Justin Curfman
Tephramedia Publishing (Germany / USA) justincurfman.com
31/03/2012
“Inside the Body of an Animal” – Feeding Fingers Release Their 2nd Single of 2012
Eight weeks after releasing “Where the Threads are the Thinnest”, the first of a series of singles slated for 2012, Feeding Fingers has released their second single of the year – “Inside the Body of an Animal”.
Included in this release as a b-side is a solo piano rendition of the Feeding Fingers song, “Where Mimes Come to Say Goodbye” from the album, “Wound in Wall” (2007) performed by frontman, Justin Curfman – along with artwork and lyrics.
“Inside the Body of an Animal” is available NOW at FeedingFingers.com as a digital only release in both .mp3 and losless .wav formats, Amazon.com and all other major music retailers.
23/01/2012
Feeding Fingers Release the First of a Series of Maxi Singles Slated for 2012
The release of Feeding Fingers’ first maxi single of 2012, “Where the Threads are the Thinnest”, initiates a new direction for the band –
Feeding Fingers: "Where the Threads are the Thinnest" Maxi Single
straying away from the usual album format to keep their listeners from waiting so long between releases and to offer them a chance to hear unreleased and past work in a new light.
Feeding Fingers will be releasing a series of maxi singles throughout 2012. Each single will include new material along with accompanying b-sides, demos and other rarities.
The new single, “Where the Threads are the Thinnest” also includes an intimate version of the song, “My Imagined House” (from the album “Detach Me From My Head”) for ukulele and voice, along with a version of “Manufactured Missing Children” (from the album, “Manufactured Missing Children”) for piano and cello – both arranged and performed by frontman, Justin Curfman.
“Where the Threads are the Thinnest” is available now (MP3 – 320 kbps and Lossless FLAC) exclusively at www.FeedingFingers.com.
The physical CD and the usual iTunes, Amazon, etc. distribution channels will be made available in late January / early February.
And for those of you that may have missed it, “Wrecker”, the debut novel from Feeding Fingers’ frontman, Justin Curfman, is available now in trade paperback and Kindle editions at Amazon.com.
Best Wishes,
David I. Nunez, Management
Tephramedia (Germany / USA)
04/01/2012
Justin Curfman’s Debut Novel, “Wrecker” is Shipping Now
Justin Curfman’s debut novel, “Wrecker” is shipping now (over one month ahead of schedule) from Tephramedia Publishing and
"Wrecker" Justin Curfman
Amazon.com. “Wrecker” is available in:
Thank You for Your Support,
David I. Nunez
Tephramedia
ATTN. REVIEWERS:
If you are interested in reviewing “Wrecker”, please contact David Nunez at –
tephramedia@gmail.com
31/05/2011
Director / Animator, Tom Brown On His Feeding Fingers: “My Imagined House” Music Video
When Justin Curfman asked me in January if I’d be interested in directing a music video for Feeding Fingers I was delighted. I’d recently bought Detach Me From My Head and was struck by the rich atmospheric production on this third album, and by how much Justin’s voice had developed over the years.
We had been in touch since early 2006 when I discovered his website
Tom Brown (London) - Director / Animator of the Feeding Fingers Music Video, "My Imagined House"
during a short-lived stop motion animation craze. I watched his trilogy of short films quite often around that time and the strange world of “Tephra” he had created stayed with me long after I’d seen them. As the years went by I feel we were offered little glimpses into this world through windows that came in different forms: Curfman’s animations, blog posts and art books, Feeding Fingers and their music videos by directors such as Steven Lapcevic and more recently Ronny Carlsson and Michelle Alyse Rodriguez (although I have no idea whether the latter would agree). This is why I jumped at the chance to become the next explorer in a world I felt was much more expansive than it appeared at first glance.
Given the choice of two songs I immediately picked My Imagined House as it had a muted, numb style to it which I personally connected with and found pretty inspirational. The song itself seemed to be a description of a couple whose relationship had turned into a dull routine, perhaps living in the same physical space but emotionally distant from each other and reduced to poor reproductions of their former selves, putting a brave face on but liable to disintegrate at any moment.
Something I’ve been very interested in recently is communication between people. Is it ever possible to truly make another human being understand how you feel in a form as pure as the original thought? More often than not language acts as a filter, with the individual’s subjective experience and the words themselves turning the analogue signal of pure thought into the equivalent of a poor-quality MP3 on a hard disc. This is what I’ve been exploring with Magnetic Foragers, an audio-visual collaboration with James Allard, and it seemed to extend naturally into My Imagined House, or at least the way I interpreted the song.
