Jean-Luc Godard’s notes on Hail Mary is a look is a rare video piece that looks into the mind of one of the most confusing and multilayered directors ever. While a look into Godard’s thought process might bring up more questions than answers, I always find it a great privilege to be allowed to see into the creative process of any artist.

A Few Notes About Hail Mary

David Gutowski linked to some great demo tapes from the Rolling Stones’ Some Girls sessions. Some Girls as you may know was their response to the changing music tide from rhythm and blues to punk and new wave, and I think this collection of tracks shows a bit more of them coming to terms with new styles than I think the actual record may. I love the raw energy these tapes provide, you can almost feel the energy of trying to tighten up songs and fixing things on the fly. I’m a sucker for anything like this though. I have hours of what I guess can be described as audio ephemera, including over 40 hours of Rolling Stones bootlegs, and these tracks are some of the best I have because you can hear the final product but it’s still early enough you can get a sense of the process involved. I posted two of the tracks, I Need You and Everlasting My Love, (Which you can tell is later turned into Beast of Burden and in punk terms sort of reminds me of a Neon Boys track).

Listen:

The Rolling Stones – Everlasting My Love

The Rolling Stones – I Need You

The Rolling Stones – Respectable

The Rolling Stones – Imagination

Some Girls Sessions

I’m sure most have heard about the new music video/tech demo for The Wilderness Downtown featuring Arcade Fire’s song “We Used to Wait.” I’ve been talking about for years that music videos have been severely reduced to acute internet memes and demo reel filler for film students. I find it interesting that with this interactive video they fully embrace the function of the music video meme, it’s a digital work for a digital audience which is a lot smarter than most music videos that are targeted towards television channels that no longer air them. Still there are problems with the video. The biggest problem is that it’s not a mobile experience which can’t be underrated when it comes to viral consumption. Another problem is that it does come off as more of a demo for Google than it does to promote anything else. There are a couple smaller annoyances such as the degree to how much stuff is on your screen, it kind of feels like they just threw the kitchen sink at you instead of some careful art direction, (which is Google in a nutshell), and also the fact that they video never actually included the address I typed in but some other neighborhood. Still in spite of all that, coupled with the fact that I’m not a big Arcade Fire fan I really enjoyed it and that has to say something. I would be interested to hear your thoughts about it or where you think music videos should go in the future.

The Wilderness Downtown

The Wilderness Downtown

Finally! I’ve been waiting for new Abe Vidgoda songs for a while and now the wait is over. To Tears is the latest song to be put on the web and it still captures Abe Vigoda’s great blend of multiple influences, too many to list, and is presented in a new way that feels familiar and new.

Listen:

Abe Vigoda – To Tears

[Via Stereogum]

To Tears – New Music From Abe Vigoda

The great thing about watching a film a day, is that I can always look forward to having that one unique moment that every good movie brings. Sometimes it’s a wow, sometimes a laugh or smile, but there’s always some genuine moment that comes across and I thought I’d start sharing more of them on here instead of just tweeting about them:

I finally upgraded my old copy of Wong Kar Wai’s Chungking Express to the Criterion Collection’s version, and got to relive this great film all over again. I feel that WKW might be the best artists EVER at effectively capturing and expressing emotion. It’s not just his style or stories that provoke feeling, it’s that his characters always embody a unique emotion to themselves. Most of the time in WKW’s films that emotion is a sense of melancholy regret, but his great use of pop star Faye Wong is pure infatuation.

The character of Faye in Chungking Express as the voyeur girlfriend to Officer 663, (Tony Leung) is warm and curious, a little sappy but not cliche at all. When I said that she embodies infatuation I don’t just mean that she is lovesick with the officer but that she only displays those characteristics: curiosity, fear, embarrassment, longing, naivety, and compassion. I think most will remember Wong as the sad girl from 2046, but in my mind she’s never been better than in this film and I would put Chungking Express itself as WKW’s second best film (In The Mood for Love being an absolute masterpiece) and one of the greatest films of the 90′s.

Film Crush: Faye Wong in Chungking Express

I recently featured photographer Michael J DeMeo’s work A Nos Amours. Today he sent over some more photos he did with his friend Jovani.

Find more of DeMeo’s work at michaeljdemeo.com

Michael J DeMeo and Jovani

Great new single from Ducktails titled Art Vandelay, and it scares me that some might not get that reference these days.

Listen:

Ducktails – Art Vandelay

Ducktails – Art Vandelay

The song that everyone is going to be listening to tonight and tomorrow, Kanye West’s remix to his new single Power. It’s fairly good as remixes go, and I’ll give any chance to show more George Condo on the site.

Listen:

Kanye West – Power (Remix)

Kanye West – Power (Remix) ft Jay-Z

Great remix of Appaloosa’s Intimate from Glass Candy. I really love the pace of this and how it perfectly grows on you, just brilliant.

Listen:

Appaloosa – Intimate (Glass Candy Remix)

Intimate (Glass Candy Remix)

I’m hooked on the new single from Real Estate. Out of Tune is part of a new 7″ coming out October 12th. Thanks to Gorilla vs Bear for the heads up.

Listen:

Out Of Tune by truepanther

Out of Tune