1/29/2016

Coldplay - “Hymn For The Weekend” (Feat. Beyoncé) Video



The best moment on A Head Full Of Dreams, Coldplay’s soupy mess of a new album, is the moment when Beyoncé shows up on the song “Hymn For The Weekend.” That perfect human being has now graciously donated more of her time so that Coldplay could make a video for the song. The clip, from director Ben Mor, features Coldplay performing at what appears to be an Indian street fair and wandering into the city while fireworks explode above. Beyoncé never appears onscreen with the boys; instead, she plays some sort of Bollywood screen queen, which is some pretty decent casting if you ignore the whole cultural-appropriation angle. It’s a beautifully shot video, and I like the part where Chris Martin hangs his head out the window of a moving car, like a dog.

Vince Staples - “Lift Me Up” (Official Video)



Vince Staples has shared a video for “Lift Me Up,” off his debut Summertime ’06, which was one of the best albums of last year. The clip begins with the intro from the record, “Ramona Park Legend, Pt. 1,” before segueing into the song itself. Staples alternates between lying on the pavement and hovering precariously right above it, with some dizzying camera moves from co-directors David Helman and Dustin Lane.

iSHi - “We Run” (Feat. French Montana, Wale, & Raekwon) Video



ISHi is a Swedish producer who makes diamond-hard rap beats, which makes about as much sense as anything else does nowadays. Last year, we posted his Pusha T collab “Push It,” and since then, he’s teamed up with a charismatically muttery French Montana, an awkwardly slick Wale, and a reliably hardheaded Raekwon for a nice neck-snap posse cut called “We Run.” As The FADER points out, the clip has a murky new black-and-white video that alternates between footage of rappers rapping and majestic landscapes.

Zayn - “Pillowtalk” (Official Video)



Zayn Malik, once the best singer in UK boy band institution One Direction, left that group about a year ago, and there has been lots of speculation on what’s going to happen when he goes solo. Malik is going to try very, very hard to Timberlake on us, and he seems pretty well-positioned to make that transition. But we hadn’t heard any of his solo music until this morning, when he dropped the video for “Pillowtalk,” his debut solo single. It’s a sleek, immaculately constructed piece of moody, post-Weeknd R&B, which is pretty much what you’d expect from this guy. On first listen, it’s not bad, but it’s also not an undeniable “What Do You Mean”-level banger. In the video, he makes out with model Gigi Hadid, and director Bouha Kazmi throws in a lot of flower-blooming imagery that seems designed to suggest that this guy is having a lot of sex now.

Tourist - “To Have You Back” (Official Video)



Exactly one week ago, London producer Tourist shared “To Have You Back,” the slow-burning, emotionally resonant first single from his upcoming debut U. Tonight, he’s following that up with a new video from Davy Evans and Jason Drew, in which a minimal white CGI world is suddenly introduced to vibrant, swirling colors. The clip tells an “abstract story of the decay and breakup of a relationship and its eventual rekindling,” the directors told Nowness, where the video premiered. “Black liquid (the breakup), meets color and finally neon explosions (the rekindling).”

OOFJ - “Don’t Look” Video (NSFW)



LA electro duo OOFJ first got together in New York while working on Lars Von Trier’s movie Melancholia. And today they once again find themselves at the intersection of music and film. Along with director Jonathan Turner, they apply some cinematic savvy and subtle CGI in their new “Don’t Look” video. A love story unfolds as two human-like cyborgs a la I, Robot explore each other’s bodies and movements between cuts of synchronized dances and trippy CGI sequences. The video isn’t sexually charged, but there are some wonderfully weird moments within the journey through the cyborg body. OOFJ’s track takes on a scoring capacity, with layers of playful synth elevating the wonder and intrigue of the cyborg figures. Check it out over at Nowness.

1/28/2016

Poliça - “Wedding” (Official Video)



In light of the current social climate, a lot of artist have been attempting to draw attention to police brutality and the Black Lives Matter movement. When white artists try this, it can be sticky. Most recently, America’s favorite socially active rapper Macklemore released “White Privilege II” in order to attempt present what he feels to be his position within this struggle. And while awareness raised by any means does have a degree of worth, the self-deprecating five-minute dirge received a good amount of backlash for both its content and its sloppy construction.

