Parabolas, etc.

The WNYC program RADIO LAB has consistently been one of the most forward-thinking audio productions, and this foray into filmmaking continues that tradition. Directed by WILL HOFFMAN, this piece recalls the science-inflected films of CHARLES AND RAY EAMES. And the music, from TIM HECKER's underrated RADIO AMOR album, is another example of the program's undisputed curatorial instinct.

The Other Side of Sonic Youth

Sonic Youth, 1992, forever.

The excellent UK-based BOOMKAT recently presented an editorial about SONIC YOUTH on their mixtape-via-record shop recommendation web project called 14 TRACKS, in which they gave a hearty shout out to this early nineties JULES HOLLAND appearance.

Zen for video

Artist CORY ARCANGEL came to prominence with his piece SUPER MARIO CLOUDS, which hacked the original NINTENDO game to remove all game elements save the randomized clouds moving against a plain sky-blue background.

I think I might prefer its companion piece F1 RACER, which removed the cars and the twists and turns from the orignal car race game. (This is apparently the sequel, F2.)

A recent, similarly minded piece, simply called BLUE TUBE, works only when embedded off-site. Behold:

Stay the Same Never Change

Video artist LAUREL NAKADATE developed this feature-length project from short video pieces she was writing. At the New York premier, as part of the NEW DIRECTORS NEW FILMS series, she described that the film really came together after she began collaborating with OWEN ASHWORTH, of the one-man band CASIOTONE FOR THE PAINFULLY ALONE, who provides the soundtrack.

Both artists concern themselves with teen drama of the realist kind, but Ms. NAKADATE's work has been considerably more transgressive. See more about her artwork below:

Epilepsy is Dancing

This is what happens if an epileptic walks near the WACHOWSKI BROS's warehouse...

The press release accompanying this music video for ANTONY AND THE JOHNSON's current single asks you to "enjoy the fruits" of this "San Francisco art party."

M83 remixes something...

The teen drama-obsessed, (graciously) self-serious French electronica band M83 remixes the song SET IN STONE by electro newcomer FIRES OF ROME, thus highlighting all that is tense and necessary about the song, while leaving the rest behind. (The chorus is ditched in favor of the surreal turns of the verses, now completely out of hiding, and the overstuffed distorted electronic backing is replaced with a minimal piano and strings score.

The dramatic alteration to the song arrives via a "remixed" music video, the entire package of which being appealingly WTF-friendly.

I'm Mister Lonely

HARMONY KORINE may have made one of the most delightful, oddly moving, and refreshingly unique films in contemporary cinema with MISTER LONELY. This is the opening sequence of that film, a celebration of the poetry of slow motion. Here's hoping KORINE continues to develop his peerless style of filmmaking.

Call it a zeitgeist

Now it's KANYE WEST's turn to use the DVD-codec-destroying effects pioneered by video artist TAKESHI MURATA. Due respect given to WEST for what looks like the most vivid and meaningful use of the style, as well as using his star power to highlight new forms of underground art, shortening the link from Chelsea art galleries to MTV.