Oregon Music News

Alicia J. Rose reveals a screenshot from her video for Talkdemonic's "City Sleep," which will premier at That Was Then, This Is Now: Portland Music Videos on Tuesday, October 11th at the Mission Theater.

Last January, Oregon Music News curated the first-ever Portland Music Videos showcase, in conjunction with the Northwest Film Center’s Reel Music Festival 28, and for the 29th edition, we’re proud to have Portland director, photographer, musician and former booker Alicia J. Rose selecting the clips.

Last year we gave the nod to Rose by showing her music video for Loch Lomond’s “Blue Lead Fences,” and in just the last eight months alone, Rose has released gorgeously intriguing videos for Portland locals like AgesandAges, Menomena, and Holcombe Waller, among others.

On Tuesday, October 11th at the Mission Theater, Rose, alongside Sara Lund, will show her selection of Portland Music Videos, a presentation dubbed That Was Then, This Is Now–the theme is “a hand-picked selection of vintage and current music video offerings created by a host of talented directors and animators who call Portland home,” and Then includes videos from Elliott Smith (Jem Cohen), Nirvana (Lance Bangs), and Sleater-Kinney (Miranda July), while Now selections include Menomena (Stefan Nadelman), Fleet Foxes (Sean Pecknold), Modest Mouse (Nando Costa), The Decemberists (Dennis Fitzgerald & Greg Brown), Death Cab For Cutie (Lance Bangs), Miracles Club (Judah Switzer), Sallie Ford (Matthew Ross), and many more as well as the world premiere Rose’s own video for Talkdemonic’s “City Sleep.”  The complete line up of videos is listed at the end of this article.

Always a crowd-pleaser, watch Whitey McConnaughy’s selection for Red Fang’s “Wires” and read bassist Aaron Beam’s comments on creating the video:

Alicia J. Rose answered a few questions for OMN on her theme, process, and new music video.

Tell us about your theme–That Was Then, This Is Now–and why you chose it.

I wanted to curate a video program that encompassed the spirit of the past and the present. Creatives have been flourishing wildly in basements around Portland for years, making music and film that defies both budgetary and logical means. To me there’s a connection between the scene in the early ’90s and what’s going on today. A certain authenticity and heart of expression has driven a palpable evolution in both artistic arenas.

I moved to Portland in 1995 after stopping through on tour in the early ’90s. I found out about the scene from working at college radio and booking The Chameleon in the early ’90s in San Francisco. I was a giant fan of bands hailing from here–Hazel, Unwound, Elliott Smith, etc. There was something really special going on. All the bands I saw from Portland had a certain kind of earnest passion that I instantly connected to. The videos I chose for the Then part of my program represent an overview of the cream of the crop. The Now portion is a sampling of the incredible directorial and musical talent that has been emerging since the “SLR revolution” and the crazy interwebs. Now, there is a new ease and motivation to creating video work and Portland is ripe with juicy locations and skilled crewfolk. Just like bands can now make records with their computers, directors can now make videos with their regular cameras. Whoah.

What were the criteria?

With only a couple exceptions, I stuck to Portland bands and Portland directors. The Then program was ’90s based, and the Now program, I wanted to keep more current–2000-ish forward. There are two directors that have videos in both sections–Zak and Lance–and they still live and work here. But of course I made a few choices that had only one side covered…

Obviously not all the bands hail from Portland but do all of the directors?

The few non-Portland-based directors have a Portland connection and have made videos for Portland bands–Seattle’s Hayley Young is letting us do an advance screening of her new video for AgesandAges “Souvenir,” Miranda July lived here for many years and her “Get Up” video for Sleater-Kinney is real filmmaking that hearkens to her current oeuvre. Of course, the Melvins rule–and both Joe Preston (Melvin’s bassist) and Chel White are PDX residents making incredible work. Also, I couldn’t pass up a chance to show Jem Cohen’s “Lucky 3″–it’s such a beautiful portrait of both Elliott and Portland. [Watch part one below.] So, he’s from DC–it’s “kinda” like Portland. He definitely needed a vacation when he made that.

