For a band whose music (and interviews) openly delve into the dark depths of witchcraft and the occult, it's fitting that Unknown Mortal Orchestra's latest video depicts all sorts of damnation and turmoil. In his own words, frontman Ruben Nielson describes the video for Can't Keep Checking My
Phone as such: [the song] is so full of sounds and its lyrics are so elusive so I decided that one
idea wouldn’t do the track justice.” In opposition to the song’s
upbeat funk-induced sounds, the montage of entitled hysterias elicit nothing of
the sort, though they do serve as safe, vicarious ways of experiencing oddities like capgras syndrome and hybristophilia.
Moral of the story? There are worse things in life than someone not responding to your
text.
+ Warning: This video contains a very brief segment of nudity.
+ Also, catch a live version of this track from UMO's KEXP studio sessions. [Link]
One needs to only watch five music videos to come to a
simple consensus- Music videos don’t make sense, and they don’t need to. If the randomly
assembled images or “story” mesh with the sounds and feel of the song, this
lack of logic will go untested, and sometimes praised.
Case in point with Tame Impala’s new video for “Let it
Happen,” the opening track off their latest album Currents. In it we follow a man running through an airport, presumably late for a flight, though by his overly distraught and sweaty demeanor, there seems to be more troubling him. The man passes out, wakes up on the plane, passes
out again, wakes up in a hotel room, passes out again, and sees a sandwich
talking to him. There’s no definite reason as to what goes on in the four
minute video. Nothing of this sort comes up in the song’s lyrics. What matters
though, is how the images seamlessly blend with the hypnotic, trance-inducing
sounds of the track. His darting glances and unnerving composure are elevated
by the song’s quick successive opening beat. When the buildup slows down and comes to a halt, the man promptly falls over, hits the floor and his hunger-induced (or probably drug-induced) nightmare ensues.
It’s a shame they cut
the song in half for the video. After seeing a talking sandwich, I would be
curious to see what else the man’s festered mind could conjure up.
Quite easily my favorite band that doesn't yet have a full-length album, New York trio Guards have been circulating on my iPod ever since I stumbled upon their fabulous Guards EP January 18, 2011. But that was two years ago. Being that it is now January 2013, I have beaten that EP to death, memorized just about every verse and rhyme, yet it never gets old.
Thankfully, come February 5th, the wait will finally end as Guards has announced the coming of their debut album In Guards We Trust for that Tuesday. In anticipation of the new LP, the band released a quick album teaser reminding us all to save the date. a quick teaser little promo video featuring a brand new track called "Nightmare" that we can assume will pop-up somewhere on the upcoming album. The song features a darker sound, blending their oft familiar brand of rock pop with a hint of psychedelia. An off-shoot of what we have heard thus far with the twp previously released IGWT singles, but versatility proves fare when it comes to music.
And what goes better with the sounds of smoky psychedelia than a straining montage of fast cars, race tracks at night, and motorboats gliding across across the sea with people wearing veils over their faces? Its hard to describe as it is one of those "you have to see it" things, but trust me it fits like a glove.
With barely more than a few songs to their name, Guards are still in limbo, apart of that endless category of "emerging indie-bands hailing from New York" until February 5th, but this video surely deals them them an elusive hand. Sure every band wants that Gwendolyn Brooks-we-cool-type mantra attached to them, but few actually do it. All in all, Guards has got it, and come February 5th, I see no signs of that changing.
From what I've gathered, I would say that you can pretty much classify music videos into three categories-
1. Videos that consist of random shots
of the artist/band preforming the song interlaced with more random shots of the
artist [or in the case of a band, the lead singer] walking around aimlessly in an attempt to make some story. [ex.] [worse example]
2. Videos that take on a
narrative form, in which the sequence of shots makes up a short story, almost like a short film. This video eliminates the
useless shots of the artist/band preforming/singing the song [ex.] [ex.]
3. Other- The very general fall
back category for the videos that do neither of the first two categories. [ex.]
This particular video for the
recent single of Father John Misty, the now former drummer of the Fleet Foxes,
probably falls across my second and third
categories.
"Hollywood Forever Cemetery
Sings" is the title and like the recent movies, Martha Marcy May
Marlene and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, the title pulls together
four words that could easily be rearranged and no one would even figure. 'Hollywood Cemetery Forever Sings' would make more sense to me, but whatever.
And that is exactly what this video feels like. Seriously, it has more settings than many full length movies. There's the road, the hipster funeral, the hipster party, and the forest, which then turns into a some sort of dreamy nightmarish sequence of the girl fighting some mysterious woman and everything's painted red. And then she wakes up back on the road where it all started.
Like the lyrics, the video
follows a young girl mourning the death of her grandfather. But the video looks too complex to be just that. Also, it seems too perfect that the girl of the video is played by the same actress who plays April Ludgate, the emo girl from Parks &
Recreation (Aubrey Plaza).
