Exciting news: American Express just announced that Todd Haynes and My Morning Jacket will be the next filmmaker/band pairing in its Unstaged series, which has previously featured collaborations by Terry Gilliam/Arcade Fire, John Legend/Spike Lee, and Duran Duran/David Lynch. If the match seems a bit random, it’s worth noting that My Morning Jacket frontman Jim James appeared in Hayne’s 2007 Bob Dylan film, I’m Not There; he sang “Goin’ to Acapulco” with Calexico backing him up, and according to the director, they immediately hit it off.
As Haynes told ArtsBeat, this is will be his first time shooting a live concert, but his past experience, specifically his work on 1998′s Velvet Goldmine, should come in handy: “When you’re shooting concert scenes in films, we try to bring in, where appropriate, as much of a sense of live performance as possible. Once you set up those elements, you really let the live performance dictate it. Hopefully you’re working with great operators who are spontaneous and dexterous and versatile, and they can catch those moments that you can’t really ever completely plan.” Look for the online broadcast on May 31st.
Are hair infographics the new United States infographics? Yesterday, we puzzled over three decades of bad video game ‘dos. Then we came across this wonderful timeline charting the evolution of Duran Duran members’ hair, from 1979 through 2009. (Our favorite is John Taylor in 1984.) It also serves as a handy guide to the band’s line-up changes over the years. [Aidin Vaziri via Trudymade]
Critic and author Rob Sheffield opened both his heart and his record collection to the public with his 2007 best-seller Love Is a Mixtape, chronicling his life with first wife Renée via mixtape and memory. Sheffield’s new book, out today, is called Talking to Girls About Duran Duran: One Young Man’s Quest for True Love and a Cooler Haircut. The memoirfollows the author through his awkward ’80s teenage years and recounts his awe of glittery pop and, more importantly, the girls who loved to talk about it.
“Girl language can’t be duplicated or faked,” says Sheffield. “When I was 16, the way that girls communicated with each other seemed so much more interesting. Duran Duran were these pretty boys and really girl-crazy, but in their videos and songs they’re not trying to tame these wild women, not trying to conquer or possess them. They’re just gazing at them and listening to them in this awestruck kind of way. That’s what made them relateable.” We asked Sheffield to curate a a video playlist chronicling his pursuit of girlie knowledge. His guided tour of the lacquered ladies of ’80s pop is after the jump.
But as quickly as it surfaced, the video was taken down from YouTube by Universal Music Group, and we were left feeling slightly pervy for craving more naked music videos. We’ve done the dirty work so that you don’t have to, and rounded up 10 of our all-time favorites after the jump. We’ve come a long way since Duran Duran’s “Girls on Film.”
Further fanning the flames of anticipation surrounding their recently-bumped-up forthcoming album, Spoon has released the cover art for Transference, which is due out January 19, 2010 in the US. Finally. The photograph itself is one from 1970 taken in Mississippi by renowned photographer William Eggleston, a photographer accustomed to having his work featured on an album cover or two. It was originally published in Eggleston’s Guide back in 1976.
It’s lovely and it makes us a bit nostalgic for other great album art that came out of the gallery world as opposed to a record company’s art department.
Photographer Dean Chamberlain’s image-making process employs dramatic color and movement to create surreal landscapes, portraits, and videos.
Chamberlain uses hours-long exposures and kinetic, richly colored light to capture lush, dreamlike images without computer manipulation. His best known work is an iconic portrait of his longtime friend Timothy Leary, but his portrait of David Bowie and video for Duran Duran’s “Missing” are evidence of his equal presence in the music world.
. Why the hype? In the five-minute clip — which is an homage to Matt and Kim’s “
