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Passion Pit – “Sleepyhead”
Of course, no conversation about Boston music success stories can be had in this day and age without mentioning Passion Pit. Passion Pit started as a one-man band at Emerson College not long ago and has been taking the world by storm of the last couple years. Unfortunately, this kind of fame usually comes with a relocation to NYC or some such, and after extensive research I realized that while the music may have originated in Beantown, the official music videos for the songs were produced elsewhere (damn you, New York!). However, in the course of my search I did find this delightful rendition done by two Boston locals, Eli Stonberg and Drew Daly. According to a profile of the video on Eli’s company site, it was just their luck that they happened to befriend their neighbor, Ian Hultquist, the man who would become keyboardist for Passion Pit. After hearing “Sleepyhead,” Eli and Drew knew they had to make a video for it. Unfortunately, once the band made it big the powers that be rejected this video for the band’s first major hit single, choosing instead to release a completely new one.
Years later, this clip leaked. At this point, it has been covered by an impressive list of blogs, including but certainly not limited to: VideoStatic (“simple and fun that would probably fit just as easily into a childrens TV as it would in a hipster’s video collection”); Hipster Runoff; Stereogum; Pitchfork; for a list of the others, check out the profile on the WeAreTheMasses site.
Here it is for your enjoyment. I love the simple, playful feel of it. I mean, I dig the “official” version, but this one feels more Passion Pit-y to me. I always imagined their songs in my head as using lots of bright colors, with lots of people participating in the fun. I also dig the low budget feel, which one of the other bloggers pointed out is fitting seeing as “Sleepyhead” was the only song off the Chunk of Change EP, which was recorded for pennies on a laptop in a dorm room, that made it to the Big Time Important LP Manners.
Passion Pit – “Sleepyhead” Dir. Eli Stonberg + Drew Daly from Eli Stonberg on Vimeo.
PS: Keep your eyes peeled for a Q&A with the directors soon!
Kid:Nap:Kin – “Exposition”
This video is a little on the old side, but I am still fond of it because, full disclosure, I was involved in the making. See those fabulous wire puppets tormenting the nice people of the Land of Make-Believe? Yeah, I made those.
Kid:nap:kin won the Best New Act at the Boston Music Awards in 2007. They had been a solid part of the Boston rock scene before and have continued to be since. While they released their second album, Hush Now in April of ’08, this video is from their first album, Touring the Riot Scene, which was released in late ’06.
The director of the video , Stephanie Stender, then a graduate film production student at Boston Uni (now a successful associate producer), is a crafty crafty lady. The band came to her with the demented Mr. Rogers concept, and she ran with it. She managed to build the set on a shoestring budget and then shoot this video within the course of a single week, even the stop-motion, which is quite a feat. Lead singer Dan Ellis is a true performer, on stage and on camera, and I love the way he hams up his bizarro Mr. Rogers role. Also, how much do you LOVE the puppet versions of the band members? (Former) bassist Jamila Weaver’s is my favorite.
Ms. Stender is still a busy girl in the Boston scene. Check out her works here. For more of Kid:nap:kin’s sound, check out their Myspace. In the meantime, enjoy “Exposition”!
Stephanie Stender | dir.
Sidehatch Entertainment Group | production co.
Company Feature: Killswitch Productions
I aim to make Boston Makes Music Videos a site not just for filmmakers and musicians, but also for producers, investors and hobbyists. To embrace everyone, I am going to try to include every facet of the industry on this site. I feel a fitting way to kick off the site, then, would be to feature a company that has been the locus of many of those aspects. Welcome to Boston Makes Music Videos!
Boston has always been known as the place to go for hardcore music. But hardcore has never really been known for its music videos. There is one company in Boston that’s working to change that.
Killswitch Productions was founded in 2004, and largely still run by, one Ian McFarland. Like any profitable music video production company, Killswitch also makes commercials and feature documentaries (notably a recent project on Boston’s rising gender-bending stars, All The King’s Men), but they have been most lauded for their contributions to the hardcore music video genre. MTV2 Headbanger’s Ball loves these guys – they’ve been nominated by this show five times!
Now that you’re appropriately impressed, let me share my favorite of their works. This is a highly acclaimed 2007 clip for the band Diecast, garnering the most awards of any of Killswitch’s videos, including an Official Selection for MTV2 Headbanger’s Ball End of the Year Countdown and award for Best Use of Creativity at the No Exit Film Festival. While many of Killswitch’s videos are super conceptual, this video is more grounded in narrative (although still visually sumptuous), which even supplies us with a satisfying twist at the end. Enjoy:
Boston Makes Music Videos 