As if to show Macklemore how to do it right, today Poliça released the video for their single “Wedding” from their upcoming LP United Crushers. Taking a view point that’s effective while maintaining its musicality, the video meshes documentation with surrealistic representation in order to give the sort of horrific representation that police brutality so deserves.

Mount Moriah - “Baby Blue” (Official Video)



The video for new How To Dance single “Baby Blue” ruptures the fourth wall in the same way Mount Moriah’s music ruptures the traditional themes of Southern roots rock. The intimacy of each moment captured on camera mimics the slow and heartfelt vocals and dusty instrumentation, the clip’s surreal nature accenting the slow-burning single’s dreamy qualities all the while. Seeking to highlight the fact that each seemingly candid moment captured is indeed a construct, director Jordan Michael Blake sought to use the film’s voyeuristic qualities in order to “prompt some thought about the way to frame our own personal memories/perceptions of others.”

Jessy Lanza - “It Means I Love You” Video



Experimental popper Jessy Lanza is following up her 2013 debut Pull My Hair Back and last year’s You Never Show Your Love EP with a new album, Oh No, which will be released in May. Like her first record, this one was recorded with Junior Boys’ Jeremy Greenspan and, like her first record, new single “It Means I Love You” skirts the line between out-and-out R&B and electronic restrain quite well. The new song comes attached to a video that sees Lanza dancing among a ton of plants. In a press release, she explains this new found preoccupation: “I became obsessed with surrounding myself with tropical plants. I’ve been convinced that the air quality in our house is slowly killing us. It might sound crazy but the plants have made a huge difference.”

WALL - “Cuban Cigars” (Official Video)



The NYC-based punk band WALL just released their debut self-title 7″ by way of Wharf Cat Records, and we heard its single “Fit The Part” last year. In their new video for “Cuban Cigars,” the members of WALL perform in a room filled with men smoking Cuban cigars and generally behaving like wealthy assholes. The band ruins their party in spectacular ways.

A$AP Rocky - “JD” (Official Video)



Earlier tonight, A$AP Rocky shared three new tracks, and he promised that a video for At.Long.Last.A$AP cut “JD” was on the way. Well, Rocky is a man of his word, and the video has already arrived. Directed by Rocky’s art design team AWGE, Rocky himself, and Dexter Navy, the clip opens with Rocky wandering the streets of London, haunted by the animated specter of James Dean. Then the whole video toggles between live-action and animation, with Rocky looking vampiric while nightmarish imagery flickers in and out of existence behind him. It’s pretty cool-looking!


La Sera - “High Notes” (Official Video)



“High Notes” is a single off of La Sera’s forthcoming album, Music For Listening To Music To, which was produced by Ryan Adams and is due out in March. The band debuted a new Jason Lester-directed video for the first single today. The clip features Katy Goodman and co. performing for a Southwestern variety show, which recalls Lily Allen’s 2009 video for “Not Fair.”

The Big Pink - “Hightimes” (Official Video)




London synth-rockers the Big Pink are back in full effect after a nearly four-year absence since Future This. This past fall they dropped lead single “Hightimes” from their upcoming Empire Underground EP, and today it receives the visual treatment. The clip is a mesmerizing mix of light, shadow, cool graphics, and a Sin City-esque white, black, and red aesthetic. The lighting flickers, highlighting strikingly stoic facial expressions against backgrounds with fluttering bouts of static and distortion and elaborate tribal leaning patterns. The song has huge cinematic moments with a grandiose chorus, and the video matches the immensity perfectly.

Meow The Jewels - “Meowpurrdy” Video (Feat. Lil Bub, Maceo, & Delonte)



“Meowpurrdy” is the Meow The Jewels version of “Jeopardy,” the crushing opener from Run The Jewels’ 2014-dominating opus RTJ2. Like all the Meow The Jewels tracks, it’s a remix of the original with cat sounds subbed in the for the original production. “Meowpurrdy” is El-P’s own contribution, and today it gets a darkly hallucinatory video by Cyriak. Celebrity felines Lil Bub, Maceo, and Delonte appear on in the kaleidoscopic clip, which finds them morphing and replicating and generally resembling some kind of hellish Goya painting.

Mothers - “No Crying In Baseball” (Official Video)



shot and edited by Patrick Morales

with help from:
kristine leschper
matthew anderegg
drew kirby
luc frolet
wyatt pless
austin harris
beth laird
shandy kennedy

LUH - “I&I” (Prod. The Haxan Cloak) Video



Since the dissolution of WU LYF in 2012, vocalist Ellery Roberts has been periodically putting out his own music as LUH (Lost Under Heaven) alongside Ebony Hoorn, including “Kerou’s Lament,” “Unites,” and two new tracks last year. Today, Roberts has shared a new track and video for “I&I,” which was produced by the Haxan Cloak. “I&I speaks of impulse & limitation, the thoughts that pass thru the morning air, the embers of a dreams left unspoken then forgotten. The visual finds ䷊ portraying the taunts of duality, invocation of the rising sun to find the courage to act,” the video’s description reads.

Tortoise - “Yonder Blue” (Feat. Yo La Tengo’s Georgia Hubley) Video



Tortoise have shared a video for “Yonder Blue,” a track off of the recently-released The Catastrophist, the band’s first album in six years. The track features Yo La Tengo’s Georgia Hubley on vocals, though the video follows someone else as they contemplatively wander around pastoral landscapes before ending up at a bar and eventually a rainy bus stop, where a weird-looking sheep’s mask makes an appearance.

Underworld - “I Exhale” (Official Video)



Electro veterans Underworld began the roll-out for their ninth studio album Barbara Barbara, we face a shining future last fall with a quick teaser cut of the project’s seven tracks. Just last week they shared the lead single “I Exhale,” and today it receives a set of visuals by Tomato. The video is filled with quirky, adorable dad humor. With nothing but minimal strobe lighting, a door, and an abundance of unabashed goofiness, this video is pretty captivating. Frontman Karl Hyde showcases some hilarious dance moves and antics, almost literally not missing a beat of the song. His every move matches the tempo to the point where he is pretty much a living metronome. There’s lots of hilarious flailing hands, eye rolls, and ironic stoic looks on this vid, and you can tell it was a lot of fun to make.

The Joy Formidable - “The Last Thing On My Mind” Video (NSFW)



Welsh alt-rock power trio the Joy Formidable are returning in March with Hitch, their third album and their first since 2013’s Wolf’s Law. Today, they’ve shared the NSFW video for lead single “The Last Thing On My Mind,” which features a whole lot of footage of a whole lot of dudes in various states of undress. “It’s a song about freedom, about feeling alive & a part of that is about sexual liberation too, which is why we wanted to make a music video from the perspective of a heterosexual female gaze,” frontwoman Ritzy Bryan explains. “It shows men in many forms, being free, being sexy, being watched, it’s beautiful and provocative and is some small attempt to re address the existing imbalance of perspective and nudity in music videos.”

1/26/2016

Watch Flying Lotus’ Short Film FUCKKKYOUUU (NSFW)



Fresh off a Grammy nod for his collaboration with Kendrick Lamar on “Never Catch Me,” eccentric producer Flying Lotus is back with another striking set of visuals. He’s soundtracked the new Eddie Alcazar-directed short film FUCKKKYOUUU, which finally surfaces online today after its premiere at several film festivals last year, in conjunction with its screening at Sundance Film Festival today.

The short is wonderfully weird, dark, and disjointed. Shot in black-and-white, Alcazar’s use of light and shadow is impeccable, framing a twisted time-traveling love story. It opens with an excerpt from Silvia Plath, then moves to a haunting image of a glowing substance injected intravenously into an alien-like figure’s arm, lingering shots of naked bodies kissing while floating in the air (hence the NSFW), and a horrific, gory image of a tree sprouting its roots through the alien-like life form while laying on the ground. Flying Lotus’ score accentuates these beautiful, brutal images with a more traditional film score featuring his off-kilter aesthetic and eerie cinematic sweeps. The mix darts around your ears while listening through a pair of headphones, oscillating from left to right like it’s moving through your head. This is an evocative film in every aspect.

