Music Videos: The Good, the Bad, and the Chipmunk
Jul 18, 2007, 05:43 PM | by Leah Greenblatt
Categories: Music
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 are involved with the slipping-behind-her bike shenanigans. And speaking of effects, the publicist for the very Damien Rice-y singer-songwriter Fionn Regan (also, like Ms. Kahn, a nominee for this year's Mercury Prize) assures us that this clip is 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 flawless visual evocation of the sound of one this year's best new(ish) bands, a spectacular kind of mash-up of Sigur Ros (but not Icelandic), Explosions in 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?
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