Pomplamoose: Inspired by Avant-Garde Film and Michael Jackson, a Hit on YouTube
Indie rockers Nataly Dawn and Jack Conte are pioneers in the new VideoSong movement, soon to hit a computer near you. The Stanford University graduates in the summer of 2008 formed the band Pomplamoose, recording high-energy video covers of popular tunes like Beyonce’s “Single Ladies” and Michael Jackson’s “Beat It.” Filmed and recorded out of Conte’s childhood bedroom (his old blankets double as sound dampeners on the wall), the videos make use of clever editing and split screens to show off Dawn on vocals and Conte playing one of the two-dozen instruments lying around the room.
Inspired by the avant-garde Dogme 95 movement in cinema, Conte says he started recording songs on video about two years ago as a quick way to create music that felt “organic and raw,” he says. He made up the word “videosong” and attached some rules to it: No lip-synching for instruments or voice, and no hidden sounds–what you see is what you hear.
