BOOKED: Menomena - Brody Baker, dir.

• artist: Menomena
• song: "Oh Pretty Boy, You're Such A Big Boy"
• label: Barsuk
• director(s): Brody Baker
• production co: Knowmore

WATCH IT: Ra Ra Riot "Can You Tell"

Ra Ra Riot gets left out in the cold like a Jehovah's Witness knocking on doors in Hasidic Williamsburg on a Friday night. They trudge up to a door, with flowers and instruments in hand — no Bibles; they ain't prosetylizing — only to be left with nothing to do but play this ode to unrequited love. --> watch "Can You Tell"

Ra Ra Riot "Can You Tell" (Barsuk)
Taryn Gould and Emily Kowalczylk, directors

BOOKED: Ra Ra Riot - Brian Savelson, director

artist: Ra Ra Riot
song: "Ghost Under Rocks"
label: Barsuk (US) / V2 (UK)
director(s): Brian Savelson
production co: Collaboration Factory
commissioner: Jill Kaplan/Skyway Productions
rep: Laure Scott Management

BOOKED: Mates Of State - The Beta Movement, directors

artist: Mates Of State
song: "My Only Offer"
label: Barsuk
director(s): The Beta Movement 
production co: Boulevard Industries 
commissioner: Jill Kaplan/Skyway Productions

BOOKED: What Made Milwaukee Famous - Daniel Gibbs, Director

artist: What Made Milwaukee Famous
song: "Sultan"
label: Barsuk
director(s): Daniel Gibbs
production co: C3
commissioner: Jill Kaplan/Skyway Productions

SHOT: Mates Of State - Daniel Garcia, director

Husband/wife indie rock duo Jason Hammel and Kori Gardner — aka Mates Of State — get animalistic for their new video, "Get Better." More pictures and info at the Mates Of State Babble Blog...

artist: Mates Of State
song: "Get Better"
label: Barsuk
director(s): Daniel Garcia
production co: MyActiveDriveway

BOOKED: Chris Walla - Aaron Stewart-Ahn, director

Chris Walla is set to singlehandedly destroy the myth of indie rockers as slackers: Not only is he the guitarist/producer for Death Cab For Cutie, he's also the proprietor of the Seattle recording studio Hall Of Justice and has produced albums for Tegan & Sara, Hot Hot Heat and The Decemberists, just to name a few. He's now about to take the spotlight for a little bit as he bows his forthcoming solo album Field Manual with this video for "Sing Again."

Director Aaron Stewart-Ahn previously collaborated on the DCFC video album Directions in addition to directing videos for The Album Leaf and The Decemberists.

artist: Chris Walla
song: "Sing Again"
label: Barsuk
director(s): Aaron Stewart-Ahn
production co: Mister Boomboom
commissioner: Jill Kaplan/Skyway Productions
rep: Laure Scott Representation

SHOT: Nada Surf - Jonathan Krisel, director

There are no coincidences in mystery novels and music videos. Consider the "Whose Authority" video shot last week in NYC for Nada Surf. It stars actor Michal Maronna — aka one of the Petes from the Nickelodeon cult hit The Adventures Of Pete & Pete — as a crazed bike messenger. Pete & Pete was shot at Bayonne High School in NJ. Nada Surf first shot to fame with the hit "Popular," which had a fittingly Popular video lampooning the typical suburban high school and was shot at... wait for it... that's right, Bayonne High School.

The photo? Also not a coincidence. That's Matthew Caws and Ira Kaplan of Nada Surf disguised as stock brokers for one of their cameos in the video.

artist: Nada Surf
song: "Whose Authority"
label: Barsuk
director(s): Jonathan Krisel
production co: Boulevard Industries
rep: Jill Kaplan/Skyway Productions

BOOKED: Nada Surf - Teqtonik, director

Animated video in the works for Nada Surf...

artist: Nada Surf
song: "I Like What You Say"
label: City Slang UK/Europe (band signed to Barsuk for U.S.)
director(s): Teqtonik
production co: Continuum Content
rep: Laure Scott Management
commissioner: Jill Kaplan/Skyway Productions

IN DEPTH: Menomena "Rotten Hell"

I said it before, I'll say it again. Slo-mo makes everything look better, grander, cooler. Take a food fight, for example. It's juvenile beyond belief and has been played out since at least 1978, when John "Bluto" Blutarsky impersonated a zit and then began filmdom's greatest culinary battle. Enter music video newcomers War And Julius who wisely realized that the only way to save the food fight was with glorious slow motion filmwork that elevates each salvo as if it were part of an epic battle or glorious ballet. That battle of rotten food makes up the video for Menomena's "Rotten Hell." The partnership of War And Julius were kind enough to let us in on the nastiness required to create something so beautiful.

War And Julius, directors: "Who doesn't like a good old fashioned food fight? No one... So, we decided to resurrect the cliche with high speed video technology, allowing us to match the rhythmic ploddings of the band's killer anthem with a slow motion barrage of hypnotic anti-war imagery that we hoped, in the end, would be something all our own.

All the carnage was left to bake for hours under 25,000 watts of lighting and produced what may possibly have been one of the worst smells EVER produced. We were fortunate to have witnessed only two fits of olfactory induced vomiting the entire day. You should be thankful that Smell-o-Vision never caught on."

--> watch "Rotten Hell"

Menomena "Rotten Hell" (Barsuk)
War And Julius, directors | Jenna Felling, producer | Smuggler, production co | David Rodriguez , DP | Nick Lofting/Union Editorial, editor | Jill Kaplan/Skyway Productions, commissioner