Internet Killed the Video Star: March
Music videos have disappeared from the airwaves but they're now available on demand 24/7 in cyberspace. That's why we provide a monthly rundown of the music videos you need to be aware of.
How I spend 16% of my workday.
The National “Conversation 16” – Watching Kristen Schaal as some sort of dopey president go through a sequence of fairly obvious gags might not sound like comedy gold, but having the whole thing scored by the earnest melancholy of The National makes it pretty funny.
Gil Scott-Heron ft. Jamie XX “I’ll Take Care Of You” – It’s like watching The Fighter or Million Dollar Baby or Girlfight in 4 and a half minutes.
Denzil Porter “On the Plains” – It’s like the rap video version of Fallen. Don’t let that deter you, it’s pretty good.
AWOLNATION “Sail” – When he’s running around his house protecting himself from an unseen alien invasion and yelling into his Talkboy FX = good. When he’s ascending into the heavens = not so much.
Big K.R.I.T. “Dreamin” - Sometimes, you don't need a great video, you just need the right video at the right time, and this might be just that for Big K.R.I.T. There's nothing spectacular about it, but he’s cool and affable and he comes across as a humble yet self assured underdog. It's a great introduction to someone who had a big 2010 and is looking to have a bigger 2011.
But I also like savings the money.
Die Antwoord “Rich Bitch” – I could do without the whole Die Antwoord craze, but this video isn’t bad. It’s a cross between that cable commercial with the mini-giraffe and a parody of excess-celebrating rap videos.
B.o.B “Dr. Aden” - This is a pretty ambitious song for a hitmaker like B.o.B, and a somewhat surprising choice for a video. The story of a doctor being used by the government for nefarious purposes isn't exactly riveting, and the video offers little more than a lightly dramatized version of the song's plot, but it sure is paranoid and cynical, which I like.
Jim Jones ft. Chink Santana & Logic “Perfect Day” – What happens when the utterly absurd Dipset crew meets an uplifting I’ll C U When U Get There type song? A “Crack is Wack” leather jacket, sick bicycle jumps, Jim Jones in OR scrubs (oh, are they?) rapping into a stethoscope, and a sign language translator picture in picture. It’s all even more perplexing when you realize this came out in the same month as a video that is literally just footage of Jim Jones rapping and smoking in a car interspersed with naked girls dancing.
He's the James Dean of canine actors.
Atmosphere “Just For Show” – It’s safe to say I’ve never seen such an excellent acting performance by a non-human before. This golden retriever’s facial expressions and body language convey some serious emotional depth.
Tony Yayo “Twitter Gangstas” - “Niggas talkin’ bout they gonna kill me on Twitter.” <echo voice> “El-Oh-El!” I’ll admit, this video doesn’t have much to offer beyond that opening bit, but really, do you need anything more?
J Mascis “Not Enough” – Trippy animated videos are a double-edged sword. They tend to be entertaining, but they’re also pretty common now, with little to distinguish one from the next and no real staying power. This video from the Dinosaur Jr. frontman rises above due to its variety of styles and textures and the fact that it might sort of have a story. Animating the artist and making him a presence amidst all the insanity helps ground the trippy visuals, which usually feel very abstract in this kind of video. This one is actually, dare I say it, poignant.
Sticky Fingaz loves the 90s.
Onyx “Classic Terror” – Everything about this video, the special effects, the clothes, the video quality, is straight out of the 90s. That’s a great thing.
TV On the Radio “Will Do” – This video gives off a real Strange Days vibe. And I love Strange Days. A lot. So this video is all good by me.
Sims “One Dimensional Man” – The targets in the song and video are wide ranging: a smug scumbag CEO, a newly "environment friendly" corporation, leftist citizens who pay lip service to activism. None of it’s particularly new, but the infomercial segments are appropriately in-your-face and grotesque, and I like the idea that the "revolution" is just a shirtless boy with a bazooka.
Does It Offend You, Yeah? “The Monkeys Are Coming” – For most of this video, we watch the electro-rock outfit perform on a tiny stage in front of a few non-plussed old men in an empty bar. It’s odd because it’s hard to imagine their music not inciting people to throw furniture. About midway through, shots of a festival performance with a decidedly more lively crowd make us think we’re about to see something different, but just for a few seconds before we’re sent back to the despondent men at the bar. I’m not sure why they teased us like that. I really wanted to see people throw some furniture.
It's like Pit Fighter. And I love Pit Fighter. A lot.
Dodos “Black Night” – You just can’t have enough underground fighting rings in music videos.
R.A. the Rugged Man "A Star is Born" - R.A. continues his practice of releasing videos for ancient songs, this one about his experiences with Jive and other record labels in the 90s. The Britney and ICP impersonators reek of Eminem's worst music video impulses, but at least they're called for by the song's subject matter. Regardless, the frequent breaks in the music featuring R.A.'s interactions with the record execs (Prince Paul and Wormser from Revenge of the Nerds - apparently) are amusing, as pretty much all rap skits involving record execs are.
Clean up on aisle dance fever.
VIDEO OF THE MONTH: SebastiAn "Embody" - Too many videos either throw too much at you in an attempt to keep you interested, thus creating a disjointed mess, or are built around some sort of reveal or punchline that makes the rest of the video seem like glorified set up. The middle ground is where great videos are born. This video, which shows us a boy dancing in increasingly inappropriate places succeeds at being entertaining the whole way through, and featuring enough escalation to keep us interested until the end. That's a rare thing for a premise that is clever, simple, and very limited. It's not that I love this video so much as I feel like it is very focused and well executed. Plus, the kid's dancing is pretty great, and there are more than a few legitimately funny moments.
to be continued?
VIDEO FLASHBACK: Snoop Dogg ft. Master P, Butch Cassidy, Tha Eastsidaz & Nate Dogg "Lay Low" - There are certainly more obvious choices for remembering Nate Dogg by way of music video, but this one definitively proves that the combination of a Dre beat and Nate Dogg on the hook can make even a lackluster song memorable a decade later. The video is directed by Hype Williams, back when he directed 20 videos a year. Snoop Dogg's G'ed up Roaring Twenties mafia is a clear inspiration for the people behind Boardwalk Empire. Unfortunately, the video is anticlimactic as it ends with a "to be continued..." card, and I'm pretty sure there was never a part 2. Why would there be?
VIDEO TO WATCH FOR
On Friday, the new Katy Perry and Kanye West video is set to premiere. What happens when you mix something awful and something great? According to early reports, a lot of outer space stuff. Frankly, neither Katy nor Kanye have the best track record in terms of music videos, so I wouldn't expect quality, but it's clearly a spectacle to look out for.
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