Playlist: Jamie Adair

What’s the best music video you’ve seen recently and why?

I haven’t been blown away by a new video in a minute. That makes me sound like a hater, doesn’t it? 

I think my last "wow" moment was probably Cameron Winter - $0, those videos that came out about 18 months ago, I felt a lot watching those. Perfect exercises in restraint, they just spoke to a particular philosophy of filmmaking I personally really subscribe to. 

What’s the first music video you remember being impressed by?

Probably Jonathan Glazer’s video for UNKLE - Rabbit In Your Headlights. I recall seeing it in my early teens and thinking, “Wow, music videos can feel like films?” 

The other thing that I always loved about that was its ambiguity, who is the protagonist? What is he saying? What’s going on with that ending? It still just makes me feel a lot and doesn’t grovel for you to understand it. I don’t think people would make a video like that anymore. Also, what a tune.

What’s your all-time favourite music video?

God… I have a few. The Shoes - Time To Dance is up there… my favourite feeling when watching something is discomfort because that’s when I’m most potently reminded of the power of the medium, and how it can become a bodily experience for a viewer, and that video does a lot of that. 

Another one, and this is a bit of a deep cut, but I’m still not over it: Sheep, Dog & Wolf - Glare. I think it’s a masterclass in taking one extremely simple idea and running with it. Taking the mundane and giving it stakes with a real fantasy about it. Also, just remarkable on a technical level. I think it’s a perfect music video.

What other directors/artists do you look to for inspiration?

Werner Herzog. Always, always Herzog, John Cassavetes, Lynne Ramsey, David Bowie, Nina Simone, Scott Walker, Joan Didion, James Murphy, Paul Thomas Anderson, and my friends. 

What are you listening to at the moment?

I’ve been very much enjoying a new record from Joep Beving called Liminal. It’s a gorgeous contemporary classical album, mainly just piano. Couldn’t recommend it more highly. 

Fabiano do Nascimento & Vittor Santos e Orquestra Vila. Another recent instrumental one, somewhere between contemporary classical and jazz, really amazing stuff. 

I’ve been loving Mavi’s record, The Pilot, that came out towards the end of last year. I love his beat choices a lot and his bars are amazing. Mainstream hip hop feels a bit creatively adrift to me at the moment, but people like him and Billy Woods still drive me loco.

A.A. Bondy Enderness. I have a massive phase with this album at least once a year. Probably one of the most underrated records of the last decade for me. Just give it a go.

Oh, and James Blake produced Lola Young’s new song From Down Here. I think that’s a really powerful piece of work.

Above: The UDO Super 6 synthesizer.

What’s your favourite bit of tech, whether for professional or personal use?

James Blake recently gave me a UDO Super 6 synthesizer, which has been consuming a lot of my evenings. It’s absolutely incredible. Definitely a current fave.

I also love my iPad. I do everything on my iPad. I don’t really use a laptop these days.

What artist(s) would you most like to work with and why?

Nick Cave. I just think that level of sincerity is dying on the vine these days. Make sincerity cool again.