While I really love the song, I am not sure I can say the same about the video. Without a doubt, its one of the best directed videos I've seen in a while. But at the same time, its one of those hipster projects that maybe I'm not hipster enough to instantly embrace as masterful art. I will say though I enjoy watching it and its definitely worth a click. After watching the video a handful of times, on every view, something new managed to slip its way into the video that I had not seen before. Its like the Black Swan of music videos. (48 Hidden Images in Black Swan)
+ If you like "Hollywood Forever Cemetery Sings," a couple other Father John Misty songs are up on Grooveshark- and if you're a fan of the Fleet Foxes than his stuff should suit you too | tny.gs/GY59hj |
One of the best aspects of music is its ability to mesh
the most unlikely disparities into one very pleasing tune. Think about the new Jack White song, “Love Interruption.” He sings longing for
love, but that request comes the most an array of unromantic desires- “I want
love to roll me over slowly stick a knife inside me, and twist it all around...”
to name one. Another example goes by
the name “Pumped Up Kicks,” the popular Foster the People song. [Check out those lyrics.] These two songs share the perverse ability to
turn such shocking statements into a something far from unfavorable.
That isn't the exact case of the Arctic Monkey's song "Fluorescent
Adolescent." No, its lyrics doesn't demand any such ill mannered requests; here it’s the visuals that are called to
questioning. The music video for "Fluorescent Adolescent" involves a man and his posse dressed up as clowns trying
to bash the brains of a rival group.
Other than the unfortunate association these characters have with serial
killers and messed up B-horror films, clowns used to be seen as symbols
of impeccable joy and childlike entertainment.
Bu these clowns share none of these qualities.
When I first watched this, I immediately called to
mind a comparison with a scene from Stanley Kubrick’s 1971film adaptation of “AClockwork Orange”- you have a bunch of weirdoes dressed up in outlandish
clothing trying to kill each other. But unlike
the mindless chaos brought forth by Alex in “Clockwork,” our clown here seems
to acknowledge his wrongdoings. Working
in stride with Turner’s lyrics- “Where did you go?” the clown puts down his
fists for a moment to think. He looks
back and remembers what he was once-a sweet-hearted and innocent young boy, now
grown up and dressed up as a clown mindlessly whacking people’s brains out. “The best you ever had is just a memory...” Something he realizes a bit too late.
Why can't everyone be as cool as the Arctic Monkeys? Once again, my favourite British band have done it again producing yet another uber-cool song to rock out to. "R U Mine?" is the band's latest work, but from what I've heard, its not an early release of any upcoming LP nor is it a b-side from their latest album, Suck It and See. They just felt like releasing another song, and we can all be thankful for that.
"R U Mine?" stuck me as an interesting title choice for a band who has made their name on being the bad boys of rock 'n rolls. I thought for a second the Arctic Monkey's dropped off the deep end and teamed up with Ke$ha for a sequel single to "We R Who We R." Thankfully I was wrong.
"R U Mine?" comes as no shock for Arctic Monkey fans as the song reaches back to the traditional heavy rock sound the band veered away from on their last album Suck It and See. It's a surly combination of heavy guitar chords and drums that we all came to love in the Arctic Monkeys. As always, Turner's dyamic vocals sit above all the noise pushing the song forward.
Sure I would prefer "Are You Mine?" over the abbreviated title, but that just goes to show you how the Arctic Monkeys can make anything cool. Don't believe me? They prove it to us by pulling off one of the most misused and abused fashion statements with ease- sunglasses at night [while driving].
Everywhere we go, we are reminded what the human race is
capable of doing. Beginning with just a kite
and a key, we have progressed from the inconceivable finding of electricity to
those super compact, mega capable miniature computers we so modestly call cell
phones. And who would have guessed that
less than 60 years after man first took flight in 1903 that we would be
commanding missions into the frontiers of space. It’s inconceivable.
But while innovation and modernity can seem to only possess
an infinite number of blessings, I have a bunch here that think otherwise- they’re
called Wolf Parade. The song “Modern
World” is off their debut “Apologies to the Queen Mary” album. In it, the ultimate response they have towards
the objects we so compulsively obsess over in our modern world are not of admiration
and honor, but of disdain and scorn. A
question they want an answer to is simply ‘why?’ What is the need and when will we stop? Their video seems to see the end of humanity as
inevitable. The end though is not a
robo-pocalypse that sends all humans to their demise but more of a spiritual
existence and characters that will see its end in all of us.
Being stop motion and animated, the video’s overall message
and abilities are no way hindered. There
is a genuine sympathy these men deserve as they look across the way into the
harrowing monotony of the factory, a cornerstone image of our modern world. Technology- with it we are doomed, but then
again, we wouldn’t have this video without it.
