#45: "being scared is being alive"
Welcome to issue #45 of THIS NEWSLETTER CANNOT SAVE YOU, your sporadic guide to short videos you could watch if you felt like it. This newsletter sneaks into your inbox in much the same manner that life itself continues to appear - with no rhyme or reason to speak of, but accompanied by a vague suspicion that you are getting away with something.
Scottovision, pt 1: Music videos
"With Me" (2023) - I featured work by animator Michael McAfee last issue (the delightfully bizarre one-minute piece "Polymorphic"), so imagine my delight (go on, imagine it, I'll wait) when I realized he'd created the latest music video for electronic artist Max Cooper, whose eye for selecting video directors is unparalleled. "With Me," from Cooper's latest release, Motif, begins as a simple tour through an alien wildlife preserve, but before long the glitched out environment is peeled back past the point of mere simulation, until you're surfing the windows of the software creating the video itself.
"Argentina" (2023) - Alex Aulson, an Austin-based artist who specializes in "whimsical and psychedelic visuals," provides a swirling wonderland of flowers and oceans and morphing nature scenes for the latest video by GUM (aka Jay Watson of Pond and Tame Impala). This feels like AI animation steered in an appropriately beautiful direction, culminating in a gorgeous butterfly-infused bridge section to the psychedelic rock tune.
"Long Light" (2023) - Meanwhile, the new Lusine video is about as far from AI animation as it gets, using (what appears to be) painstaking stop-motion photography to animate an intricate dance of mirrored panels atop a spinning turntable. It's simple and mesmerizing, proving you don't need (waves in a vague direction) alla that to make a good vid happen. TraceLoops is behind this old school wizardry, and if it's not actually stop-motion photography (I didn't want to know), all the better for the illusion.
"Subliminal" (2023) - Meanwhile, the new half•alive video is about as far from stop-motion photography as it gets. The band is renowned for its frequent integration of dance into their music videos, to the point where their choreographers have been mistaken for band members. This vid features a movement duet between lead singer Josh Taylor and a would-be lover (dancer Bianca Vallar), supported by a small troupe that secretly supports each emotional beat.
"Will Anybody Ever Love Me?" (2023) - Meanwhile, the new Sufjan Stevens video is a glory to behold. I almost can't believe how beautiful and good this video is. Director & animator Stephen Halker, incorporating collage artwork by Stevens, has created an emotional whirlwind, a poignant interdimensional voyage across the tapestry of human interconnectedness, unfolding and unfolding, implying the strange loop even though it ends far too soon.
Pt 2 - Not music videos
"What On Earth" (2023) - I love the earnest attempt to describe the theme of this short film: "...a comedic look at how feelings of inadequacy can destabilize our digital personas." In other words, a young woman named Zizi befriended her lamp during the pandemic, and now they're not speaking to each other. But Zizi's online persona still has shit to do, culminating in an encounter with her actual fans that leaves her dancing in the street. Directed by Jimmy Marble and brought to you by NOWNESS.
"Aspirational Slut" (2022) - A woman who falls deeply in love on every first date learns to approach sex from a more hedonistic vantage point (thanks to advice from a manic pixie pizza delivery guy), only to discover she might still be susceptible to love in unexpected forms. Winner of the 2022 Audience Award for Narrative Short at SXSW. Written & directed by Caroline Lindy.
"Meow or Never" (2020) - Here's the pitch: in this stop-motion short film, a cat(stronaut) searches the galaxy for the literal meaning of life, befriends a talking space pup, avoids the wrath of a tribe of cultish marshmellows, trips out on an intense psychedelic experience that exposes the underlying mysterium, and learns a wise lesson about friendship. Also, the film's a musical. Directed and co-written by Neeraja Raj.
"Willem Dafoe" (2023) - It's right on the tip of his tongue. Written & directed by THIS NEWSLETTER CANNOT SAVE YOU hall-of-famer Kristoffer Borgli.
"Top 10 Wisconsin Dells Haunted Houses For Free Pulled Pork" (2021) - In anticipation of the upcoming celebration of Halloween, please enjoy (if you dare) this horror-comedy by seemingly-insane genius Conner O'Malley, winner of awards for his writing on Late Night with Seth Myers, before joining the writing staff of How to with John Wilson. It's one of those videos that defines the phrase "well, that escalated quickly."
Exit Music
In 1999, electronic musician Max Tundra released Some Best Friend You Turned Out To Be, single-handedly inventing a maximalist sub-genre that came to be known as hyperpop. And in 2023, hyperpop's greatest (albeit perhaps only) record label PC Music staged a concert livestream featuring a lineup of its acts performing short live sets from their living rooms and bedrooms. Amidst the youngsters on the card, Max Tundra appeared with an electric performance that was something of a victory lap, a celebration of his modern resurgence. Check out Max's 15-minute set and if you dig it, his original discography was recently reissued by Domino.
A YouTube playlist with this issue’s recs can be found here.
Until next time, I remain your friendly correspondent, thinking of you,
Scotto
Scotto Moore is the author of WILD MASSIVE, BATTLE OF THE LINGUIST MAGES, and YOUR FAVORITE BAND CANNOT SAVE YOU.
