Catfish and the Bottlemen: Hourglass
I love a band that doesn’t take themselves too seriously. Catfish and the Bottlemen have been abolutely killing it this year, having released their debut album Balcony, they’ve reached Gold in the UK and shifted over 100 000 copies. Yet when the time came to create a music video for their latest single Hourglass, instead of taking credit, they decided to make a film displaying how the lead singer Van McCann actually stole the song from Ewan McGregor…
McGregor actually features in the clip, playing himself. The star is staying in a hotel room across the hallway from the room McCann is in. After mucking around on the guitar for a bit McGregor has to duck out, but not before he drops his recording on the hallway floor.
Despite being incredibly random, and barely containing any of the actual song, the clip works really well. Then again, you can’t really go wrong with Ewan McGregor.
Squarepusher: Stor Eiglass
Squarepusher have released a music video for their latest track Stor Eiglass, which I can only describe as intense. The film is essentially a highly pixilated, animated journey through a magical, slightly alien world. Lying somewhere between a children’s video game, and what I imagine it would feel like to take acid and walk around the streets of Canberra – it’s quite a trip.
Your eyes may start to hurt while watching this, but it does give the song a nice sense of movement. It’s also just a lot of fun. Keep doing what you’re doing, Squarepusher.
Lapalux: Puzzle
Following his announcement to be on the lineup of Strawberry Fields, Lapalux has released an awesome music video for his latest track Puzzle. The clip is like a mini feature film, with an incredibly well-executed narrative about a man who falls in love with a car. The cinematography and colour scheme is on point, as is the overall direction of the film. My only criticism is that it is perhaps a little too good…
The five minute clip takes us on an emotional journey, the main character experiencing lust, anguish, fear and resentment. Yet for its entirety we are stuck with the simple soundtrack of Lapalux’s song. The track becomes almost inadequate. Not because it isn’t good, but because it doesn’t always work with the emotions that we’re experiencing in the video clip. Puzzle raises an interesting question of whether a music video be over the top, whether it can actually outshine the song it was made for.
Tiger Choir: Shani
Tiger Choir’s new video for their latest track Shani stands in complete opposition to Lapalux. With absolutely no budget, it has a complete lack of pretense. Taking inspiration from Karaoke stock footage and the hazy neon aesthetic of films like Blade Runner, and films by prolific director Wong Kar Wei, they’ve created a music video that is subtle and artful. I expect great things from them!
The Lulu Raes: Swing me on a Vine of Sunshine
It’s quite ironic and quite hilarious that on the day The Lulu Raes embarked to film their sunny, feel good music video for Swing me on a Vine of Sunshine, Sydney had one of its worst hailstorms in history. It was so bad the storm actually engulfed the studio and they actually had to end filming prematurely.
Perhaps that’s why lead singer Eddie has this weird look in his eye while he sings to the camera, like he’s trying to mouth the words in a carefree manner but all he’s thinking is “fuck, we might actually die today”.
Despite the drama, the video clip still remains jolly. Cute superimposed shots of sunny palm trees, obviously from a place far, far away from their studio take us all to that happy place.
Hudson Mohawke: Very First Breath
Born in the underground clubbing scene in the UK, Hudson Mohawke has been demonstrating his considerable talent for producing and reworking other artists for over ten years now. His latest track Very First Breath, demonstrates that same talent for avante garde electronica, and it now has an awesome music video to go with it.
The song explores that existential feeling of falling out of love, of wanting to go back to beginning one more time and feel like you used to feel. Mohawke reflects this in film with a beautiful aesthetic. It features a a woman and a man who look part-human, part-avatar who obviously used to be an item and now want to kill each other. Sounds silly but its not. It’s actually quite poignant.