SHOT: The White Tie Affair - Adam Neustadter, director

• artist: The White Tie Affair
• song: "Take it Home"
• label: Epic
• director(s): Adam Neustadter
• production co: Ghost Robot
• rep: Heidi Gregory
• commissioner: Calvin Aurand

WATCH IT: Gary Go "Open Arms"

Pop/rock newcomer Gary Go goes to Mars in this video for "Open Arms" — a title that reminds me of the Journey song of the same name. Director Adam Neustadter avoids any resemblance to the Journey Space Voyager art vibe, instead using 2001: A Space Odyssey as the obvious visual reference to frame this tale of a boy who grows up to fulfill his dream of flying to the Red Planet. --> watch "Open Arms"

Gary Go "Open Arms" (Decca)
Adam Neustadter, director | Noreen Khan, producer (UK) | Matthew Achterberg, producer (US) | Ghost Robot, production co | Adam Frisch, DP | Theo Maniatis, vfx supervisor 

SHOT: Kuroma - Adam Neustadter, director

Available as a free download at GreenLabelSound.com...

artist: Kuroma
song: "In New York, Everything Is Tropical"
label: Green Label Sound
director(s): Adam Neustadter
production co: Ghost Robot

SHOT: Flosstradamus - Keven McAlester, director

Song available as free download via Mountain Dew's Green Label Sound...

artist: Flosstradamus ft. Caroline Polachek (of Chairlift)
song: "Big Bills"
label: Green Label Sound
director(s): Keven McAlester
production co: Ghost Robot

WATCH IT: Morningwood "Sugarbaby"

Morningwood frontwoman Chantal Claret is faced with any easy choice. She can stay in a debaucherous, yet sexually unfulfilling relationship with her broke, philandering hipster boyfriend in his hovel on the Lower East Side of NYC, or she can jump in the limo with a rich lover who's ready to shower her with gifts, affection and "sugar." The notion that both options are tugging at her heartstrings possibly led to the decision to have Claret portrayed by a puppet created by Jim Henson/Avenue Q/Crank Yankers vet James Wotjal. --> watch "Sugarbaby"

Morningwood "Sugarbaby" (Capitol)
Adam Neustadter, director | Matt Achterberg, producer | Ghost Robot, production co | Heidi Gregory, rep | Eric Robbins , DP | Josh Cramer @ House Of Trim, editor | James Wojtal, puppetmaster

WATCH IT: Langhorne Slim "Restless"

Meet the Woodman. A smile on his face, an axe in hand. He's a well-meaning frankenstein of stumps and logs that finds the beauty in nature and modernity. If only he wasn't so bio-degradable. Folky Langhorne Slim provides the soundtrack from the back of a pick-up truck while cruising around suburbia. --> watch "Restless"

Langhorne Slim "Restless" (Kemado)
Joey Garfield, director | Mark De Pace, Matt Achterberg, producers | Ghost Robot, production co | Heidi Gregory, rep | Ron Egozi, DP | Brian Gannon @ Whitehouse, Chicago, editor | Judge Finklea, puppeteer/production designer | Shane Walker @ Optimus, visual fx

WATCH IT: Old 97s "Dance With Me"

Alt country stalwarts Old 97s and Battlestar Galactica seem to have nothing in common — ok, the show's Cylon sexpot Tricia Helfer is apparently friends with Old 97 frontman Rhett Miller — but here they are in the same music video and it goes together just fine. Director Keven McAlester lays out a tale in which a sci-fi dork out for a nighttime ramble happens upon a posh party where Ms. Helfer is working it on the red carper. Armed, of course, with a copy of a Battlestar Galactica fanzine, our zero heads up to the velvet rope in hopes of an autograph only to be summarily rejected by the doorman. With that fantasy foiled, he goes for an even bigger flight of fancy. He imagines crashing the club to go all Kill Bill n' shit on the various scumbags inside before sidling up to his dream date for a little romance. As if it needs to be said: Not a fracking chance. --> watch "Dance With Me" plus a Making-Of/Stunt featurette at YouTube

Old 97's  "Dance With Me" (New West)
Keven McAlester, director | Paul Bock, producer | Ghost Robot, production co | Andrew Shulkind, DP | Christine Khalafian, editor | Heidi Gregory, rep

BOOKED: Hawthorne Heights - Adam Neustadter, director

artist: Hawthorne Heights
song: "Rescue Me"
label: Victory
director(s): Adam Neustadter
production co: Ghost Robot
rep: Heidi Greroy Management

NEW RELEASE: Bjork "Wanderlust"

"I feel at home whenever the unknown surrounds me" — Bjork

Approximately nine months in the making, Bjork and directing team Encyclopdia Pictura have delivered something arguably better and certainly more ambitious than any other video you've seen in quite some time.

