FIDLAR - Cheap Beer Video

This song goes way back almost 3 years ago to November 13, 2009.  I actually have this stuff cataloged.  Technically the first FIDLAR song written, although I do have a few tracks Zac had written from the month before that were heading in the same direction.  At the time, everyone was just friends hanging out, getting drunk and jamming.  Zac and Elvis were working at a studio in Eagle Rock and we all used to get drunk and jam there after hours.

This particular night, we were making our way through a 30-pack of Budweiser.  Zac had come up with the riff and we were trying to come up with lyrics.  I remember him saying, "I dunno, I just want it to say something like I drink cheap beer so what fuck you" and I said, "Well just say that then."  And out came the song.  Our friend Dan had been out the week before from New York.  He got shit faced and threw up all over my back seat.  We cleaned it out with a window squeegee at a Shell station.  He made it into the second verse.  It's crazy to look back on something that was done purely for our own amusement and to see it now being released on a real record.  A record I'm insanely proud to be even the smallest bit a part of.

So anyway, onto the video.  I got an email a few weeks ago about doing a video for this song.  We tried one idea that I just couldn't get to work.  I was super frustrated because this song was important to me.  I didn't want to put this other video out but there was a deadline and I didn't know what else to do.  The night before I was supposed to deliver this thing, Alice and I were at a bar and I was seriously bummed out on the whole situation.  Then out of nowhere, we got this idea for the biker video.  This was on Sunday night.

I called up Brandon and asked him to get me a couple more days and that I was doing a new video.  The next morning, I called up James and Shanon and asked if they were free that night.  I went to work, told Craig the idea... He was down to shoot it.  He and I have worked together for somewhere around 7 or 8 years.  We basically see things identically.  So we made a shot list, Alice got everything prepped and we started shooting at 10:30 that same night.  By 3:30am we were finished.

Take something like the "Oh" video, which I'd consider to be similar in style.  That thing was shot over 3 separate days, months apart.  We usually do this stuff pretty slow and casually.  But in the case of this video, we were all excited and the idea was fresh (and we had no time).  By Tuesday evening, it was cut and roughly colored and by Wednesday it was sent to the label.

I'm super proud of this one.  Maybe I'm just still excited about it.  But I think everyone involved killed it.  It's super fun, rough, and just as ridiculous as the song itself.  I think the time constraint made this thing what it is because we really didn't take any longer than a few seconds to make decisions and that also allowed for a lot of free flowing creativity, which I think is great.

FIDLAR - Cheap Beer from Ryan Baxley on Vimeo.

FIDLAR - No Waves (Crackhead Ted pt. 2)

When FIDLAR was first starting out, we made a video for a song called Crackhead Ted.
I wanted to try this idea of singing to a slowed down track and then speeding the video up in post to have it match.



Zac, Brandon, and Brandon's girlfriend, Cayla were all over at our house one night.  Cayla had her camera with her, and since we weren't doing anything else, we decided to make this video.  It was super loose, very spur of the moment.  That was the first video we ever did together.


So, now 2 years later, we were trying to come up with an idea for the No Waves video and the band suggested we do the same concept.  It seemed very fitting being the first video under the Mom + Pop label.  The video for "Oh" had been a bit of an undertaking and it seemed like a great idea to just do something fun.


We kept Alice as the frontman and Zac in his animal hat and Brandon with his animal mask and american flag in his mouth.  But for this video, I wanted to do real vhs effects, and make it more apparent that it was just 1 take.  So, we start the video off in the day time and ended it after dark.  We didn't really plan much of this thing out at all.  I tried my best to keep the spontaneity of the 1st video, so no one really knew what they were supposed to be doing.  But I think it worked out and we had a super fun time making it.

Brown And Blue - You Only Wanted Strength (Music Video)

Here's another video Craig Rice & I did recently.

I met Brown & Blue through the FIDLAR guys around the same time we were shooting the "Oh" video. They were putting out a new single and asked me to do a video for the song. The original concept was pretty elaborate and based off an episode of the 1964/65 cartoon, Jonny Quest. But, in the end, didn't pan out for budget reasons. So, we tried to come up with a new concept that could keep costs as low as possible. Normally, I'm not a big fan of performance based music videos, but this one really seemed to work for the song. We wanted to capture the fun, pop side of the song, but its melancholy vibe as well.

We built the set, bought the props, and shot it in a day.
Sometimes when you're shooting a video, you know that you're getting something cool. We felt that way when we were shooting, but felt it even more when we got into the edit.

In the warm, over-cranked footage, there's a feeling of perfection. Like, this is the ideal "good time." But in the normal, balanced footage, it just feels a little out of control and frustrating.
I love how the confetti looks beautiful and fun when its slowed down, and then flat out annoying when its at normal speed and getting stuck in Danny's mouth.

This is where I feel the concept really comes across. These guys are singing a pretty bummer song, but trying so hard to have a good time, and these two emotions are really fighting each other in the video.

So anyway, I'm super stoked on this one. Hope you enjoy it.

FIDLAR - Oh (Music Video)

Here's a video I worked on for FIDLAR.

First time we went out to Joshua Tree to film, we got rained out. Second time, my camera man, Craig Rice, wasn't available so I had to film it myself. 3 months later, we tried to film the opening shots, and the car, which my friend Mario owns, wouldn't start so we had to get triple A to come jump it. Long story short, a lot of work went into this thing. I'm super glad, but can't believe it came out. Hope you enjoy it.

FIDLAR - Oh from Ryan Baxley on Vimeo.

2011

Up until this year, I got most of my new music recommendations from end of the year blog lists. This meant that on a good year, I'd find 5 to 10 albums I actually liked. This year I made a commitment to actively seek out new releases for myself, which was quite a huge undertaking. I've been seriously listening to everything I've been able to get my hands on, which has amounted to me sifting through roughly a thousand albums this year.

I can't tell if it's the fact that I've listened to so much or if we've just hit a high point, but this has been an exceptional year for music. I've compiled a list of albums that have resonated with me the most. They are listed alphabetically as opposed to a rating system because how am I supposed to rate Charles Bradley in the same category as Thee Oh Sees or The Caretaker? This is just a list of great albums, all of which should be listened to with as much enthusiasm as the other.

I try to limit my mixes to an hour and 20 minutes, so only half of the 50 albums below made it into the mix, but don't let that deter you from checking out the rest.

A.A. Bondy - Believers

The Advisory Circle - As The Crow Flies

Alabama Shakes - Alabama Shakes EP

Amen Dunes - Through Donkey Jaw

Atlas Sound - Parallax

A Winged Victory For The Sullen - A Winged Victory For The Sullen

Bass Drum Of Death - GB City

Beastie Boys - Hot Sauce Committee Pt. 2

Björk - Biophilia

The Black Angels - Phosgene Nightmare EP

Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears - Scandalous

Black Lips - Arabia Mountain

Booker T. Jones - The Road From Memphis

The Caretaker - An Empty Bliss Beyond This World

Cass McCombs - Humor Risk

Charles Bradley & The Menahan Street Band - No Time For Dreaming

Danger Mouse & Daniel Luppi - Rome

Dávila 666 - Tan Bajo

Eric Copeland - Waco Taco Combo

Feist - Metals

FIDLAR - DIYDUI EP

The Flaming Lips - The Flaming Lips With Neon Indian EP

Frank Fairfield - Out On The Open West

J Mascis - Several Shades Of Why

Joseph Arthur - The Graduation Ceremony

Kitty, Daisy & Lewis - Smoking In Heaven

Kurt Vile - Smoke Ring For My Halo

Michael Kiwanuka - Tell Me A Tale EP

Mikal Cronin - Mikal Cronin

Nirvana - Live At The Paramount Theatre

Noveller - Glacial Glow

Other Lives - Tamer Animals

Paley & Francis - Paley & Francis

Radiohead - The King Of Limbs: Live From The Basement

Raphael Saadiq - Stone Rollin'

The Raveonettes - Raven In The Grave

Richard Swift - Walt Wolfman EP

Ryan Adams - Ashes & Fire

Seasick Steve - You Can't Teach An Old Dog New Tricks

Secret Cities - Strange Hearts

Son Lux - We Are Rising

The Strange Boys - Live Music

Thee Oh Sees - Carrion Crawler/The Dream

Thee Oh Sees - Castlemania

Tim Hecker - Dropped Pianos

Tom Waits - Bad As Me

Ty Segall - Goodbye Bread

Various Artists - Fania Records 1964-1980

Wilco - The Whole Love

Yo-Yo Ma, Stuart Duncan, Edgar Meyer & Chris Thile - The Goat Rodeo Sessions

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An Olde Fashioned Christmas

I'm a huge fan of Christmas time, and even more so, the time leading up to Christmas. Here's a 3-disc mix of must-have Christmas music to add to your holidays. Merry Christmas!

There's 77 tracks here, so I'm not going to list them all like I usually do, but artists include:

Aretha Franklin, The Beach Boys, The Beatles, Billie Holiday, Bing Crosby, Bob Atcher & The Dinning Sisters, Booker T. & The MG's, Burl Ives, Darlene Love, Dean Martin, Diana Ross & The Supremes, Dinah Washington, Donny Hathaway, Ella Fitzgerald, Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Glen Campbell, Jackie Wilson, The Jackson 5, James Brown, John Lennon, Julie London, June Christy, Louis Armstrong, Loretta Lynn, Marvin Gaye, Nancy Wilson, Nat King Cole, Neil Diamond, Peggy Lee, Perry Como, Ray Charles, The Ronettes, Sammy Davis Jr., Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, Stevie Wonder, The Temptations, The Ventures, Vince Guaraldi Trio, and Wayne Newton.

DISC 01
DISC 02
DISC 03

The Golden Trip

Here's a new mixtape for you guys.  This one's more on the psych side of things, with a few that don't really belong in the genre, but I felt they fit so nicely that I decided to include them anyways.  Some really cool stuff on here, some well known and a handful of rarities.  Starlites, Human Expression, and Tempters were all pulled from 1967 45's. The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band is a new one to me.  Even being the shortest track on this mix, it still stands out as one of the most interesting, especially considering it's release was in 1968.  That's it from me.  Enjoy.

The Golden Trip

01. Starlites: I Can't See You

02. The Electric Prunes: I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night)

03. Grateful Dead: Cream Puff War

04. The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band: As Kind As Summer

05. The Seeds: Pushin' Too Hard

06. 13th Floor Elevators: Levitation

07. Grace Slick & The Great Society: Grimly Forming

08. The Fire Escape: Love special Delivery

09. Lalo Schifrin: The Golden Trip

10. Kaleidoscope: Dive Into Yesterday

11. Patsy Cline: I Love You So Much It Hurts

12. Hugo Montenegro: The Good, The Bad And The Ugly

13. David Axelrod: Merlin's Prophecy

14. Leonard Cohen: Suzanne

15. France Gall: Laisse Tomber Les Filles

16. Serge Gainsbourg & Brigitte Bardot: Bonnie And Clyde

17. Can: Vitamin C

18. J Girls: Yellow World

19. Human Expression: Optical Sound

20. Tempters: Tell Me More

21. Alexander Spence: All Come To Meet Her

22. Shadows Of Knight: Someone Like Me

23. The Kaleidoscope: You Don't Love Me

24. The Velvet Underground: The Murder Mystery

25. Fairfield Parlour: I Will Always Feel The Same

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