BOOKED: What Made Milwaukee Famous - Daniel Gibbs, Director

artist: What Made Milwaukee Famous
song: "Sultan"
label: Barsuk
director(s): Daniel Gibbs
production co: C3
commissioner: Jill Kaplan/Skyway Productions

SHOT: Mates Of State - Daniel Garcia, director

Husband/wife indie rock duo Jason Hammel and Kori Gardner — aka Mates Of State — get animalistic for their new video, "Get Better." More pictures and info at the Mates Of State Babble Blog...

artist: Mates Of State
song: "Get Better"
label: Barsuk
director(s): Daniel Garcia
production co: MyActiveDriveway

BOOKED: Chris Walla - Aaron Stewart-Ahn, director

Chris Walla is set to singlehandedly destroy the myth of indie rockers as slackers: Not only is he the guitarist/producer for Death Cab For Cutie, he's also the proprietor of the Seattle recording studio Hall Of Justice and has produced albums for Tegan & Sara, Hot Hot Heat and The Decemberists, just to name a few. He's now about to take the spotlight for a little bit as he bows his forthcoming solo album Field Manual with this video for "Sing Again."

Director Aaron Stewart-Ahn previously collaborated on the DCFC video album Directions in addition to directing videos for The Album Leaf and The Decemberists.

artist: Chris Walla
song: "Sing Again"
label: Barsuk
director(s): Aaron Stewart-Ahn
production co: Mister Boomboom
commissioner: Jill Kaplan/Skyway Productions
rep: Laure Scott Representation

SHOT: Nada Surf - Jonathan Krisel, director

There are no coincidences in mystery novels and music videos. Consider the "Whose Authority" video shot last week in NYC for Nada Surf. It stars actor Michal Maronna — aka one of the Petes from the Nickelodeon cult hit The Adventures Of Pete & Pete — as a crazed bike messenger. Pete & Pete was shot at Bayonne High School in NJ. Nada Surf first shot to fame with the hit "Popular," which had a fittingly Popular video lampooning the typical suburban high school and was shot at... wait for it... that's right, Bayonne High School.

The photo? Also not a coincidence. That's Matthew Caws and Ira Kaplan of Nada Surf disguised as stock brokers for one of their cameos in the video.

artist: Nada Surf
song: "Whose Authority"
label: Barsuk
director(s): Jonathan Krisel
production co: Boulevard Industries
rep: Jill Kaplan/Skyway Productions

BOOKED: Nada Surf - Teqtonik, director

Animated video in the works for Nada Surf...

artist: Nada Surf
song: "I Like What You Say"
label: City Slang UK/Europe (band signed to Barsuk for U.S.)
director(s): Teqtonik
production co: Continuum Content
rep: Laure Scott Management
commissioner: Jill Kaplan/Skyway Productions

IN DEPTH: Menomena "Rotten Hell"

I said it before, I'll say it again. Slo-mo makes everything look better, grander, cooler. Take a food fight, for example. It's juvenile beyond belief and has been played out since at least 1978, when John "Bluto" Blutarsky impersonated a zit and then began filmdom's greatest culinary battle. Enter music video newcomers War And Julius who wisely realized that the only way to save the food fight was with glorious slow motion filmwork that elevates each salvo as if it were part of an epic battle or glorious ballet. That battle of rotten food makes up the video for Menomena's "Rotten Hell." The partnership of War And Julius were kind enough to let us in on the nastiness required to create something so beautiful.

War And Julius, directors: "Who doesn't like a good old fashioned food fight? No one... So, we decided to resurrect the cliche with high speed video technology, allowing us to match the rhythmic ploddings of the band's killer anthem with a slow motion barrage of hypnotic anti-war imagery that we hoped, in the end, would be something all our own.

All the carnage was left to bake for hours under 25,000 watts of lighting and produced what may possibly have been one of the worst smells EVER produced. We were fortunate to have witnessed only two fits of olfactory induced vomiting the entire day. You should be thankful that Smell-o-Vision never caught on."

