Music Lovers Unite
With all of the attention being heaped on the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, I thought it was time to revisit this delightful clip. The creepy whistling intro! the hair! the battle scenes! the pathos!
Who could ever forget The Scorpions’ ‘Wind of Change?’
Scary bats, fiendish ghouls and tales of the occult! Who could deny that in 2009 music videos have taken a turn toward the dark side. At hubs this week we’ve been discussing our favorite spooky videos of the year and decided to post a few. Of course we could have just tapped the entire Fever Ray catalog, but that would just be too easy.
Without further ado…
YACHT ‘Psychic City’
Major Lazer ‘Hold the Line’
Fever Ray ‘Stranger Than Kindness’
Bat For Lashes ‘Daniel’
…k, maybe not so creepy, but I find those black balloon people very sinister…
With ubiquitous Where the Wild Things Are chatter, a recent MoMA retrospective and a Kanye collaboration that has the internet in a royal tizz, you’d be forgiven for feeling pangs of Spike Jonze fatigue.
But you’ve got to hand it to the man. No director have made the transition from no-budget music video director into fully fledged Oscar-nominated territory the way he has. Whilst his work looks increasingly glossy and expensive (thanks to long time collaborator cinematographer Lance Acord) it’s interesting to revisit his roots, in this case, Jonze’s second video, Sonic Youth’s 100%.
For starters, it reminds us of how lucky we are to have the internet for stalking potential love interests. Trailing someone in person or calling and hanging up after they answer seems like so much work nowadays.
Plus, you just can’t touch a video that shows a scene of a blind woman in a ballet class. How does she stay in sync and keep from knocking into everyone? It’s inspiring.
Lastly, there is nothing I love more than a video that incorporates a nice dramatic storyline. That play rehearsal at the beginning is genius, and the part at the end where he’s summoned to the art studio to see the bust she’s sculpted of him without ever seeing him just proves they’re soul mates!
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This time…
I’ma make it clear…
That I’m number one…
Uh… Yeah… Yeah… Yeah…
Insipid lyrics? Yep! Video that looks like it had a 25 cent budget despite probably costing a million bucks? Indeed! Worst video and song ever? Easily!
Play VideoI just caught this amazing French new wave film Last Year at Marienbad. Set in an over the top old chateau, the black and white film is a masterpiece of style and intrigue.
I’ve seen many fashion shoots inspired by the – frankly weird and, weirdly frank – film. Then I remembered that Blur’s video for ‘To The End’ was filmed as an homage. Without further ado…
Dolly’s new video has to be seen to be believed, it looks like it was shot on an iPhone and directed by my Grandmother!
Play VideoOur guide to the cliches, visual iconography and historical references that make up the vernacular of modern music videos.
The recent barrage of media coverage over the 40th anniversary of the moon landing got us thinking. Where would music videos be without the old go-to reference of space travel? Whether its adopting the retro approach a.l.a. Corgan, or going for a kitsch DIY homage like the Beastie Boys’ ‘Intergalactic,’ space travel and its visual repertoire of rockets, extra terrestrials and futuristic leisure wear continues to be a major influence on the music video world.
Here’s our top 5. Any other suggestions?
Smashing Pumpkins ‘Tonight, Tonight’
David Bowie ‘Space Oddity’
Lenny Kravitz ‘Believe’
N.E.R.D. ‘She Wants to Move’
Kylie Minogue ‘Put Yourself in my Place’
Paul Banks of course! The Interpol frontman recently released his first solo album ‘Julian Plenti is… Skyscraper’ and HubsTV just added the Javier Aguilera directed video for ‘Games for Days’. Shot at Toronto’s Waverly Hotel and featuring Emily Haines from Metric.
This Fall we will also see a release from another New York frontman Julian Casablancas. His official website has a trailer for the album and also an interview.
So who will win the solo wars?
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I was gently swaying in the breeze to ‘Rain’ on Hubs earlier today and decided to dig around a little and find out more about one of my favorite childhood videos (shh). Did you know it was shot entirely in black and white with each frame hand colored to get that intense saturation effect? It was also the FIFTH single off Erotica (thanks Wikipedia). Those were the days.
That part, half way through the song, where the wall of lights slowly reach full intensity during “Here comes the suuuuuuuun” gets me every time…
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