Sometimes, when I sleep, I travel for miles and miles and miles. I wake up, and my muscles ache. There are tangles in my hair, and tangles in my head - half-images and tired eyes, remembered and half-unseen.
I should totally go hang out with this lady. There are trains and clouds and steps and flying socks! It's exhausting sleep, yes, but one with cellos and strawberry-blonde curls flying in the wind. How on earth did they know?!
Here's a post to let everyone know about the exciting things going on over at Indie Fixx!
Firstly, Jen is generously running a charity promotion for Valentine's Day, called Share the Love, where she is offering to donate $1 to Feeding America for every valentine she receives (up to $100). Or, you can donate directly via First Giving. Either way, you are entered in a drawing for a necklace from the new in the woods line from smallthings. The necklaces are all incredibly pretty (I'm in love with the quail one, myself), plus it's just plain fun to send out valentines, especially for such a worthwhile cause.
Secondly, some bittersweet news. Jen has decided to close the lovely Indie Fixx Shop. Which means we'll be missing an amazing collection of accessories and clothing and art, but also means that for now, there's a sale running on all remaining items. Including that sweet little stuffed owl in the picture above. Just click here.
I've selected a winner at random for our Sleeveface Giveaway, and that winner is Elliot! I've written and informed him of the immense responsibility he has elected to take on, and he seems to be willing and prepared, so I'll be shipping out his prize in the next few days.
A big thank you again to all who participated, and to the people at Sleeveface for making it all possible!
(The image is from a T-shirt, found here. Cute, eh?)
A whole bunch of of Montreal news arrived in my inbox yesterday. Yes, I'm that lazy about putting stuff up. Anyway! First up is the above video for "An Eluardian Instance," directed by Jesse Ewles, who also did Grizzly Bear's "Central and Remote" video. Within, the most enjoyable and origami-laden picnic ever devised plays out before our very eyes.
Next is this bit of information, which I'm just going to copy directly from the release because they are way better at phrasing this stuff than I am:
"of Montreal and Polyvinyl Records are pleased to announce the release of Jon Brion Remix EP, out January 27, 2009. It will be available in digital and CD formats.
For the EP, the Grammy-nominated Brion reinterpreted Skeletal Lamping's "An Eluardian Instance" and "Gallery Piece" on the forthcoming EP. The famed producer has worked with the likes of Spoon, Kanye West, Elliott Smith, Fiona Apple as well as scored the films Magnolia, Synechdoche NY, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Brion's reinterpretation of the songs takes the basic tracks and adds more instrumentation and backing vocals - including the work of Nickel Creek vocalist and mandolin-player Chris Thile."
Complete with a free sample track below!
And lastly, check out the article about of Montreal in the upcoming issue of The New Yorkerhere. It's a doozy.
Watching the video for Psapp's "The Monster Song," I come away with three strong convictions. One, I will never eat frozen fish nuggets again. Two, I am immensely grateful for the fact that severed kitten heads don't have access to red push-buttons marked "CAUSE DISASTER OF ASTRONOMICAL PROPORTIONS" more often. And three, teeth are gosh-darned pretty when they become stars in the sky.
Will wonders never cease? It's a combination fish tank and birdcage, which allows the bird to fly up from beneath to the same level as the fish, creating the illusion that they're flying together.
Yes, this concept seems like it would be absolutely maddening for the pets involved, but I was instantly attracted to it because I'm of that certain age that remembers the video below ("Breaking the Ice") as one of my very first introductions to computer animation. I used to wait bright-eyed and eager for this to rerun on PBS when I was little, because it was so breathtakingly beautiful in a way I had never seen before. So for the rest of my life, I'll be looking for ways for the fish and the bird to get together and make it work.
There is no rhyme or reason to what day these things happen on. I think we're all just going to have to accept that I'm going to put things up as the fancy strikes me, and move on from there. Since I started trying to do the music roundup on Tuesday, it's happened every day but Tuesday, and now I have so much new music to put up that I'm doing it twice in the same week.
"'Hunting and Gaming' explores the nature of sinister play. Vanessa Prager paints starkly lit scenes of surrealistic moments in daily life; untangling holiday decorations, playing with old toys, driving or chatting. But her odd theatrical arrangements suggest something creepy going on behind the innocent façade. Kathy Grayson explores various digital degradations whether with old family photographs re-imagined through early video gaming and green screen effects, with video game "death screens" or with quasi-abstract explosions of distorted video information. Memory and technology infect and distort each other in her uncanny panel paintings."
The opening reception takes place January 24 between 7-10 PM, and the show runs until February 14th.
For some highlights from the show, just click here.
This is the new video for Antony & the Johnsons' "Epilepsy is Dancing," which premiered on Pitchfork yesterday. I cannot watch this enough times. The sheer volume of pageantry is practically overwhelming throughout the entire thing, and when he sings "I cry glitter is love!" I am absolutely smitten. Because that's exactly what glitter is, and it's so good that people are finally singing about it.
"Antony asked his friends the Wachowski Brothers to work with him on a video for his new single "Epilepsy is Dancing". They in turn invited painters Tino Rodriguez and Virgo Paradiso to create costumes and a mystical environment and choreographer Sean Dorsey and his dancers to bring the dream sequence to life. Antony's artistic partner Johanna Constantine stars as herself in the role of "Deer Monster". The video was lit and shot by the up-and-coming directors of photography, Chris Blasingame and Banker White, and produced by Jim Jerome. The production team collectively named themselves AFAS. Please enjoy the fruits of their San Francisco art party."
I vote for more examples of the fruits of San Francisco (and everywhere else!) art parties!
*NSFW due to flagrant painted orgiastic male and female nudity that sometimes looks like a cornucopia exploded everywhere. God bless it.
Antony & the Johnsons' latest album, The Crying Light, is in stores now.
Whither the days of hand-drawn animation? Hither, my friends.
Description:
"When a geometric visitor from another planet becomes your new roommate and shares with you the tragic state of its home world, you drop your guitar and see what you can do. We created this piece in response to the accompanying music track we created in honor of a visiting cat named Leo."
I like to think we'd all do the same thing if placed in a similar situation.
"Stephen Wirtz Gallery is pleased to announce The Last Days of W, an exhibition of photographs by Alec Soth. A visual coda to the presidency of George W. Bush, it is assembled from images made throughout the United States over the past eight years. Presenting a time that could be “either dawn or dusk,” a pervasive metaphor, Soth’s images are a poetic and politically charged expression of collective bewilderment as Americans awake to immeasurable crisis. An informal newsprint publication titled The Last Days of W, created and self-published by the artist, was recently released and accompanies the photographs in the exhibition."
And yes, that really IS an Osama bin Laden piñata in the picture.
Tedd on 
