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.

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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New Links

I re-uploaded all my mixtapes so the links won't expire after a week anymore. Here are the new links to previous posts.

The Only Game The Man Left: A Collection Of Soulful Songs (1963-1976)

She Cuts So Fresh: Another Collection Of Soulful Songs (1968-1974)

Life In June

Headset Jazz: A Lalo Schifrin Collection

Daniel Johnston Must Be Destroyed!!!: A Daniel Johnston Collection

This Will Get You From Santa Monica To Pasadena (In Traffic)

A Source Of Joy & Inspiration To All The World

Mexican Garage Stompers (1962-1968)

She Cuts So Fresh

Here's another soul mix for you guys. Lot's of great stuff here.

Quite a few of these out of print records have been re-issued on vinyl recently.

I don't feel like looking to see exactly which ones, but I know for sure that the Little Beaver, Marva Whitney, David Axelrod, Funkadelic, Al Green, and The Meters albums have all been re-issued and are all pretty easy to find at this point, so keep an eye out. They're all fantastic. Enjoy.

She Cuts So Fresh: Another Collection Of Soulful Songs (1968-1974)

01. Ennio Morricone - Eva Alone

02. Parliament - Moonshine Heather

03. Dorothy Ashby - Soul Vibrations

04. Little Beaver - Let The Good Times Roll

05. Marva Whitney - Unwind Yourself

06. Smith - Baby, It's You

07. David Axelrod - The Smile

08. Alemayehu Eshete - Téy Geryéléshem

09. The Turtles - I'm Chief Kamanawanalea (We're The Royal Macadamian Nuts)

10. Graham Central Station - We Be's Gettin' Down

11. Clarence Carter - Till I Can't Take It Anymore

12. Dee Dee, Barry & The Movement - Get Out Of My Life Woman

13. Rhetta Hughes - Light My Fire

14. Funkadelic - I Bet You

15. The Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band - Pimp

16. Betty Wright - It's Hard To Stop (Doing Something When It's Good To You)

17. Al Green - Hangin' On

18. David Porter - The Way You Do The Things You Do

19. The Meters - Pungee

20. Samuel Bélay - Aynotchesh Yeréfu

21. Luther Ingram - I'm Trying To Sing A Message To You

22. Junior Parker - Tomorrow Never Knows

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Daniel Johnston Must Be Destroyed!!!

I very distinctly remember the first time I heard Daniel Johnston. It was February of 2005 and I was visiting some friends in Dallas, TX.

Now, I've never had a hard time listening to rough recordings, in fact, I tend to connect with them a lot faster than if I were listening to something well produced. I think it comes from the singer/songwriter in me, having many homemade cassette recordings of my own.

Anyways, my friend put Daniel on and from that point of introduction on, I tried to get as much of his music as I could.

One year passed and the documentary, "The Devil And Daniel Johnston" was released, and I became even more of a fan, along with pretty much everyone else that saw that film. At this point, I had collected around 25 to 30 of Daniel's albums and as friends of mine were now being introduced to him, I was being sought out to fulfill their musical needs.

Getting 30 albums at once can be quite overwhelming, so I put this mix together as somewhat of a "Daniel Johnston Starter Kit."

So, whether you're already a fan or not, check it out. 3 years after making it, I still love every track on it. There'd be some that I'd like to add to it, but the line has to be drawn somewhere, i guess.

The artwork I used on the album cover is by Kasper Eistrup of the amazing Danish band, Kashmir.

Check them out as well.

Daniel Johnston Must Be Destroyed!: A Daniel Johnston Collection Selected By Ryan Baxley

01. Daniel Johnston Must Be Destroyed!!!

02. Love Wheel

03. A Little Story

04. True Love Will Find You In The End

05. Evening Stars

06. Casper, The Friendly Ghost

07. Dream Scream

08. Marching Guitars

09. Silly Love

10. Pot Head

11. Some Things Last A Long Time

12. Love Defined

13. Laurie

14. Etiquette

15. W..w..F..f..M..m..U..u..

16. Crazy Love

17. An Idiot's End

18. Walking The Cow

19. Nothing Left

20. Love Will See You Through

21. Phantom Of My Own Opera

22. Dream

23. The Story Of An Artist

24. Urge

25. Is Life Still Live Again

26. Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Your Grievances

27. Funeral Home

28. I Saw Her Standing There

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The Only Game The Man Left

Like I've said before, I love finding new music. And, the only thing that comes close to finding it, is sharing it with friends that appreciate it.

This is a compilation I put together for a few of my "soul hungry" friends.

Lots of good stuff here, some classics and some rarities.

The title of this record is a stolen quote from the 1972 film, "Superfly."

Seeing as how Curtis Mayfield did that soundtrack and is by far one of my favorite soul singers/songwriters/producers/man of many many talents... well... it only seemed fitting.

If you are a lover of soul music or not, I guarantee you'll find something to love here.

The Only Game The Man Left: A Collection Of Soulful Songs (1963-1976)

01. "Fist Of Fear, Touch Of Death" (Intro)

02. Al Green: Have You Been Making Out OK

03. The Staple Singers: Respect Yourself

04. Sweet Salvation: Do A Number

05. High Voltage: Love Hate

06. Tower Of Power: What Is Hip

07. Floyd Newman: Frog Stomp

08. Otis Redding: That's How Strong My Love Is

09. Sam Cooke: Smoke Rings

10. Candi Staton: I'm Just A Prisoner (Of Your Good Lovin')

11. Freddie North: Cuss The Wind

12. Aretha Franklin: People Get Ready

13. James Brown: Blues And Pants

14. Terry Huff: The Lonely One

15. Curtis Mayfield: Miss Black America

16. Gladys Knight & The Pips: If I Were Your Woman

17. The Dynamics: Woe Is Me

18. Bettye Swann: Chained & Bound

19. Eddie Floyd: I'm Just The Kind Of Fool

20. Johnny Nash: Take Me Back

21. Lou Johnson: Nearer

22. William Bell: Everyday Will Be Like A Holiday

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Major thanks goes to one of my favorite blogs, Funk My Soul. Without them, an entire 3rd of this album would still be left undiscovered. Seriously.

A Source Of Joy & Inspiration To All The World

Not a whole lot of recent discoveries on this one. But, it's a great mix, nonetheless.

The Dynamics and Candi Staton are probably the newest to me and they have real standout tracks on here.

The Charles Spearin track should put a smile on your face. I had the privilege of seeing him perform this track live at an encore of a BSS show a year or two ago. Not only did I think it was a clever concept, but I was very impressed by his ability to pull it off live.

Recently, I had the opportunity to work with Kashmir on a short film that documented their first U.S. tour. The video is still being worked on, and I will post it as soon as possible.

Anyways, my friend Craig and I were scouting the venue Kashmir would be playing. We went on the cheapest night possible and the band playing just so happened to be Choir Of Young Believers. Neither of us had any intention to stay for a full show. Our only real intent was to figure out where we were going to place cameras. Choir started their set and we were both immediately sold. A very good band both live and on their debut full length record, This Is For The White In Your Eyes.

So, without further ado, here you go.

A Source Of Joy & Inspiration To All The World

01. Disney: Walt Disney's Dedication

02. The Dynamics: She's For Real (Bless You)

03. Lalo Schifrin: The Shadow

04. Candi Staton: Evidence

05. Charles Spearin: Mrs. Morris

06. Tom Waits: All The World Is Green

07. Paul McCartney: Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey

08. Herbie Mann: New Orleans

09. Kitty, Daisy & Lewis: Mean Son Of A Gun

10. Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings: Cut That Line

11. First Floor Power: God Damn Your Fingers

12. Sparklehorse: Jaykub (Feat. Jason Lytle)

13. Broken Social Scene: Sweetest Kill

14. Choir Of Young Believers: These Rituals Of Mine

15. The Flaming Lips: The Ego's Last Stand

16. White Denim: Mirrored And Reverse

17. Midlake: Children Of The Grounds

18. Vic Chesnutt: When The Bottom Fell Out

19. Peter Gabriel: Heroes

20. Sarah Jaffe: Luv

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