Girls On Film

Something exciting is happening with music videos again, I can't put my finger on it exactly, but space is opening back up for semi-professional productions. Until fairly recently it's either been zero-budget 'quirky concept' or Rihanna, but something in-between is on the rise. Whether or not mid level directors are benefitting is obviously in contention, but I digress from these visual treats.

Hurts have always intrigued me, despite their underground overexposure... a straight pop effort dressed in Joy Division Dior Homme and referencing The Night Porter is definitely something to support, even if everyone is telling you as well. Lady Gaga must approve. UNKLE's latest collaboration with Warren & Nick comes off like a fashion film hybrid, and does it very very well.

Health & Cheer To All Gingers

Ummm... so a couple of shock-tactic new music videos that both happen to be pretty amazing.
First is for HEALTH's We Are Water by Eric Wareheim (via City Slang), and second is another slice of teenage apocalyptica by Romain Gavras (remember Stress?) for M.I.A's new song Born Free (great song as well)...
I like them, if that's the right word....

One Amazing & Two Very Good Songs. One Amazing & Two Very Good Videos.

Jasper Chadprajong x Cannibal

This is the fashion film we made for Jasper Chadprajong (the multi award-winning designer from our second CANNIBAL night). The soundtrack is by the amazing new group Visions of Trees, who soundtracked the live fashion show at the event, and all models are courtesy of D1 Management (See the Events page at the top for photos etc). Here is what Jasper had to say about the collection/video:

“Here it is. One more, one less another wasted love story”.

This is the journey of my past- present- future of love. Ideas come from relationships,
The first feeling of love and the colours associated with it, blue for man, yellow for woman,
Mix the two you get purple, but then what happens after love when a relationship breaks down?
There is a moment in life when you cannot recover from another break up. Is love really that simple?

Fuck Buttons Solar Surfing Tarot Sports

Here's the thing about Fuck Buttons; the first album was pretty amazing; just a wall of noise that managed to somehow have melody, and even a hook... it filled a gap between the shoegaze revival and the electronic/lo-fi thing going on, and it did it well. But for all its virtues I couldn't help wondering where they would go after (other than around the world with Mogwai)...

It was definitely an album that could sit on its own and never need a follow up, and there was the worry that they might not strike that balance again that made the first work so well. However, the new album Tarot Sports is out in October, (here's the artwork) and over at Pitchfork you can hear the new track Surf Solar which shows no sign of them having burnt the sound out.
Fuck Forever then...

Lazer Pistols, Cowboys, Holograms, Unicorns and Eagles

As Muse disappear yet further into the supermassive black hole started by Queen, it's comforting to remember that someone once told them self parody might not be such a bad idea... Back in 2006, they were responsible for at least authorising, if not conceptualising one of the most enjoyable music videos in mainstream pop.

Directed by Joseph Kahn, it seems to tread a similar path to Joss Whedon's Firefly, and is every bit the compact, high-gloss fun music videos can sometimes be. (A much higher-res version can be found at the directors website).

Moderat Makes Australians Cry

If Apparat isn't everything that's good about electronic music at the moment, he's certainly a reminder that it can be meaningful and emotional. Not the sweaty, pilled-up emotion of Soulwax or Justice, but the heart-string plucking kind; the kind that's usually the preserve of a well scored slice of premium cinema.

He started with Orchestra of Bubbles, a collaboration with Ellen Allien in 2006 that hinted at the human behind the techno beat; placing a subtle question mark over the typically soulless nature of electronic music. Then came the solo Walls in 2007, experimenting with downtempo and providing moments of sheer beauty (Useless Information, Arcadia).

Most recently was the collaboration with Modeselektor; Moderat. Initially I was worried the collaboration might see him straying from this living, breathing roboticism and into the more disposable aspects of his collaborators, but it seems the opposite was the case. What the collaboration brought in repetition and structure seemingly amplified the contrast... the industrial and the mechanical, and the emotive.


A friend recently recounted the following; it was a rainy, artistically productive day, and a group of them were sat smoking weed and drawing. Conditions, as Flight of the Conchords stated, were perfect, my friend put on LP highlight Out of Sight and returned to his drawing. When he looked up, he noticed an Australian, shedding a solitary tear.

If you can find it, there's a deluxe edition of the LP that has a second disk with a visual accompaniment, a sort of minimal series of music videos. Again, a hint at how to progress given the dismal future of albums, music videos and budgets in general.

Simian Mobile Disco Revitalize!

Firstly, apologies to the barely breathing parties for the lack of updates. I've been away with the fairies.

Here's something for you though... a Simian Mobile Disco video. SMD are something of an interesting notion to me, on one hand they were very active during the recent tech-electro boom, but never quite reaching the stratospheres of say Justice. They released some anthems during this period, but at the same time they didn't homogenize their sound, and therefore their appeal in the same way as Digitalism for example.

As those familiar with the history of SMD will know, it is their ability to evolve that has provided them with some longevity without resorting to formula. Both song and video here are testament to a next step. 'Electro' music and the music video concept are currently suffering a troubling period; electro has attempted parallel movements towards disco in the wake of it's over speculative explosion, and the music video is in the process of being over saturated by no-budget concept pieces... you know, the ones with the fingers, people walking on beds on their sides, etc etc etc...

Shrewdly then, we see an example of both being subverted, or progressed perhaps. (This is not the first time they've offered something of a subversion within the video form.) The music is an obvious old-school throwback, but in a somewhat sideward step when compared to their peers. The video takes the no-budget concept, throws it on it's head and reminds us of the fundamental appeal of dance music.

Red Team Fight A Good Fight

Despite previous endeavour Cheenah being a London indie band at the height of the I'm-in-a-London-indie-band bandwagon, there was always something slightly different about them, not least their attitude to it. In other words they never took themselves too seriously, and they were actually pretty good.

So, Cheenah disband somewhat as a reaction to the scene, and head in a totally different direction with a slightly different line-up, as Red Team.

So as the scene seems to be featuring a larger turn-out of electronic based bands, Red Team's sound is umm more electronic and tightly programmed. Except again, they're comparitively very good. I managed to see their first gig at The Monarch in Camden, and it was pretty special; a mass of electronics and effects used carefully, and to great effect; a wall of sound in the best possible way. (Standout track is the somewhat ethereal Absinthe).

Think Foals, Battles, Holy Fuck, DJ Shadow, Death in Vegas and some friends playing soggy biscuit... Catch the biscuit live as soon as you can, no-one wants to be last.

Fever Ray; Karin From The Knife Goes It Alone

Fever Ray Myspace

So, it seems half of what's been best about electronic music in recent years is going solo. This news might explain the absence of sharp implement related activity beyond grime recently.

There's only one track up at the moment, but it hints at a very interesting, if not somewhat similar direction. It's slightly more rough around the edges, where The Knife was very precise, this is somewhat darker and more organic. Gone also seem to be the dramatics of mask and mystery, which might have become a bit banal if continued over a vast body of work.

However, I can't be the only one holding out hope for a third slice... despite half wanting them to take the slightly frustrating live-fast-die-young route, at least we might get to see her live.

Tim Walker Shoots Patrick Wolf

So, according to the Vanity Fair website, this little collaboration happened back in January of this year...

Tim Walker probably being my favourite working mainstream fashion photographer, and Patrick being one of the only worthwhile pop artists, it's a fantastic collaboration.

He is surrounded by the cygnets of the Ballet West in the Stag Ballroom of the Mar Lodge Estate, in Braemar, Scotland.

Arcade Fire Interactive Music Video for 'Black Mirror'

It's probably a bit behind, but I've just seen this which is very cool. The always brilliant Arcade Fire have done something really interesting with their video concept for Black Mirror.

Here

It's an interactive video where you can manually select elements of the music... I particularly like it with 2 (drums) deselected... anyway, great concept, good to see people trying new things, even better that it's Arcade Fire.