The Return of the Thin White Duke
November 19, 2015 5:10 PM   Subscribe

David Bowie invites you to enjoy his new 10-minute video and single, "Blackstar" [SLYT]. Synopsis: Freak out in a moonage daydream, oh yeah.
posted by FelliniBlank (88 comments total) 30 users marked this as a favorite
 
I've been listening to Earthling lately and the percussion instantly felt at home with that album. Thanks!
posted by Radiophonic Oddity at 5:17 PM on November 19, 2015 [2 favorites]


Of course a Bowie video in 2015 is about a dead astronught moving across threatening goth space
posted by The Whelk at 5:20 PM on November 19, 2015 [16 favorites]


I'm just going to listen to Moonage Daydream two and a half times. Thanks, though.
posted by Sphinx at 5:25 PM on November 19, 2015 [3 favorites]


The video gives so very few fucks that it's clear Bowie is absolutely ready for his multi-episode guest spot in Hannibal Season 4.
posted by FelliniBlank at 5:30 PM on November 19, 2015 [11 favorites]


The use of the word "enjoy" in the FPP...well, I'm just not sure...

I can picture a lot of visceral responses to this, but if any of them enter into "enjoy" territory for you, you might want to consider a psych assessment....
posted by HuronBob at 5:33 PM on November 19, 2015 [2 favorites]


Where the fuck do you find a drum machine that can't play in time? On that planet I guess.
posted by w0mbat at 5:33 PM on November 19, 2015 [3 favorites]




I enjoyed it.


Granted, I didn't enjoy it in the way I enjoy music, but in the way I enjoy certain types of strange video art.
posted by Windigo at 5:36 PM on November 19, 2015 [3 favorites]


I quite seriously did not know David Bowie was still alive.
posted by the uncomplicated soups of my childhood at 5:38 PM on November 19, 2015


This is very... Kabalistic is the word that springs to mind. I need to watch it again to see if that's actually there but it's fairly intense. 1972 this is not.
posted by khaibit at 5:38 PM on November 19, 2015 [2 favorites]


Somehow the only thing I can think of is that we should all be so lucky that we reach a point where astronauts can die on some weird forsaken rock.
posted by aramaic at 5:48 PM on November 19, 2015


Well, I can say that I "enjoyed" this the way I'd enjoy any sort of modern pop experimental music. That is, if it twigs me the right way and I'm in the mood, I'll enjoy it. Though, I listen to all sorts of stuff. I'm not certain that makes me in need of psychological assistance, but whatever floats your boat.

I also enjoy seeing where Bowie goes with his stuff. Casting himself as a dystopian extra-terrestrial apocalyptic preacher seems apropos at this juncture.

The music reminds me a little of Eno/Fripp seen through the lens of Lanois, but I could not tell you why.

I might like this better than the last full-length release, which I never warmed up to.
posted by clvrmnky at 5:53 PM on November 19, 2015 [1 favorite]


I enjoy this! I like Bowie in that kind of Outside mode where it's like, there's definitely a clear story in his mind, but he's presenting it as some Burroughs cut-up of just the random story notes he scribbled on napkins when ideas hit him.
posted by jason_steakums at 5:56 PM on November 19, 2015 [8 favorites]


I dunno man Bowie's okay but he's no Milky Edwards.
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 6:00 PM on November 19, 2015 [8 favorites]


I dug this! It's a nice synthesis of his Scott Walker fanboy mode and his pop star mode (though even that element, despite all the glossy surface and funky beat, is undercut by some sick dissonances).

[I am also annoyed that one early "no one can actually enjoy this" comment seems to be forcing all positive comments to be a reaction to it. Just ignore it.]
posted by dfan at 6:01 PM on November 19, 2015 [15 favorites]


I dunno man Bowie's okay but he's no Milky Edwards

I'm really surprised nothing more came of this - it's clearly a modern project and not some lost album, and usually with this kind of thing there's some reveal of who did it eventually. This was just three songs released a few years ago and then nothing.
posted by jason_steakums at 6:07 PM on November 19, 2015


aramaic: "Somehow the only thing I can think of is that we should all be so lucky that we reach a point where astronauts can die on some weird forsaken rock."

All of them do if you think about it, baby.
posted by boo_radley at 6:07 PM on November 19, 2015 [13 favorites]


Button-eyed Bowie is awesome.
posted by paper chromatographologist at 6:09 PM on November 19, 2015 [4 favorites]


I like it. It sounds like David Bowie. When you're 68 years old, and a god damn god among rock musicians, you can do whatever the hell you want, even make a 10 minute experimental rock piece that incorporates a break where you get to do your best lounge singer impression.

And Bowie not only did that, but it's good. I'm excited for the new album. I also loved The Next Day. So good.
posted by SansPoint at 6:10 PM on November 19, 2015 [19 favorites]


This was great, thanks for posting it! Absolutely seconding the comment that this is mix of popstar and late-Scott-Walker Bowie (especially Walkerish production). The drums are phenomenal, particularly on the first section. Love the harmonies that emerge from the out-of-key backing vocals too.

Just wish the video made any sense to me at all.
posted by Dysk at 6:10 PM on November 19, 2015 [1 favorite]


I dug it.

Anyone else getting a Muad'dib (as the Preacher) vibe off the blind folded space apostle situation in the first half?
posted by soren_lorensen at 6:11 PM on November 19, 2015


The "short movie" is directed by Johan Renck I think, who has done a lot of TV. Interesting TV, for sure, but TV. And this track is also used in one of Renck's TV shows I've never heard of, "The Last Panthers".

In true Bowie form, there is a lot of pop media intersectionality going on here.

I am having trouble not buying this on vinyl. I'm sort of broke though, and on a record hiatus.
posted by clvrmnky at 6:13 PM on November 19, 2015 [1 favorite]


People keep mentioning Scott Walker. It would not surprise me that Bowie is a fan, but have they worked together? I mean, sure I could JFGI, but really, where's the fun in that?

My best exposure to Walker is that drone metal thing he did with Sunn, which is actually scary. I played it on Hallowe'en to scare the kids that came to the door, and it worked.
posted by clvrmnky at 6:14 PM on November 19, 2015 [1 favorite]


I was not aware that Scott Walker was also a musician's name, and this thread baffled me for a bit. I was briefly afraid he'd gone mad with fame and come over all Objectivist.
posted by Countess Elena at 6:18 PM on November 19, 2015 [17 favorites]


Don't think Walker and Bowie worked together, but I have seen interviews with Bowie talking very admiringly about the impact of Walker's 90s albums, and saying they had a huge impact on his subsequent work.
posted by Dysk at 6:19 PM on November 19, 2015 [1 favorite]


Scott Walker primer.....
posted by Damienmce at 6:20 PM on November 19, 2015 [2 favorites]


I loved the video. Was expecting some tails to pop out of the women's butts, and it didn't happen. David Bowie always keeps ya guessin!
posted by oceanjesse at 6:22 PM on November 19, 2015


(Also if you're a fan of later Bowie and don't know Scott Walker, you owe it to yourself to go listen to Tilt and maybe The Drift.)
posted by Dysk at 6:23 PM on November 19, 2015 [6 favorites]


Also Scotts 1 through 4, and maybe some Jacques Brel, too.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 6:30 PM on November 19, 2015 [2 favorites]


Best Scott Walker is obviously Tilt (Brian Eno's one-year memoir had something about the DAT recordings bringing him and Bowie to tears). But Climate of Hunter is second. And best single song is Nite Flights.
posted by paper chromatographologist at 6:36 PM on November 19, 2015


and maybe some Jacques Brel, too

The Bowie cover of Brel's "Amsterdam" from Bowie at the Beeb is the best Brel cover.
posted by jason_steakums at 6:36 PM on November 19, 2015 [1 favorite]


I was not aware that Scott Walker was also a musician's name, and this thread baffled me for a bit. I was briefly afraid he'd gone mad with fame and come over all Objectivist.

