6/28/2012

Red Hot Chili Peppers – “Brendan’s Death Song” Video



If there’s such a thing as an ultimate Red Hot Chili Peppers video, it probably includes the following four things: (1) fire, (2) bare-chested raging out, (3) skimpily dressed hot girls, (4) hard-earned weatherbeaten musing on the fleeting nature of life. It’s not exactly easy to find room for all four of those things in one four-minute visual stretch, but with their new “Brendan’s Death Song” video, the Chili Peppers have found a context that’ll support all that stuff: A New Orleans jazz funeral! The song is a power-ballad dedicated to old-school L.A. punk scenester and early Chili Peppers booster Brendan Mullen, who died in 2009, and director Marc Klasfeld films the band peacocking mournfully. Watch it at Rolling Stone.

Muse - "Survival" Video - Official London Olympic's 2012 Song



A new track from Muse has been selected to be the official song of the London 2012 Olympic Games. The Devon rock band said the song was written with the Olympics in mind, adding it's about "pure determination to win". Last month the trio took part in the Olympic torch relay through their home town of Teignmouth, Devon. A statement on the band's website said they were "honoured" that the track would be played throughout the Olympic Games. "When athletes enter the stadium, in the lead up to the medal ceremony and also as the theme for all international TV coverage," it said.

6/27/2012

Lana Del Rey – “National Anthem” Video (Feat. ASAP Rocky)



We’ve already seen the extended trailer for Lana Del Rey’s “National Anthem,” which features ASAP Rocky as John F. Kennedy and LDR as some sort of Jackie Kennedy/Marilyn Monroe hybrid. And now we’ve got the full eight-minute video for the transcendently dumb song, which is everything you’d expect. And the video, through good performances and gorgeous Super-8 cinematography and a complete indifference to anything related to governing, actually does an amazingly nice job depicting LDR and Rocky as avatars of glamorous, doomed romanticism. Internet, consider yourself baited.

6/26/2012

Lana Del Rey - "National Anthem" (Trailer - Four-Minute!)



Watch a (Four-Minute!) Trailer for "National Anthem", Starring A$AP Rocky as JFK to Lana Del Rey's Jackie

"I'm your national anthem/ God, you're so handsome"

As promised, Lana Del Rey enlisted A$AP Rocky to play JFK to her Jackie O in the new video for Born to Die cut "National Anthem". Here's a trailer (it's four minutes long, but repeats the same images over and over again) for the video, directed by Anthony Mandler. "Some cool trippy shit, some real 2015 shit", Rocky said about the video. "People are going to get it in three years, and that's the whole purpose of it." Can't wait until 2015 comes and I can get on this level.

Monolith - Judas



Director: Brendan Vaughan Cinematography: Zac Adams Editor: BVZA Producer: BVZA / Matthew Anderson Wardrobe: Jackie Gudgel

Bettye LaVette - "I'm Not The One"



On her version of "I'm Not the One," soul survivor Bettye LaVette injects serious sass into the Black Keys original. As LaVette's voice slinks over seductive, reverb-drenched guitar strums, the clip zooms in close on battle-worn tour gear with bold lyrics zipping in and out of the frame.

"I find it interesting and thoroughly entertaining to add age and experience to young writers' songs and inhabit them myself," says LaVette. "I'm not sure what he was talking about, but I'm saying don't fuck with me."

"I'm Not the One" is from the Black Keys' 2010 album Brothers.

Via: Rollingstone.

Peter Murphy - I Spit Roses



"We finally got to see Murphy live this year, and we can think of no other artist whose later career we have enjoyed more. He continues to innovate and entertain with skill and innovation that remains inspirational and amazing. Peter Murphy doesn't still have it. He never lost it, and the animated masterpiece that is "I Spit Roses" deserves the top spot of 2011. " - Houston Press

Crash Test Dummies - Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm



Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm music video.

Keane - Sovereign Light Café



Music video by Keane performing Sovereign Light Café. Filmed in Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex in May 2012.

6/25/2012

Beirut - The Rip Tide



The title track from last year’s Beirut LP The Rip Tide finally gets the seafaring video of Zach Condon’s dreams. It’s directed by Houmam Abdallah and comes with an explanatory note from Mr. Condon — though the most important note of all for the impatient is to sit tight until the three minute mark. Once you do that, you will get why I now call this song “The Rip Tie-Die.”

Here’s Zach:

I always felt that “The Rip Tide” wasn’t fully able to project its own ambitions in song form.. no matter how it was performed or recorded, it felt contained by sound alone… I wanted more, as I often do with my music, and this is not a bad thing. Growing to accept a song’s limits is part of the process of creating and loving them. Which was why I was so excited to see what Houmam had dug into when he picked “The Rip Tide” out of all others for a video. The concept fit, and the product brought the song somewhere that I had only been able to describe to myself, now available for others to see and feel it much more as I had in the process of writing it.

Baio – “Sunburn Modern”



Here’s the video for Baio’s sunny instrumental track “Sunburn Modern,” a video that features a female mannequin lounging in Brooklyn, eventually meeting up with Chris Baio himself in Fort Greene Park. Aramique directs.

King Khan & The Shrines - Bite My Tongue



King Khan & The Shrines’ first video since 2009 features King Khan’s superhero alias Super KK, a figure who teams up with Jesus and others in an extended homage to the Batman television series. Jesus’s superpower is shooting wine out of his eyes, obviously. HYLAS directs.

Bowerbirds - "Sweet Moment"



Something about the clip reminds me of a Volkswagen commercial (even though I’m pretty sure the young couple at its center are driving a Honda), but it definitely does embody the essence of the song’s title and intent: fleeting instants of wonder that live forever in memory. Directed by Jacob Feiring.

The Shins - No Way Down



Music video by The Shins performing No Way Down.

Slow Club - Beginners (Feat. Daniel Radcliffe)



The official video for Slow Club's new single - Beginners - starring Daniel Radcliffe. Shot on location in The Faltering Fullback in Finsbury Park, London in a single take. Directed by Lucy Needs.

Gem Club Gem Club - I Heard the Party



Gem Club - I Heard the Party (Dir: Joshua Stocker)

Temper Trap - Trembling Hands (Director's Cut)



Temper Trap "Trembling Hands" Dir Tom Haines

6/20/2012

Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds – “Everybody’s On The Run” (Feat. Mischa Barton)



Here's "Everybody's On The Run," the new video from Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds, featuring Mischa Barton running around in leopard-print underwear and Noel … driving a cab. Alternate-universe career paths, perhaps. 

Zambri – “All You Maybes”



In the video for “All You Maybes, a polygonal person wanders through a polygonal world. At the end, he might turn into a monster or a messiah figure or something; I’m not really sure. It’s all very Lawnmower Man. Johnny Woods serves as animator, 3D modeling, etc...

Lemonade – “Softkiss”



fHere’s the video for Brooklyn dance outfit Lemonade’s “Softkiss,” a sunny, soft-focus visual directed by David Franklin.

The Dark Knight Rises - Exclusive Nokia Trailer Debut



"The Dark Knight Rises" in theaters July 20. Warner Bros. Pictures' and Legendary Pictures' "The Dark Knight Rises" is the epic conclusion to filmmaker Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy.

Leading an all-star international cast, Oscar(R) winner Christian Bale ("The Fighter") again plays the dual role of Bruce Wayne/Batman. The film also stars Anne Hathaway, as Selina Kyle; Tom Hardy, as Bane; Oscar(R) winner Marion Cotillard ("La Vie en Rose"), as Miranda Tate; and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, as John Blake.

Returning to the main cast, Oscar(R) winner Michael Caine ("The Cider House Rules") plays Alfred; Gary Oldman is Commissioner Gordon; and Oscar(R) winner Morgan Freeman ("Million Dollar Baby") reprises the role of Lucius Fox.

6/19/2012

Twin Shadow - Five Seconds



Twin Shadow’s video "Five Seconds” is an utterly badass pastiche of B-movie tropes, in which band frontman George Lewis Jr. does postapocalyptic motorcycle battle with a crew of masked shirtless goons. In the process, Lewis does some totally impressive motorcycle stunts, and it definitely seems to be him doing them. Keith Musil directs, from a story written by Lewis himself. The credits claim that it’s based on a novel called Night Of The Silver Sun, by Lewis and Eric Green, though I can’t find anything online about the existence of said novel.

Starring
D'angelo Lacy as JOHNNY
George Lewis as GEORGIE
Kerry Krogstad as MEL
Courtney Davies as MIDNIGHT PRINCESS 1
Emilie Pereira as MIDNIGHT PRINCESS 2
Becky Cyr as MIDNIGHT PRINCESS 3
Satu Makeda as MIDNIGHT PRINCESS 4
Michael Phillips as PRINCES GOON 1
Chris Jai Alex as PRINCES GOON 2
Hans Wikkeling as PRINCES GOON 3
Kenneth Ferguson as P...

Katy Perry - Wide Awake (Music Video)



Official music video for "Wide Awake," the final chapter from 'Teenage Dream.
Director: Tony 'Truand' Datis Producers: Dawn Rose & Danny Lockwood

The Offspring - Days Go By



Music video by The Offspring performing Days Go By.

The Beach Boys - That's Why God Made The Radio



The Beach Boys have issued a video for the titular track to their recently-released reunion album, That’s Why God Made the Radio. What starts out like a straight-up Best Coast clip, fully-stocked with lush footage of sunny SoCal, becomes a traditional Beach Boys video; in other words, think of the dorky sensationalism in their old flair like “Kokomo”. Some might call it lame, others charming — you decide below.

Girl's Generation - -TTS TWINKLE (Music Video)



GIRLS' GENERATION-TTS_TWINKLE_Music Video

The Hives - Go Right Ahead (Official video)



The first music video from the album Lex Hives. Directors: Johan Toorell and John Artur Nordqvist

6/18/2012

Sigur Rós – “Fjögur Píanó” (Feat. Shia LaBeouf) (NSFW)



Shia LaBeouf’s dong is probably not the first thing you’d expect to see in a Sigur Rós video, but it is indeed one of the first things that appears onscreen in the new video for the meditative instrumental piece “Fjögur Píanó.” In the clip, we see LaBeouf engaging in some morning naked experimental ballet with a limber blonde ladyfriend, going on an underwater car ride, crying at the sight of a room full of wall-mounted butterflies, and committing some sort of bloody sex assault. It doesn’t make the tiniest bit of sense, but it’s fascinating regardless. The video, from director “Alma Har’el, is part of the band’s “Mystery Film Experiment series,” which has already given us videos for the Valtari songs “Ég Anda” and “Varúð.”

Azealia Banks - Liquorice (Explicit)



In the video for “Liquorice,” a dance-rap track from her new 1991 EP, young Harlem star Azealia Banks wraps herself in all sorts of American iconography, including a moment where two cowgirl Azealias have an Old West-style showdown. Even though Banks herself is the only human being who shows up onscreen, it’s still a fun, ridiculously glossy affair. Rankin directs.

6/14/2012

Best Coast - The Only Place



Bob Bruno and Bethany Cosentino brand California with “BEST COAST” wherever possible in the fun clip for “The Only Place,” a video that features a rabbit wandering through the remnants of a house party, cheerleaders, fireworks affixed to guitars and bikes, and Bobb Bruno airballing a jumpshot while wearing an L.A. Kings jersey, among other things. Ace Norton directs.

Pet Shop Boys - "Invisible"



Pet Shop Boys "Invisible" dir. Brian Bress

Bobby Womack - Whatever Happened To The Times



Bobby Womack “Whatever Happened To The Times” (dir. Jamie-James Medina and Yusuf Pirhasan)

School of Seven Bells – “Night”



What: A young girl plays dress up as an obsessive, over-sexualized adult in School of Seven Bells video for “The Night”. The clip is the winner of a contest held by the band to showcase up and coming filmmakers.

Directed by: Allie Aviatal Tsypin

Passion Pit – “Take A Walk”



Earlier this week, Passion Pit released “I’ll Be Alright”, the second single from their sophomore LP, Gossamer, due out July 24th via Columbia. Now, the band returns with the video for the first single, “Take A Walk”. Created in collaboration with The Creators Project, the clip chronicles the travels of a bouncing blue ball.

Avett Brothers “Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Promise”




The William Kentridge fan in me can’t look away from Jason Mitcham’s music video for the Avett Brothers “Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Promise”. The final animation is made from 2600 paintings or a single painting, depending on how you look at things.
Check out Mitcham’s other artwork on his site, as well as his other painted animations on his vimeo.

Cocaine Unwrapped - The Machine



Some epic CG in this awareness campaign by Platige / Stink.

6/11/2012

The Vaccines - No Hope



Music video by The Vaccines performing No Hope.

Fiona Apple – “Every Single Night”



Fiona Apple’s excellent new single “Every Single Night” now has a video, and it’s a weird one. The clip seems to be obsessed with wildlife, especially creatures with no spines, like the snails that crawl all over Apple in one scene, or the giant squid that appears in a Paris river behind her in another. (Seriously: There are scenes in this video in which Paris appears to be infested with giant monsters, and they’re just there in the background while Apple is singing.) She also snuggles up next to a minotaur in bed and dances down the street while surrounded by people with lightbulb-sticks. Joseph Cahill directs.

Killer Mike – “Big Beast” (Feat. T.I., Bun B & Trouble) (NSFW)



Dir. Thomas C. Bingham
Quite possibly the video of the year. Two of my favorite things on this earth are hardass rap music and violent low-budget B-movies, so I feel like this video was pulled directly from some reptile part of my brain. When Killer Mike opens up a convenience store robber’s skull with a fire-axe before grinning wide and delivering one of his all-time most ferocious verses, it’s so beautiful that I want to cry.

BigBang – “Monster”



BigBang are obviously the greatest boy band in the known universe, and though their “Monster” video doesn’t approach the hallucinatory future-pop visions of “Fantastic Baby,” it still has explosions and high-kicks and inexplicable fashion decisions and a great beast’s-eye-view shot of a mad dash through a prison minefield, or something. Delightfully confusing, in the grandest K-pop tradition.

Little Boots - Headphones



“Headphones” is the new single from the endlessly lovable British dance-popper Little Boots, and it’s all about keeping your headphones on when you’re at the club. In the Bullion Collective-directed video, Little Boots and friends throw on headphones and imagine themselves as theatrical disco stars.

Dirty Projectors – “Gun Has No Trigger”



Here’s the Dave Longstreth-directed clip for Dirty Projectors’ “Gun Has No Trigger,” a simple clip filled with Dave Longstreth, Amber Coffman, and Haley Dekle-shaped silhouettes, a strobe light, and a backdrop of alternating color. Longstreth says (via press release):

    GUN HAS NO TRIGGER is about the possibility for true dissent, and how I can’t figure out what that could be. What is a 2012 Exodus from the Society of the Spectacle (to mix language Situationist and Rastafari)? So we made a video from the iconography of the default profile image used by Facebook and Gmail, and also the look of the classic Apple iPod commercials. The colors in the background are the ones I think of when I hear the harmonies of Amber and Haley (via experimental synesthesia). Enjoy!!

Beach House – “Lazuli”



Three people cross into another dimension in Beach House’s clip for “Lazuli,” a trippy, fluorescent void occupied by Beach House, incidentally. Allen Cordell directs.

6/06/2012

Kanye West – “Mercy” Explicit Video (Feat. Big Sean, Pusha T & 2 Chainz)



Video: Kanye West feat. Big Sean, Pusha T, and 2 Chainz - "Mercy"

Today, Kanye West delivers the video for “Mercy,” the excellent Big Sean/Pusha T/2 Chainz posse cut that he released back in April. Directed by Nabil, the video is a stark and elemental black-and-white thing: The four rappers (plus one woman, a couple of expensive videos, and a dancing Kid Cudi) in a gigantic unfurnished room, seen in one continuous take as the camera slowly turns on an axis. Oh, and also, all the rappers have Jamie Madrox-style self-cloning powers and Nightcrawler-style teleporting powers. It’s fucking awesome.

Die Antwoord – “Baby’s On Fire”



The world may have moved on from the initial brain-melt that the South African rave-rap art project Die Antwoord gave it, but the group hasn’t lost its eyeball-searing visual sensibility. Their new “Baby’s On Fire” video is about five million shades brighter than their “I Fink U Freeky” video, but it’s just as compulsively watchable. This video asks us to believe that Yo-Landi and Ninja are sister and brother, and that Ninja keeps cock-blocking Yo-Landi. Ninja co-directs alongside Terence Neale, and it’s pretty great. NSFW, but only just.

Sigur Rós - Varúð



It’s a slowly shifting depiction of a craggy landscape directed by Ingibjörg Birgisdóttir, who designed the Valtari cover.

Muse - The 2nd Law - Album Trailer



They may have out-done themselves with the level of epic on this - the promo for upcoming album The 2nd Law....

6/04/2012

Coldplay – “Princess Of China” (Feat. Rihanna) Video



Coldplay – “Princess Of China” (Feat. Rihanna) Video

Here’s the visual for Coldplay and Rihanna’s collaboration “Princess Of China,” a clip packed with eye-burning images that would make both Ang Lee and Baz Luhrmann proud. Observations: it contains too may potential GIFs to count and Rihanna gets pretty friendly with the video’s main male, as she sometimes does. Adria Petty (Beyoncé’s immaculate “Countdown,” daughter of Tom) and Alan Bibby direct.

Family Of The Year – “Diversity”



Here’s the clip for Cali six-piece Family Of The Year’s “Diversity,” a light-hearted video where the band’s diarama/stage platform gets raided by some other folks — repo men, other young people desperate to rid the band of their clothes — interacting with the scene.

The Flaming Lips & Erykah Badu – “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” (NSFW)



The Flaming Lips & Erykah Badu – “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” Video (NSFW)

When the Flaming Lips linked up with Erykah Badu for their all-collaborations album The Flaming Lips And Heavy Fwends, they recorded a cover of the old folk song “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face,” most famously recorded by Roberta Flack. And now, that version of the song gets a video that’s about as NSFW as it could possibly be. While the various Lips flail around in extreme slow motion, Nayrok Badu — Erykah’s sister, who looks a whole hell of a lot like Erykah — gets extremely naked and rolls about in glitter, blood, and white goop. George Salisbury directs.

The Black Keys – “Gold On The Ceiling” Video



The Black Keys – “Gold On The Ceiling” Video (Dir. Harmony Korine)

The Black Keys’ “Gold On The Ceiling” is probably the most unstoppable rock anthem on their new album El Camino, and it already had a completely straightforward music video. So I’m not really sure how the duo decided to recruit the legendarily fucked-up filmmaker Harmony Korine to make his own utterly absurd and borderline-unwatchable clip for the song, but it happened. In Korine’s version of “Gold On The Ceiling,” the song is muffled, and it keeps cutting out to silence. The Black Keys, meanwhile, appear in furry baby costumes while being carried by giant guys in waxy Black Keys masks? Or something? And at the end, a couple of guys appear to be eating gold? I have no idea what the fuck is going on.