--> watch "Rotten Hell"

Menomena "Rotten Hell" (Barsuk)
War And Julius, directors | Jenna Felling, producer | Smuggler, production co | David Rodriguez , DP | Nick Lofting/Union Editorial, editor | Jill Kaplan/Skyway Productions, commissioner

1,2,3 with Director Brent Chesanek on John Vanderslice

As absurd as most genre tags are, nothing comes close to the term "singer/songwriter." It can be applied to almost anything, yet is usually a synonym for "dude with an acoustic guitar." So, it's really a disservice to apply it to John Vanderslice, since his music is much bigger than that. He writes songs about small things and specific incidents that resonate on a universal level. The music is often dark and foreboding, but never cold, nor off-putting. Take his new song "White Dove," for example (and by take, I also literally mean take: John and his label Barsuk have it up as a free MP3) . The song is about having a drink with your neighbor who, it turns out, has a daughter who was kidnapped, held for ransom and then killed nonetheless. But it's not even about that, really, it's about coming to terms with the fact that you will never know peace again. It should be a terribly painful song to listen to, but it's not. It's beautiful and ragged and moving. It's territory that most songwriters wish to stake out, but few get this close. And he uses fantastic words like "veranda" and "garroted" while doing it. How cool is that?

In celebration of John Vanderslice's new album Emerald City — in stores on July 24 — Video Static enlisted music video director Brent Chesanek to take us on a "1,2,3" through the three nontraditional videos he's directed for the artist so far: "Exodus Damage," "Trance Manual" and, off the new album, "Time To Go." You can pick the compressed and splotchy YouTube versions, or big and clear Quicktimes. The Quicktime links also have all the production credits, so click on those unless you're connected to the internet with a tin can and a string.

Brent Chesanek, director:

1. John Vanderslice "Exodus Damage"
   My co-editor Chris Zabriskie and I hadn’t worked together on a project in over four years. But we both love almost everything Vanderslice. Actually, when I first bought my Super 8 camera in 2002, we tested it on a road trip to see Vanderslice. So Chris and I just decided we would team up even though he lived in Olympia, WA, and I in Brooklyn. He shot about six minutes of wonderful footage out West — stuff I could never get here — and then he came to New York to help edit.
       We enforced a ten-minute time limit on animating each shot. Chris doesn’t really know much After Effects, so once we locked the cut, his jobs were mainly keeping me under the time limit and drawing pictures on top of our notes. My favorite drawing was a man with a speech bubble saying, "Ask me about our $250,000 Trance Manual concept." Or was it $2.5 million? --> watch "Exodus Damage" in Quicktime or at YouTube
2. John Vanderslice "Trance Manual"
   We didn’t get the $2.5 million we were hoping for, but my DP Jesse Roff  and I were excited to shoot on his Beaulieu camera. We shot tests and sent them out of state to a cheap lab/transfer house. The lab sat on the unprocessed film for a week, sat on the transfer for another few days, and after repeated calling finally shipped it overnight at my expense. Then Fed Ex lost the shipment completely. We finally got the film back with one business day left before the shoot, and the main thing we learned from the footage was that Jesse’s camera was broken. This actually isn’t that unique of a story for low-budget filmmaking.
       The shoot went well. When I poured a giant cup of Starbucks tea into the bottle on the table (in the opening scenes of the video), Amelia Martin, our actress, asked why her character was drinking tea. I told her it was supposed to be whiskey, but I didn’t have any and didn’t have a chance to pick some up at the store. She loved that and said it was perfect, that she’d be drinking whiskey herself if she was all alone in the dark sitting on a porch with nothing else to do. Yet she was also really sad we didn’t have actual whiskey. She wanted to find a bar to get some. We’d hear "Man, I wish we had some real whiskey," every hour or so. Turns out she doesn’t even drink much whiskey, she’s more of a scotch drinker. --> watch "Trance Manual" in Quicktime or at YouTube
3. John Vanderslice "Time To Go"
   I had my friend Steve Makowski as art director on this one. He took me to places in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, looking for props, eating pizza, and trying to work out some sort of logic for his sets (but I wouldn’t offer him any such logic). A few days before the shoot, I gave Steve a small picture of Plato. If there was any doubt before, he certainly understood then, and worked the whole day on set with that picture in his shirt pocket. Steve did a phenomenal job, as did everyone involved: Jesse, Rebecca, Alex, Mark, and Kevin.
       We had a lot of props and we kept them in my apartment. Usually my place is very clean and organized, but throughout this video it was trashed. It made Steve happy. He said it finally looked like I was "busy working on something." I’ve been trying to keep my place a bit messier since. --> watch "Time To Go" in Quicktime or at YouTube

