Stephen Malkmus - Jo Jo's Jacket

What this video is

Released in late 2001 as the second single from Malkmus's self-titled solo debut (Domino/Matador), 'Jo Jo's Jacket' arrived at a pivotal transitional moment—post-Pavement dissolution and pre-Jicks consolidation—in Malkmus's career. The video's commissioned director, Shynola, was simultaneously one of the UK's most artistically ambitious music video collectives, riding momentum from their Radiohead Kid A blips and…

Why it matters

As an early-2000s indie rock art-video artifact, 'Jo Jo's Jacket' exemplifies the Domino Records era visual identity: anti-commercial, art-directed, and conceptually irreverent. Shynola's direction situates it within a lineage of UK art-collective music video production that prioritized surreal…

The director

Shynola is a London-based directing collective comprising Chris Harding, Richard 'Kenny' Kenworthy, and Jason Groves, formed at the Kent Institute of Art and Design in the late 1990s. They are renowned for imaginative mixed-media work blending animation,…