Cold Cave Soundtrack a Radio Shack Commercial

Merry Christmas + Death in June = Bluetooth? Tear into it!

Anthony Pappalardo Rides the Circleboard

There is a renewable life metaphor somewhere within this video of Anthony Pappalardo riding a Mark Gonzales crafted “circleboard,” a tangle of skateboards curled into a wheel. Though most know Pappalardo as a professional skater, we’re just as equally fond of him as a craftsman, having featured his incredible wood benches in a recent issue of our magazine. Check out footage from a recent show he had in Brooklyn. It’s nice to reconcile these two Pappalardos—the smiling man riding through the streets on a bulky contraption and the artisan with pristine skill. Together they make a well rounded man—there’s that metaphor! (via Bobby Sattler)

Lee Perry’s “Blackboard Jungle”: From Dub to Dubstep

Obviously the root sound of dubstep is um, dub, but this video documents legend Lee “Scratch” Perry’s transition into making actual dubstep and does a good job of showing how the genres/cultures inform each other without explicitly saying so… at least until the end when it promos Perry’s new track with FADER fave Jahdan Blakkamoore and Subatomic Soundsystem. Worth watching for great footage of Jahdan performing at Terminal 5 with Major Lazer, a brief interview with Rusko on the topic, and a very, very serious Jamaican gyal narrating. (via Dutty Artz)

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Girls Hardcore XXX “Lust For Life” is a Major Letdown

It’s really hard to put into words how disappointing it is to see a bunch of indie rock sites post the title “Girls ‘Lust For Life’ Hardcore XXX Edit” and then after watching the video come to find out that it’s just a bunch of shirtless girls and one guy singing into another guy’s dick. Maybe we’ve been living in New York too long, but this is basically what happened on the train ride to work today. Plus, the girl next to us was listening to Flo-Rida really loud on her headphones. Talk about hardcore. If you haven’t yet read our Girls cover story, you may not be as unsurprised by the free-spiriting in Focus Creeps‘ directors’ cut, but don’t let that be an excuse not to read it—or enjoy watching a bunch of SF bros and ladybros have a little fun for the camera. (via MBV via P4k)

Dallas Boogie: Mr. Hit Dat Hoe

My first introdcution to Treal Lee and Prince Rick and probably more importantly, Kedrick “Mr. Hit Dat Hoe” Wilson, was the above promo video for “Get Off Me Now.” Sometime this past spring, the video was making its way around gossip blogs, posted to responses of glee toward Wilson’s country swagger, but also contempt that a “rapper” would name himself “Mr. Hit That Hoe.” In actuality, Wilson isn’t a rapper, but a fearless dancer who inspired a hit song, and a deeper look into Dallas rap culture offers insight into his otherwise off-putting namesake.

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Jan van Nuenen’s Thorny Animation for Basement Jaxx

If you’re not going to any of Basement Jaxx’s European tour dates for their new album Scars (which drops today), you can at least simulate the experience by watching this old-school trippy “visual” (yeah we said it) that Dutch animator Jan van Nuenen made for their live show. His thorny cornucopia, seed tossing, crabby parasites and vicious carnivorous plants give Kelis’ chorus, “Kiss me when I wake up,” a totally different (scarier) context. Their shows will open with this video, so if you’re there and have indulged in any psychedelics hopefully you won’t already “be on your journey.” Check out van Nuenen’s other awesome videos here, which deal with nature usurping civilization and industrial malaise.

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In Lust

Eric Wareheim, of the Tim & Eric Awesome Show and director of recent videos for Major Lazer’s “Pon Di Floor” (simulative dancing) and Depeche Mode’s “Hole To Feed” (public indecency), recently posted a new personal project entitled “In Lust,” which combines the finer elements of both aforementioned videos to the tune of recent FADER cover star Bat For Lashes‘ “Daniel.”

Alexi Wasser Makes Five Short Films About I’m Boy Crazy

Alexi Wasser is confusing because she will tell you everything about herself. It’s difficult to know why—to disarm, to entice, to confuse. Maybe all of those at once. There is always something about power implicit in the posts on her site imboycrazy.com, usually the give and take of power between men and women in a young heterosexual dance. We spoke to Wasser in issue 61 about imboycrazy.com, and while she gave us a good deal of illumination on what she wants, wants to want and wants her readers to want, she didn’t speak much about her initial calling as an actress. We’ve seen Wasser flash her million dollar peepers in many commercials, and perhaps that background is the impetus for her new set of short films. Her first film a few months ago, a stand alone calling card for the blog, was almost entirely a set up for a killer kicker (which we will not ruin for you, but which you should certainly watch). But these current films are more a suite—a collective vibe that illustrates her as an actress, woman, writer and out-of-body ringleader of her id, ego and superego. She wrote, produced, scouted and cast all of the films, with David Lowery directing. They are funny, awkward and always strangely, lovingly proud. Wasser’s desire for constant new beginning, more than anything, is what she, these videos and her site embody, infinite freshness amidst constant consternation. And, as an FYI, maybe don’t watch these full screen in your office with the sound very loud. At least not the first one, which is above, with the other four after the jump. But know that if you are the kind of person who takes heed to office warning screeds like that, Wasser probably wouldn’t be interested in you. We hear she’s single.

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Barry Jenkins Makes a Great Commercial

You could also call it a short film, as he does. And with little exception, Barry Jenkins’ Tall Enough is a short film, though it does do its initial shill for Bloomingdales, who funded it along with shorts by four other young, independent directors. We first found Jenkins through his film Medicine for Melancholy, and in our Q+A with him about that film, he discussed how his love story was just as much about racial tension, a city’s division and general poverty as it was about romance. Tall Enough is also about a romance and race, but doesn’t have time to get heavy, so it’s just got the earnestness that made us such a sucker for Medicine for Melancholy, Jenkins’ genuine eye and love for romance. It also has a tall woman falling for a short dude, something dear to the heart of one particular FADER editor. And if you speak Chinese, let us know what he says to her in bed.

Slideshow: Not Another Mirror Shot

Over the last ten years, The FADER has published thousands of photographs by hundreds of photographers from all over the world. Hopefully, when flipping through the pages of each issue, you are able to pick out little details in these photographs that illustrate the subject’s character or illuminate a situation’s subtleties, and that this attention to detail creates an indelible image in your mind of that person or place. To be honest, we look at these things so many times in the course of editing that we start to only notice patterns. Like a dog staring at a herd of kittens, we are made catatonic by the wonder of it all. One of the recurring patterns over the last few years has been the frequent appearance of mirrors, a device that allows for interesting effects and unexpected outcomes, the illusion of light and space where there is little and metaphor for the public and private lives of artists. It could also just be that there are a bunch of mirrors in this world and people like looking in them. Whatever it is, our keenest eye, that of creative director Phil Bicker, always selects only the ones that make sense and saves the rest for his upcoming book project, Look At Me! Em A Kool!,* to be published by FADER Books on the first of Nevruary, 2010billion. Enjoy this slideshow of Phil’s favorite mirror shots during his tenure here, beginning with a portrait of Andrew WK by Michael Schmelling from issue #33.

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