Down I Go – Poseidon

I recently got a message from Ben Standage, which reminded me to check out his blog and youtube videos. He was my friend (most of the time) during the last couple of years I spent at UNM, then he quickly moved back to London continuing playing music with his old mates. We jammed at best a handful of times together, and I still wonder what could have happened if we formed something, anything, while he was out here. Instead I was too busy looking at the green grass that was in any other direction than where I or anyone else was standing. Sorry Ben.

Watch this music video made by director Adam Powell (who apparently has been teaming up with them over the last 5 years), for Ben’s band called Down I Go, a hardcore band who takes the best themes from mythology (including dinosaurs, planetary upheaval) and makes entire albums out of them.

Boxcar Strainsun On 301 Studios Label

Will Philips got a promo with a label and digital distro for his Boxcar Strainsun album. Click Here to check it!!

Also, got a cool shoutout for the video we made over a year ago…

Moving To My New Pad

Julia helped me move into my new one-bedroom studio pad today. We borrowed Tommy’s van to load all my stuff into the trailer.

Now I will be walking distance to the University (R.I.P. UNM, 2004) and good places to eat, other than Dominos and Blake’s lotaburger.

I will miss Jake and Monty, and easy access to rocking a DW drum kit and bass cab in the garage, but at least this way I can be a straight shot away from my band’s practice space anyway.

Also, Kyle and Casey from Flood The Sun just moved into the practice space next to Coma’s.

The Coma Recovery – Goddverb – Released On Deep Elm Records

Coma Recovery Just Released Goddverb on Deep Elm Records.

“This is what the future sounds like…yeah, it’s heavy like that. Like if the giant mechanized robots fromTransformers had a band…they would sound like this. Seeping with texture, tenacity and technical prowess that unveils layers most bands can’t imagine reaching, Coma Recovery‘s headphone-begging collection of progressive post-rock ventures to dark places, nearly drowning you in the expansive nature of the sound. Goddverb is their testament to what it feels like to be human…as seen through they eyes of a band that has always put art form and expression above all else. In a world saturated by the fast buck, the ringtone and the remix, Goddverb reminds us that in the midst an industry collapsing from it’s failure to bring us simple substance, music can still be bold and outspoken, still invoke power and passion, still inspire and confound in the same breath, still hold onto 100% of its integrity. In the end, it doesn’t feel like an album so much as an unrequited love affair with life…branded deep in every song. This is one of the most stunning records to be released this year. Believe it.”

Go here to listen!

Gif Animation: Boxcar Strainsun Test Shot

Before Will (AKA Boxcar Strainsun [AKA Riley Guy]) and I started shooting his music video, we did a test animation which most of the music video was based on.

Click Here To Watch The Gif Animation Test!! (Better to Right Click, Save As)

Living in Santa Fe – New job as a PA

A little over 2 weeks ago I got a new job working as a production assistant. I’m working in the production office for a TV pilot shooting in Santa Fe. Wikipedia describes my job perfectly.

The production company put me up in a cozy hotel. I like it. The best part is how there are  spinach-eggs and green-chili eggs rotated as breakfast. Every. Single. Morning.

A lady named Flower hooked me up with the position because I had started a job with her last summer on a movie that went under within 3 days.

Before that, Josh and I were on a pretty big roll on some video projects, one of them including this commercial we wrote and shot for Golden Pride.

I heard it was supposed to be on some cable networks, but so far I only know it’s been playing in ABQ at the huge sold out b-ball games.

Also, there were chances of a new band developing with Tommy, Danny, and Steve…???

Practice has been a little hard to execute ever since getting the new job, but I’m confident that kids will have their teeth knocked out when we finally make a show happen.

Björk – Pluto

Björk koma fyrir í hylki allur þessi er listrænn frelsi. Hún er einn af minn fágun hetja. ÉG von þú njóta this vídeó. Það minn heili springa og minn sál glóa. Með ást.

Boxcar Strainsun – “Skeleton Key” Music Video

Artist: Boxcar Strainsun
Song: “Skeleton Key”
Album: Tribe Of The Lost Pigeon
Director: Jimmy Frick

Click here to watch it on youtube.

This project has been in the works since the middle of April. This is the first time I didn’t work on a video non-stop, from beginning to end. It was a lot of hours, but I have no idea why it’s here a whole 2 months later. After we shot it, I predicted it would only take a week to finish.

I took 1,844 images and almost used all of them for the video. To make the photos look better than what they came out to be, I began to individually photoshop the pictures halfway through. That sucked so much that eventually I was forced to learn how to use After Effects just enough to mask out some background stuff (like sheets, and wall shadows). I watched 2-and-a-half youtube tutorials that gave me enough info on how to clean up everything. By the end I wondered how I ever did any semi-complicated video stuff without After Effects, but I was also about to throw my laptop out the window because it could hardly process so many photos and effects.

Last night at 3 a.m., I thought I reached a victorious end,  but my version of After Effects wouldn’t let me export the video in a decent format. So this video was close to not even making it out of my computer. Eventually I figured it out, but we’ll save the details for a video-nerd forum.

Now I only need to know how to get this video in non-internet quality onto DVD…

Dreams And Music Videos

Tonight the moon is nearly burning my skin as its full moon-beams shine through my bedroom window.

My dreams have been wild lately. Not completely insane, just super real. I’m settling unresolved issues with people who I haven’t talked to for years. I’m facing imprisonment and capital punishment in foreign countries. I’m experiencing nuclear attacks. I’m living entire lifetimes in minutes.

I guess it works out, because I’m working on a music video for Will’s project, Riley Guy, and need a semi-schizo, moon-inspired neurosis to make this happen and finish already.

I’m running through thousands of photos. It’s not the most fun.

In other news, my production assistant job fell through. The movie isn’t going to be made. Somebody who had money chickened-out on the deal I guess.

“How can I help you finish your own movies,” you ask? Simply go buy stuff!

Coma Show – Wool Warehouse

The Coma Recovery played tonight at a venue I’ve never been to before called the Wool Warehouse. I expected it to be a real warehouse with a bunch of wholesale stock wool, but it was much more like a hotel ballroom.

The headliner was Earth Crisis. I think around 10 bands played. This show had a clever theme; half of the bands were deemed as “Good” and the other half, “Evil”. Basically every band was placed in the “Good” category unless it was a hardcore band.

It’s been a while since I’ve seen a show like this. The kids still hardcore dance. They still swing the arms. They still punch the ground. They still kick the air. It’s all fun and games until a security guard gets punched in the face and bleeds, which of course really happened.