I have the opposite reaction whenever you guys are talking about how much you hate Scott Walker. I'm like 'but he's a musical genius!'.

Also, Bowie was a Brel fan, right? Walker certainly was as well, back in his earlier days. [On preview: TheWhiteSkull beat me to it]
posted by Pink Frost at 6:36 PM on November 19, 2015 [3 favorites]


The musical Scotts confuse me. I think I like Scott 4, the person or band, and somehow that is related to Scott Walker, perhaps an album called Scott 4. And they are nothing alike, really.

It's like a record/artist rebus.

Anyway, because I'm broke and cannot purchase albums, there's this 13 LP box set taunting me.
posted by clvrmnky at 6:43 PM on November 19, 2015


Strange is the night where black stars rise,
And strange moons circle through the skies,
But stranger still is
Lost Carcosa.



I would say this video drove me mad, but really I have been mad for a very long time. Only now do I truly understand.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 6:55 PM on November 19, 2015 [8 favorites]


I am very much enjoying this. It reminds me of Aphex Twin.
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 6:57 PM on November 19, 2015


Scott 4 is Scott Walker's fifth album, because that's not confusing, and it was originally released without the name Scott Walker on it, because that makes it even clearer what's going on.
posted by Dysk at 6:57 PM on November 19, 2015


I've been holding off on watching this video until just now (that my boyfriend's off work and could watch it with me). Understand that this was not an easy thing for me to do. I'm a Bowie freak. I may have trembled a bit as I called it up for us to watch.

Loved every second of the music and the video. Loved, loved, loved. Bowie's giving himself license to be weird as hell again and I heartily approve.

There were rumors that he was working with a new set of (jazz) musicians, and if that bears out on the whole album I'll miss the vets like Earl Slick, Sterling Campbell and (most of all) Gail Ann Dorsey, but I'm so glad to hear it. I loved the last three albums but there was definitely a template forming as far as what a latter-day Bowie song was going to sound like.

God, the middle part. I'm so excited to hear the full album.

This may have been mentioned previously on the blue, but if you're a Bowie fan and haven't visited Pushing Ahead of the Dame, you owe it to yourself to check it out. A survey of every single Bowie song, in rough chronological order. Exhaustively researched, enlightening, and entertaining as hell.
posted by kryptondog at 7:04 PM on November 19, 2015 [11 favorites]


Raise your hand if you got your baby to sleep by singing Starman about abillionty times today. 🙋🏼
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 7:13 PM on November 19, 2015 [10 favorites]


I wish I didn't know this was Bowie. I alternated between thinking it was good and thinking it was boring like 20 times. I'll never know.
posted by latkes at 7:16 PM on November 19, 2015 [1 favorite]


The astronaut's skull had interesting, possibly feminine jewelry. The quivering dance metaphor in the attic, and grinding, crucified scarecrows, whoa! I need a big screen to take it all in. The women caressing the earth. Lots 'o stuff to make a sense of. I found it strangely organic. You have to wonder what those scarecrows scare away. How big are they? And then you suppose they all rose from that astronauts dust? In Star we trust.
posted by Oyéah at 7:17 PM on November 19, 2015 [1 favorite]


David has always been pushing self-parody in his image throughout his career. I really felt strongly about his fascinating masks back in the old days. Now it just looks like an image of an old image, but nothing wrong with that.


I was really obsessed with Scott 3. It was the delicately balanced phase of his perfect expressionism to me.
posted by ovvl at 7:23 PM on November 19, 2015


I liked the music. The video… isn't to my taste.
posted by ob1quixote at 7:30 PM on November 19, 2015


The imagery reminds me of Spoek Mathambo.
posted by aramaic at 7:49 PM on November 19, 2015 [1 favorite]


If you want to read about Scott Walker through a Bowie prism you must read this - Night Flights. It's long and full of links and it's comprehensively insightful.
The songwriter Lesley Duncan had dated Walker and later briefly took up with Bowie, and Bowie found the latter’s records in her flat on Redington Road. Bowie was irritated at first, Walker seeming to mock him with his glamorous brooding Philips LP covers, but when he finally played the records he was entranced.
Just ignore the last paragraph.
posted by unliteral at 7:51 PM on November 19, 2015 [1 favorite]


The astronaut's skull had interesting, possibly feminine jewelry.


That's my cousin, TheJeweledSkull. He didn't want me to make a big thing of it, but I think that it's awesome that he got to work with Bowie.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 8:06 PM on November 19, 2015 [22 favorites]


computech_apolloniajames: "I am very much enjoying this. It reminds me of Aphex Twin."

My comment on FB when posting was "Casting Call: People who know how to dance to Bucephalus Bouncing Ball mix".

The drums reminds me of some NIN stuff. I honestly wasn't too keen on the middle stuff, but I get it, and it's not ... bad, but that first bit is killer and the ending is pretty ace, too. The middle part serves as a decent bridge, and hell - I can't critique, I suck when it comes to composing a coherent track, let alone with three basic movements, so. And it's still good, just... not quite my sound.

And this rhythm is not off of time. Syncopated? Sure, but it's "in time".
posted by symbioid at 8:07 PM on November 19, 2015 [9 favorites]


Also - The Moon reference with the smiley face on the astronaut? I mean, come on!

Also - I'm not the only one who keeps hearing "In the bitter of almonds..."
posted by symbioid at 8:08 PM on November 19, 2015 [2 favorites]


Finally - the bejeweled skull, well I think that's a bit of a nod to these skeletons.
posted by symbioid at 8:10 PM on November 19, 2015 [2 favorites]


Call Dr Morpheus, the Guild of Calamitous Intent has transported the Sovereign to a hellish dimension!
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 8:26 PM on November 19, 2015 [7 favorites]


Weird Al, the ball is in your court.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 8:26 PM on November 19, 2015 [13 favorites]


Call Dr Morpheus, the Guild of Calamitous Intent has transported the Sovereign to a hellish dimension!

I was just thinking, Marvel should drop what they're doing and get this version of Bowie in their Doctor Strange movie. Benny Cummerbund's Strange has his accident and mopes and seeks out the Ancient One and finds this guy.
posted by jason_steakums at 8:33 PM on November 19, 2015 [3 favorites]


That was The Prestige, Jason.
posted by rokusan at 8:40 PM on November 19, 2015 [4 favorites]


The Prestige was a very different Bowie, though.
posted by jason_steakums at 8:42 PM on November 19, 2015


WHO TURNED OUT THE LIGHTS?
posted by comealongpole at 8:59 PM on November 19, 2015 [1 favorite]


I was just thinking, Marvel should drop what they're doing and get this version of Bowie in their Doctor Strange movie. Benny Cummerbund's Strange has his accident and mopes and seeks out the Ancient One and finds this guy.

Who says they didn't?
posted by Strange Interlude at 9:06 PM on November 19, 2015 [4 favorites]


Prospero in Penge
posted by fallingbadgers at 10:32 PM on November 19, 2015


I played it on Hallowe'en to scare the kids that came to the door, and it worked.
haha, you are a bad person and I wish I was your neighbor.

I was surprised that I liked the music. Bowie has had such disappointing low points that I almost forgot how to properly worship him like I once did.

Finally - the bejeweled skull, well I think that's a bit of a nod to these skeletons. My first thought as well. Hard to forget a bejewelled skull.
posted by GospelofWesleyWillis at 10:47 PM on November 19, 2015 [1 favorite]


The Prestige was a very different Bowie, though.
Bowie's entrance in The Prestige is how I picture him walking into every room ever.
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 12:05 AM on November 20, 2015 [11 favorites]


It was new and interesting, in a non-commercial, artistic kind of way... but as much as I found the video well done, I would've been far more excited if Bowie did the full Jodorowsky.
posted by markkraft at 1:54 AM on November 20, 2015


Also, Bowie was a Brel fan, right? Yes. Somewhere in one of these boxes is a rare EP of Bowie doing Brel covers.
posted by Mr. Yuck at 2:24 AM on November 20, 2015 [1 favorite]


I am so fucking into this. But then I imprinted on Bowie young and would basically follow him to the ends of the earth, so I am not unbiased here.
posted by Stacey at 3:30 AM on November 20, 2015 [3 favorites]


I don't know, man. It's not Cobbler Bob....

(I kid, I kid. It is freaky awesome)
posted by Katemonkey at 4:22 AM on November 20, 2015


"He was very, very loud -- or rather, the tape to which he was miming was very loud .... Even by the standards of the time he had the volume cranked up painfully high .... I suspect everything in the 1969 mime act was rehearsed carefully. What was startling, above all, was not the act, but the benign and unquestioning acceptance verging on stoned indifference with which it was accepted. Today no rock act that wanted to go anywhere would abruptly switch medium for a particular tour and expect the audience to just go along with it." -- Geoff Ward, on Bowie's appearance at the Manchester Free Trade Hall on 22 February 1969 [source]
posted by blucevalo at 5:29 AM on November 20, 2015 [1 favorite]


Raise your hand if you got your baby to sleep by singing Starman about abillionty times today. 🙋🏼

No, but I sing it to my dog all the time with the lyrics changed to "Starpup"
posted by Windigo at 5:29 AM on November 20, 2015 [5 favorites]


A curious case of synchronicity is that I'm reading the lovecraftian/apocalyptic horror western Six-Gun Tarot by Belcher as my lunch book, and I have a sudden desire to have both Bowie and Waits together in a weird west movie.
posted by CBrachyrhynchos at 6:22 AM on November 20, 2015 [4 favorites]


I saw a David Torn lecture/demo/concert a few months ago. Torn has been a Bowie collaborator for about 12 years, and, I assume, will be all over a "weird" Bowie album. He told us that about 5 minutes after meeting Bowie and beginning to work with him, he could tell that Bowie was a genius. Since Torn himself seemed to be one of the smartest people I have ever talked with, that impressed me.
posted by thelonius at 6:24 AM on November 20, 2015 [1 favorite]


Where the fuck do you find a drum machine that can't play in time? On that planet I guess.

It's totally in time, mechanically so. Just has some great and very weird syncopation in the beats.
posted by chimaera at 8:46 AM on November 20, 2015 [3 favorites]


There are elements of the video production that remind me a lot of some classic dialogue-free Heavy Metal stories (Moebius?), although stories is possibly not the right word. They were surreal sequences fraught with implied tension and mystery, and the discovery of the jewel-encrusted skull within the spacesuit with the smiley face struck me as in that mode of ironic surrealism.
posted by CBrachyrhynchos at 9:13 AM on November 20, 2015 [1 favorite]


No, but I sing it to my dog all the time with the lyrics changed to "Starpup"

OMG, I can't wait to get home to the dog tonight.
posted by maurice at 9:13 AM on November 20, 2015 [4 favorites]


I liked it! The music was kind of trancey, but in a good way, and now I want there to officially be a dance called the ★ where everyone stands in a circle with their legs a bit more than shoulder width apart and just trembles. Also, something tells me that I should look into this Scott "Not the Asshole Politician" Walker fellow.
posted by Halloween Jack at 9:30 AM on November 20, 2015 [2 favorites]


It took me a while to figure out what this put me in mind of, and what it put me in mind of was Angel Heart.
posted by lagomorphius at 9:47 AM on November 20, 2015 [2 favorites]


Weird Al, the ball is in your court.

Trackstar? An Adidas headband with two tennis balls glued to it?
posted by Beardman at 10:24 AM on November 20, 2015 [4 favorites]


I believe khaibit's observation is spot on, it shows a golden dawn ritual iirc.
posted by Radiophonic Oddity at 1:38 PM on November 20, 2015


Wow. That was great. That's easily the best thing I've heard from Bowie in years.
posted by Thorzdad at 2:29 PM on November 20, 2015


On watching for the sixth time I'm not endeared of my claim that it's a g.d. ritual, though I still agree the video has kabbalah/tarot elements.

I eagerly await this new album by the Sovereign and feel I will rank this among my favorite longer pieces by Bowie.
posted by Radiophonic Oddity at 4:01 PM on November 20, 2015


This was amazing and beautiful and strange. I am now really excited for the new album.
posted by bile and syntax at 5:35 PM on November 20, 2015


David Bowie invites you to enjoy his new 10-minute video and single, "Blackstar"

Wait a minute...is this the next piece of the This Is My Milwaukee ARG?
posted by Strange Interlude at 7:53 PM on November 20, 2015 [4 favorites]


Directed by this guy?

Blackstar has EVERYTHING.
Space Skeletons, Dust Queefing, Crucifdgeting....

What's Crucufidgeting, Stefon?
Oh that's that thing of when you take a lot of speed and also ketamine and get tied to a cross.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 8:29 PM on November 20, 2015 [6 favorites]


I was so enraptured by the drumming in the first section of the song so I Googled and learned Mark Guiliana is the drummer, which so exciting enough on its own but also every session musician is a jazz musician - so interesting and now I can't wait to hear the rest of the album.
posted by eustacescrubb at 1:24 PM on November 22, 2015 [1 favorite]


Bowie's new album is coming out on his birthday.

He seems to like doing that kind of thing. He did stuff involving his birthday last time around, too.
posted by hippybear at 4:36 PM on November 22, 2015


I just can't express how happy I am that Bowie is still being active and creative and seems to be as interested in exploring the vital edges as he always has been. It's exciting to have him still around. I loved his previous album, and look forward to this one.
posted by hippybear at 4:45 PM on November 22, 2015 [1 favorite]


Rolling Stone has an article today about the making of the album with some cool interview info from Donny McCaslin and Mark Giuliana about how they got involved, working with Bowie, etc.
posted by FelliniBlank at 9:47 PM on November 23, 2015 [1 favorite]


The video plucked too many referential strings for me to take in fully (did anyone else get a Pina Bausch/Mighty Boosh situation unfolding?) but I can't stop listening to the song. The production is gorgeous, it's like sitting in a dark room with shafts of light skittering in 3d then some flame-flecked film reel kicks in and lounge Bowie just nails it in the mid-section. At the centre if it all indeed. I'm thoroughly seduced.
posted by freya_lamb at 1:51 AM on November 28, 2015 [3 favorites]


New and yet totally recycled. That is the dance from Fashion (at about 0:40 - 0:42), just twitchier to keep with our twitchier times, and with more commitment and conviction. He's been building up to this.
posted by Meatbomb at 2:24 AM on November 28, 2015


On further viewing - the guy at 1:31 does it better and longer.
posted by Meatbomb at 2:26 AM on November 28, 2015


With Bowie having so many years of self-reference to mine and mold into new things I still just really, REALLY want James Murphy to produce an album for him, just once, after the extended Berlin-era Bowie/Iggy reference that was This Is Happening. They were on each others' periphery for a while, both working on the last Arcade Fire album and Murphy doing a Bowie remix and I was sure it was coming... hopefully it does one day.
posted by jason_steakums at 8:33 PM on November 28, 2015


And of course I went and googled after that comment and oh dang it almost was a reality on this album!
posted by jason_steakums at 8:36 PM on November 28, 2015


Over the past several years I've been trying to plug the gaps in my knowledge of pop music, and even though I knew plenty of Bowie songs (dozens), I'd never listened to any of his albums straight through, so I went through his entire catalog, odd side projects and all. And here's what I came up with: despite having gone beyond simple fame and into the realm of the iconic, and despite a wildly uneven creative trajectory that has resulted in plenty of failed experiments, David Bowie is still, impossible as it may seem, critically under-rated.
posted by Ipsifendus at 9:27 AM on December 6, 2015 [5 favorites]


« Older One Taco Bell, To Go   |   Suspension Bridges of Disbelief Newer »


This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments