Wavves – “Demon To Lean On”

California punk rocker Wavves is about to release the new album Afraid Of Heights, and today he gives us the video for the polished and extremely catchy snot-anthem “Demon To Lean On.” BLACK//DOCTOR directs the video, which tells the story of a kid who wakes up in a junkyard and soon discovers the warlike scavenger society that exists there. It has to be said: Nathan Williams looks more and more like Bam Margera everyday, doesn’t he? I feel like Williams would regard this as a good thing.

Foals – “Late Night” Video (NSFW)

Foals have now released three videos from their new LP, Holy Fire, two of which have received the NSFW tag: first single “Inhaler” and now “Late Night.” That’s probably not a bad strategy; no television outlet (in the States, anyway) is going to give these things any airtime, and I’d bet NSFW vids on average get exponentially more clicks than those of the SFW variety. The “Late Night” clip is pretty damn explicit — as the band plays the lounge of a Lynchian hotel, we get a glimpse of what’s going on in the rooms around them, including a childbirth, a couple enjoying some rough sex, and a solo dude engaged in a bit of autoerotic asphyxiation-turned-unintentional suicide. In this sense, the NSFW tag is well-earned, but the song deserves it, too: It’s one of Holy Fire‘s most intimate moments, and the clip presents an honest-feeling visual representation of such intimacy.

The Knife – “A Tooth For An Eye”

The Knife’s first video from their forthcoming Shaking The Habitual took heteronormative attitudes and attire and turned them inside out. As of today, that sort of radical stance on gender-based thought is a recurring theme in the Knife’s Shaking videos: “A Tooth For An Eye,” directed by Roxy Farhat and Kakan Hermansson, focuses on a bunch of macho/lithe dudes in a dance class, being schooled by a lip-syncing, cornrowed girl. She’s their referee, their beacon, their Karin. By the Knife’s statement, “‘A Tooth For An Eye’ deconstructs images of maleness, power and leadership.” Today’s Deconstructing:

Dan Deacon – “Crash Jam”

In making the video for “Crash Jam,” a euphoric jitter-drone from Dan Deacon’s album America, Ben O’Brien has edited together a bunch of footage from Tony Horton’s P90X workout videos. In the process, he’s made a collage of grunting, flexing, impossibly stretched-out humanity that makes human beings look like the strangest animals that have ever walked the earth.

Beach House – “Wishes”

Eric Wareheim, one half of the absurdist comedy duo Tim & Eric, doesn’t direct music videos too often, but when he does, he can be relied upon to produce some grandly bizarre vision. That’s certainly the case with his video for Beach House’s majestic Bloom grower “Wishes.” It stars Ray Wise (Leland Palmer from Twin Peaks!), riding a horse and lit by fireworks, singing the song at some sort of futuristic martial arts/gymnastics/cheerleading exhibition in a soccer stadium. The clip feels like a peak into some alternate dimension’s ideas about mass entertainment, but thanks to Wise’s gravity, it comes across as something oddly moving.

Phoenix – “Entertainment”

Phoenix have just unveiled the big, sweeping, ambitious video for “Entertainment,” the first single from their new Bankrupt! album. Patrick Daughters directs, and it’s a series of intercut love stories, taking place throughout the ages but starring the same actors. There’s also a lot of fighting. We’re going to be puzzling this one out for a while, but you can watch.

Psychic Twin – “Strangers”

The video for Psychic Twin’s “Strangers” is weirdly the visual manifestation of both the band’s name and the song’s title. The video initially starts out with a double image of singer Erin Fein, one in a hazed-over natural state and the other a piecemeal rainbow girl following the “real” Fein’s movements. As the video continues, the rainbow Fein — the stranger — turns into a carbon copy of the seemingly human version. The dance-mimesis remains, but since they are both visually the same, it evolves from a stranger into the psychic twin. Or maybe I’m just reading too much into this corporeal vision, but it’s a nice hazy clip for the ethereal track.

Houses – “Beginnings”

In Houses’ melancholic “The Beauty Surrounds” video, you can watch frontman Dexter Tortoriello build a tent in the desert and pine for the absent Megan Messina. Their latest video for “Beginnings” — the first track on their forthcoming album A Quiet Darkness — is a carefree prelude to the inevitable emotional disaster to follow. Messina smiles unblinkingly into the camera as she leans her head out of a car window, hair billowing in slow-motion.

