MIRS featured in Los Angeles 7
Just wrapped my part in the LA rock and roll fable, Los Angeles 7. In it, MIRS plays himself. Apart from my brief stint, MIRS tracks will be featured in the film, along with 6 other LA based bands. So, buy the record, or download it somewhere.
Sometimes being on set.
Day two on the CXL shoot looked like this. Sean Gillane and the rest of the team took great care of me, making sure I did not drown, nor throw up.
KHOOBI release along with the ANIMALS slate.
With a block of time set, and some good luck in the form of music licensing and decision making, it seems that I can finally release Khoobi before the month of June is over.
My plan involves a straight to web release under a CC copyright. This means that you will be free to download it, show it to your friends and even screen it (as long as you hit me up first). I've not yet decided if it should be under the remix able license yet, but maybe?
Curators, if you are interested in screening the film, please contact first. Since this is a non-commercial release, you must first get permission son.
The official date has not been decided yet, maybe I'll slip it under you while you sleep.
This is the first of several ANIMALS collaborative projects I will be releasing this year, with the climax being my next feature film (Reza the Camel) which is in development at the moment.
In other news, I'm featured in the next issue of DNA Recordz Magazine, which highlights the work of the next generation of Diaspora artist. Here is a photo from the shoot.
New Works
The last few have been very busy. Two new collaborative projects are currently in various stages of production, along with early planning on the feature. (Pre-pre production)
Hope this picture helps in passing the time. A tribute to Al's Bar (traction and 3rd) in the beloved old days of Downtown LA, the seedier times.
First Images from Khoobi (are you ok)
This is the first image from my new moving picture Khoobi. I hear that the movie is pretty interesting.
The first of three posters was designed by one of my animators and good friend Ali Sabet. Guy does amazing work. Check him out here.
MIRS "Spring (bombs)" music video
This is the just released music video (first of four) for the track Spring (bombs) of the MIRS Spin Cycle ep. Usually, I don't go into the behind the scenes stuff, but I do want to frame this, so that it has some contextual backdrop to work from. Initially, the video was going to be some elaborate live action piece, with some "familiar face" as the lead. But the production was endlessly getting pushed back, weeks and weeks with no end in sight.
Now, at the same time, I had been thinking of another visual treatment, one that I had always considered more central and "authentic", but was hesitant to follow through because of this larger scale production which was already in movement, and also for the very fact that this idea lacked so called production value.
But instead of delaying yet again, and in reference to this track in particular being at times labeled as Chillwave (a genre that I was never fully aware of when I was recording this) I decided to trash the production, and go with my more honest instinct. The general trends in music videos now(especially in these genres) is the feeling or mood of nostalgia. But usually as it applies only in meta feeling, not in actuality, since most of these musicians weren't even born during the visual time clock that the images represent. And the other type of nostalgia based music video of late is the home-movie aesthetics but with a clear cut narrative, rendering it to skillful artifice and craftsmanship. (ie: Mark Ronsons' I Need Somebody to Love Me" video).
So, given these distinctions, I wanted to cut of the oxygen to those particular forms of nostalgic pandering, and so I came up with this. This is actual footage, taken many years ago, at the second renaissance of break dancing. It includes myself, and several of my friends, when we were in a crew. The only narration is the actual "session". Pairing it up to the music, it renders the scene wholly different, and in my opinion, gives the music its own unqiue breathing space as well.