+Below was the top Youtube user comment from the video that I felt nicely sums up the feel of "Modern World":
"Machines will replace the human spirit. Its a sad truth of our lifestyle. People see money, and then they mas produce. Then even more factories pop up. Hey, I'm sorry, but you don't have a job anymore. This robot here can do it ten times better. You're left in the street because of greed. There will ALWAYS be human spirit, but it will continue to be smothered to the point where it doesn't show." -L07EK 1 year ago 23
In anticipation of their upcoming release, I thought of it to post an official video for Tennis’ new single “Deep in the Woods.” Their sophomore LP Old & Young comes out February 14th. For the record, the duo that makes up Tennis has quite an adorable story behind them. They met while taking a philosophy course together in college and in no time, Alaina Moore and Patrick Riley got married. Shortly after, the two dropped everything for a nine month sailing expedition out around the Eastern Atlantic Seaboard. And then of course, they formed the band, named themselves Tennis and began writing cute songs about the sun and the ocean and love.
But the music video for "Deep in the Woods" shows nothing of the sort. Their light hearted, sea-filled lyrics were replaced by thoughts of violence and destruction- “I’ll bring down this house...”- that’s not like them. The worst part of course was listening to these twisted thoughts being projected from the sweet and sincere voice of Alaina Moore. Sounding not so bad anymore, “Deep in the Woods” is one of those songs that if you're intently listening to the lyrics, which in this case are about burning houses and burying loved one, you won’t mind it at all. In your head, the song just passes off as adorable.
With that being said, we can observe this wonderfully cheery video of two people in love with some new light and not discard the large amount of blood that’s seen amidst the smiling faces. On the topic of blood, the final shot of the video shows one of the female character’s faces as she sits behind the fire. Such evil symbolism arises with that single shot. Its recalls a shot used in the 2007 film There Will Be Blood to frame the main character/antagonist Daniel Plainview. I thought it was pretty clever and could only find it suiting.
+ I posted the video for “Deep in the Woods” below and below that you will find the shot from There Will Be Blood, which looks quite like the music video’s final shot.
+Also, get the lyrics in this link
Fishing the web for music in lieu of my final exams, I came across this stunning orchestral rendition of Guards' song "I See It Coming." Coming across this song about a year ago, I instantly became a fan of this band's style- that of which I couldn't exactly put my finger on. They were distinct enough from general rock n roll, but to the point were all their songs sort of carried something similar. I know, huge help with that last remark. "A song like this one only brings to mind a collection of words like 'joyful pain,' or 'dark beauty.'" Still unclear, one site tags their music as 'pop wave doom.' "Perfect!" And that was enough to call me a fan.
And finally to the point- I came across this adaptation of "I See It Coming" and thought it worth posting. Its definitely a cool version, and this case, a rarity amongst renditions to be on par with its predecessor. I quickly came to know it as the perfect farewell/conclusion/finale song song ever. Its shouted towards you as if to be a poem of protest, shaking off the bleakness and disparity of life. "Calling the living to go out and live"....I don't know exactly.
Placing it under the term 'Audiovisual', I go out on a limb and imply that there's also some superior visual quality that deserves not to be ignored- hence the term. For this song, what you see is what you hear. Its nothing quite special. Preformed in front of a quaint symphony of brass, string and piano alongside a real live choir, all amidst the eerie backdrop of a Church, that of which bears the presence of hazy morning light all around its inside. Oh and by the way, its filmed in black and white. What more can I say to it? Check it out.
I'll admit to being late on these two, but if you haven't already heard, Foster the People came out with two new singles earlier this week. After the big buzz that formed behind "Pumped Up Kicks" and "Houdini" earlier this year, I'm not surprised how similar these songs are to the two previous singles. But why fix what's not broken? There's no doubt everyone will be pleased with these tracks, so take a listen and watch the official music videos too.
Although well into October, I thought I would salvage the last few days of good/acceptable weather before plunging into the dark and dreary days of winter by posting something Best Coast. Labeled as garage rock, garage pop, surf rock and indie, above all, the music of Best Coast can be defined as good old "summer music." While dropping their debut album, Crazy For You, last summer to rave reviews, the band recently added an official music video to their list, directed by none other than Drew Barrymore.
As her directorial debut, I got to give Barrymore props for this piece. Containing elements from "West Side Story" and Romeo and Juliet, this video is more than just a regular, run of the mill MTV music video. In my opinion, Barrymore's work is more than a music video, its a short film, complete with main characters, a conflict and resolution scenario, and a twist that even David Fincher couldn't devise. All in all, its worth checking out.
+Running Time- 10:39
+Starring- Chloe Moretz, Tyler Posey, Miranda Cosgrove
+Track List (in order)- "Our Deal" "Boyfriend" "Honey" "I Want To"
