Kids Run Wild

Among the current crop of new hipster synth bands, THE PRESETS stand out for their attention to sonic details and a serious gothic streak. This new music video for the song IF I KNOW YOU shows what happens if kids run wild on the streets of L.A. with dancing on their minds.

The results are much sweeter than what could happen in France, if you remember JUSTICE's infamous STRESS clip:

Takeshi Murata

The video work of TAKESHI MURATA is striking in its totality of vision. Starting with a wave of early animation-inspired cartoon loops, his work has lately begun focusing on a certain kind of digital abstraction that DVD-encoding affords.

The above bootleg clip is unfortunately low quality, but gives a good example of MURATA's fluid, pyschedelic output. Come see the real thing next Tuesday night, Feb. 17, at Electronic Arts Intermix, where MURATA will also be present to discuss his work. Admission is free.

METAL G-DS

Baltimore filmmaker MATTHEW PORTERFIELD is now seeking funding for his second feature film, to be titled METAL GODS. A strict independent, PORTERFIELD's muted yet passionate film style unfortunately isn't one to attract studio attention, but his methodology perhaps provides a framework for the kind of filmmaking that can only be made without studio backing (independent or otherwise).

His first film, HAMILTON, trailer above, was a triumph of minimalist poetic narrative, the kind of success rarely seen, even in the broad spectrum of American Indies.

Waking up in HANOI

The pleasure of a languid, early film scene set to diegetic pop music is hard to match, in my book. The Vietnamese film THE VERTICAL RAY OF THE SUN features three such sequences, repeated in the same bedroom at morning to different songs.

In this scene, LOU REED's 1970's single CONEY ISLAND BABY sets the tone for filmmaker TRAN ANH HUNG's carefully orchestrated wake up scene.

NITE JEWEL is not an alien, or maybe

This is one of those lo-fi druggy vids that just stick in my mind. The syrupy groove to NITE JEWEL's dance track ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE is irresistible. It's the kind of thing that, at first, you think it's a joke—until you realize that Ms. JEWEL is just from another planet.

The NITE JEWEL record is out now on ITALIANS DO IT BETTER.

Dream with the Coens

The final scene of NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN has been a contentious one. Some dismiss it, others feel the weight of the film depends on it. Whatever your take on it, it's worth watching again.

Dreaming is a recurring element of the COEN BROTHERS' films. One scene that's stuck with me is from an early COEN BROS. farce that I first saw as a young man on TV. For some reason, the image of the football player's highly stylized rush to the endzone has stayed with me. Comical as it is, RAISING ARIZONA actually has a lot in common with NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN. But that might just be a fact COEN BROS. recurring territory.

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.