How did you choose the Then videos? There must have been so many to pick from…

There really was less out there than you might think. Back then, it was a serious luxury–or lucky art project to make a video. It took extreme effort and will for these early directors to make work in the shadow of MTV. There was no internet, only local video shows like Bohemia After Dark and passed around VHS tapes to light the way. With the help of Unwound drummer Sara Lund, we culled a pretty sweet handful of nuggets–including early videos by directors still rocking today like Lance Bangs (Nirvana “Seasons in the Sun”) and Zak Margolis (Unwound). I’m also really excited about showing Chel White’s Melvins video–since I lived in San Francisco prior to PDX, this represents a bit of personal crossover. And we are extremely stoked to show Jem Cohen’s short music film “Lucky 3,” which features three intimate performances by Ellliott shot in his living room circa ’96. This is some seriously influential stuff.

And what about the Now? Were all of these videos released in the last year?

The Now portion is both a slice of the current artform as realized by Portland directors as well as a bit of an evolutionary overview. I chose a few gems released in the past few years–like Dennis Fitzgerald & Greg Browns “Soldiering Life” for The Decemberists and Stefan Nadelman’s “Evil Bee” for Menomena. [Watch below.] I feel like they set some real precedents in their work. I am also really excited about the current crop of work coming from PDX up-and-comers like Jordan Kinley, Aubree Bernier-Clarke, Matthew Ross and Judah Switzer, not to mention being blown away by craftsmen like Nando Costa, Matt McCormick and recent Seattle transplant Sean Pecknold.

Who is Sara Lund and how did she assist you?

Sara is one of the best drummers ever of all time. She was in legendary ’90s combo Unwound and is currently the drummer in the Corin Tucker Band. She offered to assist me with the Then portion of the show, and was instrumental in sourcing/scouring/procuring videos–many we found on old VHS tapes from her own collection. We got to hang out and watch lots of stuff, but it wasn’t easy to find artful, intentional work from that era. Some of it was a little too commando. She’s also a serious organizational sleuth–we found everyone behind everything and cut through a lot of red tape in the process. It was a great help to have someone who was there to lead the charge on digging up lost gems.

Talkdemonic's "City Sleep"

And finally, you’ll be premiering one of your own music videos–Talkdemonic’s “City Sleep.” Tell us about that.

We just wrapped the final edit of “City Sleep,” my new video for PDX epic power duo Talkdemonic last night–my incredible editor Tommy Harden is working on fine tuning the final trippy SFX bits as I write this. This may be my personal favorite work to date. I got to let my imagination run wild. The song I chose, “City Sleep,” is a five-minute opus–lots of texture and movement–with a glorious climactic viola ending. It inspired me to create a video revolving around somnambulism, astral projection, and a mysterious desert dreamscape. I was encouraged to dip into the surreal, so there is some influence of Maya Deren in there, but I imbued it with a subtle dreamy narrative enhanced by the stunning imagery and landscapes we captured along the way. You will see. I am really grateful that Kevin and Lisa gave me the freedom and creative license to make something so cinematic and close to my own heart/fever dreams. Plus we got to go camping out in the Eastern Oregon desert. We dipped into the Deschutes after shooting!

Then:
Elliott Smith, “Lucky Three” — Jem Cohen
Nirvana, “Seasons In The Sun” — Lance Bangs
Unwound, “Scarlette” — Zak Margolis
Hazel, “Day-Glo” — Russell Bates
Melvins, “Hooch” — Chel White
Sleater-Kinney, “Get Up” — Miranda July

Now:
Talkdemonic, “City Sleep” — Alicia J. Rose (world premiere)
Menomena, “Evil Bee” — Stefan Nadelman
Fleet Foxes, “Mykonos” — Sean Pecknold
Modest Mouse, “Whale Song” — Nando Costa
Tara Jane O’Neil, “A Vertiginous One” — Zak Margolis
Eluvium, “The Motion Makes Me Last” — Matt McCormick
The Decemberists, “Solidiering Life” — Dennis Fitzgerald & Greg Brown
Death Cab For Cutie, “Talking Like Turnstiles” — Lance Bangs
Red Fang, “Wires” — Whitey McConnaughy
Mirah, “Low Self Control” — Aubree Bernier-Clarke
Miracles Club, “Church Song” — Judah Switzer
Sallie Ford, “I Swear” — Matthew Ross
AgesandAges, “Souvenir” — Hayley Young

Alicia J. Rose will present That Was Then, This Is Now: Portland Music Videos at the Mission Theater on Tuesday, October 11th at 7pm. Following the videos Rose will moderate a Q/A session with several of the directors including Aubree Bernier-Clarke, Stefan Nadelman, Nando Costa and more. Advance tickets here and RSVP here.