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Music Music Blog

Daisy Glaze Video, Shot in Memphis, Out Now

Alix Brown is no stranger to Memphis Flyer readers, who likely recall this 2019 profile of her work as a DJ in New York. Even before then, she was a player as well, lending bass to a Jay Reatard track and recording with bands like Golden Triangle. And she was also branching out into film-music supervision.

Since 2016, she’s been playing in a combo that combines a bit of both. Daisy Glaze, her duo with guitarist Louis Epstein (HITS, Jump Into the Gospel) that often performs live as a five-piece, brings a dark cinematic sweep to their songscapes, full of reverb-drenched guitars, atmospheric lyrics and somber melodies. And they’ve been productive, with their third single and video, “Ghost of Elvis Presley,” going live today, just ahead of Friday’s release of their eponymous debut LP on The Sound of Sinners label.

The video brings Brown’s Memphis ties to the fore, having been shot in some of this city’s most iconic locations, with a noirish twist.

Directed by Michele Civetta (The Gateway, Agony), who has helmed music videos for Lou Reed and Sean Lennon, among others, much of the video was filmed at the Arcade Restaurant. Other segments shot at the historic Molly Fontaine Lounge feature a guest appearance by producer Lawrence “Boo” Mitchell of Royal Studios.

Photographer Jamie Harmon was on hand as the musicians and crew shot the video over the weekend of January 22-23, offering a rare glimpse into the making of a video with rather cinematic ambitions. In some particularly striking scenes, the duo catch glimpses of themselves as elderly Arcade workers, serving coffee in a kind of all-night diner purgatory. Look for some familiar Memphis faces like Stevan Lazich and Mitchell in these revelatory shots.

Filming Daisy Glaze’s “Ghost of Elvis Presley” in Memphis (Credit: Jamie Harmon)

Despite taking their name from a Big Star song, Daisy Glaze is not so much power pop as what they call a “psych-outlaw sound.” The dank atmospherics come courtesy of producer Peter Kember, aka Sonic Boom, who gained prominence as a member of Spacemen 3 and has distinguished himself as a solo artist and producer since the 1990s. He’s clearly in tune with the Memphis scene, having produced MGMT’s Congratulations and the under-recognized synthetic cult classic, An Arabesque by Cloudland Canyon. Daisy Glaze, who already considered Kember “an outsized influence on their sound and songwriting,” recorded their debut at his studio in Portugal in 2019.

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Music Music Features

Alix Brown: DJ With Memphis Connections Makes Good in NYC

Make no mistake, Memphis is a town of vinyl lovers, as was evidenced by the fine new and vintage music being played between bands at Gonerfest 16. It turns out that many who thrive in our local DJ scene go on to make a name for themselves elsewhere. Case in point: Alix Brown, who lived here for three years over a decade ago. She’s now established herself as a top-tier DJ in New York, with her eclectic tastes helping her build followings in many international venues. But Brown still holds Memphis close to her heart and can still be heard DJing here, holding court at Bar DKDC or other local dance floors.

“I try to come to Memphis once or twice a year,” Brown told me when I caught up with her in New York’s Tompkins Square Park this summer. “I usually drive down with my mom. She loves Gus’s Fried Chicken, and she loves Karen Carrier. We always stay with her.” Indeed, Carrier was a major influence on Brown when the music-obsessed Atlanta native began living here. “I was working at the Beauty Shop and Dó restaurant with Karen, and we got along so well. I loved hanging out there. That felt like my home. I waited tables. I loved getting dressed up. And that was the first time I’d ever gone blonde, like the Brigitte Bardot look.”

Kristin Gallegos

Alix Brown

That was significant on multiple levels, for this music lover also happens to be glamorous: She’s now a featured model in a Maybelline campaign that can be seen in drugstores nationwide. “I was never that girly until then; I kinda morphed into this ’60s character in Memphis. That’s when Jay said I changed.”

“Jay” would be the late Jay Reatard, who was the whole reason Brown moved to Memphis, back in the day. “I met Jay in Memphis because I was on tour with the Black Lips. I was 18 at the time. Jay and I were kind of flirting, and the guys in the Black Lips were very protective of me. I was like the little sister and kind of a tomboy. But later, when we got home, Jay left me a message and said he needed a break from Memphis. He wanted to come and check out Atlanta. And I was like, ‘Okay, cool.'”

Ultimately, Reatard would single-handedly record one of his greatest albums, Blood Visions, in Brown’s Atlanta apartment. “I used to have his rough demos for Blood Visions on a cassette,” she recalls. “He just knew how to record himself. It was amazing watching him work. He was like, ‘Always record drums on tape. You can do everything else digitally.’ So he went to a studio and cut all the drums. Then he’d take those tracks home and add layers of guitars. And I’m actually the only musician credited on Blood Visions. I played bass on one song, and I sang. And Jay played everything else.”

Even as she and Jay Reatard moved here, then broke up, Brown was cultivating a new look and sharpening her skills as a DJ. “I never took it seriously. Then I came up to New York, and I was working at a record store. Little by little, I started getting more DJ gigs. And then I met Tennessee. Her dad is Pete Thomas, the drummer for Elvis Costello. She’s actually named Tennessee because he loves Tennessee so much. She was DJing for several hotels. The Soho Grand, and what’s now the Roxy Hotel, which used to be the Tribeca Grand.”

That’s now where Brown can be heard most any weekend in New York. “I do all their music. I make all the playlists, I book bands and all the other DJs, and do their social media.” Beyond that, Brown is now expanding into music supervision for film soundtracks.

While she caught a rising wave in the Big Apple, Memphis holds a special place in her heart. “I don’t think I really appreciated Memphis until I moved away. When I moved there for Jay, I really wanted to move to New Orleans. That was literally two weeks before Hurricane Katrina. But that’s life, right? You never realize how cool something is when it’s happening.”

