France, circa 1967

The 2008 film SILENT LIGHT by Mexican filmmaker CARLOS REYGADAS features a unique cameo appearance by French chanteur JACQUES BREL.

In an intially portentious scene, a father finds his children in the back of a Mexican vagrant's van. What could have been a cheaply suspenseful scene, turns into one of odd merrymaking, as the kids are watching a small television broadcasting the above performance from French television, 1967. The sweaty grotesqueries of the performance bring the children—as well as the audience watching the film—a rare form of delight...

The same day I sought out this footage on YouTube, a friend shared this clip with me, of FRANCOISE HARDY, also from 1967. Rare, indeed, and a fitting counterpart.

Spiegel Im Spiegel

Tonight at New York's LE POISSON ROUGE, I will be seeing the WORDLESS MUSIC SERIES, featuring TIM HECKER. Also performing will be the WORDLESS MUSIC ORCHESTRA, who will be playing work by ARVO PÄRT, among others.

The "sarcred minimalism" of ARVO PÄRT's music was a big part of GUS VAN SANT's film GERRY, which used SPIEGEL IM SPIEGEL in the above scene.

Like a moth to a flame

From STAN BRAKHAGE, the seminal avant garde short film MOTHLIGHT. Made in 1963. Uploaded to YouTube in 2007.

The Silence Before Bach

Spanish filmmaker PERE PORTABELLA has been making avant garde features since the '60s. His most recent film, THE SILENCE BEFORE BACH plays this week at the MUSEUM OF MODERN ART in New York.

Like that other experimental filmmaker MATTHEW BARNEY, PORTABELLA does not allow his work to be transferred to video, or distributed domestically. Thankfully a preview has surfaced online, but the run at MoMA is one of the rare chances to catch his highly regarded work.

I'm Too Sad To Tell You

The artist BAS JAN ADER spent the early seventies in L.A. pushing his distinctive and dedicated work of photography, filmmaking, and performance. Although best known for his "FALLING" series of films, in which he is filmed falling from various heights, his 1971 film I'M TOO SAD TO TELL YOU provocatively establishes his brand of physical, emotional, and self-demanding art.

In 1975 he set out on what would be his final art project, called IN SEARCH OF THE MIRACULOUS, ADER set out in a tiny sailboat into the Atlantic. He was never seen again, and his boat was later found capsized off the coast of Ireland.

A new documentary about his life and work HERE IS ALWAYS SOMEWHERE ELSE is now in release.

Some company on the dancefloor

A little slice of Swedish backwoods dancefloor heaven. THE KNIFE, famously reclusive in performance, cast Sweden's most public transvestite to act as the artist in their clip for PASS THIS ON. The actual band members, a real-life brother and sister duo, can be spotted in the crowd. (The narrow-eyed dancer is THE KNIFE's OLAF). A masterpiece of setting and mood (and dance moves), this video rewards repeat viewings.

The clip for this song turned out so well, in fact, that they recreated it for a "live" television performance. Everybody dance:

Shame is Coming Back to the Redneck People

Poet and band-leader DAVID BERMAN reads a new poem, care of Pitchfork.tv.

All I Need

When I think about my favorite music videos of all time, I think back to filmmaker and artist MIKE MILLS' inspired experiments with the band AIR. The clip for 1998's ALL I NEED reminds of when I actually watched MTV, and the brave, borderline wonky, open-heartedness, along with MILLS' breaking into the audio of the song make it stand out.

And speaking of MTV, they apparently teamed up with RADIOHEAD for their new video for their song, um, ALL I NEED. The result is somewhere between an art video and a public service announcement. Good message: