Saul Williams Defends His Art (And Recommends Some Beach Books)
- story THE FADER
Having an artist like Saul Williams on FADERLabel means having an artist who will always keep things interesting. If you haven’t yet heard, Saul’s “List of Demands” was used in a recent Nike ad. This, for a guy who’s always been anti-establishment, was apparently surprising to many of his fans. After the jump, Saul defends his decision and rolls it into a soliloquy on the record industry, effecting change, Barack Obama, comparing Mars Volta to Rembrandt, eating organic food, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and reading Naomi Klein. But before you go read that, check the Nike ad above.
Q+A: Chris Edley (Weird Music Video Director)
- story THE FADER
The talent that brought you the videos for MGMT’s “Time To Pretend” and “Electric Feel” has yet another tripped-out video for eager eyes and ears. With their video for Saul Williams’ “Convict Colony”, co-directors Chris Edley and Rob Leitzell set out to superimpose Saul into mystifying desert landscapes and nightmarish situations involving multiple other Sauls. It took them weeks and weeks to explode our minds with psychotropic images of Niggy Stardust hanging out with his animal spirit, so we figured we’d ask them what took so long. Read up about this video, and other videos produced by these Gondry-endorsed guys, after the jump in our interview with Chris.
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posted on Jul 16, 2008 in ART+CULTURE INTERVIEWS, MUSIC INTERVIEWS tags Chris Edley, mgmt, Q+A, Saul Williams
Video Premiere: Saul Williams, “Convict Colony”
- story THE FADER
FADERlabel artist Saul Williams is having quite a year, having released his Reznor-assisted Niggy Tardust album for free download to much fanfare, slayed SXSW, placed a song on a Nike ad, and generally taken his aesthetic to a level that none of us could have expected (and some of us have nightmares about). And it has all culminated in this new clip for “Convict Colony” directed by the same group of awesome weirdos who did the recent MGMT videos. We of course are biased so will avoid saying it’s the best thing ever, but it is safe to say that we are happy to be the first to put it into the universe.
Levi’s®/FADER Fort: Saul Williams
- story THE FADER
Full disclosure: we know this dude is on the FADER label. But this was the first time we had seen him, and we were honestly pretty shocked. For young journalists such as ourselves, Saul Williams presented a unique quandary. How do we frame what we just witnessed at the Levi’s®/Fader Fort? Is it a live review? It is a Stylee Friday? Is it an open plea for Con Ed to holler at Saul’s deep deep live exuberonomy to solve their energy probs? Holy crapitude. This is what we know: Saul Williams and his band of live punk rockitude was one of the best things we’ve seen in the day and a half we’ve been here. He was throwing himself around the stage. He was scream-rapping about racial politics and construct, and his band grinded. He was wearing a tailored green jacket, two feathers, a swathe of blue paint on his face, and nice shoes. And when the band closed out their set with a cover of U2’s “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” it not only felt like it was their song, everyone sang along. And danced! We will never sleep on homeboy’s live show again.
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posted on Mar 13, 2008 in EVENTS LEVI'S/FADER FORT SHOW tags FADER TV- EVENTS- FADER FORT, Levi's FADER Fort, Saul Williams
Classy Reunion
- story THE FADER
We’re not exactly sure what the award is for (we’re thinking “sticking to your guns” and “making good music”), but our very own FADER Label signee Saul Williams and our good pal Ted Leo (featured in F26) are both playing at the PLUG Awards show on Wednesday at Webster Hall in NYC.
Webster Hall is known for UNTZ UNTZ UNTZ club music and scantily-clad New Jerseyans, but with our dudes playing alongside RJD2, Aesop Rock and the Dillinger Escape Plan, expect some supremely awesome music, lots of clapping and great camaraderie from all parties involved. Maybe some bridge and tunnel chickens too. Aesop?