Kate Boy – “In Your Eyes”

The four members of the Stockholm-based band Kate Boy make catchy electronic pop songs with heavy standard drum beats and crystalline synth lines. Their debut EP, Northern Lights, was released earlier this year. Kate Boy’s latest minimalistic video features vocalist Kate Akhurst surrounded by flashing fluorescent bulbs as she belts “In Your Eyes” while hesitantly dancing in a white jumpsuit/raincoat. Not surprisingly, Akhurst’s eyes are conspicuously absent, hidden under the brim of her black baseball hat.

CHVRCHES – “Recover”

The Glaswegian synth-pop trio CHVRCHES have released a music video for the title track of their forthcoming EP, Recover. The break-up song is equal parts distressing and danceable. Lauren Mayberry’s heart-achingly sweet voice almost manages to distract from the camera’s journey through an eerie industrial landscape.

Lulu James – “Closer”

British soul-force Lulu James knows how to do simplicity with a ton of panache. In the sparse black-and-white video for her electro-soul track “Closer,” she shows that gyrating in front of the camera is heightened not only by knowing how to move, but when adorned in a fur and studs.

Glass Candy – “The Possessed”

In Glass Candy’s new video for the slow, unsettled electro-pulse “The Possessed,” singer Ida No skulks around a carnival and performs to a fired-up crowd in a venue so immaculately designed that it doesn’t look real. Frequent collaborator Alberto Rossini films everything in his trademark grainy late-’70s/early-’80s horror-movie style.

Biffy Clyro - Biblical (Official Video)

Watch the official video for Biblical by Biffy Clyro.

Rick Ross – “Ashamed” Video

 

Usually, I can watch a rap video without being reduced to a puddle of jealousy from all the trappings of wealth. But fucking hell, Rick Ross gets to play with a tiger cub? (That’s a tiger cub, right?) How much money does it cost to hang out with a tiger cub? What decisions can I make in my life that’ll make that possible? In the DRE Films-directed video for “Ashamed,” a slow-burning soul-sampling highlight from last year’s God Forgives, I Don’t album, we also learn that Ross wears an entire dead fox on his shoulder and that he leaves his basketball jersey on in the swimming pool — a bit of a surprise, considering that he’s never been exactly shy about shirtlessness. Also, he seems to be a really big Sacramento Kings fan? He must be a League Pass guy.

T-ara - "Bunny Style"

T-ara - "Bunny Style", Director: Cho Su Hyun.

Aimed at the Japanese market, there's “Kawaii” and “Kawaii” n' this is most disappointin', since its from the director responsible for “Gangnam Style“.

Further the group's jus' got no vocal bite since rapper Hwa-Young was dismissed
Just hope there's a redeemable version on one of the other seven cuts

Psy - "Right Now" Video

Hmmmm clearly a man with form....

Song was banned for the lyric “Life is like toxic alcohol,” by the Korean Ministry of Gender Equality and Family!

Though it was cut in 2010, it would seem to be making a comeback, in the "Gangnam Style" aftermath

PSY - RIGHT NOW (Seo Woo Ver.)

Unknown Mortal Orchestra – “Swim And Sleep (Like A Shark)” (NSFW-ish)

The video for “Swim And Sleep (Like A Shark),” a flinty and idiosyncratic indie-pop song from Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s new album II, has a cast made up entirely of marionette puppets, many of whom are seen perving out in vaguely NSFW ways. In particular, the clip tells the story of one alienated compulsive masturbator, telling his story in a way that feels weirdly heartfelt. Watch it below.

Watch The Simpsons’ Harlem Shake Parody

As you might know already, Baauer’s song “Harlem Shake” fueled an Internet meme last month, seeing hundreds of thousands of individuals posting YouTube videos of themselves doing random dances set to the song. It’s a cultural phenomenon for sure, but as the New York Times pointed out yesterday, the videos are not inspired by the actual Harlem shake, a dance that originated in New York City over 30 years ago. Now, the writers behind The Simpsons have picked up on meme as well. Check out “The Homer Shake” below, which sees a cast of characters from the show doing random dances set to a parody of the song. (Spoiler alert: still no actual Harlem shaking to be found.)
And in case you missed it on Videogum last month, also check out a video of Harlem residents responding to “Harlem Shake” videos.