#52: "dangerously stylish"
Welcome to issue #52 of THIS NEWSLETTER CANNOT SAVE YOU, a semi-regular peek into the bizarre and beautiful in short-form video entertainment. You know, friends, after I inherited the operation of this newsletter from my great-granduncle Angus when I was four years old, I immediately tried to instill whimsy and delight into the proceedings as a contrast to the stark gravitas that Angus necessarily brought to a publication originally targeted toward riverboat captains and desperate families living on floodplains. A smile instantly forms when I imagine old Angus trying to comprehend the changes that have come to his newsletter since those days. "Where are the page two riverboat vixens‽" he'd exclaim, once again surprising the sanitorium attendants with his temper.
Anyway, enough about that guy. Here are some things you could look at on the internet as you see fit.
Scottovision
"Every Time We Meet for Ice Cream Your Whole Fucking Face Explodes" (2021) -
Bringing to life the premise introduced in Carlton Mellick III's book Every Time We Meet at the Dairy Queen, Your Whole Fucking Face Explodes, this short film directed by Anthony Cousins is a sweet, funny parable of junior high love and its many perils - but most notably, the peril listed in the title. Hat tip to Llew for sending this my way.
"God Is God" (2024) - In 1997, Ben Watkins aka Juno Reactor licensed footage from the renowned 1969 Soviet Armenian art film The Colour of Pomegranates, directed by Sergei Parajanov, to create the music video for this iconic electronic track, which appeared on MTV's AMP several times.
Recently Watkins released an upgraded version of the original edit, working from a new edition of the film. If you've never seen the film before, this is a fine introduction to its surreal landscape, although you'll deduce approximately zero about its storyline. Extra credit: In 2013, the Bialystok Film Festival in Poland commissioned a score for the entire film from Watkins; or perhaps you'd prefer the film scored by Nicolas Jaar; or you can enjoy the film with its original score intact.
"We Saw Springbreakers" (2018) - The characters in this short film are so enamored of the feature film Spring Breakers that they'll commit to just about anything to see the film again and again and again.
It's a classic "hijinks ensue, with absurdist and catastrophic results" situation. Familiarity with the feature film is neither required nor recommended. Directed and co-written by Parker Seaman, and produced by Funny or Die.
"Somebody That I Used To Know" (2024) - Thirty dangerously stylish young members of CDK Company, a dance training collective in the Netherlands, deliver a tightly choreographed, impeccably edited dance film under the direction of Sergio Reis, reinvigorating Gotye & Kimbra's mega-earworm of 2012 with a 70s palette and a swank attitude.
It's one of those clips where the first response I had after watching it was to find a bigger screen and watch it again.
"A Daisy Chain 4 Satan" (2024) - A track from 1990 by My Life with the Thrill Kill Cult is similarly reinvigorated.
This time it's by a crew of a hundred or so who built an impressive zoetrope stage in someone's Brooklyn backyard, and then performed and animated a homegrown stop-motion music video all over it.
"Next Floor" (2008) - The recent release of Dune: Part Two is a good excuse to repost this experimental short film by the franchise's director, Denis Villeneuve.
An official blurb tries to do justice to the piece: "During an opulent and luxurious banquet, complete with cavalier servers and valets, eleven pampered guests participate in what appears to be a ritualistic gastronomic carnage. In this absurd and grotesque universe, an unexpected sequence of events undermines the endless symphony of abundance."
"Blue Pedro" (2017) - This folksy electropop track by Bullion is given the treatment it deserves by a cadre of misfit dancers in a low budget green-screen masterpiece that was nominated for a Berlin Music Video Award in 2018.
The category was "Most Trashy," although I don't really see how this wholesome outing fits in that category next to the trashiness of other nominees that year (looking at you, "Pump" by Valentino Khan).
"To Live and Die in AI" (2024) - Meanwhile, in the archaic world of retro 3D animation, hero Vince Collins steps in to remind us that AI-powered drones will someday destroy us all with strange lasers.
"Under Water / In Air" (2024) - The new music video from the band STRFKR features psychedelic 2D animation from Edward Carvalho Monaghan, whose distinctive style is reminiscent of the cheerful Airside videos for Lemon Jelly. This is a colorful anti-anxiety video that spans generations in its influences.
"DRINK YOUR LSD" (2024) - From Yew Zyr, the channel that brought you Star Trek: Acid Party, comes a frenetic new music video for a wild drum and bass track. The music is bonkers, the visuals are bonkers, you yourself may be bonkers before it's over.
Oh, sure I exaggerate. Anyway as the man in the video says, "I'm sure you're a very stable and well-balanced person." Extra credit: the track is available for "name your price" over on Bandcamp.
Exit Music
Sending you out this issue with a pair of songs inspired by our item above, "Somebody That I Used To Know." Gotye retired as "Gotye" in the wake of his big hit, later resurfacing with his Ondioline Orchestra, a tribute project to the pioneering electronic musician Jean-Jacques Perrey. Here he's performing "Mod Ghost." And here's Kimbra performing her hit "Settle Down" accompanied by intricate loops of her own voice and some crafty video editing.
Here's the YouTube playlist with this issue's recos. Please enjoy responsibly.
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.
