3/30/2016

Andy Stott - “Butterflies” (Official Video)



Manchester producer Andy Stott has been silent since 2014’s Faith In Strangers, but today he’s back with the announcement of his new album, Too Many Voices, along with a video for lead single “Butterflies.” The track leans toward the synthed-out, minimal grooves of Blood Orange and Kaytranada with buoyant, intricate drum patterns for an alluring midnight pop trip. The matching clip, directed by Michael England, features dancer/producer Rafael “Hitmaker” Chinx Martin showcasing his fluid movements in slow motion all over NYC. Unsuspecting New Yorkers get to witness Martin doing his thing on subway platforms, inside subway cars, on sculptures and statues, and sidewalks. 

Noveller - “Glacial Wave” (Official Video)



As Noveller, Austin post-rock composer Sarah Lipstate creates vast landscapes of sound, the kind of music that drifts through the air and fills in the space around you. So she makes a fascinating foil for the jarringly visceral Iggy Pop, who she’ll be supporting on the imminent Post Pop Depression tour. One fine example of Lipstate’s powers is “Glacial Wave,” a six-minute slow-burn from Noveller’s recently reissued Glacial Glow. Today the song gets a video by Fractal Visuals that amplifies its feeling of neon-lit darkness. It’s a mythic tale featuring three characters — The Creator, the Future, and the Protector — and it looks as ominously pretty as the music sounds.

PUP - “If This Tour Doesn’t Kill You, I Will” Video



PUP have transcended to a new level with their upcoming sophomore album, The Dream Is Over, which is high praise from us considering we named them both a band to watch and best new band before their fantastic 2014 debut even came out. But with “DVP,” the new record’s lead single that came out at the top of the year, it was clear that the Toronto band were operating at a completely different speed. They doubled down on the self-loathing and caustic passion that marked their debut, and created one of the finest punk records we’ve gotten in a long while.

“If This Tour Doesn’t Kill You, I Will” is the bitter, frustrated opening track to The Dream Is Over, a scathing indictment of a band member based on resentments that festered over time due to long periods together on the road in cramped quarters. It’s a situation that anyone whose been in a band can relate too far too much, and anyone who hasn’t can latch onto the pure, unadulterated hatred that’s thrown at the subject of the song. It starts off sourly uneasy — “I hate your guts and it makes me ill, seeing your face every morning,” “Everything you do makes me wanna vomit” — before coming through with the punch halfway in, building to a group exclamation of “Why can’t we just get along?” whose only answer is more volume. Stefan Babcock’s voice, despite the health concerns that resulted in the record’s title, sounds as smooth and irate as ever, and the rest of the band is in top form. Do yourself a favor and play “Tour” and “DVP” back-to-back — the transition between the two is one of the most satisfying and exhilarating things I’ve heard all year.

The new song comes attached to an appropriately violent video directed by Jeremy Schaulin-Rioux — watch and listen via Noisey below.

faux Margaux - “I Don’t Need You” Video



LA-based harpist/singer-songwriter faux Margaux is gearing up to drop her debut EP, Blue. She’s expanding on her decade of classical training, infusing it with her penchant for pop for a meld all her own. The single “I Don’t Need You” is exemplary of her aesthetic. Sparse harp flourishes are surrounded by slow-churning, minimal digital percussion and spun together with her feathery vocals for an alluring excursion. The hook has a haunting midtempo energy with big, intricate drums coming in as Margaux asserts her strength in moving on from a love she sorely misses. The matching clip, directed by Margaux herself and Robert Ingraham, has quick cuts of the singer-songwriter and a lover on the beach, but she is alone for the majority of the video searching for solace in solitude. Gloomy, gorgeous shots of her on a burning swing set and wandering on the beach contrast with bright bursts of light as her silhouetted fingers pick her harp. It’s a moving clip for a song about moving on.

Gold Panda - “In My Car” Video



British producer Gold Panda will release his fourth studio album, Good Luck And Do Your Best, later this year. Last month, he shared a video for lead single “Time Eater,” and he’s following that up with another video for new song and second single “In My Car.” It features his grandmother hanging out with the producer in a variety of locales, and was directed by Rob Brandon. Here’s what Panda said about the video in a statement:
I asked Rob to just come and film us (my gran and I) being boring. But now, when I watch it back, it doesn’t seem mundane at all. It seems actually really nice and sweet. I was thinking about all this cool stuff we could do, slow-mo shots, what outfit I could wear, maybe an explosion and who could be in my crew. But real life is exciting enough; you just don’t see it when you’re in it.

Steve Gunn - "Conditions Wild" (Official Video)



Steve Gunn will release a new album this summer via Matador, which marks a fairly big leap for the singer-songwriter. Eyes On The Lines follows 2014’s Way Out Weather, which Gunn put out on Paradise Of Bachelors, a small label that boasts an impressive roster of transcendent folk musicians including the Staves, Gun Outfit, and the Weather Station. “Conditions Wild” is Eyes On The Lines’ debut single, and it comes accompanied by a Brandon Herman-directed video. The clip’s collage aesthetic fits Gunn into a whimsical world where bugs are seven times their appropriate size. The song was inspired by Rebecca Solnit’s A Field Guide to Getting Lost.

Watch Michael Stipe Sing David Bowie’s “The Man Who Sold The World” On The Tonight Show



Ever since R.E.M. parted ways a few years ago, Michael Stipe has mostly shied away from the spotlight. But he’s taking part in this weekend’s David Bowie tribute concerts at Carnegie Hall. And last night, he brought his massive new Rasputin beard to The Tonight Show, making his debut TV performance as a solo artist. With only a pianist backing him up, Stipe sang “The Man Who Sold The World,” Bowie’s oft-covered classic, and he did it as an impressionist hymn. We don’t always think of Stipe as a great pure singer, but this is a really nice performance, tingly and beautifully sung. There are some high notes toward the end that are just crystalline.

NOTHING - "Eaten By Worms" (Official Music Video)



Philly shoegazers NOTHING will release a new album in May, and we’ve already seen a video for its first single “Vertigo Flowers.” The album’s second single “Eaten By Worms” comes with a video co-directed by Kevin Haus and NOTHING’s guitarist Dominic Palermo, who told Rolling Stone a bit about the song’s meaning:
The song is very much about being in pain and dancing with the feverish curiosity of whether this life is any more significant then what comes after or what came before… It’s very much about letting go.
In the clip, a man who’s been bludgeoned by burglars falls into a comatose state and meets Michael Jackson.

Cross Record - “Lemon” (Official Video)



Texas-via-Chicago husband-and-wife team Cross Record have kicked off 2016 with a bang. We gave them Band To Watch honors last fall off the strength of the gloomy, atmospheric single “Steady Waves.” And they didn’t disappoint when their stellar album Wabi-Sabi dropped at the end of January. Today they follow their visuals for “Basket” with a clip for the woozy, warped “Lemon.” Director Andrew McGlennon’s video follows a charming elderly man on the beach who’s fond of the sauce. Not much more too it than that.

Free Cake For Every Creature - “Talking Quietly Of Anything With You” Video



From a young age, we’re taught that the shy ones are the ones with the least amount of power. But as we get older, we learn that’s often not the case, that those shouting tend to have the least interesting things to say, and that sometimes it’s in your best interest to stay quiet, especially if that’s your predisposition. One particularly poignant line in “Talking Quietly Of Anything With You” — the title track from Free Cake For Every Creature’s upcoming new album — addresses the struggle to find your voice when that voice may not naturally be that loud: “I used to cover my ears/ It took me years to believe I could be quiet and still uncompromising.” The realization that quiet does not equal weak, that you can still assert yourself without giving up your introversion, is a powerful one. Katie Bennett makes quiet pop songs for quiet people, but they’re never weak. The rest of “Talking Quietly Of Anything With You” deals with feeling unmoored in a new city; the title alludes to finding that someone who you can talk to about anything at whatever volume you feel most comfortable — an important partnership, one that you should hold onto. The track comes attached to a video directed by Craig Scheihing .

Kate Pierson - “Venus” (Shocking Blue Cover) Video



B-52s singer Kate Pierson struck out on her own last year with her solo debut Guitars And Microphones, and it seems there’s more where that came from. She’s putting out a new 7″ single, “Venus” b/w “Radio In Bed,” next month as one of Jack White’s Third Man Records’ Record Store Day releases, which will also include a 2xLP set (one red, one white) of the White Stripes’ never-before-released 2001 sessions with John Peel and a limited edition 7″ of Jack White covering Stevie Wonder’s “You Are The Sunshine Of My Life” pressed on It’s Not Easy Being Green Colored Vinyl™. Both of Pierson’s tracks were produced by White himself, and today the a-side, a cover of Shocking Blue’s 1969 hit “Venus,” has arrived, along with a kitschy video from director Brad Holland. Watch and listen below.

