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Weekly Video Roundup

It’s video roundup time! Once again, Howl And Echoes are coming in hot with the freshest, most eyeball stimulating music videos to be dropped by the artists you love and some of the artists you don’t know you love yet, of this week. We do all the dirty work and herd them all into one convenient web-based location for you to enjoy every Friday so that you don’t have to. Have yourself a good old gander at the latest offerings from:

Beirut – Perth

A track from eclectic Santa Fe five-piece Beirut on their fourth studio album, last year’s No No No, Perth is the latest single released by the band, and the accompanying music video is a feel-good wonder.

Driven by funky rhythms and brass and some rather jaunty synths behind frontman Zach Condon’s soothing vocals, Perth is a spiritually uplifting track to both listen to and watch. The video features dancer and choreographer Maceo Paisley dancing for his life in split-screen, on the left he’s in Santa Monica and on the right in a frosty-looking Yosemite national park.

Dancing and picturesque American scenery? Well done Beirut, well done

Ben Abraham – You And Me

Ahead of the release of his debut album Sirens, Melbournian singer-songwriter Ben Abraham has released new single You And Me.

Possessing a voice that’s both haunting and commanding, there’s a reason Abraham has made several lists touting artists to watch in 2016. You And Me blows gently through your ears and then tingles down your spine (that piano, my God). The chorus is just gorgeous and the lyrics heartfelt and thoughtful, some of the easiest listening you’ll ever do.

The video that comes with it, directed by Oh Yeah Wow (The Jezabels, Gotye), is a single-take masterpiece documenting the seedy aftermath of a big night of celebration full of plate throwing and wine sculling. The fairy lights surrounding a morose Abraham sitting alone on a stage a stunning visual effect.

Sirens is out March 4th via Inertia.

KLP – Recover (Live)

We straight loved the original cameo-filled video put out by KLP (aka the nicest presenter on the airwaves) for her infectious 2015 single Recover. She’s just showing off at this point though, stepping out from the comfort zone of the DJ booth she usually resides in and going full frontwoman for a live and stripped back version of Recover.

Not only does KLP nail it on the mic, her stage-rocking dance moves put us all to shame. Oh, Remi (who spits a fiery guest verse on the track) couldn’t make it to the studes today? No problem, KLP can just put her MC hat on and rap the verse herself. Sorted. It’s an overall fantastic version of the song, losing not an ounce of its original swagger and helped along by the presence of friends Art Vs Science to back her up.

What other talents are you hiding from us, KLP?

Dame D.O.L.L.A. – Bigger Than Us (ft. Paul Rey)

Most of you know Dame D.O.L.L.A. by his alter-ego, human highlight reel and one of the most clutch players in the NBA as the starting point guard for the Portland Trailblazers (and a constant reminder that my Brooklyn Nets are idiots with draft picks), Damian Lillard.

This guy…

Unless you were a huge fan though, you probably weren’t aware that Lillard moonlights as a rapper. Quite a good rapper in fact, given the awful, awful history of NBA players who have stepped up to the mic in the past.

The world still hasn’t recovered from your album, Shaq.

To mark the occasion of MLK Day in America, one of the most important and reflective dates on the calendar, especially in the current social climate, Lillard debuted a track and video for his song Bigger Than Us.

Blending black and white shots of himself in the studio with harrowing footage of the riots in Ferguson and from the massacres of Sandy Hook and Emanuel Ame among other low points of the year gone by, it’s big ups to Lillard for using his platform as a basketball superstar to spread his message of unity amid turmoil with this song.

The Drones – To Think That I Once Loved You

Following up their highly provocative single Taman Shud of last year, Australian veterans The Drones are back with a brand new single and video for the song To Think That I Once Loved You, the second single from their forthcoming studio album Feelin’ Kinda Free.

Sprawling across six minutes, it’s as lyrically diverse and difficult to pin down as you’d expect from The Drones, who seek to avoid even the smallest of clichés like the plague. A low and menacing build up to a chorus that actually soars, the urgency in frontman Gareth Liddiard’s voice increasing as the song ploughs on.

The music video is a hazy shot of the band playing in a dark room and complements the atmosphere wonderfully. Raw and emotional and uncompromising on both the ears and the eyes, The Drones look to have a monumentally good record waiting to go.

Feelin’ Kinda Free is out March 18th via the delightfully named Tropical Fuck Storm Records.

Yeasayer – I Am Chemistry

The mystery surrounding Brooklyn experimentalists Yeasayer’s recent website updates look to have been solved, with speculation the band could be either saying their farewells or creating new music put to rest after the release over the weekend of a new single and its video, I Am Chemistry.

The track, apparently released way too early by accident, is for the band’s just announced new studio LP, Amen & Goodbye.

The video for this off-kilter psych-pop track plays like a homeless person’s fever dream, a computer-animated nightmare full of shit you can just never un-see (Jesus Christ, children’s choirs and creepy Claymation elves need to never be combined again). Describing it is pretty futile so just go ahead and watch it and try not to shriek in terror.

Amen & Goodbye is out April 1 via Mute.

DMA’s – Delete

Ah the feels. All of these feely feels rushing back. Having stepped out of their bedroom and into the immediate national spotlight off the back of this tune and others from their home run debut EP, DMA’s are currently going about conquering the world, having toured Europe last year and gaining big exposure and acclaim as artists to watchSt for their Brit-pop revival in the land it originated from.

With their very first album Hills End on the way (the first single Too Soon having dropped just a few weeks ago), the Sydney trio decided a little update on Delete, one of the best Australian songs of the decade in my humble opinion, was in order. They’ve released a brand new video for the track, just as lo-fi as the stunning original. I’m having trouble deciding which I prefer (original by a bee’s dick I think).

Can’t wait to shed tears and sing along with everyone else catching DMA’s as they join the Laneway festival tour in February. The world is their oyster right now.

Hills End is out February 26th via Mom + Pop.

A$AP Ferg – New Level (ft. Future)

Enlisting the talents of one of 2015’s biggest success stories in Future is A$AP Ferg for New Level, a song that goes so unbelievably hard. Ferg drops some of the more menacing bars you can imagine, not a man to be fucked with by any circumstances, switching up his flow on a dime. Future weaves his rhymes effortlessly and in that infectiously idiosyncratic manner that won him so many fans in the last year.

The music video is your standard hip-hop fare, fire, money, Lambos, chains, scantily clad women, Ferg channelling his inner Mark Morrison (the Return Of The Mack guy if you’re unaware) in a black leather duster and turtleneck and rolling with some incredibly aggressive dancing. Cleveland Browns wide receiver Josh Gordon drops by at one point (probably the highlight of his season). It’s beautiful.

New Level is the first single from Ferg’s upcoming album Always Strive And Prosper, pending a release date in 2016.