Graylyn Roose May 19th, 2014 - 9:14 PM
Sonic Youth’s Lee Ranaldo and his band The Dust have released a 13-minute short film based on their song “Blackt Out”. The video takes the viewer on a journey back to another era and is artfully done in black and white.
The short film for “Blackt Out” takes the viewer back to 1960’s “Factory-era” Manhattan and channels a little Andy Warhol. It’s meant to look like images of The Velvet Underground rehearsing music at The Factory, performing around town and also features content that looks like Warhol’s screen tests of the era. It’s a film created by Fred Riedel and features famous filmmaker Ken Jacobs in the role of The Projectionist, according to Ranaldo. The film and music video was filmed in a few different locations around the city, including Sonic Youth’s Hoboken studio and at shows in Brooklyn and in Manhattan. The video seems to play as a kind of tribute to Lou Reed; Ranaldo says he was very affected by The Velvet Underground singer’s passing and the video is unmistakably channeling the feel of the classic band.
The concept is interesting, but according to Ranaldo, the story behind the track is just as fascinating. Ranaldo says most of it was written during the time that Hurricane Sandy hit the East Coast in the fall of 2012. Saying that there wasn’t much to do except write by candlelight, Ranaldo says the track came about through experimentation with guitar patterns.
“Blackt Out” is a track off of Lee Ranaldo and The Dust’s latest album, 2013’s Last Night On Earth.