NEW RELEASE: Aqueduct - Charles Spano, director

Take the material things that you think you can't live without, pile them up and set fire to it all. Even if it doesn't make you feel better, it'll look pretty cool. Unfortunately, we don't get to see what this Devil's Tower of crap looks like when ablaze — music video depictions of fire will probably never rebounded to their pre Beavis And Butthead controversy level. But, we do witness the resoluteness of Aqueduct's David Terry, who rightly decides that his beloved Moog keyboard is absolutely essential to his essence and decides to spare it a fiery fate. --> watch "Living A Lie"

Aqueduct "Living A Lie" (Barsuk)
Charles Spano, director | Justin Benoliel, producer | Commondeer, production co | Steven Drypolcher and Hiro Murai, DP | Brandon Driscoll-Luttringer, editor

NEW RELEASE: Menomena "Wet And Rusting"

Before we get to this video for "Wet And Rusting," let's tackle the band name: It's Menomena, pronounced just like phenomena, which is, of course, the plural form of phenemenon. I like to think they stole the name from some cheesy male revue, but I doubt that's the case. Now, as to the video: The men of Menomena — and director Lance Bangs — are forced to ponder their legacies when the Grim Reaper pays an unexpected visit to their practice space. They dream of getting Kanye West to produce their album, touring with Led Zeppelin and even a few things that probably aren't so realistic. Most of it is played for laughs, but there's an undercurrent of sincerity that keeps things from merely being silly. --> watch "Wet And Rusting" in Quicktime or Windows Media

Menomena "Wet And Rusting" (Barsuk)
Lance Bangs, director | Gina Bevilaqua, producer | Field Recordings, production co | TG Firestone and Greg Schmidt, DP | Morgan Dye, editor | Bartek Prusiewcz and Rudolf Bekker, stop motion

BOOKED: What Made Milwaukee Famous - Toben Seymour, director

artist: What Made Milwaukee Famous
song: "I Decide"
label: Barsuk
director(s): Toben Seymour
production co: Commondeer
commissioner: Jill Kaplan/Skyway

BOOKED: Aqueduct - Charles Spano, director

artist: Aqueduct
song: "Living A Lie"
label: Barsuk
director(s): Charles Spano
production co: Commondeer
commissioner: Jill Kaplan/Skyway Productions

BOOKED: Menomena - Lance Bangs, director

Shooting in Portland, OR...

artist: Menomena
song: "Wet And Rusting"
label: Barsuk
director(s): Lance Bangs
production co: Field Recordings
commissioner:  Jill Kaplan/Skyway

NEW RELEASE: The Long Winters "Fire Island, AK"

The Long Winters
"Fire Island, AK" (Barsuk)
Bex Schwartz, director | Michael Flexner , producer | High Water Mark, production co | Jonathan Furmanski , DP | Laura Weinberg, editor | Description: Singer/songwriter/Alaskan/presumable serial killer John Roderick of The Long Winters is greeted at his remote cabin by law enforcement agents — played by cleverly disguised fellow Long Winterers. They drag the lake and collect other evidence in an attempt to piece together the connection between a possibly incriminating letter that Roderick had written and a mysterious woman. -- watch "Fire Island, AK"

PHOTO: On Set with Viva Voce

Factory Features executive producer Steven Johnson (left) and director Moh Azima (bottom right) learn the fine art of hotel room destruction from Barsuk rockers Viva Voce on the set of "From The Devil Himself." This first video in support of the duo's forthcoming release, Get Yr Blood Sucked Out was commissioned by Jill Kaplan/Skyway Productions.

PHOTO: Bex Schwartz & The Long Winters

Bex Schwartz (second from left) enjoys a "ta-da!" moment with The Long Winters while directing their new video "Fire Island, AK." Despite the song title, the video was actually shot at the Awosting Reserve in Wallkill, NY.

