Music Videos - music art film review

Jerusalem In My Heart Band Interview: Shape-Shifting Multidisciplinary & Multicultural Appeal

Posted by Peter WoodburnApril 11, 2013No comments

As a true multimedia art installation, Jerusalem In My Heart are a sight to behold in a live setting, and also represent a modern update on traditional Arabic music and songwriting, with additional multicultural counterpoints.

Julian Lynch – Gloves Music Video

Posted by Vivian HuaApril 10, 2013No comments

In Julian Lynch’s music video for “Gloves”, bizarre idea after bizarre idea is executed in fairly mundane settings. All of it might be a bit harder to swallow or a bit more trite if the video were just slightly more static — but its glittery lighting brilliance and creeping zoom shots somehow make its awkwardness beautiful rather than overdone. This beauty extends even to its slow-motion Macarena-meet-zombie-walk dance routines and longing exchanges between the music video’s main character and a mangled stuffed bunny rabbit.

Stream the video or read our review of Lynch’s latest album, Lines.

ERAAS – “Crescent” / “Ghost” Music Videos

Posted by Vivian HuaMarch 29, 2013No comments

The music video for “Crescent” is a bizarre piece of work, minimal and almost Lynchian in feel, without much going on save for slow movements and small textural or geometric changes. Directed by Nick Criscuolo, it opens with what look like paintings roaring, like unbridled fires, to be followed by the slow morphing between some unusually magnetic characters (a Frankenstein-like mortician and a space cadet?).

The entire music video is largely in greyscale, tinged only by carefully-placed red accents — but such a color scheme seems appropriate for the melancholy sense of mystery that ERAAS seem to prefer (they’d rather not speak about their music videos, for example).

In the full post, you can view the music video for “Crescent”, along with the band’s previous video for “Ghost”. Both live in a similar dreary universe of beautiful confusion, but “Ghost” incorporates some more traditional music video shots of musical performance, well-timed to rhythms, and some fluttering cloaked figures. Directed by Major Jass, a husband and wife duo.

Xander Harris – Night Fortress Music Video

Posted by Vivian HuaMarch 22, 2013No comments

From its wavy slow-motion intro alone, one can tell that the music video for Xander Harris’ “Night Fortress” is bound to be a rainbow-colored adventure into bizarre costumes and texture-melting acid trip territory. The best part, though, is that it’s not walls or environments melting here — that would be too boring — but rather, bobbing and weaving dancers that dissipate and reform while in a static environment, their bodies changing by way by way of sharp refraction, color dodges, and ripple effects. It really is a video that gets better with repeat viewings, and the dance moves are just tantalizing.

Says director Melissa Cha of the concept:

“For me, ‘Night Fortress’ conjured images of deranged, alien characters skulking around a strip mall dystopia. It’s really great when a song immediately inspires imagery — Xander Harris’ music definitely has that effect. The initial concept was a madwoman possessed by decaying suburban landscapes. Whether or not that comes across doesn’t matter so much anymore. It was really just a starting point — something to think about during the shooting process.”

The track comes from Xander Harris’ The New Dark Age of Love record, out on Not Not Fun. You can watch the video after the jump.

Midday Veil – Great Cold of the Night Music Video (w/ Director & Musician Interviews)

Posted by Vivian HuaMarch 5, 20134 comments

“The basic concept has been sort of developing for years, due to our interest in mythology, especially ancient mystery religions that involve sacrificing or dismembering a god/hero and taking him into the underworld in order to give him a secret awareness of the processes of death and resurrection.” – Emily Pothast

Grizzly Bear – “gun-shy” Music Video

Posted by Vivian HuaFebruary 9, 2013No comments

Last year, the NSFW video for Kirin J. Callinan’s “Way To War (WIIW)” caught my attention with its punk rock Lars Von Trier visual choices. Just recently, the same director, Kris Moyes, released a music video for Grizzly Bear’s “gun-shy” — crystallizing what I would say is the best track from the band’s latest offering, Shields, into a sputtering-in-time work of natural and “scientific” strangeness.

Expect a compare-and-contrast interview with Moyes about both of these videos in the coming month — but for now, relish in the animated .gifs and the video’s delicious sleight of hand, tripped out subtle magic. Full clip inside, along with an initial statement from Moyes about the work.

The Peach Kings – “Lonely” Music Video

Posted by Vivian HuaNovember 18, 2012No comments

In the slow-moving yet visually challenging for The Peach Kings‘ “Lonely”, director Paul Trillo pans back and forth between the New York skyline and a number of opaque and transparent human subjects, both opaque and transparent.

According to director Paul Trillo, “The concept behind the video was to convey multiple aspects of loneliness. The feeling of being trapped (or tied down in this case), holding onto what is no longer there, and observing something that no one else is seeing. I think the backdrop of the NY skyline helps emphasize the scale of loneliness.”

INTERVIEW W/ PAUL TRILLO CONTINUED BELOW

Sexual Deviance in Music Video: Thee Oh Sees – Lupine Dominus & Kasper Bjørke – Bohemian Soul

Posted by Vivian HuaOctober 24, 2012No comments

Voyeuristic eyes take one through sexually deviant territories in the Thee Oh Sees‘ “Lupine Dominus” and Kasper Bjørke‘s “Bohemian Soul”. Both music videos contain similar themes and color palettes, but one is reminiscent of methy eye bags and Vegas Old Strip-style filthiness; the other travels halfway across the world to offer a beatific view of Thai ladyboys.

See the full post to view both music videos and to hear additional tracks from both artists.

Thee Oh Sees – “Lupine Dominus” Music Video

Kasper Bjørke – “Bohemian Soul” Music Video

Diplo – “Set It Off” Music Video (Director Ryan Staake & Producers Talk Infinite Stripper Pole)

Posted by Vivian HuaOctober 12, 2012No comments

“Several months before the request to make a video for ‘Set It Off’ came through, I’d shot some test footage of a friend pole dancing, and loved the look of it… there was definite sexiness to it, but the potential to add a bit of class to the depiction of beautiful, strong women showing off their skills.” – Ryan Staake, Director

Watch The Entirety of Marc Bolan’s 1977 TV Show, Marc

Posted by Erik BurgOctober 10, 2012No comments

A reminder that the world wide web is a wonderful, indulgent piece of technology, you can now stream all six episodes of the television series Marc. Originally airing in 1977, Marc is the pop music show of Marc Bolan, the famed glam rocker whose life was taken in a car crash in the same year the series ran. Featuring a rather glossed over Bolan lip syncing and dancing around stage to his own tunes, it’s a sort of macabre look at an artist not only entering the final days of his career, but of his life too. Marc’s final episode, which features guest star David Bowie performing “Heroes” and a duet with Bolan, actually failed to air until after Bolan’s funeral. The super low cut jumpers, the leopard print, the neon. It was glam rock at its finest, and topped off with backup dance troop Heart Throb, this UK tv show was the epitome of rock and roll at the time. Other guest performances found throughout the episodes include Thin Lizzy, Roger Taylor of Queen, Generation X and The Jam. In a lot of ways, viewing Marc in a contemporary setting employs the sort of twisted voyeurism that plagues the internet, but the show is a fascinating project that would never be greenlit in 2012, and for that historical perspective alone it’s worth diving into. Oh and the music isn’t half bad either. View all episodes via Youtube user VenusDeBurgio.