HAWK - “The Hunt” (Official Video)



After receiving attention for “Once Told,” a protest song about Ireland’s abortion laws, London indie rockers Hawk have released a new video for their single “The Hunt.” Both the music and director James Byrne’s visuals embody the sense of drama and emotional evocation for which this band is becoming known. With dreary surroundings to match the solemn orchestral undertones, HAWK weave a plot which, though relatively esoteric, definitely perpetuates a sense that their rebellious nature will continue to be a key factor of their sound. Some background on the video from singer Julie Hawk:
The song is really all about taking control of your life and letting go of excuses.
We filmed with James Byrne again, which was a pleasure as always. We wanted to take the simple idea of being hunted but in a slow-burning, eerie way, that might go unnoticed, even in broad daylight, until it’s too late. So we invited a bunch of friends down to Arundel for the day and asked them to chase us, very slowly, around the woods. They were much obliged!

Watch Kamasi Washington Talk Jazz & Hip-Hop, Perform On Charlie Rose



Kamasi Washington feels like jazz’s first crossover star in a long time, and certainly like the first in a while who found fame without smoothing out the wilder edges of his sound. And now he’s gotten to the point where he can play his funky saxophone freakouts on public television. Last week, as Pitchfork points out, Washington was a guest on the PBS talk show Charlie Rose. On the show, he talked a bit about the connections between jazz and hip-hop. And he and his band also performed “Re Run” and “The Rhythm Changes,” two of the songs from Washington’s massive 2015 triple album The Epic. Watch the whole 20-minute segment below.

Dilly Dally - “Snake Head” (Official Video)



SXSW is an extremely ADHD environment in which I rarely watch an entire performance by any band, but I watched two Dilly Dally sets all the way through this year because their live show is just that good. They’re taking it all over North America this year, and we’ve got some new dates below along with the video for “Snake Head” from last year’s Sore. This is the song they’ve been opening with on tour, and it serves as a hell of an introduction, an infectiously ugly mess of howling and pounding and melodic lead guitar. Scott Cudmore’s clip finds the band having a humorous subtitled conversation in a shitty apartment. All the bands out there making garbage music videos should take note: This is a great example of how you can make an entertaining video on a low budget.

Choose Your Own Adventure In The Video For Jeff Buckley’s Bob Dylan Cover “Just Like A Woman”



If the people who stand to profit off selling every last scrap from Jeff Buckley’s archives several times over insist on doing so, the least they can do is try something fun and unique with it — something like this Choose Your Own Adventure-style video for “Just Like A Woman,” Buckley’s Bob Dylan cover from the new early rarities comp You And I. It was produced by the interactive media company Interlude and Blind design studios. Here’s how it works, according to Mashable:
You can click on 73 different story cells to change the narrative, and there are around 1 sexdecillion ways that the story could play out, according to the video’s creators. For the record, that’s a “one” with 51 zeros after it.
You can control the narrative musically as well. The video starts with just Buckley’s voice accompanied by a guitar — but from there, it can go in several different directions. A piano, a full orchestration and a choir can join in, depending on your choices. In fact, there are over 16,000 different music combinations possible — so good luck listening to it the same way twice.
The actual variation is negligible if you ask me, but there’s a cool (500) Days Of Summer effect to seeing the various phases of the romance at different times.

School Of Seven Bells - “Ablaze” Video



Last month, after the tragic and untimely death of band member Benjamin Curtis, New York dreampoppers School Of Seven Bells released SVIIB, their final album. Today, as Noisey points out, they’ve shared a video for their swooping album track “Ablaze.” Alan Del Rio Ortiz directed it, and it shows grainy, ’80s-looking images of city streets and of Alejandra Deheza, the band’s surviving member.

Young Magic - "Lucien" (official music video)



Australian born, NY-based experimental pop duo Young Magic dropped the single “Lucien” from their forthcoming album, Still Life, a few weeks ago. Like much of the album, the track is inspired by vocalist Melati Malay rediscovering her roots in Java, Indonesia. Down to the gamelan — an ensemble music of Java and Bali in Indonesia made up mostly percussive instruments mixing metallophones played by mallets and hand-played drums called kendhang — the Indonesian influence on the track is conspicuous.

Today, the duo release a matching clip via The FADER that is just as prominently Indonesian. Malay is draped in traditional Indonesian clothing as lingering slow-motion shots of her enveloped by fog, running through a sparse forest, and masked dancers create an alluring mysticism. Combined with the already captivating song, it’s sure to put you in a mild trance for just under five minutes.

Fear Of Men - “Island” (Official Video)



The introspective Brighton indie-pop trio Fear Of Men will return soon with the new album Fall Forever, and we posted the first single “Island” a little while ago. Now Fear Of Men have made a supremely gothed-out and atmospheric video for that song. It’s got candles, fog machines, desolate English moors, circles of flame, bodies on altars — all the hallmarks. Eleanor Hardwick directed the video, and you can watch it below, via The FADER.

Babymetal - “Karate” (Official Video)



The whole idea behind Babymetal is silly and gimmicky and probably exploitative. But goddam if it doesn’t make for some fun videos.

Future - “Low Life” (Feat. The Weeknd) Video



Future and the Weeknd have debuted the their video for “Low Life,” the EVOL track they also performed on SNL. Director Zac Facts’ clip finds the bad-guy duo performing in a smoky abandoned house, which seems like an appropriate hideout for musical supervillains of this ilk. Watch below.

Chief Keef - “Faneto” (Official Video)



It was hard to keep up with Chief Keef for little bit with all the dumb shit, controversial moves, and crazy amount of music he did last year. But he’s slowed down since, and has been trickling out videos from his various projects. He kicked off the year with a video for “Superheroes” featuring A$AP Rocky, and he’s back today with clip for “Faneto” a song he dropped in 2014.

This video took a long time to come out — so long that it’s been a whole year since this fan-made turn-up compilation emerged — and there was a fair amount of anticipation for it. But honestly, I don’t have much to say about it, partly because it’s Friday, but also because Chief Keef really put the chief in his moniker with the biggest joint I have ever seen in my life in this video. The visuals have a cool aesthetic with plenty of gleaming gold jewelry, and classic clique shots, but there is so much tree laying around and he stuffs so much of it in papers the size of paper towels that it’s hard to watch anything else. I’m not a smoker at all, but all I could do is marvel at the greenery and joints that put cigars to shame waving in his hand as he raps. If you can get past it, let me know what’s going on in the video other than weed in the comment section. *Wide-eyed, rosy cheek emoji times three*.

Nai Harvest - “Just Like You” (Official Video)



UK duo and Band To Watch alums Nai Harvest were named Most Energetic at our Austin Invasion with Exploding In Sound last week, and they’re following that honor and a successful SXSW run with a new video for “Just Like You,” one of the two tracks on their upcoming 7″ that’s due out next month. The video was directed by Natalie Wardle, who is also the focal point as she dances and does some prancercizing around the band, who stand as still as statues. She throws paint on them and herself in an effort to get them to join in on the fun, but to no avail. Here’s how Wardle breaks down the video:
This is a comical observation and short performance highlighting how we (the human race) start the year focusing on our obsession with body image, following the trend of ‘getting in shape’ and how we’re always trying to ‘better ourselves’ by making these crazy promises to ‘stop doing this…’ and ‘start doing that’…

However, things turn sour when people around us lose interest and we’re fighting a battle with ourselves to keep up the work out will power. Finally, we give up! Back to our old ways like everyone else, ‘just like you’. There’s always next year.
We shot this video in one take to illustrate that if we put our minds to something we can achieve it, but it’s never going to be perfect.

A$AP Ferg - “Let It Bang” (Feat. ScHoolboy Q) Video



A$AP Ferg’s acronymic Always Strive And Prosper, which he divulged about in our recent cover story, is due out next month. We’ve heard the banger “New Level” featuring Future, and an unofficial leak of the “Let It Bang” surfaced yesterday, but today we’ve got official audio for the latter along with a set of visuals.

The “Let It Bang” clip opens with a snippet of another track from the album, “Psycho,” which is about Ferg’s uncle on the streets of Hungry Ham in Harlem, then a gunshot transition marks a quick cut to the ScHoolboy Q assist and marries the New York of old and new. The clip is definitely a NYC affair, featuring Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s son, Young Dirty Bastard (naturally), a cameo from Meech of the Flatbush Zombies, bodegas, playground courts, Jesus pieces, Timberlands, and hoodies. Q (A$AP Q as the A$AP Mob calls him) comes in dipped in black-and-gold to spit his verse with plenty of energy and rapid jump cuts while Ferg dons a stocking mask brandishing a huge butcher knife. Peep it.

Rae Sremmurd - “Over Here” (Official Video)



Dominant Mississippi party-rap crew Rae Sremmurd have been busy lately; in the last few weeks, they’ve released the new Trail Mix mixtape, from their Sremm Life Crew, and shared a great video for “By Chance.” Today, they’ve got another new video, and it’s for a tinny new track called “Over Here,” which features Sremm Life Crew member Bo Bo Swae. In the clip, Mike Will Made-It beams them into outer space, where they ride dinosaurs and become characters in 8-bit video games. Watch it below.

BJ The Chicago Kid - “The New Cupid” (Feat. Kendrick Lamar) Video (Feat. Hannibal Buress & Iamsu)



BJ The Chicago Kid is getting one hell of a push on his major label debut, In My Mind. After guesting on hooks for pretty much every up-and-coming you could name for a long time, he’s finally got them to return the favor on his album. One of those favors is the coveted feature from his close friend Kendrick Lamar on “The New Cupid.” BJ smoothly croons and K-Dot kills his verse — business as usual. The video features your favorite rapper’s favorite comedian Hannibal Buress, and it’s another successful crossover. Buress bops around in a disheveled fit and wig Funkadelic would be proud of as he does a string of mischievous deeds like peeing in a lemonade pitcher and slapping Popsicles out children’s hands. Iamsu comes in to clean up his messes, and Kendrick Lamar comes in to spit his feature verse as if he’s workshopping it with BJ for the first time. It’s the kind of chill, down-to-earth stuff you would expect from BJ.

Three Man Cannon - “Coma’d” Video



Last fall, Philadelphia-via-Scranton four-piece Three Man Cannon put out Will I Know You Then, a collection of dusty and plaintive rock tracks that served as a follow-up to their 2014 full-length Pretty Many People. Today, in advance of a North American tour, the band has released a video for a track from their latest EP, “Coma’d” The band are among a group of cult members in the woods, and the video — which was directed by Timothy Becker and Edward Newton, and edited Federico R. Casanova — follows them until they end up in the water, spiritually cleansed and possibly free. It’s a clip based on mood more so than narrative, much like Three Man Cannon’s songs themselves.

Funkadelic - “Ain’t That Funkin’ Hard On You? (Remix)” (Feat. Kendrick Lamar & Ice Cube) Video



George Clinton and Funkadelic shared a remix of “Ain’t That Funkin’ Hard On You?” back in September that featured Kendrick Lamar and Ice Cube as well as production by Louie Vega. The new accompanying video follows the collaborators on an astral journey through the cosmos. A dance party ensues, obviously. Check it out below via REVOLT.

Sturgill Simpson - “In Bloom” (Nirvana Cover) Video



In a realist sense, covering Nirvana at this late date should be gimmicky as hell. But in an idealist sense, completely transforming one of Kurt Cobain’s best-known songs has the potential to be transcendent. When I heard country philosopher Sturgill Simpson was taking on the Nevermind classic “In Bloom” on his new album A Sailor’s Guide To Earth, I feared gimmickry but was blessed with transcendence. Simpson turned “In Bloom” into first a weepy, twangy ballad and then a celebratory blast of brass, his drawl doing justice to Cobain’s lyrics all the while. It’s really good, so hear it in conjunction with director Matt Mahurin’s video.

Kevin Morby - “Dorothy” (Official Video)



Former Woods member Kevin Morby is gearing up to release his new full-length Singing Saw in just a few weeks. We’ve already heard a preview of the album and seen him continue his knack for good videos with “I Have Been To The Mountain.” Today he shares another teaser track called “Dorothy.”

The song is a nice, bright piece of bouncy folk rock, with Morby’s smooth monotone delivery cutting through exquisitely layered electric guitar, intricate drum work, quick horn section, bell tings, and banging piano chords. There’s a lot going on, but it doesn’t feel overwhelming. Morby sings “We can go all night” to close the song, and the way he’s jamming on the track it’s easy to believe. It’s just a fun song about having fun with your best gal, good for singing along or dancing whatever you wish.

The clip is simple, featuring Morby sauntering down a dirt road past his band members looking dapper and relaxed in a suit and bolo tie.

My bubba - “Charm” Video



My bubba comprises a pair of Scandinavian women named My (pronounced “me,” from Sweden) and Bubba (pronounced “bubba,” from Iceland). Will Oldham collaborator Shahzad Ismaily recorded their forthcoming album Big Bad Good at his Brooklyn studio on the spot as the songs were written. They’re selling it via PledgeMusic, with bonus perks including handwritten lyric sheets, a personal concert via Skype, and authentic bacteria from My and Bubba sampled during the recording sessions (for real).

The album includes the wonderfully intimate ballad “Charm,” an ABBA-referencing beauty that today gets an appropriately placid and minimal video. A sunlight beach plays host to a carnival, a prancing deer, and a helicopter hovering over the water, but all the noise you’d expect to hear is stripped away in favor of gentle cooing and gorgeous guitar work. It’s as if you’re wandering through the world with headphones on, blocking out the chaos in favor of serenity. Here’s some background on the song from My:
The lyrics are the CliffsNotes of my unauthorized autobiography. We shot the video on Bubba’s birthday. We wanted to make a dance piece filmed as a documentary and blockbuster at the same time. Bubba plays herself on her birthday and the deer plays me and the helicopter plays the part of Napoleon Bonaparte at the battle of Waterloo.

Saul Williams - “Down For Some Ignorance” (Official Video)



Saul Williams’ last video saw him walking barefoot through the streets of Ferguson, MO, and his next visual continues that politically charged angle, this time using archival footage of war and rich politicians to backdrop “Down For Some Ignorance,” a track off his new album, MartyrLoserKing. Williams himself cradles a spooky mummified baby and plays some haunting strings while wearing a bird mask. It was directed by Rafe Scobey-Thal.

Marissa Nadler - “All The Colors Of The Dark” (Official Video)



Goth-pop singer-songwriter Marissa Nadler is set to release her new album, Strangers, the followup to 2014’s July. She shared the lead single “Janie In Love” a month ago, and today she’s back with visuals for the followup “All The Colors Of The Dark.” 

The song is beautifully gloomy and bare, with little more than entrancing strings, subdued percussion, and lightly strummed guitars giving way to Nadler’s feathery, haunting vocals. The song’s black-and-white, live-action, stop motion clip was directed and animated by Nadler. It’s a perfect visual complement to the song, using every bit of light and shadow on the grayscale for gorgeous literal translation of the song’s title. The richness of both the deep shadows and the bright bursts of light mirror Nadler’s floating vocals cutting through the melancholy soundscapes, eliciting the beauty that is present in darkness once one is comfortable dwelling there.

Yours Are The Only Ears - “Low” Video



The last we heard from Yours Are The Only Ears — the muted folk project of visual artist Susannah Cutler — was 2014’s “Fire In My Eyes.” She’s followed that up this year with another new song called “Low,” which adds some soft synths and chimes to the mix but largely hews towards minimalism. It’s a quietly despairing track about the passing of time and constantly fluctuating emotions; the most cutting line is “I used to make decisions, but these days they make me,” a pointed surrendering of control to fate. The track comes attached to a beautifully serene video directed by Taya Bayat, which follows Cutler and keyboardist JongMin Lin through the American Museum Of Natural History and Central Park.

Whitney - “Golden Days” (Official Video)



Max Kakacek, the former Smith Westerns guitarist, and Julien Ehrlich, the singing drummer who used to play in Unknown Mortal Orchestra, have a new band called Whitney, and they play jangly and shambolic indie rock. We’ve already posted the band’s “No Woman” video, and now they’ve announced that their debut album Light Upon The Lake will be coming out in a few months. They recorded the album in California, with Foxygen’s Jonathan Rado producing, white they slept in tents in the backyard. And their new single “Golden Days,” a supremely laid-back rocker with some breezy horns, is a real camping-in-the-backyard jammer. In the video, from directors, Josiah Marshall and Frank Frankowski, a reel-to-reel tape player becomes a portal to a more chill universe.

Billie Eilish - “Ocean Eyes” Video



Billie Eilish is 14 years old, the child of two actor/musicians from LA. She cites Lana Del Rey and Tyler, The Creator as key influences, and that’s clear enough from her new “Ocean Eyes” video, which borrows the former’s noirish drama and the latter’s knack for compelling one-take clips. But for all Eilish’s idiosyncratic influences, the song is pure pop, a ballad about longing for reconciliation with an ex. I can imagine it becoming a major hit, and director Megan Thompson’s video will certainly help. Eilish has the star power to sell a song with little more than some dramatic glances under moody lighting.

D.R.A.M. - “Signals (Throw It Around)” Video



Virginia rapper D.R.A.M. is looking to keep the momentum going after some high-energy performances at SXSW that were sure to gain him some new fans. He’s dropped off a clip for the trap ballad “Signals (Throw It Around)” from last year’s buzz catalyst, the Gahdamn! EP. The visuals feature D.R.A.M. at a chill kickback with the homies with plenty of old school whips, dancing, drinking, and smoking to boot. Day turns to night about halfway through and the party don’t stop; instead, D.R.A.M. and his friends dance the night away illuminated by headlights. Chance The Rapper and Donnie Trumpet make a quick cameo as Trumpet sits behind the wheel of a convertible and Chance perches on the hood with his feet in the backseat. It’s a fun video for a song with lots of lowkey feels. Check it out.

Field Music - “Disappointed” Video



Field Music have released a showy performance music video for “Disappointed,” a track from their most recent full-length Commontime. Director Andy Martin explains the conception of the video to Noisey:
It was partly inspired by me seeing (many years ago) the bullet time technique used in a Ryoichiro Debuchi film from the early 80s. We filmed these bullet time sequences on a freezing January day in the sports hall/gym of the Sans Street Youth and Community Centre (thanks to them!), which is in the East End of Sunderland. Pete and Dave used to play football there when they were younger, think their Mum used to work there.

Little Scream - “Love As A Weapon” Video



Laurel Sprengelmeyer, the Montreal-based pop experimenter who records as Little Scream, has roped in practically the entire indie rock A-list to appear on Cult Following, her forthcoming album. As Pitchfork points out, the LP has a very impressive list of guests: Sufjan Stevens! Sharon Van Etten! The National’s Bryce and Aaron Dessner! TV On The Radio’s Kyp Malone! Owen Pallett! Folk veteran Mary Margaret O’Hara, who isn’t indie rock but is impressive! And she made the whole thing with Arcade Fire’s Richard Reed Parry, credited as her “creative partner.” Dan Huiting directed the colorful, energetic video for her peppy, frenetic single “Love As A Weapon,” and it’s heavy on wood-panel kitsch, snowy landscapes, and vogue dancers.

Hundred Waters - “Show Me Love (Skrillex Remix)” (Feat. Chance The Rapper, Moses Sumney, & Robin Hannibal) Video



Hundred Waters released their sophomore album The Moon Rang Like A Bell back in the summer of 2014 on Skrillex’s label OWSLA. It’s an album ready-made for remixing, and a few months after its release, the Floridian band put out the Down From The Rafters Remix EP featuring contributions from Huxley, the Field, and Tim Hecker. “Show Me Love” is one of The Moon Rang Like A Bell’s stand-out tracks, and Skrillex re-imagined it alongside Chance The Rapper and Moses Sumney with arrangements contributed by Robin Hannibal. It’s a jacked-up, energized iteration of the hymn-like song. Watch the video below; it’s also Skrillex’s directorial debut.

Andy Shauf - “The Magician” Video



Andy Shauf’s new video for “The Magician,” a lushly arranged pop-rock throwback off his upcoming album The Party, takes you on a kaleidoscopic journey of passing vintage stock photography and paper doll scenes. The video begins with the image of a boy lying on the beach beside the orchestrated pull of a paper tide, but piece by piece the scene is torn apart to take us to a different, whimsical world made up of random magazine cut outs. Shauf himself is cut and pasted into this 2D puppet theatre, too, remaining stationary over the shifting backgrounds, or what might be a glimpse into his magical mind. But even he is torn apart and as the video comes to an end, we are left in the abyss of space, with only our friend from the beach to disrupt the pieced-together scenery. Winston Hacking directs.

The Hotelier - “Piano Player” Video



Video by Christian Holden & Xirin
http://xirin.info
Visual Effects by David Milstein

Chelsea Wolfe - "Hypnos" (Official Video)



Goth-rock purveyor Chelsea Wolfe darkened last summer with the dense, decidedly metal Abyss, and it was excellent. Since then she’s planned a new two-track 7″ this April that comprises Abyss B-sides. The first offering was the chasmic, gloomy “Hypnos” and it moved away from the heavy-handed rock of the album with bare, stripped, but still ever so bleak soundscapes.

Today, she’s given “Hypnos” a visual treatment full of beautiful despair to match the song perfectly. A deft play of light and shadows in black-and-white, the video features Wolfe alternating between bathing in darkness and basking in light as she eerily caresses huge snakes coiled in her arms and wrapped precariously around her body. She performs the song popping in and out of old school television screens with staticky images. The darkness engulfs her, and the slow-lingering shots are alluring, making the video an apt foray into the song’s title.

Sia - “Cheap Thrills” (Official Video)



Aussie songwriter-turned-pop force Sia is back with another black-and-blonde affair starring Dance Moms’ Maddie Ziegler. The pairing is pretty much old hat now, but it’s still entertaining. The choreography for “Cheap Thrills” is a bit more fun and incorporates some hip-hop movement as Maddie and two other dancers bounce around for a high-energy routine making silly faces in nude leotards. Sia shows up in the second half of the video, and she may or not be making the same silly faces under her signature huge wig, but who knows? The moves match one of the lighter songs on This Is Acting. It’s a fun watch self-directed by Sia with the help of go-to director Daniel Askill.

Nicholas Allbrook - “Advance” (Official Video)



Nicholas Allbrook, the former Tame Impala bassist who currently leads the Australian psych-rock band Pond, just announced the impending release of his new solo album, as Pitchfork points out. The new album is called Pure Gardiya, and it’ll be out later this spring. First single “Advance” is a lush-but-damaged glam-rocker, and it reminds me of both Destroyer and Ariel Pink. Matt Sav directed the song’s striking, cinematic video, which shows Allbrook, at various points, covered in glittery makeup and blood, and surrounded by swirling dancers and taxidermied swans. Watch it below.

Lucy Dacus - "I Don't Wanna be Funny Anymore" (Official Music Video)



Virginia singer-songwriter Lucy Dacus dropped her latest album No Burden last month. It’s excellent. The lead single “I Don’t Wanna Be Funny Anymore” is a highly relatable jam; I’m sure you could substitute “funny” for a multitude of words to make it apply to you. No one wants to be put in a box, and this song is like poking fresh air holes in that box and reminding yourself that you don’t have to be what everyone expects you to be.

Today, the song gets a matching clip from director Hunter Brumfield that is just as easy to identify with. Dacus is performing deadpan standup at what looks like a high school talent show. It begins with her singing the lyrics sans smiles or any warmth at all. Then members of the crowd get to break out of the boxes they’ve been placed in as they mouth specific lines from Dacus’ that seem to stereotypically apply to them. It’s a smart visual take on a song that universally registers.

Steve Mason - “Alive” (Official Video)



The former Beta Band frontman Steve Mason released a new album called Meet The Humans last month, and his new video for the strummy, swirling “Alive” dropped this morning. Like his clip for “Planet Sizes,” it’s an animated video with an allegorical bent to it. This one takes place in a pixelated world that looks like a King’s Quest-era computer game, and in this world, we all have floating monster heads living with us and tormenting with us. Mason is the rare messianic figure with glasses that allow people to see the true nature of these monster heads, and you can think of this video, from director Rok Predin, as a deeply twee version of John Carpenter’s They Live. Of course, any version of They Live is a good thing to have in your life, and you can and should watch the “Alive” video.

Teen Suicide - “The Big Joyous Celebration” (Official Video)



Teen Suicide, the cultishly beloved lo-fi band led by Baltimore’s Sam Ray, are returning in a little over a week with It’s The Big Joyous Celebration, Let’s Stir The Honeypot, their first full-length since 2012’s equally lengthily-titled I Will Be My Own Hell Because There Is A Devil Inside My Body. They were supposed to perform at SXSW this week but ended up canceling, but they’ve made up for it by releasing the video for new song “The Big Joyous Celebration,” the title track from their upcoming LP. “It’s about death, sort of, and rituals,” Sam Ray explained to Nylon, where the clip premiered. “It’s kind of a love story, but not in a romantic way. Like a love story between a sort of ‘collector’ who knows how to raise the dead, and the now-reanimated bodies he’s able to summon and then hunt down.” The video follows a suited man as he gets dressed and goes about his business, while the song’s mantra of “Oh, let’s stir the honeypot/ Depression is a construct/ Heaven is a package deal/ Don’t need proof to know it’s real” slowly morphs from dreary to uplifting.

Andrew Bird - “Left Handed Kisses” (Feat. Fiona Apple) Video



Andrew Bird – “Left Handed Kisses” (Feat. Fiona Apple) (Dir. Philip Andelman)

Fiona Apple’s angrily-striking-a-bell face is my new favorite thing.

Bat For Lashes - "In God's House" (Official Video)



This summer, Bat For Lashes will release The Bride, a new concept album sung from the perspective of a woman whose fiancee dies in a crash on the way to their wedding. We’ve already heard two of the album’s songs, “I Do” and “In God’s House,” and this morning, she’s shared a video for the latter. Natasha Khan conceived the idea of the video, and she co-directed it with John De Menil. The striking clip is made to look like a ’70s movie, and it stars Khan, in a fur coat and a red veil, visiting a neon-lit gravesite in the middle of a desert.

PJ Harvey - “The Community Of Hope” (Official Video)



“The Community Of Hope,” the new single from PJ Harvey’s forthcoming album The Hope Six Demolition Project, is about the Washington, DC area Ward 7, and it’s about all the problems that come with poverty and gentrification.  The song’s new video was shot entirely in DC, and Harvey doesn’t appear in it at all. Instead, her regular recent collaborator, the wartime photographer Seamus Murphy, went to DC and captured a range of everyday sights, just like he did in Kosovo for Harvey’s “The Wheel” video. The clip ends with a gospel choir howling the final sardonic refrain: “They’re gonna build a Wal-Mart here.” Local city council candidates are probably not going to be any happier about the song when they see this.

Shit Robot - “End Of The Trail” (Feat. Hot Chip’s Alexis Taylor) Video



DFA Records mainstay Marcus Lambkin makes propulsive, old-school disco-house under the name Shit Robot. He also has a knack for finding and recruiting like-minded collaborators like Reggie Watts, Nancy Whang, and now Hot Chip’s Alexis Taylor, who lends his reedy vocals to “End Of The Trail,” the first single off of Shit Robot’s upcoming LP What Follows. Taylor also features in the track’s trippy new video — or at least an abstracted version of his face that reminds me of those old pinscreen toys. Watch below via Spin.

Glitterbust - “The Highline” (Official Video)



The former Sonic Youth co-leader Kim Gordon has a new band, a duo called Glitterbust that also features Tomorrow’s Tulips member Alex Knost. They just released their self-titled debut earlier this month, and now they’ve got a video for “The Highline,” the droning, minimalist zone-out that served as the album’s single. For the video, director Thomas Campbell filmed them playing in an otherwise empty Orange County, California industrial park. Talking to Interview, Gordon says the video shows, “alien, embryonic beings traipsing through the empty night, creating a ‘desire path’ through the empty industrial complex of Orange County, like lost cultural ghosts.”

Cassius - “Action” (Feat. Cat Power & Mike D) Video



Cassius have put out the music video for “Action,” their first new song in six years. Having spent the time since their last release by producing for artists like Kanye West, Jay Z, and the Beastie Boys, the French house duo’s collaboration with Cat Power and Mike D seems only natural, but this video makes it clear that the two don’t plan on re-introducing their personal project to the world quietly. Taking place in a hyper-colorful tropical world of their own design, it’s the perfect accompaniment for the funky and over-the-top music, as Cassius blend infectious bass lines with horns and an uptempo beat while still leaving room for Chan Marshall and Mike D’s vocals to stand out amongst the massive amount of loud colors and bright sounds.

3/17/2016

Massive Attack - “Ritual Spirit” (Feat. Azekel) Video (Feat. Kate Moss)



UK trip-hop godfathers Massive Attack released their return-to-form Ritual Spirit EP earlier this year, and thus far, all the videos for the EP’s tracks have been dark, absorbing works. The “Take It There” video had John Hawkes stumbling through nighttime city streets, and the “Voodoo In My Blood” video had Rosamund Pike facing off against a mysterious orb. The new clip for the EP’s title track is the first that doesn’t have an Academy Award nominee in it. Instead, this one stars the supermodel Kate Moss, who spends the entire video dancing in a very dark room, spinning a lightbulb around on a chord. Nothing really happens in the clip, but it makes a hypnotic accompaniment to the song. Robert Del Naja, better known as the Massive Attack driving force 3D, co-directed the video with Medium. Watch it below, and read some words about it from Del Naja and Moss.

Rae Sremmurd - “By Chance” (Official Video)



Earlier this week, the dominant Southern party-rap duo Rae Sremmurd released Trail Mix, the new mixtape from their Sremm Life Crew. Before that, though, they shared a really great new single called “By Chance,” which has a Mike Will Made-It beat that’s strange and queasy enough to remind me of early-’00s Def Jux productions. (It’s apparently set for Mike Will’s Ransom 2 mixtape.) Mike Will co-directed the new “By Chance” video with Max, and it’s a vision just as strange and infectious as the song itself. In the clip, Rae Sremmurd and their friends party on a beach in a thunderstorm. It’s full of colored smoke and synchronized dancing and doves, and you could turn almost any random shot into a gif.

Classixx - “Grecian Summer” (Official Video)



Classixx — the duo made up of Cali-based producers Tyler Blake and Michael David — released their very impressive debut Hanging Gardens all the way back in 2013. Over the past few months, they’ve been greasing the gears and prepping for a new release: Last fall they put out the T-Pain-featuring “Whatever I Want,” and followed that up with a Natalie Prass cover in honor of Valentine’s Day. Now, they’ve shared a new track called “Grecian Summer,” which will be featured on their upcoming sophomore album. It comes paired with an animated video directed by Steve Smith.

Slayer - “You Against You” Video (NSFW)



Last year, Slayer made an absolutely incredible bloody-prison-riot video for their song “Repentless,” and it was one of my favorite videos of the year. Now, they’ve teamed up once again with Hatchet III auteur BJ McDonnell, who directed that “Repentless” video, for a video for “You Against You,” another song from their 2015 album Repentless. This one serves as a prequel to the last one, and it consists almost entirely of a hilariously gruesome gun/knife/bat/fistfight in a diner. It’s the sort of video that features more than one dick-stabbing. It also features the band playing in airplane-crash wreckage. I mean, what do you want me to say? It’s just fucking awesome. Watch it below, via PunkNews.

ILoveMakonnen - “Live For Real” Video



ILoveMakonnen, one of the people probably most responsible for the current sound of Atlanta rap, is going to give us his Drink More Water 6 mixtape on Friday. We’ve posted early tracks like “Solo” and “Sellin,” and now Makonnen has dropped the video for “Live For Real,” a frantically swagged-out banger that he shared late last year. In the clip, he dirt-bikes through Los Angeles and wears a David Bowie shirt that I really wish I owned. The single-named Max directs. Watch it below, via Miss Info.

Sarah Neufeld - “We’ve Got A Lot” Video



Arcade Fire violinist Sarah Neufeld released her solo album The Ridge last month, and today, she unveils her video for the jittery single “We’ve Got A Lot.” The clip, from director Jason Last, captures a crew of teenagers filming themselves while doing teenage shit at beaches and music festivals in Miami. There are some breathtaking overhead drone shots in there, too. Watch it below, via Noisey.

The Last Shadow Puppets - “Aviation” Video



Last week, one of our writers got some Twitter heat when he posted the Last Shadow Puppets’ video for “Everything You’ve Come To Expect” while pointing out how fucked up it was when Shadow Puppets member Miles Kane sexually harassed a female writer during a SPIN interview. Here’s the thing, though: It is our job to post new music from relevant artists. The Last Shadow Puppets are a relevant band, and their forthcoming sophomore album, also called Everything You’ve Come To Expect, is, at least on some level, a big deal. It’s possible, and maybe even necessary, to acknowledge that even as we keep posting their music and their videos. So yeah, we’re going to keep posting their music, even if we’re pretty fucking grossed out by what Miles Kane did in that interview. And now they’ve got a Saam Farahmand-directed video for the new song “Aviation,” which has both Shadow Puppets digging a grave while a weeping bride, a group of mobsters, and a blindfolded string quartet look on. It’s a pretty cool video! Also: Fuck these guys!

3/09/2016

Mothers - “It Hurts Until It Doesn’t” (Official Video)



Band To Watch Mothers released their debut full length, When You Walk A Long Distance You Are Tired, last month after putting out a steady stream of excellent singles. Their first was “No Crying In Baseball,” followed by “It Hurts Until It Doesn’t,” which Mothers are premiering a video for today. Kristine Leschper shot the footage herself, and describes it as an ode to her cat Casper, who is featured in some of the band’s press photos and sadly went missing back in December:
“your cat is a friendly brother
who would offer his heart with allegiance
and if he could talk we’d be best friends
the only friend he has is his food”
– vashti bunyan, prospect hummer

Casper has been missing since the 30th of December, but I still find his hair in my bedsheets. He was as sensitive as I was. When I walked to work in the morning, he would follow until we approached the highway, where I bullied him into turning around. He got into fights with the other cats, never could quite settle down. Last winter in a house without central heat I was doing everything I could to let the depression and anxiety finally win. Hardly more than a vague blur, this footage is the only remaining video I have of my best friend, who was so often the only thing keeping me rooted in reality, feeding me optimism, helping me survive.

Hayden Calnin - “Cut Love” (Official Video)



Australian folktronic artist Hayden Calnin specializes in lush, spacious, genre-bending excursions. Calnin grew up in the rural woods of Red Hill before moving to bustling Melbourne, and he combines the cosmopolitan sensibilities he’s developed in the city with the slower, down-home quality of his roots. He unleashed Cut Love Pt.1 the first part of a two-part album, just last week. It’s an elegant tussle between electro and ambient sounds and minimal folk tendencies. 

Today, we receive the first visual representation of that album, and as expected it is stunning. Shot in Melbourne and Victoria’s Otway National Park, the self-directed clip features thick, luscious greenery and woods in long, sweeping shots that allow you to take in the environment. Amid the natural beauty are two dancers performing an eloquently contemporary dance routine crafted by Lukas McFarlane that melds the music and their surroundings perfectly. Calnin’s sparse, but gorgeous arrangement and elongated vocal flourishes accentuate the movements of MacFarlane (who also stars in the video alongside Calnin’s sister, Daisy) as the camera slowly moves through trees to frame them. It’s a beautifully orchestrated set of visuals for a pretty song.

Twin River - “Antony” (Official Video)



Vancouver/Montreal band Twin River have announced their sophomore album Passing Shade and revealed the video for their recent single “Antony.” In the flamboyant video directed by Megan-Magdalena, several masked characters stripped of their identities paint their faces and put on a performance for a group of easily impressed, pink-wigged bystanders. After applying an exorbitant amount of make-up and zipping up their vintage dresses, the masked figures indulge in a moment of ecstasy, celebrating their curated identities under sparklers and streamers. As they shove cake into their faces, though, the eagerness of their audience generates an eerie feeling, as if it is a show for society’s watchful eye.

Head Wound City - “Scraper” (Official Video)



Head Wound City is the supergroup of Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Nick Zinner, the Blood Brothers’ Jordan Blilie and Cody Votolato, and Justin Pearson and Gabe Serbian of the Locust/Holy Molar. They dissolved in 2005 after releasing just one EP and playing one live show, but now they’re back, and they’re getting ready to unleash a whole new album of savagery onto the world, appropriately entitled A New Wave Of Violence. They shared the aggressive first track “Scraper” last month, and now it’s been given a fittingly bleak video from director Eva Michon. There’s ominous black-and-white, grave-digging, guns, and the creepiest dancing flower I’ve ever seen. What more could one ask for?

Shock Machine - “Shock Machine” (Official Video)



James Righton is probably best known for his contributions to the psych-raving Klaxons, but his new project is nothing to gloss over. The first offering from Righton’s Shock Machine comes via the eponymous single and matching set of visuals. “Shock Machine” is a vulnerable plea, perhaps with some underlying worries present under shimmering psych guitars and slow, subdued drums. There seems to be some apprehension on Righton’s part about his new venture, but it is expressed beautifully through this first foray. The aesthetic he contributed on the keyboards is present within the bright synth work, and it initially drives the track, but it is later enveloped by electric guitars for a huge crescendo as penetrating questions hit: “But do we need the Shock Machine?/ Will you follow me to the shock machine?” Done and done, if larger bodies of work are going to sound like this. The video is clever play of light and shadow with Righton silhouetted against bright backgrounds and seaside imagery which captures the spirit of the song perfectly. Director Saam Farahmand had this to say about the clip: “This video is a direct symbol of spiritual transition, and the influence of (late artist) Angus Fairhurst’s absent human cutouts. Transition is synonymous with James and Shock Machine. Everything felt right when we were shooting it.” Watch.

School Of Seven Bells - “On My Heart” (Official Video)



School Of Seven Bells offered an excellent, heartfelt farewell with SVIIB. Alejandra Deheza knew it would be their last album following the death of principle member Benjamin Curtis. The album was evocative in many aspects, but with those grave emotions shading it, the songs had an even further emotional reach.

One of the standout tracks was “On My Heart.” Today, they gave that song a touching set of visuals. Deheza plays the epitome of hard to get as she frantically eludes a suitor. She runs through streets to the outskirts of the city through hilly terrain, until he finally catches her and they share an emotional kiss. The American Millennial and Noah Kentis-directed clip is shot perfectly to elicit the same emotions the song does.

Violent Femmes - “Memory” (Official Video)



After detailing We Can Do Anything, their first album in 16 years, Violent Femmes shared the lead single “Memory” — a frantic, folky upstart. Now that the album is out, they’ve given “Memory” a matching set of visuals, and the video mirrors the song to a tee. Animated pictures drift crudely across the screen like a moving collage as the song careens along. Members of the band appear as cutouts interacting with a seemingly anything that comes to mind from bald eagles to giraffes, to flying bicycles and beach chairs. It’s a bit of a wacky video, but it’s very fitting for the song. Watch.

Homeboy Sandman - “Life Support” Video



Veteran NYC underground MC Homeboy Sandman has been hitting us with tongue-twisting barrages for quite some time now. His latest offering, the Lice EP with Aesop Rock, was a one-two flurry of lyrical jabs. Today, he comes with the loosie “Life Support” and gives it the visual treatment. The track has all the clever wordplay we’ve come to expect from Boy Sand, and will probably have you rewinding for comprehension in a couple spots. The video features some inventive live action stop motion, with the rapper pulling sand on himself at the beach like a blanket, and laying in a garden covered in grass and flowers. Nothing Sandman does is ordinary, and the Pace Rivers-directed clip reflects his alluring eccentricity. Peep it.

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - “Gamma Knife” Video



If you want to understand how fluid the genre signifier “psych” can be, consider what a vast spectrum of sounds King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard have explored throughout their discography. In the last two years the Melbourne ensemble’s output has spanned spazzed-out garage rock, tripped-out blues, and mellowed-out pop among other engaging sounds. And they’ve found yet another iteration of themselves to explore on the new LP they’re announcing today.

Nonagon Infinity might be King Gizzard’s hardest-hitting release. Arriving on the heels of last year’s downright pleasant Paper Mâché Dream Balloon, the new album plunges their sound back into aggressive territory, infusing Sabbath/Motorhead-style hard rock with frantic energy and a cartoonish blast of color. Lead single “Gamma Knife” makes a fine teaser, especially when accompanied by a music video involving monks committing mass ritual suicide. Co-directors Danny Cohen and Jason Galea did a good job capturing the music’s alternately dark and playful spirit, and the band’s acting definitely sells their loopy vision.

But more than most lead singles, “Gamma Knife” is only part of a larger whole. The title Nonagon Infinity refers to the album’s physical properties: There are nine songs, and ATO is pressing the record on nine-sided vinyl — that’s a nonagon, for you non-geometry nerds. Furthermore, the songs flow into each other in a seamless loop that could feasibly continue forever, putting the infinity in Nonagon Infinity. Aside from packaging and/or conceptual exploits, though, it’s just a rad record full of exciting music.

Dälek – “Guaranteed Struggle” Video



It’s been way too long since we’ve heard from the experimental New Jersey noise-rap crew Dãlek. Their last album Gutter Tactics came out in 2009, which means we’ve lived out the entire goofy Death Grips saga in the time that they’ve been gone. But they’re coming back next month with a new album called Asphalt For Eden, recorded with a new lineup but the same sonic-collision aesthetic. First single “Guaranteed Struggle” sounds like a classic NY boom-bap track built on top of a titanic surge of Kevin Shields-esque guitar noise. The video, from director Chris Stone, shows us a fantasia of dancing ski-masked figures.

Eleanor Friedberger - “Never Is A Long Time” (Official Video)



Eleanor Friedberger went to school in Texas, which means she’s been around SXSW both as an observer and performer for quite a while now. With the festival right around the corner, she’s sharing a new video for her New View track “Never Is A Long Time” made up of old footage from past iterations of the Austin event. As Pitchfork points out, Jeff Tweedy, Wesley Willis, the Jayhawks, Old 97s, Jon Langford, Beatle Bob, and MTV VJ Tabitha Soren all make appearances.

Here’s what Friedberger had to say about the video:
When I was a student at the University of Texas, South by Southwest meant seeing five shows a day instead of five shows a week. There was no line to see Iggy Pop perform on a small outdoor stage off 6th Street or watch Wayne Coyne conduct his parking lot experiment. These were very formative years for me and watching these scenes, shot in 1996, is a good reminder that I still aspire to make music for my 19-year-old self, not music entirely dictated by computers and commercial interests.

3/08/2016

Alex G - “Mud” (Official Video)



Philadelphia DIY pop auteur Alex G dropped his proper indie label debut, Beach Music, last fall. It was technically his seventh album, and it played as such. There was a certain comfort to that collection of songs, but also the confidence to push things a bit further. Today, he revisits the album with a video for it’s tenth track, “Mud.” The track is a stripped, earthy plea with nothing but light guitar strums and Alex’s voice to build something beautiful. The clip, directed by Alex and Colin Acchione, matches those qualities. It’s simply Alex and a lady friend meandering through the woods having fun. They eat leaves, do crazy dances, and crack jokes contrasted against shaky, sped up shots of city lights and skylines. The juxtaposition of those differing scenes reinforces the bareness of the song for a soothing effect.

Julianna Barwick - “Nebula” (Official Video)



Queen of atmospheric ambience Julianna Barwick will return with a new album this spring, and today she’s debuting a video for its first single “Nebula.” Barwick self-produced Will, which marks a distinct departure from her last excellent full-length >Nepenthe, which was produced by Alex Somers. Barwick spends a great deal of time on the road touring, and in a press release she stated that Will was derived from experiencing her life in a constant state of flux. The video for “Nebula” was directed by Derrick Belcham and filmed in the Philip Johnson Glass House in New Canaan, Connecticut.

Dave Harrington Group - “White Heat” (Official Video)



Dave Harrington is a former jazz guitarist who, along with Nicolas Jaar, used to be half of the spaced out electro-psych duo Darkside. More recently, Harrington announced that he’d formed the Dave Harrington Group and that he’d release an album called Become Alive later this month; we’ve already posted the title track. And now Harrington has shared a video — one that may be a proper music video or may just be live video of his band playing in a room somewhere; it’s hard to tell, exactly. In any case, the clip, from director Artem Aisagaliev, shows Harrington and his band spending 10 minutes playing “White Heat,” the expansive, heavy instrumental that opens Become Alive. It has me amped about the album.

Silversun Pickups - “Circadian Rhythm (Last Dance)” Video



Following the recent release of album Better Nature, Silversun Pickups will begin a three-month tour of North America later this week. But first, the band has released a new music video for their single “Circadian Rhythm.” Like the song itself, the video features bassist Nikki Monninger in a starring role. Utilizing a healthy dose of melodrama, smoke, and glitter, the band shows off their ability to produce visuals to match their high-energy dream-pop sound.

Anna Wise - “BitchSlut” (Official Video)



The move to morph gendered insults like “bitch” and “slut” into words of empowerment is an ongoing debate in the feminist community, and Anna Wise’s new single plays into that conversation and comes out as a powerful reclamation of identity. “BitchSlut” takes the form of a laundry list of demeaning and reductive stereotypes and gives them the finger at every corner: “Walking down the street with my hands tied/ ‘Cus I wore a skirt, you think I’m down to ride/ You think I want to fuck because I comb my hair, because I’m at the bar next to an open chair,” Wise rap-sings over a heady beat punctuated by some Dirty Projectors-style vocal gasps, exuding confidence and swagger. At this point, Wise is best known for her vocal contributions to Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp A Butterfly and untitled unmastered. (which she won a Grammy for), but she’ll release her debut EP later this year, and “BitchSlut” is reason to get excited that she’ll be stepping directly into the spotlight. The video comes attached to a self-directed, home-recorded video shot by Patti Miller.

3/07/2016

The Internet - “Special Affair/Curse” Video (Feat. Tyler, The Creator)



Odd Future’s R&B sextet the Internet turned in an excellent album in last year’s Ego Death. The groovy, bass-heavy body of work is very infectious, especially with Syd Tha Kyd at the helm bringing an undeniable swag through her delicate vocals. It’s weird to think of them as a part of Odd Future, especially since they have evolved so much since the collective’s early videos burning shopping carts and brandishing fake guns. The Internet have truly come into their own sound and aesthetic since 2011’s Feel Good.

Today, they drop a video combining the smooth, slick “Special Affair,” the ’90s R&B-leaning “Curse”, and a short segment of the Tyler, The Creator-assisted “Palace.” The “Special Affair” portion of the video is a black and white basement party in slow mo with plenty of weed, liquor, and good vibes to go around. The “Curse” section is a hazy, revolving color one-shot with the band taking turns on each other’s instruments giving each member a chance to step into the forefront and deliver Syd’s lyrics. Tyler, The Creator comes on to deliver his opening verse for a quick cameo on “Palace” before a VHS effect kicks in and the video cuts abruptly to end.

Nothing - “Vertigo Flowers” (Official Video)



Last month, Philly shoegazers Nothing announced the impending release of their sophomore album Tired Of Tomorrow and shared “Vertigo Flowers,” a surging triumph of a first single. Today, we get to see the song’s video. In director Don Argott’s clip, all four members of the band stand up against a bare white wall and attempt to lip-synch and dance while they’re being blasted with freezing-cold paint. Below, watch the video and read some words about it from frontman Domenic Palermo, via Noisey.

Kero Kero Bonito - “Lipslap” (Official Video)



A couple of weeks ago, the giddy London pop marauders Kero Kero Bonito came out with a new single called “Lipslap.” Today, that song gets a video, and it’s just as bright and absurd as you’d hope a video from this group might be. In director Theo Davies’ clip, all three members of the group live in a brightly decorated video, one that they share with many, many stuffed animals. Davies stages the video as an early-’90s sitcom, which is a pretty ideal context for a song like this.

DTCV - “Capital Ennui” Video



Named after the Godard film Détective, globetrotting duo DTCV channel the classic sounds of 60’s yé-yé and French pop while adding their own post-punk influences to the mix. Their latest album Confusion Modern is written almost entirely in French, a change in the band’s lyrical dynamic that came about in 2015 after lead singer Lola G. listened to Clifton Chenier’s French zydeco and the Nouvelle Vague-inspired Brian Jonestown Massacre album Musique de Film Imaginé.

Labeling themselves “anarcho-symbolist rock,” the band uses their new album to address Lola G.’s “anti-capitalist, neo-anarchist, radical feminist, and pro-environmental” concerns. Director Irwin Barbé’s video for “Capital Ennui” moves through Prague’s dilapidated areas, creating a clear picture of the harsh reality that the band’s upcoming album will no doubt face unflinchingly.

Harrison - “It’s Okay, I Promise” (Feat. Clairmont The Second) Video



Harrison – “It’s Okay, I Promise” (Feat. Clairmont The Second) (Dir. Scott Cudmore)

This thing is basically the rap-video version of Holy Motors. I have no idea what’s going on, but I’m intrigued enough to stick around to the end.

Frightened Rabbit - “Get Out” (Official Video)



Frightened Rabbit – “Get Out” (Dir. Greg Davenport)

An unexpectedly dependable music-video subgenre: Emotionally intense contemporary dance routines performed in front of striking scenery. Those sculptures are just awesome.

Johanna Warren - “Great Lake” (Feat. STONEHOLDER) Video



It’s hard to come up with descriptors that haven’t been used for Portland folk singer-songwriter Johanna Warren and her sound, but both she and her music exude a transcendence and peace in her twenties that elude many people their entire lives. She denies that, though, only making her seem that much more the wiser. Her fantastic, calming nūmūn was evoked by a spiritual awakening in Mt. Hood National Forest in which she fasted for 3 days searching for self. nūmūn communicated that inward exploration exquisitely sonically, but she only gave us a visual expression through the alluring “True Colors” video.

Her rebirth also resulted in the featured healing vocal sound project STONEHOLDER. Her latest song “Great Lake” comes with a video, and both are more of the wisdom-seeking sound and aesthetic we have come to know of Warren. The music is bare, with dreamy xylophone tings and elongated ambient sounds lifting Warren’s voice into the clouds. Her lyrics mix her vivid connection with nature and her never-ending search for knowledge of self to translate the refreshing feeling of being emersed underwater, alone with your own contemplations. The visuals reflect her lyrics, depicting a ritualistic gathering of women in a creek dressed in all white and interacting with the elements around them both giving and receiving energy. The sound and visuals easily transport you to another place and time that isn’t quite definable, but the soothing warmth makes that absolutely OK.

Lontalius - “Glow” (Official Video)



Very busy teen Eddie Johnston makes music under the names Lontalius and Race Banyon. He’s releasing his debut album under the former, I’ll Forget 17, later this month, and today he’s shared a video for the tender single “Glow.” Johnston plays a barista caught in a very 21st century love triangle, which translates into a lot of exasperated looks at iPhones and moody skipping around. It was directed by Arty Papageorgiou.

Foxing - "Night Channels" (Official Video)



Foxing released their most recent album, Dealer, last year and embarked on a co-headlining national tour alongside The World Is A Beautiful Place And I Am No Longer Afraid To Die. Today the St. Louis quintet debuted a video for their song “Night Channels,” which chronicles a few days in the life of a struggling dancer. Scenes of her rehearsals are intercut with footage from a Foxing barroom set.

Låpsley - “Love Is Blind” (Official Video)



Today, the young London singer-songwriter Låpsley releases Long Way Home, her full-length debut, and she’s also hitting us off with a video for her surging, heartbroken pop ballad “Love Is Blind.” In the clip, Låpsley and a man face off in what appears to be an emotional therapy session, and various other distraught faces also appear. Meanwhile, the camera spins and the lights do strange things to their faces. Cherise Payne directs, from Låpsley’s own concept.

NxWorries (Anderson .Paak & Knxwledge) - “Link Up” (Official Video)



NxWorries, the duo consisting of LA funk/soul merchants Anderson .Paak and Knxwledge, unleashed the oh-so-silky smooth Link Up & Suede EP last year. It’s crazy that they found time to shoot a video, with Paak being pretty ubiquitous since his prominent feature on Compton, but it’s nice to see them revisit that dope project by giving “Link Up” the visual treatment. The song is unadulterated funk and swag with whomping bass, syncopated drums, and Knxwledge’s signature groovy sample work. The clip embodies the smoothness of the project, with some low-key two-stepping, a heated domino game, and fun romps in a convenience store. Paak plays up the ’70s soul aesthetic with a turtleneck and blazer combo, tinted sunglasses, and fedora. Knxwledge plays the background behind a drum machine. Adult Swim’s Eric Andre kicks off the festivities with a boozy monologue before greeting a fist with his face. The vid is very slick, and was seemingly fun to make.

Tyler, The Creator - “What The Fuck Right Now” Video (Feat. A$AP Rocky)



Tyler, The Creator has shared a new video of him rapping over the beat from Kanye West’s Life Of Pablo track “Freestyle 4.” The verses on the original are kinda weak but the beat is sick, so it’s nice to see someone actually do something worthwhile with it. The vid, which is dubbed “What The Fuck Right Now,” sees Tyler and friends (including A$AP Rocky) goofing around in the studio, where there’s also inexplicably a motorcycle. It was directed by Mikey Alfred.

PWR BTTM - “West Texas” (Official Video)



“May cause extreme hot flashes and boy sweats,” reads the disclaimer at the end of PWR BTTM’s “West Texas” video, rated Q for queer. “Some heartbreaking scenes and great American love stories that will make you dream and escape the cold embrace of normality.” Ben Hopkins and Liv Bruce make their way to an empty waterpark in the desert for the video and make their mark on the abandoned space the only way they know how. 

“This video is about taking authorship of your life, even if you can’t fully control which characters stick around,” Bruce explained in a press release. The clip was directed by H.S. Naji, who sets up the concept for the video as such: “I planned for the term ‘revisiting desolation’ to be the crux of the video. The location plays as all those broken promises, false hopes, and crushed hearts everyone experiences. We see these two personas walk through that familiar cemetery of attractions — and at least make due with pool paraphernalia and glitter.”

La Sera - "I Need An Angel" (Official Music Video)



La Sera will release their Ryan Adams-produced LP Music For Listening To Music To on Friday, and in anticipation the band debuted a video for the single “I Need An Angel.” The clip was directed and edited by Jason Lester, who shot all of it on Super 8 film. Check out the nostalgic, double-exposed collage of footage below.

Amber Arcades - “Right Now” (Official Video)



Annelotte de Graaf records under the name Amber Arcades and we’ve already heard two singles off of her forthcoming debut album: “Turning Light” and “Right Now.” She just presented us with a video for the latter, which was directed by Jeroen van der Poel and Anna de Rijk. The clip finds two little boys playing dress-up as small soldiers-turned-gardeners. It’s an odd combination, but it works.

Hælos - “Separate Lives” (Official Video)



British trio Hælos make wonderfully dissonant melancholy dance music. They use bright, bouncy, glimmering sounds that collide with evocative lyrics that veer gloomy to create a splendid tension. Their debut album, Full Circle, is due out later this month. It puts their comfort with discordance on display with a euphoric mood winning out on tracks like “Oracle,” “Pray,” and “The Sun Rising.”
Today, the band shares the track “Separate Lives” with accompanying visuals. The song has bright, shimmery synths and intricate drum work that oddly accentuates gloomy lyrics. The band had this to say about it: “It’s a reflection on the moment when you are choosing between staying or leaving and the underlying love that keeps you there. We liked that, it was simple and human and something we could all share experience in.”

The matching clip encompasses the conflicting emotions in the music as the band wanders through Hollywood, navigates traffic on LA freeways, and gets glimpses of Seattle on the West Coast leg of their last tour. The ambivalence of the song and the incongruity of the album is simply elicited in the video as the band meanders through unfamiliar spaces with an easy camaraderie binding them.

Black Mountain - “Florian Saucer Attack” (Official Video)



Vancouver’s Black Mountain will release a new album in April, their first since 2010’s Wilderness Heart. The new LP is titled IV and just last month we heard its debut single “Mothers Of The Sun,” which came accompanied by an epic video. They’re following it up with “Florian Saucer Attack,” which is a Siouxsie Sioux-indepted, gothic take on psych rock. It’s nice when a song’s bizarre title aptly describes its content; the synths on this thing sounds like ricocheting laser beams, and the Chad Van Gaalen-animated video chronicles a day in the life of an alien.

Nada Surf - "Rushing" (Official Video)



After performing “Cold To See Clear” on Late Night With Seth Meyers on Monday, Nada Surf have released the video for another You Know Who You Are track, “Rushing.” Shot on-site in Paris, the clip narrates the path of two people whose spontaneous affections remind viewers of the profundities and excitement to be found throughout life’s small moments. Nada Surf frontman Matthew Caws is there to witness the romance in bloom. Here’s Caws with some background on the video:
i’ve known sarah and emilie barbault for a long time. i did the music for two short films of theirs, a day of lucidity and pleurer des larmes d’enfance. they shot the video for the minor alps song “waiting for you.” we’d wanted to make another video together for a long time. the song is about the transporting feeling of new love. i wrote it with dan wilson. we were writing together to see what it would be like, not for nada surf necessarily. it was a really wonderful experience. he has such a great musical and lyrical mind. i was originally hoping that this song would be sung by a woman because while there is (more and more) pressure on men to be attractive, there is still clearly more on women, and this song touches on body-consciousness in the chorus, how the right person can make you forget issues of appearance, and more holistically can pull your mind up out of your body and into a plane of one-ness, of spirit. there’s a line about watching the human river go by, when you’re not participating or can’t find your way in.
we had a great day taking the subway all over paris and shooting wherever felt good. it was fun to play for the commuters but i’m sure they were wondering why i wasn’t singing a famous song.

Palehound - “Molly” (Official Video)



This is your brain on drugs! The video for Palehound’s “Molly” — off Ellen Kempner’s excellent Dry Food debut LP from last year — takes that age-old scare tactic and infamous PSA quite literally. It stars a cute little dude named EggGuy that gets fried up and served on a sandwich. After being eaten, he has some weird hallucinogenic effects on the consumer, which mostly involve deep thoughts about the circle of life and a lot of freaky moving images. Sounds like any trip ever! “EggGuy was concocted during a late morning brunch mishap,” co-directors Lara Jean Gallagher and Brian Kinkley explain. “We wanted to explore the frailty of life, what it means to have consciousness, and how much we could care about a pair of eyeballs. ‘Molly’ has just the right amount of weird sweetness to make this all seem really fun.”