A series of animated visualizers enrich the Worry (Remixes) EP; Featuring work by Cassie Shao (From left: Panels 1-3) and Jamie Griffiths (Panel 4).
Animated visualizers by Cassie Shao and Jamie Griffiths pair with remixes by Charlie Scovill, Joe Berry and Deap Sleap to enrich the listening experience of Worry (Remixes).
Read MoreAcclaimed vocalist and a capella arranger Tehillah Alphonso describes her creative process writing & performing background vocals for "Worry" by Maggie Dave. Celebrated for her vivid vocal harmonies and ingenious blend of pop, jazz and gospel melodies, Alphonso has performed at Carnegie Hall as a part of the 2015 Honors Performance Series Choir and in the New World Center in Miami as a 2016 YoungArts Popular Voice finalist. Before graduating from the USC Thornton School of Music, Alphonso served as a member, arranger, and co-director for USC’s premiere a cappella group and four-time ICCA champions, the SoCal VoCals.
Maggie Dave - Worry (Visualizer) animated by Cassie Shao
One of the premiere curated galleries of motion graphics on the web, GoodMoves.tv recently featured Cassie Shao’s visualizer for “Worry.” Her signature style, hand-painted 2-D illustrations that warp and ripple with dreamlike lucidity, continues to be celebrated by the creative press and further establishes her artistry as a formidable presence in the animation industry.
Anima Fest Gdańsk - International Animation Film Festival: Streaming online - Dec. 27-30th, 2020
Celebrating the best in animation from around the world, Anima Fest Gdańsk - International Animation Film Festival will stream their event online this year for audiences in Poland. A diverse program featuring shorts (experimental & narrative), feature films and more, “Maggie Dave - I’m Not Ready” (Dir. Cassie Shao) will compete in the International Music Video Competition alongside offerings from France, Spain, Brazil & China, among others.
“Maggie Dave - I’m Not Ready” (Dir. Cassie Shao)
Sean David Christensen in conversation with the Portland Film Festival; October 16th, 2020.
Earlier this year, Maggie Dave lead singer/songwriter Sean David Christensen sat down for a virtual conversation with the Portland Film Festival. Discussing the making of “I’m Not Ready,” the acclaimed music video created by Cassie Shao, Sean described their collaboration and Shao’s distinctive visual style that defined this memorable work.
Maggie Dave animation director Cassie Shao lends her visionary artistry to the latest music video for Beijing-based indie rock trio, Hedgehog.
From NOWNESS Asia : “Inspired by life in quarantine in a cheap hotel in Shanghai, ‘Bat’ envisions a future in which adults are prisoners of children, who are kept in small rooms and perform repetitive tasks day after day, such as repairing and making toys for children.”
"I really like this simple, direct and beautiful way of expression,” says director Haonan Wang. “At that time, the aesthetics were very rich, with colors and exaggerated images everywhere; Not stingy, very dynamic, and very different from the current pursuit of flatness and grayscale. I think it’s fun to present this story in this format."
Production: Round2Film / Director: Haonan Wang / Writer: Haonan Wang, Heran Wang / Producer: Jinming Zhong / Cast: Naughty Xiao / Production Designer: Luyue Meng / Director of Cinematographer: Wenqiang He / Gaffer: Zhengfei Wang / Stylist: Luyue Meng / Wardrobe: Luyue Meng, Huizhen Zhong / Editor: Haonan Wang, Minxing Liao / Director of Animation: Cassie Shao / Director of Puppetry: HIKARU / Colourist: David Rivero Martin (Digital Domain Ltd) / VFX Artist: Pengfei Dang
The million dollar neighborhood isn't so much a place as it is a temperament. With the right lens, you can see it anywhere and everywhere. Here is our attempt to sonically describe that state of mind.
Maggie Dave collaborators Magdalena Daniec (keyboards) and Adam Grab (bass guitar) have excavated this funky gem of a song with their band, Joy Guerrilla. Oozing with vintage charm complimented with stacks of horns and flutey synths, “Million Dollar Neighborhood” is joy to listen to and a perfect walking companion song for any neighborhood!
"The million dollar neighborhood isn't so much a place as it is a temperament. With the right lens, you can see it anywhere and everywhere. Here is our attempt to sonically describe that state of mind. Recorded (almost) entirely analog in our apartment, we hope this will elicit the paradoxical feelings of morose-filled hyper-stimulation, chipper-agitation, and promise-with-a-backdrop-of-chaos that are part and parcel of the place. Ultimately, you should feel like a million bucks." -Joy Guerrilla
Written, arranged, and produced by Magdalena Daniec and Adam Grab / Associate produced by Julian Nicholson / With: Magdalena Daniec - keys / Adam Grab - bass, percussion, synth / Tim Aristil - drums, percussion / Elijah Zhang - guitar / Les Lovitt - trumpet / John Grab - trombone / Doug Webb - sax
Recorded at our apartment in Los Angeles, CA / Horns and guitar recorded at Route 2 Studios in Glassell Park / Engineering by Zak Mouton / Mixing by Julian Nicholson and Adam Grab / Mixing assistance from Brian Starley at Bergatron Music and Saif Bari at Fixed Mastering / Mastered by Saif Bari at Fixed Mastering in Los Angeles, CA / Album artwork by Adam Grab / Art Direction by Saddiq Abbubakar
2020 Sweaty Eyeballs Animation Festival - Official Instagram promo
Cassie Shao’s music video for “I’m Not Ready” will be screening alongside some of the most adventurous and boundary-pushing animated films from around the world at the 2020 Sweaty Eyeballs Animation Festival - held online from October 23rd to 30th. Featuring award-winning and celebrated music videos, experimental & narrative work, we’re proud to be a part of this show!
Excerpt from the program “International Block 2”
From the festival: "Since 2012, Sweaty Eyeballs has carried the torch of the animation scene in the Mid-Atlantic with independent programming & special events. Now in our 9th year, we have partnered with our longtime friends at the Maryland Film Festival to launch our 2nd international festival of animation. The festival will take place October 23-30, 2020. Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic the festival will be held online in 2020. The festival will open with six original animated music videos set to music by six Baltimore area bands, an international competition of 80 animated shorts, a Baltimore showcase, and remote animator studio tours."
Maggie Dave’s Sean David Christensen, at the world premiere of “I’m Not Ready” at the Hammer Museum - November 13th, 2019. (Photographed by Brian Feinzimer)
Sean David Christensen’s latest interview with Shoutout LA. The lead singer of Maggie Dave shares his thoughts on collaborative harmony, songwriting, and the importance of supporting your artist friends:
“I choose to see success through the lens of collaborative harmony, particularly with my career as an artist & producer. Any claim I can make to my ‘success,’ is owed to the trust given to me by the remarkable individuals I’ve had the honor of collaborating with over the years. By emerging together from the creative process with a bold statement, be it a film, song or show, if I’m able to amplify the unique strengths of all those involved while creating something singular and memorable – we’ve accomplished something truly special. You can’t do that on your own.”
Tiffany Le is the artist behind the 36th Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival’s key art. Featured in her digital illustration is a contemplative silhouette, being carried forward to the future by the waves. It represents a positive perspective during these difficult and fluctuating times.
Cassie Shao's visionary music video for "I'm Not Ready" is announced as part of the 36th Annual Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival! The largest festival of its kind in Southern California, LAAPFF is an Oscar-qualifying film festival for the Short Film Awards, and features an exciting lineup of productions by Asian American & Pacific Islander artists from across the globe. Thank you to Visual Communications for their amplification of Cassie's work and the more than 225 filmmakers celebrated across five weekends (Sept. 24 - Oct. 31) for this special online event!
Cassie Shao animates for Sam Fischer’s “I Got to Live,” directed by friend-of-the-band Kimberly Stuckwisch. Shao’s dreamy visuals ascend upwards, beautifully paired with the song’s elegiac recollections of a life lived to its fullest, with all of the imperfections worth remembering.
Sam Fischer - I Got to Live (Dir: Kimberly Stuckwisch; Animation - Cassie Shao)
"Closer to Blue" by Astronaut Ice Cream. Written and performed by Astronaut Ice Cream. Recorded by Kirt Lind at Sizeable Diamond Studios. Mixed and Mastered by Kirt Lind. Animation by Sean David Christensen.
While Maggie Dave collaborates with world class animators from around the globe, lead singer Sean David Christensen is also known to dabble in the craft. Here is SDC describing his creative process behind the official music video for "Closer to Blue" by Astronaut Ice Cream:
"This was my first attempt at rotoscoping, a process of hand-tracing or coloring frames of film (in this case, digital photographs) to create a mimesis of human movement with realistic action. 16 individual drawings of singer Heather Marie Ellison's face were sequenced in a loop to create this dizzying effect, one that complimented the swirling nature of the synthesizers in the song. As inspiration, I recalled these animated Mickey Mouse outlines that would slowly rotate at the beginning of all Disney VHS tapes from the early 80s. Strange how those childhood memories find their way back to the surface!
Maggie Dave - I’m Not Ready, animated by Cassie Shao
Maggie Dave - I’m Not Ready (Dir: Cassie Shao) at LINOLEUM Contemporary Animation and Media Art Festival
Cassie Shao’s brilliant music video for “I’m Not Ready” was announced on two lauded festival lineups this week. At the LINOLEUM Contemporary Animation and Media Art Festival, Shao’s work will make its Ukrainian premiere alongside 26 other international offerings in the “Commissioned Film Competition.” At the “Sundance of the Sierras,” the Nevada City Film Festival will host the music video in their innovative online program, complete with filmmaker Q&As.
From Program 1: Face On, clockwise from upper-left: Raman Djafari & Daniel Almagor with Lucky Chops – Traveler, Russ Etheridge with Armstrong, Jack Maschka with Seed Supreme and Cassie Shao with Maggie Dave - I'm Not Ready.
Very proud of our friend Cassie Shao today, whose work was announced alongside 77 cutting-edge international animated shorts at 2020 Pictoplasma in-Isolation. Her music video for “I'm Not Ready” is a stunning addition to this vanguard of innovative and visionary work presented this year. Bravo, Cassie! This year at Pictoplasma, the festival boasts "4 thematic programs full of psychedelic eye candy, virtual popcorn and ingenious storytelling—with many of the international filmmakers staying awake in their respective time-zones to meet you for live behind-the-scenes chats and realtime interaction." It's such an honor for us to be counted among these visionary artists, each joining together from isolation to celebrate the art of animation and character design.
About: Pictoplasma is the world’s leading platform for contemporary character design and art. The project pushes forward interdisciplinary discussion, development and promotion of a new breed of visual vocabulary—from illustration to animation, game to interactive design, urban to graphic arts.
“Making and Eating Perfect Scrambled Eggs,” a Spotify playlist by Mark Christopher of Maggie Dave, features an eclectic mix of artists to groove to in the kitchen. Inspired by Mark’s time as a college radio DJ, this playlist hearkens back to his days of creating shows based on conceptual or irreverent themes.
2020 Festival Poster; Designed by Jean-Charles Mbotti Malolo and Simon Roussin – director and illustrator, respectively, of the animated short Make it Soul.
Cassie Shao, director and animator of Maggie Dave - I’m Not Ready, joins the prestigious Annecy International Animated Film Festival this week with her brilliant experimental short There Were Four of Us. Competing in the “Graduation Short Films” category, hers is one of only 44 international works selected for awards contention.
“guaranteed bangers” every Sunday from Dan Croll.
Listen to Dan Croll: Special Delivery now on Spotify! A masterfully curated collection of songs by the acclaimed singer/songwriter, we had the pleasure of recently being included on this Spotify playlist. Refreshed every Sunday, we hope you’ll welcome his eclectic mix of contemporary classics (not a self-serving compliment) into your music rotation!
Cassie Shao’s Maggie Dave - I’m Not Ready makes the front page of Fest Anča International Animation Festival - 2020 Official Selection Program!
What a surprise to discover this week that not only will I'm Not Ready be competing for the "Music Video Award" at the 2020 Fest Anča International Animation Festival, but we made the front page as well! Created by the visionary animator Cassie Shao, our video will join nearly 300 works from 65 countries in this international celebration of groundbreaking animation. Shao's critically-acclaimed There Were Four of Us is also in competition for the "Anca Student Award." Way to go, Cassie! It's great to see so many other animators we love on the lineup as well, including Joao Gonzalez and his nervous meditation on obsession and isolation, Nestor.
"The official selection of Fest Anča’s 13th edition embraces diversity, offers films from renowned as well as up-and-coming creatives, large Slovak film sections, and the very latest animation trends...The international competitive program comprises a selection of stand-out animated films completed in the last two years, highlighting short films, music videos, and non-competitive screening sections." A unique event with so much breadth of programming, we can't wait to take part later this fall (fingers crossed)!
Design by Nisiqi
I'm Not Ready by Cassie Shao joins The Academy Award-qualifying animation program at the 47th Athens International Film + Video Festival this Fall! Championing the vanguard of experimental filmmaking for nearly five decades, AIF+VF is one of our favorite festivals, and we're thrilled that Cassie's vision can join their legacy of bold programming. This year, 2,200 films were submitted to the competition. From these; 235 films from 41 countries were chosen to screen in 2020. What an honor!
Maggie Dave percussionist & drummer Ian Wurfl shakes his unique creation, “the fruit bar,” proudly above his head at Harbor Party, a celebration of yacht rock’s greatest hits. A homemade instrument composed of more than a dozen plastic fruit and vegetable shakers mounted inside a plank of wood, this one-of-a-kind contraption debuted at the Lodge Room in Los Angeles, January 12th, 2020.
“I think it relates to my approach to percussion on multiple levels,” says Maggie Dave drummer Ian Wurfl, “the first being the importance of fun and silliness. I take music very seriously, but it's creations like these that remind me that patrons of pop music are looking to be entertained and have a good time.”
To the delight of the audience, Ian debuted his unique creation, the “fruit bar,” at Harbor Party’s rollicking tribute to yacht rock. Dancing in the crowd, I reflected on the joy of collaborating with an artist like Ian, whose innovative and carefree approach to rhythm and his role as a percussionist energizes our music with unexpected glee. A craftsman with consummate precision behind the drums, Ian isn’t afraid to “shake things up” from time to time: “I was inspired to make it [the fruit bar] by the banana shaker that Landon, the male lead singer, often uses. I was watching him at the last show and I got a vision, almost identical to what ended up getting created, in my mind. The steps of how to actually get to the final product weren't there, but I had a very clear end goal.”
Ian Wurfl pieces together the “fruit bar.”
As Ian slid down into the audience from the stage, he quickly converted the fruit bar into a limbo stick that concert-goers enthusiastically shimmied under, his surprising performance inspiring an impromptu conga line that broke out with gales of laughter, each link in its human chain bobbing in time with the music. More than just a visual gag, it was enlightening to hear Ian’s perspective on his homemade instrument’s deeper purpose: “The fruit bar is also an artistic statement in itself, and that's how I feel about percussion. There are so many choices to made at any given moment, and the artistry of any percussionist informs these decisions, for better or for worse. Every single note I play is an artistic statement, one whose goal is to uplift and inspire the music. This shaker is just another tool in my toolbox to do just so, and hopefully my artistry will inform me about when to pull the hammer out instead of this...or actually, a tambourine…because a hammer probably isn't generally useful for making music!”
“Froots & Vedgis 4 Sail” by Ian Wurfl…will we see the “Hammer Bar” next?
Ian Wurfl is a drummer & percussionist who received his Bachelor of Music from the USC Thornton School of Music. He has performed alongside many celebrated musicians, including John Fogerty, Jacob Collier, Farzad Farzin, Chaka Khan, Steve Vai, Jason Charles Miller (Godhead) and Pepe Aguilar. He lives and works in Los Angeles, CA. Learn more about his craft at ianwurfl.com
