Department of Eagles' New Music Video Premieres at PopRally

Last night I attended my first ever music video premiere, and think that I would definitely attend another! It's always nice when music videos get their proper due, and that certainly happened last night at PopRally (the MoMA's younger, cooler cousin)'s premiere event for the new Department of Eagles video "No One Does It Like You," directed by Patrick Daughters and Marcel Dzama, and featuring Dzama-designed costumes and sets. The evening began with a bevy of be-banged, be-bearded and be-blazered types sipping beer and bottled water in the lobby of the MoMA theater. After the merry-making, we were escorted into the packed theater and the video started rolling. Featuring Dzama's signature creepy and beautiful creations (scary masked soldiers, amputees, cartoony ghosts) and a choreographed dance/battle of the sexes (just watch it), the whole thing was eerie and mesmerizing and added a whole other dimension to a song that last I heard on an episode of Gossip Girl. There was also something a little Feist's "1,2,3,4" about it, which makes sense as Daughters also directed that video.

The screening was followed by a Q&A with Dzama, various others involved in the making of the video, and Daughters via telephone. Dzama revealed that initially they wanted to use children actors instead of adult ones, but apparently children are too expensive! Everyone was appropriately mumbly, save for Daughters who was sputtering some real nonsense in a fake-sounding French accent. Turns out it wasn't Daughters speaking at all, but Spike Jonze! I know because I was sitting next to him. And my friend asked. Nice guy, Spike.

Lest we forgot that a band was actually involved in any of this (and it was kind of easy to, considering Department of Eagles did not appear at all in the video) Daniel Rossen and co. took to the stage for an enjoyable and rather staid set (a stark contrast, Rossen said, to their recent show at SXSW, held in a crowded barbecue joint filled with 300 drunk people.)

Mumble on!