1/25/2016

The Chemical Brothers - “Wide Open” (Feat. Beck) Video



Dance-music veterans the Chemical Brothers are, quietly, one of the greatest music-video acts of all time. Last year, they teamed up with Beck on “Wide Open,” a song from their Born In The Echoes album. And when their new “Wide Open” video starts out looking like it’s going to show us a dancer, in her underwear, twirling through an industrial space, it feels like a bit of a disappointment. But as the clip keeps going, the dancer keeps moving, even as her body transforms into a network of some sort of alien webbing. The whole clip is constructed as a single continuous shot, and thanks to its absorbing weirdness and stunning effects, the Dom & Nic-directed video absolutely belongs within the Chems’ bulletproof videography. And actually, thanks to its post-human surrealism, it makes for a great one-two punch with the absolutely amazing “Sometimes I Feel So Deserted” video that the duo released last year. C

New Order - "Tutti Frutti" (Official Video)



Synthpop greats New Order released Music Complete, their first new album of a decade, back in September, but they’re just getting around to releasing a video for Eurodisco single “Tutti Frutti,” which features some additional vocals from La Roux’s Elly Jackson. The new clip, directed by Tom Haines and starring Italian actor Ricky Tognazzi, bounces between sadness and euphoria as it follows the ever-so-slightly surreal story of an aging performer.

Grimes - “Kill V. Maim” (Official Video)



Grimes – “Kill V. Maim” (Dir. Jodeb)

How can I apply to join the Grimes friend gang? I’ll wear whatever; I don’t even care.

Point Point - “Life In Grey” (Official Video)



Point Point – “Life In Grey” (Dir. Jodeb)

You wait and you wait for this one to turn dark, and they holy shit, does it ever.

Youth Lagoon - “Rotten Human” (Official Video)



Youth Lagoon – “Rotten Human” (Dir. Patrick Blades)

So many videos go for the “I don’t know what that was but I can’t take my eyes away” effect. So few of them get there. This one gets there.

Beirut - “Perth” (Official Video)



Beirut – “Perth” (Dir. Clara Aranovich)

Right now, I wish I could use the power of dance and the magic of split-screen effects to time-travel out of this fucking blizzard. So this video will have to qualify as wish fulfillment.

Cross Record - “Basket” Video



When we made the Texas-via-Chicago duo Cross Record a Band To Watch late last year, Chris DeVille described them thus: “if Sharon Van Etten and Swans started a post-rock band.” If that’s not enough to get you interested, please consider the shadowy, surreal black-and-white video for their ominous single “Basket.” I’m not exactly sure what happens in the video, but it seems to have something to do with an ancient, mythic woman encountering various creepy-as-fuck monsters. Andrew McGlennon directs.

Iggy Pop - “Gardenia” (Feat. Josh Homme)


Yesterday, we learned the exciting news that Iggy Pop and Queens Of The Stone Age frontman Josh Homme had recorded a new album together in complete secrecy and that the album, Post Pop Depression, was set for a March release. Talking to The New York Times, Homme said that the album went in the same direction as The Idiot and Lust For Life, the two albums that Pop made with David Bowie in 1977. And judging by first single “Gardenia,” it sounds like he might not just be telling us what we want to hear.

“Gardenia” has the same sort of mean, skeletal, machinelike groove that so many of those great old Iggy songs had. It also has Iggy in full-throated creepy-uncle mode, sweating over a girl named Gardenia. Since the ’80s, many of Iggy’s solo albums push him toward riff-rock overdrive, something that hasn’t suited him too well. But over this sort of spartan groove, he sounds awesome.

Last night, Iggy and Homme were on the Late Show With Stephen Colbert to perform “Gardenia” and to talk about how the album came to be. Talking to Colbert, they said that they recorded it quickly, over a couple of weeks, at Homme’s Joshua Tree studio. They all lived together, and Iggy’s wife made him bring some pajamas. And they also performed “Gardenia” for the first time. They did it with QOTSA/Dead Weather keyboardist/guitarist Dean Fertita, and Arctic Monkeys drummer Matt Helders, the only other two musicians who perform on Post Pop Depression, as well as Chavez frontman Matt Sweeney and QOTSA guitarist Troy Van Leeuwen, who round out the touring band. 
Pop wore a shirt, a rare thing, and showed some real chemistry with this new band. Below, hear “Gardenia” and watch the performance and the interview.







UPDATE: Shout out to Cobra in the comments section for pointing this out, but Homme’s old band Kyuss, the ’90s stoner-metal monsters, also had a song called “Gardenia.” Here it is:

Spencer Radcliffe - “Relief” (Official Video)



Spencer Radcliffe just released a very good new album under his ambient Blithe Field side project, but there’s still some juice left in Looking In, his debut solo LP from last year. “Relief,” one of the tracks on that record, has just gotten a contemplative new video directed by Emilie Norenberg and filmed by Sirus f Gahan. It follows a girl languidly wasting time in a remote cabin, intercut with twitching insects hanging on for dear life. “My main request was that there be a minimal human presence, as that’s what the track is generally about,” Radcliffe explained to The Fader, who premiered the video. “The weight that someone’s presence or lack thereof does or doesn’t have.”

Nicholas Krgovich - “Sunset Tower” (Offcial Video)



So far, we’ve heard two tracks from Vancouver musician Nicholas Krgovich’s forthcoming new album, The HillsBacklot Detail” and “The Place Goes Quiet” — and today he’s shared a third, the dark, moody, and insular “Sunset Tower,” which comes accompanied with a video directed by Courtenay Johnson featuring Krgovich singing in the shadows.

Bonnie “Prince” Billy - “When Thy Song Flows Through Me” Video



Will Oldham recently released two covers under his Bonnie “Prince” Billy moniker, one for Prince’s “The Cross” and another of Leonard Cohen’s “Hunter’s Lullaby.” Oldham is constantly unleashing new material, so the fact that he premiered a video for an old song by way of The Wall Street Journal today comes as no surprise. Bonnie “Prince” Billy’s new album Pond Scum is due out tomorrow, and it comprises a series of old sessions recorded with John Peel in a 1994 BBC session. Watch the atmospheric, Ryan Daly-directed video for “When Thy Song Flows Through Me” — originally released on Blue Lotus Feet —.

Beirut - “Perth” (Official Video)



With a blizzard getting ready to annihilate the entire East Coast, it’s nice to get a reminder that this bullshit-ass weather will eventually end. So here’s Beirut’s video for “Perth,” a song that appeared on the No No No album that they released last year. Director Clara Aranovich did some nifty filmmaking here, shooting the entire clip in split-screen. Most of the time, it shows the same seashore in summer and winter, with a dancer freely traveling between the two. It all leads up to a very cryptic ending.

Mercury Rev - “Coming Up For Air” (Official Video)



Mercury Rev put out their latest album, The Light, last year, and we saw a video for their single “Are You Ready?” around the time of its release. In that clip, a woman wanders through a nameless city, totally consumed by the music that narrates her journey. This new video for the song “Coming Up For Air” chronicles various relationships spliced with psychedelic imagery.

Bibio - “Feeling” (Official Video)



Bibio just released a new single and announced the release date of his forthcoming album. A Mineral Love is due out in April and marks Bibio’s first full-length since 2013’s Silver Wilkinson. We’ve already heard A Mineral Love’s debut single “Petals,” and today you can watch a trippy video for “Feeling.”

Shearwater - “Quiet Americans” Video



A day before releasing their ninth full-length, Jet Plane And Oxbow, Shearwater have shared the music video for the album’s first single “Quiet Americans.” Channeling albums like David Bowie’s Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps) and the Talking Heads’ Remain In Light, the band’s lead singer and songwriter Jonathan Meiburg has used this new record to add some polished experimentation and drama to the band’s ever-evolving sound. Director Alex Rapine’s video matches that aesthetic shift with a sleek, dark color palette, flickering lights, and a besuited Meiburg showing off his best evil grin. He also gets a haircut!

1/18/2016

Jeezy - “Sweet Life” (Feat. Janelle Monáe) Video



ATL trap veteran Jeezy released a solid effort with last fall’s Church In These Streets, perhaps his most versatile offering. Fresh off of recruiting Queensbridge purist Nas for the remix to lead single “God,” he gives his Janelle Monáe-assisted followup, “Sweet Life,” a set of visuals. Monáe lends her classy black-and-white aesthetic, as monochrome images of Jeezy in suspenders and tie contrast the lavishness he enjoys now versus the hardknock hustle life he is merely reading about in a fictional Atlanta newspaper. Paparazzi camera flashes and glamorous red carpet strolls look good as the bursts of light bounce off of Jeezy and Monáe, further juxtaposing the darkness and glamour of two disparate existences.

Miike Snow - “Genghis Khan” (Official Video)



Miike Snow – “Genghis Khan” (Dir. Ninian Doff)

A stereotypical Bond villain expresses his internal conflicts through the power of dance. You might not have realized that you need this in your life, but you absolutely do.

Jidenna - “Knickers” (Official Video)


Jidenna – “Knickers” (Dir. Benny Boom)

Suddenly, I, like all classic men, am ready for swing to come back. Again.

Damien Jurado - “Exit 353″ (Official Video)



Damien Jurado – “Exit 353″ (Dir. Elise Tyler)

A wet, tangible evocation of the Pacific Northwest hinterlands, combined with a powerful reminder of why you should never, ever pick up hitchhikers, no matter how helpless they might look.

Emilie & Ogden - “Ten Thousand” (Official Video)



Emilie & Ogden – “Ten Thousand” (Dir. Pierre-Alexandre Girard)

Who knew temporary blindness could make for such a fun, romantic weekend?

Weezer - “King Of The World” (Official Video)




Weezer - “King Of The World” (Dir. SCANTRON)

A tip: If you’re going to steal a bag of Utz chips from a stranger, make sure they’re the crab chips or the red hot ones. The BBQ chips aren’t worth facing possible arrest, even if they do have those delightful ruffles.

NZCA LINES - “Two Hearts” (Official Video)



Michael Lovett, a Londoner who used to be a touring member of Metronomy, now makes bouncy and precise synthpop under the name NZCA Lines. With the video for his sleek, dancey single “Two Hearts,” director Leo Stamps really wants you to know what Lovett’s whole cheekbone situation is. He has very nice cheekbones! The video uses shadow and club-lights artfully, but it never takes its focus off of Lovett or the song’s female singer, whose name I don’t know.

Foals - “Birch Tree” (Official Video)



Foals seem to be taking the minimalist approach to their videos this album cycle ’round. Hell, they even got freakin’ Nabil to direct a narrative, and it was largely just a simple breakup story. The rest of them have been strictly performance-based, from their one for “Mountain At My Gates” (Nabil again) to their series of CCTV sessions. So it should come as little surprise that their new clip for What Went Down track “Birch Tree” is a simple hang-out-with-the-band-in-LA affair, directed on Super 8 by Dave Ma. But at least it looks like they had a good time!

Suede - “Pale Snow” (Official Video)



Suede shared a new single off of their forthcoming album Night Thoughts, which is due out next Friday. The album marks the legendary Britpop band’s second full-length since they reunited back in 2010. It’s their seventh overall. “Pale Snow” follows “Like Kids,” and the video offers a meditative glimpse into a couple’s home.

Beliefs - “Leave With You” (Official Video)



Toronto shoegaze duo Beliefs dropped their latest full-length, Leaper, last fall, and have shared some provocative visuals for standout tracks “Leaper” and “1992.” The band continues the string of awesome clips with a video for the fuzzed-out “Leave With You.” Director Sean Cartwright relays a set of thought-provoking images of objects destroyed. Balloons, bottles, pies, pictures, and piggy banks all have their respective essences snuffed in one way or another against shifting polychrome backgrounds. The seemingly disparate images coalesce in a striking image as a trio of people lift letters individually to spell the word die. It’s a great mix of light and somber imagery.

Ka - “30 Keys” (Official Video)



Last year, the meditative DIY Brooklyn rapper/producer Ka teamed up with producer Preservation to form a duo called Dr. Yen Lo, and they album they released, Days With Dr. Yen Lo, sounded like bleak mid-’90s New York boom-bap taken apart and reassembled by minimalist aliens. I loved it. Ka has now followed it up with a new self-released two-song single, and he’s made a video for one of its songs, “30 Keys.” Though Ka tends to produce his own music, the beat for this one actually comes from like-minded New York veteran Roc Marciano. The song is a crime-life reminisce, rendered artfully and beautifully. And Ka himself directed the black-and-white video, in which Ka raps in the rain and fills his DVD tray up with blaxploitation classics.

Abi Reimold - “Vessel” (Video)



From the album 'Wriggling'

http://abireimold.bandcamp.com
http://abireimold.tumblr.com/

Filmed and Edited by Jay Miller
In Focus Media
2015
www.jaymillerfilm.com

Bleached - “Keep On Keepin’ On” (Official Video)



Announcing their sophomore album Welcome The Worms as well as a world tour, California punk rock group Bleached released the visuals for a Bangles-inspired rocker called “Keep On Keepin’ On.” Inspired by lead singer Jen Calvin’s desire to create a sense of realness in the group’s music, director Lana Kim’s video intersperses clips of the band with scenes of the girls in everyday locations throughout Los Angeles, foreshadowing themes from Calvin’s life that will undoubtedly pervade the new album. Together with producer Joe Chiccarelli (Morrissey, the Strokes, Spoon), the band created an honest and straight-shooting depiction of their lives through music. Watch the “Keep On Keepin’ On” video below.