I’m sure there are specific reasons for every image in the video (an alley near my house offers a view through a window into a bare room filled with plastic mannequins), but the ice and grainy old CRT screen effect were ways of representing the hard shells that have built up around the characters and the layers of “noise” that have got in the way during the decline of their relationship. The TV screen was meant to tie in with the idea of us looking through windows into the world of Tephra as I mentioned above. Additionally, something I can’t seem to stop doing is interpreting music as a landscape to be travelled across. I don’t know why this is.
As for influences, I very much admire the stark black and white work of film-makers such as Jim Jarmusch and Anton Corbijn (as in his video for Joy Division’s Atmosphere), but also the way Ridley Scott seems to build up layers and layers of (visual) atmosphere through lighting and set design in films like Blade Runner. I believe elements of these contrasting styles are in there also.
In terms of the video’s production it was a very straightforward job as I had so much time to create the animated scenes and to draw out a full storyboard, not to mention total creative freedom. The fact that the thing was shot in three different countries – by myself (in England), Justin Curfman (in Germany) and Steve Stussey (in the USA) could have been a real nightmare but due to the entire band’s professionalism and dedication it went very smoothly. It was a joy to work with Christine Schuster and my brother Alex Brown, who were more than happy to be bossed around and perform ten or fifteen takes of every shot. I am also grateful to Fiona Baldwin (hair and makeup) and Jack Martin who provided an additional computer for rendering the 3D animation.
Tom Brown
May 2011
London
FEEDING FINGERS: “MY IMAGINED HOUSE”
22/03/2011
Feeding Fingers: “I Promise to Build You a Machine” (Directed and Animated by Michelle Allyse Rodriguez) Official Music Video Released Today
“I Promise to Build You a Machine” is the second music video off of Feeding Fingers‘ latest album, “Detach Me From My Head”. The video was animated and directed by Miami urban artist, Michelle Allyse Rodriguez, the co-creator and illustrator of “Jonathan
Michelle Allyse Rodriguez: Animator / Director of Feeding Fingers: "I Promise to Build You a Machine"
Fishfeet” – an unusual children’s book that follows the story of a boy who is born with dead fish for feet.
The colorful and geometric characters that appear in Rodriguez’s work recalls that of artists such as Jhonen Vasquez (“Invader Zim”, “Johnny the Homicidal Maniac”, “Squee”, etc.) and Roman Dirge (“Lenore”) of Slave Labor Graphics and Nickolodeon.
“I Promise to Build You a Machine” and all other Feeding Fingers music is available at iTunes and everywhere else you buy music.
Feeding Fingers: “I Promise to Build You a Machine”
Please, go here, for more information about Michelle Allyse Rodriguez and David Israel Nunez’s illustrated childrens’ book, “Jonathan Fishfeet”.
"Jonathan Fishfeet" by Michelle Allyse Rodriguez & David Israel Nunez
28/02/2011
Feeding Fingers: La Poetica del Songo – An interview with Justin Curfman (Italian & English)
The following interview with Justin Curfman is from Ascension
Magazine #26 (Italy). Please support this publication. Order physical copies directly by writing them via Facebook, here. The interview is available in both Italian and English below:
You may read the original Italian here:
Feeding Fingers: La Poetica del Songo
- Feeding Fingers: La Poetica del Songo – Interview with Justin Curfman in Ascension Magazine #26 – Page 1 (hi-res .pdf)
- Feeding Fingers: La Poetica del Songo – Interview with Justin Curfman in Ascension Magazine #26 – Page 2 (hi-res .pdf)
Or read the English transcript here:
Feeding Fingers: The Poetry of Song
The following is an English transcript of an Interview with Justin Curfman, frontman for Feeding Fingers, for “Ascension Magazine” #26 – 2011 (Italy) – conducted by Maria Rita Pugliesi.
Can you describe your music to us?
I am afraid that I can’t answer that question. I think that question can’t be answered by any artist working in any medium without sounding presumptuous or pompous.
What are your influences to write music?
