Tag: Lisa Mac

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Film/TV Film/TV/Etc. Blog

Music Video Monday: Top 10 Memphis Music Videos of 2018

Memphis music was vibrant as ever in 2018. Every week, the Memphis Flyer brings you the latest and best video collaborations between Bluff City filmmakers and musicians in our Music Video Monday series. To assemble this list, I rewatched all 34 videos that qualified for 2018’s best video and scored them according to song, concept, cinematography, direction and acting, and editing. Then I untangled as many ties as I could and made some arbitrary decisions. Everyone who made the list is #1 in my book!

10. Louise Page “Blue Romance”

Flowers cover everything in this drag-tastic pop gem, directed by Sam Leathers.

Music Video Monday: Top 10 Memphis Music Videos of 2018 (13)


9. Harlan T. Bobo “Nadine” / Fuck “Facehole”

Our first tie of the list comes early. First is Harlan T. Bobo’s sizzling, intense “Nadine” clip, directed by James Sposto.

Music Video Monday: Top 10 Memphis Music Videos of 2018 (11)

I used science to determine that Fuck’s Memphis Flyer name drop is equal to “Nadine”.

Music Video Monday: Top 10 Memphis Music Videos of 2018 (12)

8. Aaron James “Kauri Woods”

The smokey climax of this video by Graham Uhelski is one of the more visually stunning things you’ll see this year.

Music Video Monday: Top 10 Memphis Music Videos of 2018 (10)


7. Daz Rinko “New Whip, Who Dis?”

Whaddup to rapper Daz Rinko who dropped three videos on MVM this year. This was the best one, thanks to an absolute banger of a track.

Music Video Monday: Top 10 Memphis Music Videos of 2018 (9)


6. (tie) McKenna Bray “The Way I Loved You” / Lisa Mac “Change Your Mind”

I couldn’t make up my mind between this balletic video from co-directors Kim Lloyd and Susan Marshall…

Music Video Monday: Top 10 Memphis Music Videos of 2018 (7)

…and this dark, twisted soundstage fantasy from director Morgan Jon Fox.

Music Video Monday: Top 10 Memphis Music Videos of 2018 (8)

5. Brennan Villines “Better Than We’ve Ever Been”

Andrew Trent Fleming got a great performance out of Brennan Villines in this bloody excellent clip.

Music Video Monday: Top 10 Memphis Music Videos of 2018 (6)


4. (tie) Nick Black “One Night Love” / Summer Avenue “Cut It Close”

Nick Black is many things, but as this video by Gabriel DeCarlo proves, a hooper ain’t one of ’em.

Music Video Monday: Top 10 Memphis Music Videos of 2018 (4)

The kids in Summer Avenue enlisted Laura Jean Hocking for their debut video.

Music Video Monday: Top 10 Memphis Music Videos of 2018 (5)

3. Cedric Burnside “Wash My Hands”

Beale Street Caravan’s I Listen To Memphis series produced a whole flood of great music videos from director Christian Walker and producer Waheed Al Qawasmi. I could have filled out the top ten with these videos alone, but consider this smoking clip of Cedric Burnside laying down the law representative of them all.

Music Video Monday: Top 10 Memphis Music Videos of 2018 (3)

2. Don Lifted “Poplar Pike”

I could have filled out the top five with work from Memphis video auteur Don Lifted, aka Lawrence Matthews, who put three videos on MVM this year. To give everybody else a chance, I picked the transcendent clip for “Poplar Pike” created by Mattews, Kevin Brooks, and Nubia Yasin.

Music Video Monday: Top 10 Memphis Music Videos of 2018

1. Lucero “Long Way Back Home”

Sorry, everybody, but you already knew who was going to be number one this year. It’s this mini-movie created by director Jeff Nichols, brother of Lucero frontman Ben Nichols. Starring genuine movie star (and guy who has played Elvis) Michael Shannon, “Long Way Back Home” is the best Memphis music video of 2018 by a country mile.

Music Video Monday: Top 10 Memphis Music Videos of 2018 (2)

Thanks to everyone who submitted videos to Music Video Monday in 2018. If you’d like to see your music video appear on Music Video Monday in 2019, email cmccoy@memphisflyer.com. 

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Film/TV Film/TV/Etc. Blog

Music Video Monday: Lisa Mac

Remember, folks, it’s not too late for Music Video Monday to take you back.

Memphis songstress Lisa Mac is back with the ethereal “Change Your Mind”. The song, which she said almost went to English Grammy winner Sam Smith, was produced by Scott Hardin and Elliott Ives. “This song at its core is really about dealing with rejection in a hopeful way,” she says. “It’s vulnerable, relatable, and real, and I wanted to represent those feelings with a visual to help tell the story. In this video, I love how director Morgan John Fox used light and color to represent the different emotions we experience in relationships. This visual is such a simple, beautiful, expression of the most valuable and fragile thing we possess… love.”

Music Video Monday: Lisa Mac

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

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Film/TV Film/TV/Etc. Blog

Music Video Monday: Lisa Mac

Music Video Monday wants to you dance it off.

Lisa Mac’s new single “Mr. Mystery” is a groovy love letter to a man who won’t make up his mind, produced by Eliot Ives (guitarist in Justine Timberlake’s band The Tennessee Kids) and Scott Hardin.

Director Melissa Anderson Sweazy says she wanted the video to “feel like that part in almost every dance movie when everything is falling apart for the hero/heroine: they are clashing with the head of the dance company, the love interest has blown them off, and they’ve just got to dance it out.”

Cinematographer Ryan Earl Parker shot dancers Natalie Fotopolous Reding and Alberto Gaspar in the Jack Robinson Gallery. “The chorus is so swoon-inducing that it just sweeps you up and makes you want to move. I wanted Natalie to be the stand in for all of us who wish they could truly dance like no one’s watching and look amazing while doing so.”

Music Video Monday: Lisa Mac

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

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Music Music Features

Lisa Mac Live at Lafayette’s Music Room

Local pop singer Lisa Mac hits Lafayette’s Music Room this Friday night with a brand new backing band in tow. Mac solidified herself as an artist capable of cranking out awesome music videos earlier this year, first with the video for “Hurricane” (directed by Isaiah Conyers) and then with the insane video for “Getaway” (also by Conyers), the dark pop track that features a guest appearance by Project Pat. While she definitely has a knack for eye-popping videos, Mac is also pretty good at writing a pop hook. As a stand-alone artist, Mac writes sultry pop songs that borrow from blues, soul, and hip-hop, but with the Chinese Connection Dub Embassy backing her up for the first time, Mac says the dynamic of her live show will change.

Lisa Mac

“Playing with the Chinese Connection Dub Embassy is just going to make everything sound so much bigger,” Mac says.

“I’ll be playing some drum pads and some MIDI keyboards, so there will still be some pop and electronic elements within the show.”

Mac first heard Chinese Connection Dub Embassy at an Artistik Approach showcase when the band was backing up another singer. After they nailed a Beyonce cover, Mac says she knew she wanted to work with the band.

“I just thought they were really bumpin’. They played some really cool stuff, and it worked really well, even though they are most known for being a reggae band,” Mac says.

While she plans on keeping the band around for live show purposes, Mac’s also not opposed to bringing a band into the studio, or on tour.

“I liked the idea of getting a band that had already played together for the first time I used a backing band,” Mac says.

“But I think I’ll eventually hold tryouts for the Lisa Mac Band, and bring them out with me on tour.”

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Music Music Blog

Flyer Premiere: Lisa Mac’s Video for “Getaway”

Lisa Mac.

Presenting Lisa Mac’s brand new video for her moody pop-song with Project Pat, “Getaway.” Director Isaiah Conyers takes us to a neon nightclub, chock full of weird make-up, glowing masks, and other trippy visuals while Lisa Mac and Project Pat go all in. 

“Get Away” will be available on iTunes (along with her first cut “Hurricane”) this weekend, and Lisa Mac’s self-released debut album will be available this summer. 

Flyer Premiere: Lisa Mac’s Video for ‘Getaway’

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Film/TV Film/TV/Etc. Blog

Music Video Monday: Lisa Mac

This week’s Music Video Monday is tying the knot. 

Lisa Mac says she knew she wanted to direct the video to her first single “Hurricane” while she was recording it. She and Isaiah Conyers shot the video at Memphis’ Studio688 because it “…holds a special place in my heart because it’s where my whole creative journey began. So, as my song’s production began to take shape in the recording studio, a vision for my video began to take shape in my head. A whole team of people came together, including my parents, to help bring my vision to life. My stylist, the talented Tara Skelley, played a huge part in helping bring it all together. We created the whole set ourselves, with the help of my mom, who is exceptionally crafty. We Pinterested, thrifted, and DIYed until my whole vision for the video was complete. Everything that you see in the video was either handmade, or recycled and repurposed from used items. The white Valentine’s box of chocolates that you see in the video was originally purchased off of Amazon, and it was definitely past Valentine’s season:) I threw out the chocolates, spray painted the whole box, and then decorated the outside with rhinestones and ribbon. My mom replaced the old chocolates with handmade heart-shaped white chocolates.” 

Music Video Monday: Lisa Mac

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