Bjork has a track record of working with some of the best directors in the music video world — Michel Gondry, Spike Jonze, Stephane Sednaoui and Chris Cunningham — and being artistically fearless. Encyclopedia Pictura is a worthy addition to that list and this amazing video is a statement of purpose. It's a continuation of her searching for the new and the unknown, but it's also such a pure distillation of her essence that there's a strong shot at this being ultimately viewed as the essential Bjork music video. And yes, I realize that Bjork's damn impressive videography makes that a bold statement.

The video's story strikes me as a parable about Bjork's quest for creative artistry. She leads and alternately relies upon a herd of water buffalo to traverse through a twisty river. She wrestles and tangles with a shadowy clone and comes face to face with a massive aquatic creature that eventually leads her to the brink and beyond. It's a good match to the lyrics and everything that Bjork's career has embodied.

The level of detail in every frame is pretty staggering, as Encyclopedia Pictura and the rest of the creative team masterfully balance a handmade vibe with cutting edge thrills. If some of the scenes seem three-dimensional, that's because the video also exists in a 3D version (like, with glasses and shit). So, it's kind of a shame that your first taste is via a 2D version that's compressed into a bandwith-friendly flash encoding. [UPDATED: higher resolution Quicktime link now available] That problem should be rectified soon, however. There have been a few big-screen showings of the 3D version on both coasts, which is something I hope continues. And, Bjork's label One Little Indian is already offering free 3D glasses, hinting at a DVD offering and possibly other TV opportunities. So, fear not. Consider this web launch a mere preview of what's to come...

In some ways, the most interesting thing about this video will be if it can have the kind of impact it should. Can a video get everyone talking? Can there be a big event video ever again, or will we never get back to Thriller? Or, is this more of a an art event than a music video? It was made outside of the framework of traditional music videos — nine months of production is at least, oh, eight months longer than the average production timeframe — and there's also the fact the album is nearly a year old and this, albeit typically solid Bjork song is clearly not going to be a hit radio single. It is a music video, of course, but in the same sense that Bjork's "paramour" Matthew Barney is a movie director. Yes, he technically directs films, but they're true art films — works meant for museums that do away with almost all the conventions you would expect in a movie.

Whatever the case, "Wanderlust" is exhilarating. It has the potential to influence and inspire a whole new generation to discover what's possible when you set out without any boundaries. Here's hoping it gets seen by the masses. May it replace the Michael McDonald DVD at your local TV dealer.

--> watch "Wanderlust" in Quicktime or at Yahoo plus a Making Of at Myspace PLUS a NY Times Making Of special 

Bjork "Wanderlust" (One Little Indian)
Encyclopedia Pictura, director | Mark De Pace, producer | Ghost Robot, production co | UVPHACTORY, post production | click for full credits!

NEW RELEASE: The Sword "Fire Lancers..."

Centuries of war have plunged the world into a post-apocalyptic nightmare that looks like a more surreal version of The Road Warrior. The quest in this video for modern metalheads The Sword is for booty unknown, but it's all for naught since there's a nasty doublecross in the end. Religious overtones abound — the "hero" and crew carry an ark to the final destination, while one of the main clues along the way is a sort of burning bush, but in the form of a beast with Menorah-worthy antlers. The video has a painted-on animation style, courtesy of some After Effects work done in collaboration with Blacklist and Mass Market. --> watch "Fire Lancers" via Stereogum.com premiere

The Sword
"Fire Lancers Of  The Ancient Hyperzephyrians" (Kemado)
Josh Litwhiler & Mike Colao, directors | Matthew Achterberg, producer | Ghost Robot, production co | Steve Maing, DP | Michelle Antonisse, production designer |