychedelic entity that Grey frequently depicts in his work. Alex Grey was my introduction to the world of visionary art via collections of his paintings (I still feel a little elevation of consciousness when I flip through his "Sacred Mirrors" book), whereas his background includes an extensive amount of performance and installation work as well, going back to when he and Allyson began conspiring together in school. So it's not surprising to see via this short video that they're still out there exploring new avenues for expression, and the creative geniuses at Meow Wolf seem to be perfect partners.
"Boards of Springfield" (2022) - This soothing montage of clips from "The Simpsons," set to an unofficial remix of "ROYGBIV" by Boards of Canada, reveals the hidden themes of spiritual connectedness that are skillfully woven throughout the animated series. Or something. Brought to you by Yew Zyr, the mastermind behind "Star Trek Acid Party."
"Go On" and "Edge Of The Edge" (2022) - Two consecutive music videos from the collaborative pairing of Panda Bear, a founding member of Animal Collective, and Sonic Boom, a neo-psychedelic electronic artist on Carpark Records. Sonic Boom came to my attention via the beautifully trippy video for "Things Like This (A Little Bit Deeper)" and Panda Bear (and Animal Collective, for that matter) routinely put out interesting videos, so it's no surprise that their video collaboration is wildly bizarre and excellent. Both of these videos instantly landed on my "2022 music video favorites" and "Surreal & psychedelic music videos" playlists. "Edge Of The Edge" in particular had me cackling with glee.
"Four Walls" (2022) - This striking music video for electronic artist Indian Wells was built by director Matteo Masali using Google Earth to predict & depict how the surface of the planet's going to look over the next twenty years of steadily unfolding climate change. The opening sequence, where you're in the cockpit of what feels like a flight simulator that's glitching badly, is an introduction to the theme. As Masali notes, "We are all on that plane and we are crashing."
"GABBAGOOBLINS" (2022) - A commission for the recent "nonsense"-themed episode of Adult Swim's masterful surrealist variety show, "Off The Air," here's a demented riff on a popular kids' show, and before you ask "is another one really necessary?" let me assure you that the answer is "GABBAGOOBLINS WAS ABSOLUTELY FREAKING NECESSARY" as a polite incentive to take a gander. Joe Cappa is a mad genius, and if you need a non-parodic version of his aesthetic, here's a beer commercial he did for a local brand in Tulsa (is it real? it is an insane hoax? IS THE TRUTH IMPORTANT IN THE FACE OF SUCH WIZARDRY?).
"Revelations" (2020) - Not the Biblical kind, but the psychedelic kind, when a high schooler is dumped by the love of his life during his first acid trip. Affecting stop motion papercraft animation from Jack Dunphy, who took this film to Slamdance and several other festivals.
"He Built A Secret Home In A Mall, And Lived There For 4 Years Before Being Discovered" (2021) - Go on, guess what it's about.
Bonus Round
Last issue, I told you about my project to watch all (but one) of the music videos that were screened in season one of MTV's AMP. I'm far enough along that I wanted to share some highlights, in case you wanted to sample a little '90s era video whizbangery yourself. In no particular order:
"Timber" by Coldcut & Hexstatic (1997) - AV expert Stuart Warren-Hill (half of the duo Hexstatic) collaborated with Ninja Tune co-founder Matt Black (half of the duo Coldcut) on this effective piece, spending months assembling an edit of the video, then building up a proper audio track incorporating the raw percussive sounds and rhythms heard in the actual footage, then re-editing the video to line up with the final audio track. It was made on behalf of Greenpeace, who supplied some of the footage, and won an award for best music video editing at the Cannes festival in 1998. It's suitably jarring at first, then hits an emotional turning point when new layers of samples and melody appear partway through the track as the video's agenda locks into focus.
"Protection" by Massive Attack (1995) - Director Michel Gondry shot this video in one continuous, seamless take, the second time a Massive Attack video utilized that tactic after the walking tour of Los Angeles in "Unfinished Sympathy." But this was a much more radical production than the LA shoot, as summarized by a fansite: "The set was constructed on the floor of an expansive soundstage. Tracey Thorn isn’t standing, she’s lying on her back. Upon first glance, the building appears quite tall and quite real. But a few of Gondry’s tricks betray the fact that the structure, instead of being six stories tall, is actually six stories flat. A few mirrors and a few screen projections were used to produce long hallways and bustling outdoor traffic. Much less noticeable are the removable parts of the building, which allowed the camera to travel between rooms inside the building."
"The Box" by Orbital (1996) - Tilda Swinton stars as a visitor from elsewhere who comes to observe us, operating at a much slower timescale than the frantic pace of humanity, and consequently able to see more clearly the devastation in motion on the planet. Directors Jes Benstock and Luke Losey utilize varying speeds of time lapse animation to create a dreamy, elegiac vibe, and you'll want to read this interview with Benstock if you'd love to know in fascinating detail how this magic was accomplished. The video was nominated for best music video at the Brit Awards in 1997.
"Music For Babies" by Howie B (1996) - The first of three videos in AMP season one directed & animated by Run Wrake, whose short film "Rabbit" was featured in this newsletter a while back. Wrake's surrealist blend of collage, hand-drawn, and digital animation is super distinctive, more interesting than almost all the other animation season one has to offer. This was one of many collaborations between Wrake and influential producer and trip-hop artist Howie B. Their bond as artists and friends culminated in Wrake's final work, the music video "Down with the Dawn," created in response to his terminal lung cancer diagnosis. But with "Music For Babies," from an album of the same name that Howie B wrote for his newborn son, the anarchic Dadaism on display must've been catnip to exhausted ravers rushing home to catch the latest episode of AMP; the show played this vid repeatedly throughout its run.
"Close (To The Edit)" by Art of Noise (1984) - By the time this video appeared on AMP in 1997, it was already part of the canon - it won MTV Music Video Awards for Most Experimental Video and Best Editing back in 1985. What's striking is how perfectly in tune it feels with the rest of the AMP season one playlist. It's "just" a few actors systematically destroying a few musical instruments, sure, but depicted with indelible style and atmosphere by director Zbigniew Rybczyński (who'd won an Academy Award for best animated short film just a few years prior); Run Wrake was notably influenced by this video when a visiting professor screened it in one of his classes. (Side note: the track itself is the source of the distinctive "Hey!" sample that the Prodigy used in "Firestarter," a video that also appeared in AMP season one.) This video, along with others like Herbie Hancock's "Rockit" and Kraftwerk's "The Robots," added distinctive historical context to the show.
Okay that's our bonus round for this issue! Maybe more AMP highlights next issue, or maybe by then I will have stumbled into a new obsession that will require me to devote all energies to it. You really can't predict anything around here.
Exit Music
Sending you out this issue with the psychedelic opening track to "Head," the Goffin/King classic "Porpoise Song (Theme From Head)" with a glorious 4k restoration video to accompany it. Perhaps this will be more effective than the various trailers in convincing you to take a chance on the film.
Here is the YouTube playlist featuring almost all the recommendations from this issue; links to the missing items are provided in the description. If you like this newsletter, please consider passing it along to a friend, narrating it over a loudspeaker, projecting it on the side of a building, it's really your choice here.
Until next time, I remain your friendly correspondent, thinking of you,
Scotto
Scotto Moore is the author of BATTLE OF THE LINGUIST MAGES and YOUR FAVORITE BAND CANNOT SAVE YOU.