Flanafi & Ape School – Gjuijar
2021 · Directed by Matt Sheffield
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Best comments
1.“Watching this evokes a hazy, psychedelic-tinged memory of staying up late in the summertime as a teenager in the late 2000s, watching bizarre internet Flash animations and Adult Swim cartoons.”
More comments
- 2.“Hahaha, I'm on 🍄 right now, and this song + music video is great on 'em.”
The story
Two Philadelphia musicians, a teacher and his old student. Flanafi is Simon Martinez, a young guitarist who has played behind Jazmine Sullivan, Marsha Ambrosius and Kiefer. Ape School is Michael Johnson, a producer and multi-instrumentalist whose twenty-odd years of credits run through Lilys, The War on Drugs and Kurt Vile. Martinez studied under Johnson at the University of the Arts in the mid-2010s, and years later they made a record together.
Gjuijar comes from that record, The Knees Start to Go, out on Boiled Records in 2021. Martinez wrote the bones and Johnson smeared texture over them: bird calls scrapping with ARP synths, tape hiss, glitchy drum machines, R&B-style choruses and a Nick Drake hush on top. Paste called the album a standout psychedelic record. The words take a sideways jab at people born into comfort. Matt Sheffield directed the video.