Hear Alix Brown DJ at Bar DKDC on October 10, after the Lorette Velvette Band.

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Film/TV Film/TV/Etc. Blog

Top 20 Memphis Music Videos of 2016 (Part 1)

2016 was a good year for music videos by Memphis artists, musicians and filmmakers alike. I resist making a ranked list of movies in my year-end wrap up, but I know the crowd demands them, so every year I indulge my nerdery by ranking the music videos that have appeared in the Flyer’s Music Video Monday blog series. Since I sometimes go back into the vault for MVM posts, this competition is limited to videos that were uploaded since my Top Ten of 2015 post. (This proved to be a source of disappointment, since Breezy Lucia’s brilliant video for Julien Baker’s “Something” was in the top five until I discovered it had been uploaded in 2014).  Last year, I did a top ten. This year, there were so many good videos, I decided to do a top 20.

Eileen Townsend in Caleb Sweazy’s ‘Bluebird Wings’

A good music video creates a synergy between the music and the action on the screen. It doesn’t have to have a story, but arresting images, fascinating motion through the frame, and meticulous editing are musts.   I watched all of the videos and assigned them scores on both quality of video and quality of song. This was brought the cream to the top, but my scoring system proved to be inadequately granular when I discovered seven videos tied for first place, five tied for second, and three tied for third, forcing me to apply a series of arbitrary and increasingly silly criteria until I had an order I could live with. So if you’re looking for objectivity, you won’t find it here. As they say, it’s an honor to just be on the list.

20. Light Beam Rider – “A Place To Sleep Among The Creeps”
Director: Nathan Ross Murphy

Leah Beth Bolton-Wingfield, Jacob Wingfield have to get past goulish doorman Donald Myers in this Halloween party nightmare. Outstanding production design breaks this video onto the list.

Top 20 Memphis Music Videos of 2016 (Part 1)

19. Richard James – “Children Of The Dust”
Director: George Hancock

The Special Rider got trippy with this sparkling slap of psilocybin shimmer.

Top 20 Memphis Music Videos of 2016 (Part 1) (2)


18. Preauxx “Humble Hustle”
Director: FaceICU

Preauxx is torn between angels and his demons in this banger.

Top 20 Memphis Music Videos of 2016 (Part 1) (4)


17. Faux Killas “Give It To Me”
Director: Moe Nunley

Let’s face it. We’re all suckers for stop motion animation featuring foul mouthed toys. But it’s the high energy thrashy workout of a song that elevates this one.

Top 20 Memphis Music Videos of 2016 (Part 1) (3)

16. Caleb Sweazy “Bluebird Wings”
Director: Melissa Anderson Sweazy

Actress (and former Flyer writer) Eileen Townsend steals the show as a noir femme fatale beset by second thoughts.

Top 20 Memphis Music Videos of 2016 (Part 1) (5)

15. Matt Lucas “East Side Nights/Home”
Director: Rahimhotep Ishakarah

The two halves of this video couldn’t be more different, but somehow it all fits together. I liked this video a lot better when I revisited it than when I first posted a few months ago, so this one’s a grower.

Top 20 Memphis Music Videos of 2016 (Part 1) (6)

14. Dead Soldiers ft. Hooten Hollers “16 Tons”
Directors: Michael Jasud & Sam Shansky

There’s nothing fancy in this video, just some stark monochrome of the two combined bands belting out the Tennessee Ernie Ford classic. But it’s just what the song needs. This is the perfect example of how simplicity is often a virtue for music videos.

Top 20 Memphis Music Videos of 2016 (Part 1) (7)


13. Angry Angles “Things Are Moving”
Director: 9ris 9ris

New Orleans-based video artist 9ris 9ris created abstract colorscapes with vintage video equipment for this updated Goner re-release of Jay Reatard’s early-century collaboration with rocker/model/DJ Alix Brown and Destruction Unit’s Ryan Rousseau.

Top 20 Memphis Music Videos of 2016 (Part 1) (8)

12. Chris Milam “Tell Me Something I Don’t Know”
Director:Chris Milam

Milam and Ben Siler riffed on D.A. Pennebaker and Bob Dylan’s groundbreaking promo clip for “Subterranean Homesick Blues”, and the results are alternately moving and hilarious.

Top 20 Memphis Music Videos of 2016 (Part 1) (9)

11. Deering & Down “Spaced Out Like An Astronaut”
Director: Lahna Deering

In a departure for the Memphis by way of Alaska folk rockers, the golden voiced Deering lets guitarist Down take the lead while she put on the Major Tom helmet and created this otherworldly video.

Top 20 Memphis Music Videos of 2016 (Part 1) (10)

Tune in on Monday for the Top Ten of 2016!

Categories
Film/TV Film/TV/Etc. Blog

Music Video Monday: Angry Angles

This Music Video Monday is moving at a breakneck pace. 

The late king of Memphis garage rock Jay Reatard was notoriously prolific—even his side bands had side bands. He formed the Angry Angles in 2005 with his then-girlfriend, rocker/model/DJ Alix Brown, and Ryan Roussau of Phoenix, Arizona psych rockers Destruction Unit. On May 20, Goner Records will release a compilation album with 17 songs recorded during the band’s 2-year tender. This video for the first single, a previously unreleased version of “Things Are Moving”, is by New Orleans video artist 9ris 9ris. It was created by combining footage shot at a pair of Angry Angles live shows with various gifs and video loops. Check out the crunchy video feedback action! 

Music Video Monday: Angry Angles

If you would like to see your video featured on Music VIdeo Monday, email cmccoy@memphisflyer.com