Recently, artists who’ve done us proud in the past have turned up with some supercalifragilistically lame music videos. Justin Timberlake’s "Lovestoned"? We get it, Mr. EKG Fractal: You’re edgy! But now we need an Excedrin. Amy Winehouse’s "Tears Dry on Their Own" somehow manages to combine the amazing shock-art photography of David LaChappelle; a bunch of trannies, hookers, and street kooks; and Winehouse’s inimitable train-wreck appeal, and come up with something totally, inexplicably dull. Then there’s Interpol; we loved the spare, creepy theatrics of "Slow Hands," but the clip for new single "Heinrich Maneuver" is like long, slow death by NYU film school.
So! Enough of the complaining, and on to clips we have been watching and liking a lot these last few weeks. Having already expressed our fondness for the ethereal, gorgeously odd artist Bat for Lashes, a.k.a. 27-year-old Pakistani-Brit sensation Natasha Kahn, we’ve spent way too many work minutes watching her stunning video for "What’s a Girl To Do," which inevitably garners Donnie Darko references:
Oh, man, when the animal-head dudes clap on the tambourine clash?Genius! We’re honestly still not sure if any special effects areinvolved with the slipping-behind-her bike shenanigans. And speaking ofeffects, the publicist for the very Damien Rice-y singer-songwriterFionn Regan (also, like Ms. Kahn, a nominee for this year’s MercuryPrize) assures us that this clipis completely legit; acoustics-wise:
Also on our list, like Hall & Oates’ kiss: The Besnard Lakes’clip "For Agent 13," a lovely, melancholy and pretty much flawlessvisual evocation of the sound of one this year’s best new(ish) bands, aspectacular kind of mash-up of Sigur Ros (but not Icelandic), Explosionsin the Sky (with lyrics!) and Arcade Fire (minus the Canadian-ness):
Seriously, these are pretty much the only things keeping us from running Dramatic Chipmunk on repeat (Still! God, we’re old) and that freaking "Daft Hands"video (wait for it — it only really kicks in around 00:50). But tell us,readers, what kind of music is floating your YouTube boat right now?
Not a music video, but I did just discovered clips of Mike Rowe’s (the Dirty Jobs host) old gig selling crap on QVC in the middle of the night. Dude is hilarious:
“A singular opportunity to not only enjoy the effects of bubbling lava, but also fuse all your fingers together.”
I can’t imagine why he didn’t keep the job.
To daisyj: Mike Rowe is definitely one man who has aged very, very well. He looks better now at 45 than he did then at 30. I think it might be the ruggedness he’s gained from doing Dirty Jobs.
As for the videos, I really like that Bat for Lashes video. It was so creepy, but cool. Love that song. Fionn Regan was good, too, but I couldn’t really get into the 3rd video.
And Daft Hands was greatness.
Aww c’mon, I really like that Interpol video. It’s creepy. So is the Bat For Lashes video–good song, too!
The best Scooby Doo/John Woo music video hybrid I’ve seen recently:
Eugene McGuinness – Monsters Under The Bed
Also, this videos a few months old, but since you haven’t done one of these recently, (and this is one of my favorite songs this year), I’ll throw it up here:
Beirut – Elephant Gun
What a great video for Bat for Lashes – this rabbit has it all over the “Donnie Darko” bunny because he does awesome bike tricks! Love the McGuinness and Beirut songs too, furry_tom – they’re now on my iPod list. My contribution? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFB2PToozUY
Because I can’t get enough Rufus.
Here’s an interesting video to go along with a really beautiful song:
Great song, those old-fashioned-strong-man dancers are hilarious.
If you like Beirut’s Elephant Gun, I’d suggest downloading (for free) Postcards From Italy and Mt. Wroclai from off his first album:
http://www.3hive.com/2006/05/beirut_1.php
My only problem with the Damien Rice video is that the girl’s head should have deflated, not shattered. I know it would have been more comical to have him cradling a Persistence-of-Memory-esque deflated head at the end, but it would have been the more realistic, (because realism is the most important thing in a video featuring a singing, disembodied floating head).
I’ve been watching Travis’ ‘Selfish Jean’ video. It’s “interpreted” by Demetri Martin (he from ‘The Daily Show’). The video is very good.
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