I am most often influenced by small things – fragments of
Feeding Fingers: La Poetica del Songo
conversations, dreams, violent children, certain gestures – among other, more personal things. I don’t find much beauty or much worthy of remark in politics, popular culture, religion, etc. – to be honest. For me, those things are all sort of a dull, unreasonably complicated and unnecessarily dramatic social and economic game. I do find certain elements of those games novel and absurd enough to capture, sculpt and use as material sometimes. But, ultimately – none of it really says anything to me. I feel that I understand much of it, but I don’t relate to it. And music itself influences me less and less as time moves on. I can usually find more influence and inspiration in a pair of wet socks than I can in music.
What is your songwriting process like?
Music and lyrics are two almost entirely different entities, for me. I write music first – nearly always. I cannot write lyrics first and then write music around words. It doesn’t work for me. However, there is, I admit, two songs on “Detach Me From My Head” where I did dabble in writing lyrics first and music secondly. Those two songs have been well-received by the public and viewed as symbols of growth for Feeding Fingers, but I can’t say that I am altogether pleased with them. I will not say what those two songs are, but our listeners that have stuck around for these past five years or so are probably able to point them out.
Typically, my songwriting process begins with a dream, a hallucinatory moment or some exploration of sensual or psychological indulgence – a small event or fragment that I like to dwell on or find some joyful place in my imagination – nothing ever with an agenda or a literal “message”. I sit on these moments and make note of them and elaborate in one medium or another. If I feel that the thought or fragment it best explored, developed and expressed in song or tone, I do so. But, even still – I don’t write music to the idea itself or the words associated with it. I do my best to never force anything. I think of my songwriting process as something more akin to sculpting.
I will find a sonic motif of some sort from somewhere in my imagination. I will play this motif on a piano, guitar, bass – or in the case for the “Detach Me From My Head” album – a ukulele, until it becomes something like wordless mantra. Then, I will place a bass structure underneath it, followed by percussion, keys and lastly, guitar. Once the music is arranged and recorded, I will sing a non-lyrical melody over the music – essentially nonsense. I will sing over the music until something works – until there is some melodic cohesion. Then, finally, I write lyrics. This process sometimes takes ages. I can’t write campfire-style pop songs. That type of writing feels fraudulent to me. I am not, by definition, much of a musician at all.
Why did you choose the name “Feeding Fingers”?
The name of the band comes from some apparent pre-occupation with oral fetishism and a certain aesthetical joy found in a recurring dream involving girls, walls and a man living between them – feeding his fingers to the girls.
What can you tell us about your album “Detach Me From My Head”? What is the meaning of the title?
It is, I think, my most personal musical work to date. I can tell you that it was released September, 28 2010 from Tephramedia. It has eleven tracks. It is a little over forty minutes long. It is, hopefully, a forward-sounding release from the band. We are currently touring the album. As for the meaning of the title… after knowing the title and hearing the tile aloud and in my head for over a year, and performing the title track on two different continents and never quiet understanding it… I think that might have finally figured it out. But, it isn’t anyone’s business. I can tell you that it is something of a modest plea. I can tell you that it was granted in some figurative way.
Do you think that your new album is similar or different from
Feeding Fingers: La Poetica del Songo
“Baby Teeth”?
The new album is very different from “Baby Teeth”, I think. But, I feel that it is complimentary to both “Baby Teeth” and “Wound in Wall”. The three releases are not so far removed from one another that one might be alienated by one or the other. I feel that the albums, as with all of my work, are pieces of the whole and not really one thing unto another unto themselves.
Can you tell us something about your surrealistic lyrics? What are your usual themes and inspirations?
I can tell you that I don’t write anything with intent. I don’t “look” or even “think” of lyrics. Lyrics find me. I don’t know how to answer this question in a more honest way. I have no conscious theme in any of my lyrics. I have no conscious theme in any of my work. I don’t even remember writing most of my lyrics. Sometimes I find them in notebooks and wonder where they came from and hope that there are more, useful and better ones somewhere.
To celebrate the release of the album ‘Detach Me from My Head’, Feeding Fingers are touring the US and Europe. Can you tell us your impressions about the tour?
Feeding Fingers toured the USA and Europe rather extensively in late 2009 through early 2010 in support of “Baby Teeth”. Those narratives are available, at length, online.
As far as the current tour is concerned – Feeding Fingers are performing only four shows in the USA. We are performing:
January 22 in Atlanta, Georgia
January 28 in Jacksonville, Florida
February 2 in New York, New York – with David J (bassist from BAUHAUS and Love & Rockets)
February 4 also in New York, New York
I am interested in how the shows in the USA will be received since our relocation to Germany from the USA. I can give you my impressions on of the USA shows the day after they are over, on February 5 – if you are interested. Just get in touch with us. You will have to wait until then.