Bex Schwartz, by the way, is best known for her blog and numerous appearances on VH1's All Access show. click the photo to enlarge

PHOTO: On The Set with Mates Of State

The director known as Roboshobo (seond from left) and his producer Warren Woodward (second from right) with Jason Hammel and Kori Gardner of Mates Of State on the set of the band's new video "Like U Crazy."

Roboshobo is signed with The Revolver Film company and repped for videos by Stompbox Media.

BOOKED: The Long Winters - Bex Schwartz, director

artist: The Long Winters
song: "Fire Island, AK"
label: Barsuk
director(s): Bex Schwartz
production co: High Water Mark Productions
commissioner: Jill Kaplan/Skyway Productions

BOOKED: Mates Of State - Roboshobo, director

artist: Mates Of State
song: "Like U Crazy"
label: Barsuk
director(s): Roboshobo
production co: Roboshobo

PHOTO: Ace Norton and Smoosh

Partizan director Ace Norton (center) with the young Seattle indie rock duo Smoosh (and a drawing of Vegas era Elvis) on the set of "Find A Way." This will be the first video off their debut full-length for Barsuk Records.

BOOKED: Viva Voce - Moh Azima, director

artist: Viva Voce
song: "From The Devil Himself"
label: Barsuk
director(s): Moh Azima
production co: Factory Features
commissioner: Jill Kaplan/Skyway Productions

NEW RELEASE: John Vanderslice "Trance Manual"

John Vanderslice
"Trance Manual" (Barsuk)
Brent Chesanek, director/editor |2042F, production co | Jesse Roff, DP | Description: John Vanderslice describes this song in the User's Guide to his new album Pixel Revolt as being about "a western journalist [who] makes a meaningful (and metaphorical?) visit to an Iraqi prostitute." The video doesn't depict that, but it does capture the desperate need for human connection and warmth and beauty and solace in an absurd and absurdly dangerous situation. The video features actress Amelia Martin all alone in a field on a starry night. With nothing more than a match, she begins a conversation with a blinking light on the horizon. The light soon starts to rove back and forth before transforming into a beautiful display of Aurora Borealis before unfortunately terminating in tracer fire and other proof that things are way beyond her control. -- watch "Trance Manual"

BOOKED: Smoosh - Ace Norton, director

Ace Norton is confirmed to direct a video for the precocious alternative sister act Smoosh — who are now signed to Barsuk Records. This is Norton's second video for the group; He previously directed a Claymation video for "La Pump."

artist: Smoosh
song: "Find A Way"
label: Barsuk
director(s): Ace Norton
production co: Partizan
commissioner: Jill Kaplan/Skyway Productions

Video Commentary: Arno Salters on Mates Of State

The Video Static Director Commentary Series continues with the Mates Of State cut-out clip "Fraud In The 80's." Director Arno Salters shares the tricks he used to make all the elements in this inventive video come to life.

Watch our "Fraud In The 80's" with director commentary in Quicktime (opens in new window) or at Google Video and You Tube.

BOOKED: Rocky Votolato - Jon Watts, director

artist: Rocky Votolato
song: "White Daisy Passing"
label: Barsuk
director(s): Jon Watts
production co: Waverly Films
commissioner: Jill Kaplan/Skyway Productions

SHOT: Mates Of State - Arno Salters, director

artist: Mates Of State
song: "Fraud In The 80's"
label: Barsuk
director(s): Arno Salters
production co: Spy Entertainment
commissioner: Jill Kaplan & Van Riker

NEW RELEASE: John Vanderslice "Exodus Damage"

John Vanderslice "Exodus Damage" Barsuk
Brent Chesanek, director/DP
Ze Communist, production co
Chris Zabriskie & Brent Chesanek, editors
Description: This photo and video montage stars actor Thomas Aske Berg (also seen in The Strokes' "Juicebox"). Although the video is as nicely cryptic as the lyrics, Aske stars as what you can presume to be a disaffected traveler documenting everything around him. Shot on super 8mm, the video includes photos taken by singer/songwriter John Vanderslice and the production team. Watch the video courtesy of Ze Communist and John Vanderslice.