faces on film – Indie Music Filter

Shaking Through: Faces On Film

As curator for this month’s episode of Shaking Through, Marissa Nadler chose Mike Fiore (a.k.a. Faces on Film) to join her in Philadelphia to record a brand new song and have the process filmed by the area’s best filmmakers. The result is a new, album-quality Faces on Film song featuring backing vocals by Marissa—and documentary-style videos revealing the process and personalities behind the music.

Shaking Through: Faces on Film from Weathervane Music on Vimeo.

If you’re not familiar with Shaking Through, its a documentary series about bringing a song to life. Each year they give 10 of the most exciting young minds in music a challenge:

One Song in two days. From first take to final mix. No extensions. No Safety Net.

They want to tell you about the stories behind the songs, the techniques they used to produce it, and help us witness the sacred places where artists bare their souls. Every song, every take.

Faces On Film at Habitat House

faces on film

Here’s some great video from a recent intimate attic session at the Habitat House in San Diego, where 60 people crammed up the staircase for a beautiful performance by Boston native Mike Fiore (aka Faces On Film). Nada, of Friends With Both Arms, helped make this performance happen; a nice way of collaborating with one of her favorite artists who’s song “Friends With Both Arms” inspired the name of her blog. The track “Harlem Roses” comes from his most recent record Some Weather, take a listen at his bandcamp.

Faces on Film ♦ Harlem Roses from Brandon Tauszik on Vimeo.

The video was shot by Brandon Tauszik, here’s a couple words on how he put it together.

“I had the video edited and picture-locked, but I felt it was still lacking that something it would take for me to want to spend 4 internet minutes viewing it. So I tried a bunch of different ideas, effects, techniques, whatever. Nothing worked so I decided to bust out the VCR. Here’s the workflow:

Export video from Final Cut > burn DVD > play DVD into VCR and record to tape > play back tape on old tube TV > record playback on camera > import footage to Final Cut and overlay on original footage = KAZAM, a lo-fi, drowsy, spacey piece that is (ideally) a pleasure to view.”

Here’s how the original version sounds.

Why Its Been Slow Here

So I took a four day weekend. The reason for no post on friday, and one so late in the day today (monday) is I’ve been up to my eyeballs in an e-mail migration. Good news is, I’ve figured it all out (my e-mail is no longer bouncing) and I can get back on track with my posting.

One thing I’d like to mention today is to head to Friends With Both Arms for a Mixtape curated by Mike Fiore from Faces On Film. Together, two very reliable sources for good music.

Contest: Faces On Film

I’ve got 2 copies of Faces On Film‘s Seven Sisters EP that I’d like to give away. As you might have learned from my previous posts, Faces on Film are from Boston. All you have to do is send me an e-mail with the name of another band from that same city. I’ll put your name in a draw and contact the winner when the contest closes at 11:5p est, Thurs. Jan. 11th.

If you are in Toronto or Montreal going into this weekend, be sure to check out this band.

Thurs. Jan 11th – Main Hall (Montreal)

Friday, Jan 12th – Tiger Bar (Toronto), as part of She’s Got Standards

***other tourdates and songs can be found on the bands myspace page***

Again, here’s some new material from the band, set to appear on their record set to be release this summer. I’ll Sleep To Protect has a great Modest Mouse feel. Young Light belongs at the end of every live set.

Faces on Film

Archers and Famous Last Words

Thanks Mike for letting me know about these new tracks by Boston’s Faces On Film.

Working on a full length follow-up to their debut EP ‘Seven Sisters‘, the songs keep getting better. Maybe a little more chaos here and there, maybe a couple more hooks. Maybe its just me, but I can’t get enough of them.

Check out Archers and Famous Last Words. **If these links don’t work to download the tracks, you can stream them from their myspace page.

Faces On Film