Feeding Fingers will then re-group and start performing again in Europe in June 2011, beginning with a show at Wave Gotik Treffen (WGT) in Leipzig, Germany on Friday, June 10.
Can you talk us about your video artist activity?
I am primarily a stop-motion puppet animator. There are examples of some of my work available online, if you are interested. I have a few other video, animation and film projects in development now which will being to be produced in 2011 through 2013, during times that I can sort of step away from Feeding Fingers and explore other things a bit.
Tell us about the film ‘Ticks’- why did you decide to make the film and what is it going to be about?
“TICKS” is a feature-length animated film which myself and my long-time friend and collaborator, Steven Lapcevic are working on. The film has been in production since 2006 with numerous production complications and interruptions along the way – mostly as a result of a snowball effect of activity that Feeding Fingers has had on my life since 2006.Around the summer of 2010, Steven and I began to work on the film together. Those of you that know Feeding Fingers know Steven’s work. He directed the Feeding Fingers animated music video for the song, “Fireflies Make Us Sick”. Much of the content of the film is summarized in the Feeding Fingers song, “Manufactured Missing Children”. “TICKS” is planned to be completed and released in 2012.
Why do you decide to live in Germany from USA?
I knew for a long time that Feeding Fingers needed to be exported to Europe for the group to stand a chance at having any real acceptance, relative success and longevity. Our tour of Europe in 2010 affirmed my assumption. But, that is just a small reason with regard to the big picture in my own, personal life.
07/02/2011
American Gothic: Feeding Fingers Struggle with Gothic Misperceptions (Full Article)
“American Gothic: Feeding Fingers Struggle with Gothic Misperceptions” – Creative Loafing (Atlanta – USA – Feb. 2011)
This is the full article (hi res scan) from Creative Loafing (Atlanta – USA) – CLICK TO ENLARGE:
American Gothic: Feeding Fingers Struggle with Gothic Misperceptions (Creative Loafing - Atlanta, GA - USA - Feb. 2011 - Full Article)
18/01/2011
Director Ronny Carlsson (FilmBizarro – Sweden) on the Feeding Fingers “Detach Me From My Head” Music Video
From Ronny Carlsson, Director of the Feeding Fingers Music Video, “Detach Me From My Head”:
Ronny Carlsson (FilmBizarro - Sweden) Photo: Delyria
I first found out about Justin Curfman when and friend and I (Preston Carnell) were starting up our movie review website (FilmBizarro.com) in 2008. We wanted to find some surrealists that had gone unnoticed in the movie world and Preston mentioned Justin Curfman and more specifically I think he mentioned “Tephrasect”, one of Justin’s short films.
“Tephrasect” became a big influence on the films I make, because around the same time I made my first experimental short film, “Video Geisteskrank.
Anyway, we looked into this oddity of an artist a little closer and we knew we had to do an interview with the guy. When I was searching around for info about him for the questions, I noticed what a great multimedia artist he really was – this was also my first encounter with his band, “Feeding Fingers”. I didn’t think much of the band at first except that it really wasn’t what I could relate to at the time. Time passed and I got the first batch of answers from Justin. I was blown away by his little stories and ideas, and for some reason I instantly went back to listen to “Feeding Fingers” because I had some more meat on my bones about the front man of the band. Then I stumbled upon the song “Manufactured Missing Children” and it hit home. It was such a simple, sad and surreal little song, I didn’t understand how it had gone unnoticed to me before.
Jump ahead to April of 2010, when I was writing my short film “Récompence”. Unlike my other films this wasn’t gonna be a chaotic, loud and dirty little trip, instead I wanted to make something that was the absolute opposite. While writing it I only listened to two bands for inspiration, “Feeding Fingers” was one of them. The three songs that were repeated the most during this time was “Manufacted Missing Children” (of course), “She Hides Disease” and “Fireflies Make Us Sick”. These songs, more so than the other band (“Sopor Aeternus & The Ensemble of Shadows”, if anyone is interested), opened my mind and laid the path to what I wanted my film to feel like.
