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:
Dear Plastic – Zero
Here with the debut single from their forthcoming EP Heaven Machine are Melbourne five-piece pop experimentalists Dear Plastic, whose video for Zero is a visual delight. The track is killer, a sweet little slice of electro-pop full of cosmically warped synths and ethereal vocals from Scarlette Baccini that all of a sudden turns it up to 11 for the chorus, those dreamy lullaby vocals all of a sudden transitioning to shrieks, the synths adopting a somber and almost funereal tone. It was enough to have me go bolt upright in my chair.
The video is a fantastic trip, a moving portrait directed by Leigh Young and featuring artwork from Nadia Toukshati. Pastel colours and shapes kaleidoscope their way across some frankly unsettling close-ups of the band, really complementing the sound and atmosphere created, I was hooked instantaneously.
Look for Heaven Machine to arrive later on this year.
Gypsy And The Cat – Inside Your Mind
Sticking in Melbourne for this next one from duo Gypsy And The Cat, the first taste of their upcoming album due this year. Inside Your Mind is the name, the sparkling acoustic guitars blending magnificently with breezy synths and some cloud-soft percussion, this is some of the easiest listening you’ll ever do.
The video was shot in Tokyo and features the duo in cat-catcher mode, going full cartoon donning jumpsuits and carrying oversize nets around as they search for a terrifying creature with the body of a slacker and the head of a cat (the famous cat head of Housetu Sato no less). Cat lovers will go ape for this, I find that head remarkably unsettling though. Nonetheless a clever video.
Catch Gypsy And The Cat on their Inside Your Mind tour of Australia when it kicks off next week.
ANOHNI – Drone Bomb Me
ANOHNI is a name you may recognise as being behind the vocals of Antony And The Johnsons. She has a new album HOPELESSNESS on the way, a joint collaboration between herself, Oneohtrix Point Never and Hudson Mohawke, so you already know production is going to be galactically good. To mark the occasion she’s released the first single and video today for the politically-charged Drone Bomb Me.
Haunting, almost operatic vocals tell the bonechilling story of a young girl whose family have been killed in drone attacks. It’s absolutely heartbreaking and the delivery by ANOHNI is full of emotion. The video features supermodel Naomi Campbell clad in camouflage and seated in a dimly-lit room. Shots of her openly weeping are interspersed with frenetic dancing and create an entirely jarring experience that warrants multiple views and listens.
HOPELESSNESS is out May 6th via Rough Trade/Remote Control Records.
Cosmic Rays – Teen Bank Robbers On Heroin
This single from ScotDrakula side project Cosmic Rays hands down wins the belt for best song title this week. Teenage Bank Robbers On Heroin is the latest single from Australian by way of Canada Matthew Neumann; the mastermind behind both ScotDrakula and Cosmic Rays. This latest single is taken from the latter’s debut EP Yeah, Cool that was released last year. Dark and atmospheric with downtuned vocals and an uncompromising rhythm section (featuring a bassline that just wants to drill its way into your skull) that finds itself offset by some positively bright and gleaming synths. It’s altogether an intoxicating sound.
The music video was entirely self-produced and follows the exploits of a Melbourne suburbs Bonnie and Clyde of sorts, featuring mini-heists and many intense staring contests between the two. For the cost of $70, Neumann has created a great visual story to go with a cracker track.
There’s a new ScotDrakula record inbound but you can check out Yeah, Cool for now out on Future Popes.
Sunflower Bean – Easier Said
The first international act on this week’s list are Sunflower Bean all the way from New York City. Their latest single Easier Said comes from their just released debut album Human Ceremony. Clean and spritely guitars are the order of the day here, accompanying some gorgeously lilting vocals from frontwoman Julia Cummings.
The video is filmed in what looks like a gloomy stretch of upstate New York in late Fall, grey skies and leafless trees scattered across the landscape. Cummings is the focal point, taking a dirtbike ride in a gold jumpsuit and blue angel wings before the rest of the band join her for a casual jam by a roaring fire.
Human Ceremony is out now on Fat Possum via Inertia.
Bugs – When I Know
I caught Brisbane duo Bugs when they played the Mountain Goat Valley Pub Crawl just a couple of weeks ago and was thoroughly blown away. Be it their stellar punk and roll covers of Cher’s Believe or the Hoodoo Gurus’ What’s My Scene to their own pop-punk infused tunes that had the crowd bouncing off the walls. The riffs were heavy and the lyrics honest and with that Aussie-accented twang that adds just that little extra flavour they were a highlight of the night.
When I Know is their latest single, released this week with an accompanying video. Sharp and punchy and with lo-fi guitars that jangle and fuzz, the soaring hook of the chorus will lodge itself in your head for ages and lay eggs there that demand you listen to more. The video is a rainbow-splattered, bedroom-quality collage of different shots of the duo singing and playing.
Catch Bugs launching When I Know in Byron Bay and Brisbane in the next couple of weeks. They are a fuck-ton of fun.
King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard – Gamma Knife
Experimental noisemakers King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard are one of the most productive bands in Australia and they are on a roll. They’re just over a month out from releasing another album, Nonagon Infinity, and this week they’ve released a new single and video: Gamma Knife.
Working in a cancer clinic that’s just installed an actual Gamma Knife machine and knowing how cool it is (seriously, read about what they can do), I was expecting laser-sharp riffs and a warped out cosmic vibe from the track going into it and that’s exactly what I was delivered. The song is just a whirlwind of speed and sound and is the type of song that will have crowds losing their ever-loving shit live (the extended drum solo is utterly fantastic and harkens back to late-70s prog so nicely)
The video is what you would call wacky, the band playing in a circle in a sun-dappled field. It’s 360 degrees of King Gizz, the camera rotating around each member, all clad in black robes and faces painted. Multicoloured warlock looking dudes soon join the circle before the entire thing ends with everyone lying motionless beside a gigantic egg. Like the drum solo, it’s a very prog-rock affair and it just rules.
Nonagon Infinity is out April 29 via ATO.
Young Thug – My People (ft. Duke)
Summer vibes abound in the latest single and video from Young Thug. My People comes from his recently released mixtape I’m Up. It features Duke and is a sweltering hot track full of island rhythms, Young Thug spitting fire across all of it.
The video features Thugger leading a band of black clad militants in ski masks. They stand resolutely on a bridge, fists to the sky, as Young Thug raps around them. Striking visuals that contrast with the party feel of the song but an excellent clip all the same.
Look out for Young Thug keeping productivity sky high. Having just dropped I’m Up, he’ll be releasing his debut LP Hy!£UN35 to kick off May and arguably having an even bigger year than he had in 2015.
(Image via Rip It Up)