Favorite Videos of 2008

"Warning: This Video Contains Flashing Lights"
Bjork "Wanderlust"

It's been a good year for music videos. We like them. They make the work day go by that much faster. And with the exception of "Parisian Goldfish", they probably won't get you fired. Here are some of our favorite videos from 2008. Enjoy.

M83 "Graveyard Girl"


M83 "Kim & Jessie"


Flying Lotus "Parisian Goldfish"


Hercules & Love Affair "Blind"


Evangelicals "Midnight Vignettes"


Efterklang "Illuminant"


My Morning Jacket "Touch Me I'm Going To Scream Pt. 2"


Fleet Foxes "Sun Giant/Blue Ridge Mountains"



Yeasayer "2080"

we saw: Hercules & Love Affair

"You Belong To Him Tonight"

Friday night was truly epic. Radiohead's juggernaut of a live show made my legs so weary that all I could do to make it to Hercules & Love Affair was to take a nap on the light rail platform. (And another nap in the cab across town). But we are young and the young shall dance, so when we arrived in front of the Fillmore (still weird that its not Irving Plaza) we were injected with a few hours worth of second, third and fourth winds.

We arrived just past midnight, and probably missed the first 10-15 minutes of H&LA's show, but it didn't matter, the party was in full swing and the hyper-sexual gay club disco had the old IP feeling a lot more like 54 or Tunnel, or one of those obscenely hedonistic dance clubs of old that people like to reference. Moustached men in short, short shorts maneuvered the dance floor as if they were extras in the roller disco musical Xanadu, while drag queen supreme Nomi dominated the stage, all eyes on her. The band, which included a full horn section and a half nude male "Vogue" dancing all night, was so tight that the songs literally moved into and out of each other, as if they were having sex and each transition lead to a new disco-beast of an offspring. "Athene" and "You Belong" were full of sleek body shaking goodness, while the unstoppable crowd could have brought the balcony down during "Blind." For me, the unreachably high highlights were H&LA's cover of "Don't Fear The Reaper", the "my secret love of a man" jam "You Raise Me Up" and the encore, and house rattler, "Hercules Theme." It's nights like this, and acts like Hercules & Love Affair, that often make me dream of being a young gay male during the height of the cocaine fueled NYC disco years of yore.

Hercules & Love Affair- Don't Fear The Reaper (Live at Irving Plaza) (Courtesy of The Sound of Indie)


"Blind" Live @ Studio B (R.I.P.)

mix: Rooftop Party Mix

"The Summer, With Me And My Friends"

A few weeks ago I was asked to curate a mix for a friend's rooftop party on the Lower East Side. Set ideally next to the Williamsburg Bridge on a beautiful July evening with good friends and lots of exemplary party favors [can you say (un)frozen Lemonade and Vodka?], this rager truly had everything, including an appearance by the legendary, and somewhat mythical, Schluss-burger. Cheers!

Jar-Ed's Rooftop Party Pre-Jam Jam Vol.1 (Mixed by McGregor)
The Lemon Fog- Summer
Velvet Underground- One of These Days
Girls- Lust for Life
The Shag- Stop and Listen
El Guincho- Kalise
Flying Lotus- Robo Tussin (Lil Wayne "A Milli" Remix)
Air France- Collapsing At Your Doorstep
M83- Graveyard Girl
Glass Candy- Rolling Down The Hills
Hercules & Love Affair- Hercules Theme
Lykke Li vs. Field- Dance Dance Dance In My Face (The Hood Internet Remix)
Bullion- I Just Wasn't Made For These Times
Pulp- Common Pulp
Music Go Music- Light of Love
Fleetwood Mac vs. Gwen Stefani- Everywhere (Paul Devro mix)
Santogold- L.E.S Artistes (XXXchange Remix)
Of Montreal- Gronlandic Edit
MGMT- Electric Feel
YACHT- I Believe In You
The Ruby Suns- Tane Mahuta
Gilberto Gil- Bat Macumba
Jeanette- Porque Te Vas
The Clash- Rudy Can't Fail
Stevie Wonder- Sir Duke
Arif Sag- Osman Pehlivan
Lord Rhaburn- Disco Connection
DJ Shadow- Organ Donor (Extended Overhaul)
Broken Social Scene- Pacific Theme
Caribou- Crayon
Caribou- Every Time She Turns Around It's Her Birthday
Black Moth Super Rainbow- Drippy Eye
James Pants- Crystal Lite (featuring Deon Davis)
Friend- Secret (Remix of Air France's "Collapsing At Your Doorstep")
Passion Pit- Sleepyhead

Jar-Ed's Rooftop Party Pre-Jam Jam Vol.1 (Mixed by McGregor) (Right Click & Save; or opt + click to save)

we saw: DFA/ Color Chart at MoMa

"Because I Feel Blind"
(Photo by Mecredis)
Saturday night at the MoMA was the opening of Color Chart: Reinventing Color, 1950 to Today, a Crayola color installation that featured works from Andy Warhol, Damien Hirst and Frank Stella, to name a few. Personally, Hirst's John John stole the show for me, but besides the art, there was a lot more to take in. Free booze and hot DJ sets by the DFA crew, to be exact. Holy Ghost and Juan Maclean brought the heat, although, personally I can't remember too much of the heat they brought. The exception being a dancefloor destroying drop of DFA labelmates Hercules & Love Affair's "Blind". After that everything is a wash of kaleidoscopic colors and terrifyingly tight jeans. Wish I could tell you more, hopefully these pictures do a better job of setting the scene than I did.

Oh yeah, Les Savy Fav's Tim Harrington was there too, so you know it was sweet.
(photo by Mecredis)

(photo by Regisbluejeans)

(photo by Whitney)

(photo by pocketmonsterd)