Sometimes, you gotta go big in order to wow your new classmates...
"Based on a true story of our daughter June's intro to her class. Kids are allowed to bring in a book to read to the class. June instead chose to sing an Adele song to them. We re-imagined this performance into a full-on blow out party. During the song bridge, we play homage to the fight scene in Michael Jackson's "Beat It" video. The kids skipped school, we flew to California to film in Pasadena." - Mates of State
No matter how hard he tries, alt-rock nice guy Benjamin Gibbard remains as huggable as ever even as he tries to toughen up his image for this big solo debut video. --> watch "Teardrop Windows"
Benjamin Gibbard"Teardrop Windows" (Barsuk)Tom Scharpling, director/writer | Rob Hatch-Miller, Puloma Basu, producer/editor | Production Company Productions, production co | Sam Wootton, DP
The clothes make the man in this Menomena that plays with the idea of clothing as nothing more than human "Plumage." The two band members approach each other for a postmodern duel as their outfits drastically change with nearly each step. --> watch "Plumage"
Menomena "Plumage" (Barsuk)Trevor McMahan, director | Andrew Gisch, producer | Rabbit Content, production co | David Rodriguez, DP | Kelly Brickner, editor | Keith Wager, Nina Lamanna, stylists
What at first seems like just another Teenage Riot — with mom's Volvo as the getaway car , no less — quickly hurtles toward something much more dangerous and deadly in this video for Cymbals Eat Guitars. --> watch "Keep Me Waiting"
Cymbals Eat Guitars"Keep Me Waiting" (Barsuk)Adam Kurland, director | Lauren Sieczkowski, producer | Ghost Robot, production co | Doug Emmett, DP | Sam Sparks, vfx
Don't cry for the girl who got stood up at prom. If not for that, she never would have discovered that fantasy land where she found true love with a mossy man/satyr. --> watch "Sway"
Mates Of State "Sway" (Barsuk)Shal Ngo, director | Gina Correll, producer | Macula Films, production co | Adam Newport-Berra, DP | Tiffany Chang, editor | Heather Kramer, production designer | Sarah Walker Scheld, art director | Matt McLaughlin, exec. producer
Phatogram "When I'm Small" may mark the moment when indie rock realized that there's nothing wrong with simple sex appeal. And obviously I'm referring to the bearded dude. --> watch "When I'm Small"
Not a proper music video, but I think we can all agree that propriety doesn't have a huge place in the music video world. This snippet/miniclip/viral for Menomena "Dirty Cartoons" stars a (faux) homeless guy who seems to share an equal love for indie rock and mime. This air-drum bonanza was orchestrated by Trevor McMahan, who previously oversaw a food fight for the band's "Rotten Hell". --> watch "Dirty Cartoon"
