premiering... HUMAN ERROR CLUB

Welcome back to Old Growth. I hope this letter finds you well in the budding new year.

When I wrote my previous Substack many moons ago, I had no clue what 2025 had in store for all of us. Needless to say, it was a challenging period — marked by personal loss, grief, injury, & devastating fires — yet along that same twisting path, I found new creative outlets, embarked on serious physical training (two marathons down), and developed a deeper appreciation for life, in all its nuances.

One of the highlights of the year was a short film I created for Los Angeles jazz collective Human Error Club. In August they approached me to direct a music video for their upcoming album, produced by hip-hop heavyweight Kenny Segal, titled HUMAN ERROR CLUB AT KENNY’S HOUSE.

Listening intently, I played the record front to back. I was astounded by what I heard. Each track contained miniature planets, orbiting larger stars, barely contained within nebulous galaxies of sonic expression. I saw the pulse of Los Angeles in its most reverent, sun-soaked majesty. But I also saw (& heard) the formation of life… interspersed with industrial drum patterns, glitchy synth solos, and familiar, grounding voices.

Needless to say, my offering couldn’t be relegated to only one song.

In the following weeks, I pitched a short film concept to the band that criss-crossed songs from the album between real locations from their world (ie. urban farms, home studios) and abstract visualizations of the auditory stimuli. They were very down.

We assembled a lean, mean crew of talented homies to bring this to life — Simon Gulergun on camera (we had seven of ‘em!), and Michael Danescu on the (many) assists & film scanning. I’m indebted to these guys, and the incredible musicians — Diego Gaeta, Mekala Sessions, Jesse Justice, Kenny Segal, E L U C I D, Pink .Siifu, & Jon Kaye for making this possible.

For a month we filmed around Los Angeles on 16mm film, DV tape, an Xbox Kinect camera, myriad digital setups, and the occasional drone insert. Left to my own devices, I edited, revised, and revised again until everything was in its right place.

At last, our premiere/concert event was held near the end of the year, at 2220 Arts + Archives. Seeing both new & familiar faces gather to check out the art we poured so much love into was intoxicating. The laughs, murmurs, and head-nods in the theater were more gratifying than a billion YouTube streams ever could be. Like, duh, film is meant to be a communal experience. I’d just forgotten this with years of online-only releases!

Now let’s cut to the chase. The film is online, streaming below. I implore you to watch on a decent sound setup, at 4K quality. It’s meant to be felt, so allow HUMAN ERROR CLUB to whisk you away. Enjoy!

- Jackie

P.S. I’ll be sharing more writing through Old Growth this year. Getting back into the flow is never an easy process, but I wish to turn this into a stress-free ritual. Feel free to shoot over an email to jackie(at)genreless(dot)media, or drop a comment below with your thoughts. Until we meet again, friend.