1/12/2016

Bob Mould - “Voices In My Head” (Official Video)



Yesterday, we at Stereogum published our cover story on punk rock hero Bob Mould. If you missed it, don’t feel bad; we all got sucked into that David Bowie sadness-hole yesterday. But you should know something that Mould announced in that story: Mould has a new solo album called Patch The Sky coming out in March, and that is good news indeed. The former Hüsker Dü/Sugar frontman recorded the LP with the truly great bash-rock power trio he’s been recording and touring with for the past few years; it features Superchunk/Mountain Goats drummer Jon Wurster and Split Singles bassist Jason Narducy backing him up. And first single “Voices In My Head” is the sort of soaring hooky, straight-ahead rock rager that Mould has been doing so well for so long. In director Alicia J. Rose’s video, we see Mould attempting to get a grip and ghostly versions of himself yell at him. Check it out below.

Damien Jurado - "Exit 353" (Official Video)



“Exit 353” is a single off of Damien Jurado’s forthcoming LP, Visions Of Us On The Land, which is slated to be released in March. It’s the final installment of the Seattle-based singer-songwriter’s album trilogy, the first of which was 2012’s Maraqopa followed by 2014’s Brothers And Sisters Of The Eternal Sun. The new video for “Exit 353″ chronicles a young mother and her daughter’s journey to nowhere. Director Elise Tyler told Spin about her motivations:
Damien has a strong history of cinematic music videos, so I felt very free to explore narrative and image with “Exit 353.” I was inspired by the haunting landscapes of the Pacific Northwest; it is a perfect backdrop for Damien’s music, which clearly originates from the towering pine trees, dense fog, and winding hills of the region. We explored the area and created a world where two seemingly vulnerable young women are more powerful than one may think. In my mind, Damien is on the verge of leaving this world and disappearing into anonymity. He is pulled back momentarily by these young women who perhaps need his help — but he quickly realized that he should have never been seduced back into society, that he was and is alone among men.

2001 - “Overloaded” Video (Feat. Fred Armisen)



How does Fred Armisen find time to make so many musical cameos? The Portlandia star, SNL alum, and Late Night With Seth Meyers band leader’s latest appearance is in the video for 2001’s synth-pop track “Overloaded.” The band is a collaboration between Joan As Police Woman’s Joan Wasser and Benjamin Lazar Davis, and both musicians appear in director Benjamin Gregory’s video as mechanics at an auto shop where Armisen’s car is being serviced. Like so many other 21st century citizens, Armisen’s character’s attention span has been ravaged by technology, so he finds some bizarre ways to pass the time while waiting to get his vehicle back. The song’s rather catchy.

Mac Miller - “Weekend” (Feat. Miguel) Video

Boosie Badazz – “Cancer” Video


When Kanye West’s “Real Friends” commenced the return of G.O.O.D Fridays and took over the end of last week, it was nice to have the weekend to process. But after sitting with it for a minute, it’s hard not to notice how much that song is about wealthy/celebrity problems. Not to say those difficulties aren’t valid, but when you come across more grave struggles, the too-busy and too-important raps suddenly seem trivial.

For instance, rap’s great survivor Boosie Badazz just released a sobering reminder of just how bleak life can be in his In My Feelings (Goin’ Thru It) LP. One of the more harrowing tracks on a deeply visceral project is candidly titled “Cancer,” and the New Orleans rapper has matched it with a set of visuals that are gloomy but uplifting. The song opens with Boosie recounting how he received the news of his kidney cancer diagnosis, and similarly the self-directed video opens with a lingering drive-by shot of the University of Texas’ MD Anderson Center where Boosie received treatment and the image of Boosie lying in a hospital bed. Because he underwent a successful operation to remove the malignant tumor, the video inspires hope, especially the shots of Boosie with his children and other loved ones that will not have to cope with his passing as soon as expected. This video will make you reassess what you complained about this morning.

DJ Mustard - “Whole Lotta Lovin'” (Feat. Travis Scott) Video



DJ Mustard and Travis Scott released their collaborative track “Whole Lotta Lovin’” last week, and today they debuted an accompanying video. The clip opens with a shot of lapping waves tinted a deep, blood red, which is a disquieting introduction to what is otherwise a fairly tame video. Alex Nazari — who’s worked with DeJ Loaf, YG, and Future — directs; watch below.