I have had contact with Justin through-out the years since the interview, but it wasn’t until “Récompence” was finished that I think it was noticed by Justin that I made my own films – or at least not something that would fit his little world. He contacted me in the end of 2010 out of nowhere and offered me to make a music video for him. He hadn’t seen the film, just screenshots, so I wasn’t sure how serious this was. The more I talked to him about it, it was clear that he trusted me (and he still did after seeing “Récompence”). It’s an odd feeling to have a band you look at for inspiration to the extent that I did with “Feeding Fingers” for the film, and when that film is finished you are contacted by the band and get an offer to make them a music video. Makes me wonder, did my inspiration really shine through? Would this have happened if I had went elsewhere for inspiration that very week of writing it?
I started the writing of the music video without really knowing what I wanted out of it myself, or what I wanted to make. I have always wanted to make a music video because in all of my experimental films I have worked with music and no dialogue – it just seemed like something I would enjoy doing. But at first I was drawing a blank, I was afraid that I would make something really shallow and boring to get it over with. Not that I didn’t care what I was making, but I didn’t feel inspired to make something. At this time we hadn’t even decided which song I was gonna make a video for so that could’ve been it. When “Detach Me From My Head” was finally picked I started getting a more solid starting point and ideas started flowing. Slowly.
The “story” started off with exactly what you can see in the video now (something that isn’t too far off from “Video Geisteskrank”, just with less of a sarcastic “blame TV” statements and brief comedy). “Video Geisteskrank” was about a man who watched a few notorious films and goes insane from doing so. The film was a tribute to a certain trilogy of films. I used a TV in similiar fashion again in this music video, but for different reasons. It’s a way to represent what I want to make. I want to make complete fiction. I don’t try to make films that will help you get to terms with problems in your life – I want you to get away from real life all together. Putting a TV in the video and having that hypnotize our character is just a way to simplify what I’m going for. Without sounding too pretentious about it – a metaphor of sorts.
The rest of the video came pretty naturally after that. I have a certain fascination for stale masks and faceless faces. Visually I think it hits harder than human faces and their emotions. The figures from “Tephrasect” is one example of the faceless faces, but the greatest inspiration on the music video for this part was the Film Bizarro favorite “La femme qui se poudre” (The Woman Who Powders Herself). Two other films I think people could find in it, that are always close to heart when I make something, are “Tetsuo: The Iron Man” and “Un Chien Andalou”. I love trying to mix what those two movies did – one being complete chaos and a attack on all senses, the other one a lot calmer, but perfect surrealist art. Out of all the films I have made, the music video for “Detach Me From My Head” is probably the one I can see the most of these two in, without ripping them off. The music video has became the most fulfulling trip into my head to date. TV, masks, blood and babes are all part of my own equivalent of Tephra.
When it was time to find a crew, I knew I just had to work with the same people as I did on “Récompence” one more time, minus a few and one additional (who plays the lead psycho. I met this guy in school). It became literally just a weekend with a bunch of friends in my apartment, and we had so much fun making this together. I have everything to thank them for, as they put themselves into the film as much as possible. I especially have to mention Mikael Johansson, my trusted camera man. From the moment we started working together on “Récompence”, he just knew what I wanted out of the shots. I tell him what it is I want and then we barely speak until after the scene and I ask “Did we get it all?”, and the response is always a simple “Yeah”. I rarely need to guide him during the actual scene because he just gets it. I kept the script for it very loose and vague because I knew we needed some brainstorming together to make the best of it. I never write a script that is a 100% – if I can’t change it up while preparing, shooting or editing, I’d go insane. I’d be so damn bored with my stories. Luckily I make the kind of films where you can change things. The weekend was intense, but fun, and we got every little shot done.
A few days later I could sit down and start the editing, and by this time I was still convinced that I wanted to make the video in color because I usually don’t want to make two black and white films in a row, but after trying every possible combination of colors and talking to Justin about it (who already assumed I was doing it black and white anyway), I settled with black and white and couldn’t be more happy about the decision.
The video for “Detach Me From My Head” has unintentionally taken fragments from all my past work – I have taken everything I’ve learned and made use of it somehow. I don’t want to ruin it by dissecting it with my own interpretations of the story, but just remember that I just want to make fiction. I don’t want to reflect my mood in the films, I want to reflect the mood of the characters. Take “Récompence” as an example here – it’s not a story of what I think happens after you die. Not at all. It’s a story about what happens to this exact character when she dies. Big difference. Take that as my only lead for my “understanding” my work and make your own little worlds with it.
The Video in a Censored and Uncensored Version:
Feeding Fingers: “Detach Me From My Head” – CENSORED
Feeding Fingers: “Detach Me From My Head” – UNCENSORED – NOTE: You may or may not have to turn off a “family filter”:. Follow this link:
