General Elektriks - A Pocketful of MCs

Synth extraordinaire, General Elektriks (recording name for RV Salters) is releasing one free track a month in anticipation of his upcoming album "Good City For Dreamers". This collection of tracks, named "A Pocketful of MCs", features some of RV's favourite MCs including Mr. Lif, Beans, & Lateef.


RV Salters is on the Quannum Projects label and has provided key & synth parts to the last few (or maybe only the last one, I can't remember) Blackalicious albums.

Free tracks are good tracks. Dig it! (Click on the "GE tracks for free" link at the top of the news page.)

Neon Blue - Barbara Bolt

At long last, it's finished & delivered!



Synopsis:

In 2008, Australian artist Barbara Bolt was selected by the BBC World Service & The Slade School of Fine Art to document her artistic process in a twelve-minute film. What began as a simple exploration of her work soon took on a far more personal tone as filmmakers David Liu & Chris Pahlow learnt of Barbara’s emotional struggles, feelings of isolation & alienation, and her obsession with light. Light, and in particular neon blue, underpins Barbara’s work. This short documentary charts Barbara’s love of neon blue and explores its relevance to her life – both personal and artistic.

This project was a really great experience! It was an absolute pleasure working with Dave. He is a great filmmaker, and I learned a lot from him. Nat, as always, was simply stunning. Her soundtrack really lifts the documentary to the next level.

And I have to say, Barb was also amazing to work with. It was an incredible experience watching her artworks form an develop. She is not only a wonderful artist, she was also a dream documentary subject: warm, open, professional.

I feel very luck to have been part of this project! Everything went smoothly, and the final product is a film that I am very happy with. I look forward to working again with everyone involved!

Character Design

So, we've been working on some character design - here's the Supermarket Musical Massacre version of Chris:


Isn't he handsome?
If you would like to see yourself or someone you know 'characterized' by the D.I.Y Art Films crew, simply visit:

http://www.diyartfilms.com/smm/index.html

Back In The Studio

This monday Dave, Nat & I headed back to Oaklands Productions to record the soundtrack for the documentary Dave & I have been working on. Both Oaklands' head engineer, Jarrad, and his assistant, Jarryd, were there helping us out again and they did a fantastic job!

Nat's soundtrack is straight dope! She is a real professional and I'm looking forward to working with her again soon!

Jarrad getting things ready.

Nat doin' her thing.

Yes, Dave does want to kill me.

I told Dave I liked some headroom in my shots. He obliged.

The recording went very smoothly and we even had time to record a commentary track for the DVD (it's 15 minutes long but the film only goes for 12... self indulgent anyone?).

In other exciting news, Dave & I have also just wrapped up production on the film. We are delivering the final product tomorrow! Whoooooop!

More news on the project soon!

Nat Bartsch Trio @ The Paris Cat - Tuesday April 1st

Our awesome friends, The Nat Bartsch Trio, are doing a gig at the Paris Cat next week! Nat & Josh played on Supermarket Musical Market soundtrack, and Nat was a composer for both SMM & the documentary project I've been working on.


The trio features Nat Bartsch on piano, Josh Holt on bass, & Leigh Fisher on drums. The Ed Gould ensemble is supporting.

The gig is from 9:30PM, Tuesday April 1st, at the Paris Cat Jazz Club (6 Goldie Pl, CBD). Entry is $12 or $10 for concession.

Get down and check it out! These guys are awesome live. You won't be dissapointed!

Brian Dettmer - Book Autopsies

I stumbled across Brian Dettmer's work while looking for images of 'damaged books' for an upcoming D.I.Y Art Films project. Check out more of his work here.

Miracle Fortress - Have You Seen In Your Dreams

Ok so it would be even better if it had really been done on etcha sketches but still made me that little bit happier to see this before I head off to work.

Easter Parade

Softlightes: Heart Made of Sound

Someone sent me this video about a year ago, and I'm still loving it. Such a great example of visual representation of musical content. Big props to the director Kris Moye.

Supergrass - Bad Blood

I dig it.

R Kelly - Trapped in the Closet

This is so bad it's amazing. No doubt earned R Kelly even more respect than the pedophilia accusations...but not that much more respect. This is the first five episodes - but it doesn't stop here - there are 22 all together. Yes!

University: Episode Three

I certainly didn't learn to spell at university.

Flight of the Conchords

Whilst searching for clips online for my current obsession Arrested Development (for some reason there are no AD original clips on youtube) I came across these instead - some Flight of the Conchord episodes. One of the lead actors was in a favourite film of mine last year - "Eagle Vs Shark". I'd heard all about these guys so thought it worth a look.

Some pretty funny stuff, quite Boosh-esque, wasn't sure about it until I watched 12 in a row - I've got to admit, it's kind of addictive. The production on this show is spot on. And I do love that dancing!

Leopold's Empire

After work today I took a peek at the flagship store for Melbourne label Leopold. They had a bunch of good pieces, some nice jumpers, cardigans, shirts etc. Very nice fabrics and colours. I ended up buying a nice charcoal grey jumper (a little present from me to me).

I was also lucky enough to have a good chat with the label's designer (who also runs the store). He was a real nice dude, and told me a bit about the brand and its history.


If you're into elegant, classic menswear, Leopold is well worth a look! Their flagship store, Leopold's Empire, is located at Shop 1 City Square (44-86 Swanston St).

Website: http://www.leopoldsempire.com

Fun with Chris & Dave

For the last few weeks Dave Liu & I have been busily working away on a short documentary project. It's a commissioned project so I can't say too much about it yet, but here's a few teaser photos:

Dave attempting to avoid paint fumes while filming.

This project will also be the third in Dave's Film A Month project. Basically, he's going to make one film a month for the rest of the year. Yes, he is crazy.

On the plus side, he's going to cover a huge amount of ground in a very short time and I can't wait to see all the films he comes up with and follow his progression throughout the year. Remember his name, it won't be long before he's big in the film business!

You can follow his adventures on his blog: filmamonth.blogspot.com

New SMM URL:

www dot supermarket musical massacre dot com

Dizzee Rascal - Dream

This is a classic video.

D.I.Y Art Films in MX

A big shout out to Timmah, our brilliant Sponsorship and Publicity Queen.

Why massacres happen.

SuperMarket Sweep - Dale Winton - Will You Dance With Me

Pnau - Baby

Some Videos

Laura Marling - Ghosts


Gnarls Barkley - Run

(The Gnarls Barkly video features a cameo from Justin Timberlake, so that's for all you JT out there... yes Steph, I mean you!)

Sorry for the lack of updates. We've been busy working on SMM and a couple of other projects. More info coming soon!

Melbourne International Animation Festival

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So, we know this isn't until June, but MIAF is the highlight of our year. Animators all over the world crawl out of their studios for this, one of the largest animation festivals on the planet. The Melbourne International Animation Festival crew have just launched the website for the 2008 festival, and it promises to be an incredible program. Check out the site here.

The website usually gets updated pretty regularly in the lead-up to the festival, but you can also join the mailing list.

We'll also be keeping you updated on miaf news, and look forward to seeing you all for the premiere of "Supermarket Musical Massacre: The Feel-Good Homicide of the Century" at MIAF in June!

The Mighty Boosh - Possible Australian Tour

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Comedy heroes The Mighty Boosh have set up a space for Australian fans. The space is acting as a petition to convince the boys to tour Australia and New Zealand in 2008 or 2009. Join the facebook group and register your obsession here. Yes sir.

The Adventures of Pinoclean

The first installation in an epic new comic. Masterminded, drawn, written, designed and published by Mr Chris Pahlow:

El-P in the studio

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I found this video on Okayplayer. It's El-P doing a remix for The Mars Volta. All you production nerds should find this pretty interesting (I know I did!). I need to get me a Korg Tri-Ton!

Check it out here!

Eye of the Beholder @ all of the above

Our friends at All of the Above are holding an exhibition and forum as part of Melbourne Fashion Week.


The exhibition opens today at 2pm and runs until March 9. The closing event is a forum on the nature of styling (March 9 2 pm).

Check it out!