Neko Case - “Man” (Official Video)



Neko Case dropped the beautifully titled The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You back in 2013, and “Man” was one of its stand-out singles. Case’s complete discography is now available as a 180 gram vinyl box set titled Truckdriver, Gladiator, Mule, and today she presents us with a video for “Man.” Austin Vesely directs as Case and a posse of young women dance in the streets of an eerily empty city center. Watch below.

Kelsey Lu - “Morning After Coffee” (Official Video)



Kelsey Lu’s “Morning After Coffee” is an exquisite breath of fresh air, especially as the first sounds to hit my ears to begin the week. The NYC via North Carolina classically trained cellist uses nothing but her gorgeous, well-controlled voice and sparse cello plucks to transfix listeners into a beautifully melancholy mood. Director Leslie Satterfield’s “Morning After Coffee” clip is equally as pretty in it’s own right, with Lu wandering autumnal woods and intertwining limbs with a partner in a wonderfully poetic way that mimics contemporary dance movements. Slowly, delicately strumming her cello, Lu is mesmerizing in her performance. She is clearly special, and it will be a joy to see her develop as an artist. Watch the gorgeous visuals below.

The Last Shadow Puppets - “Bad Habits” (Official Video)


After months of hints and teasing, the first single from the Last Shadow Puppets’ second LP — one of our most anticipated releases of the year — has finally arrived. “Bad Habits” comes with a Ben Chappell-directed video featuring Alex Turner and Miles Kane performing together and getting up to no good, and the song itself is a brash, slitheringly groovy thing with an insistent bassline and some string section flourishes courtesy of maestro Owen Pallett. Watch and listen below.

Skylar Spence – “I Can’t Be Your Superman” (Official Video)



Skylar Spence – “I Can’t Be Your Superman” (Dir. Maegan Houang)

I only have one issue with this bugged-out vision of a video: I’m not sure the science completely checks out. Otherwise, it’s perfect.

Skrillex - “Strangers (Remix)” (Official Video)



Skrillex – “Strangers (Remix)” (Dir. Andrew Donoho)

Shooting off roman candles and smashing useless old electronic equipment: This is shit that my friends and I used to do in college when we were bored. This video somehow makes it all look so beautiful that it becomes straight-up noble. That tracking shot near the end, through all the fireworks, is just breathtaking.

Savages - “Adore” (Official Video)



Savages – “Adore” (Dir. Anders Malmberg)

Jehnny Beth has rock’s best thousand-yard stare since… actually, I have no idea. I can’t think of anyone. Has rock ever given us a thousand-yard stare this good?

Pusha T - “M.F.T.R.” (Feat The-Dream) Video



Pusha T – “M.F.T.R.” (Feat The-Dream) (Dir. Kid Art)

More rappers should become horrifying demons in their videos. It’s a great look. (Pusha is one spot higher than Bowie because he’s just that more convincing at becoming a creature of the damned.)

David Bowie - “Lazarus” (Official Video)


David Bowie - “Lazarus” (Dir. Johan Renck)

It’s not as panoramic as Bowie’s “Blackstar” video, but it’s shot through with the same sense of dread. And it gets a ton of mileage from the physical presence of Bowie himself, wizened but still fiercely charismatic and still fully willing to go all convulsive-skeleton on us.

The-Dream Releases Surprise Visual Album On Tidal



Frankly, I’m not sure what to call this artsy thing the R&B singer/songwriter/producer The-Dream has unleashed upon us. It’s not quite a visual album in the same sense as Beyonce’s self-titled offering, which had an accompanying video for every song. It’s not quite a short film scored in the traditional sense, because there are clearly 10 segmented tracks, cohesive in mood but disparate sonically. It’s more like an epically abstract music video with exquisitely composed shots that linger much longer than the standard song-length flick. Anyway, he calls it Genesis, and it’s well worth taking a look if you have a Tidal subscription.

The 42-minute clip is haunting, with dark, somber religious images of figures stalking desecrated church grounds. It’s reminiscent of Pusha T’s “M.F.T.R.” video, which also features The-Dream. The soundtrack is possibly The-Dream’s most adventurous and versatile work to date, mixing shades of classical film scores, electronic music, R&B, and ambient vibes. The description reads: “The Dream explores variations of his random dreams represented as symbols, the face of his soul, and the conflict within himself.”

Genesis is out now exclusively on Tidal.