John Vanderslice – NPR Music Video Premiere

John Vanderslice‘s Dagger Beach was recorded in his own Tiny Telephone studio located in the heart of San Francisco’s Mission District. Therefore, it is only fitting that the music video for one of the album’s highlight tracks, “How The West Was Won”, showcases said studio. The video’s director, Jake Wachtel, describes Tiny Telephone as “an awesome, inspiring place to make music”. As the video captures the essence of the analog recording process, as well as the camaraderie amongst its artist and staff, it becomes obvious that Wachtel‘s sentiments are spot on. Flipping between shots of John Vanderslice performing the song and snippets of the studio’s daily ins and outs, the music video is “a little glimpse into all the crazy behind the scenes work that goes into making a record — hooking innumerable cables into the patch bay, fixing the synth right before the session started, swabbing the tape machine with a q-tip, trekking out into the Mission District to refuel with abundant burritos, hanging out in the control room and dissecting the philosophical underpinnings of Karate Kid.” The track pairs well with the hands on aesthetic of the studio, as it brings to light all the beautiful oddities that only analog recording can bring to Vanderslice‘s music. Check out the video for “How The West Was Won” and the NPR article here.