This week has had more good videos than we could fill a lazy morning hangover with, but luckily for you, we have narrowed it down to the cream of the crop. With something for everyone, these clips will get your weekend off to the right kind of start. Get clicking below:
Lil Dicky – Save Dat Money
This nine-minute jaunt is actually more like a short documentary, and is goddamn hilarious. The unconventional white boy rapper takes to the streets of L.A. to complete his music video, as the title would suggest, for as little money as possible. He talks his way into swanky locations including the opulent home of an old lady, a McClaren dealership, and a yacht, and picks up a few guests along the way. The clip features half a verse from Fetty Wap (because a full one would be too expensive?) and appearances from the Broad City gals, Kevin Durrant, Sarah Silverman, and T-Pain to name a few. With lines about signing up for free trials, getting Netflix logins from his cousin and coffee refills it’s a laugh out loud track we can all identify with, but what’s more, the guy can actually rap.
Wavves – Way Too Much
Have you ever wondered what happens when you mix Wavves’ high energy brand of surf rock with underground wrestling? Probably not. But here is the answer anyway. The clip for first single Way Too Much, off upcoming album V, explores the violent and bloody world of Underground Empire Wrestling in Los Angeles, where play-acting and skits are about as realistic as the smiling characters at Disneyland. The inspiration for the clip came from frontman Nathan Williams infatuation with the sport, and sheer surprise at attending one of the events. “They had a baseball bat with duct tape wrapped around it, and thumbtacks stuck in there, and they were hitting each other in the head with it,” he recently told Rolling Stone. Yeh, it’s pretty gnarly, but the kind where you can’t look away.
Deerhunter – Breaker
Deerhunter have released a second track from upcoming album Fading Frontier and it’s another sublime trip down lo-fi lane. The band’s own Bradford Cox and Lockett Pundt directed the clip that accompanies the release, and have accomplished a psychedelic, lazy Sunday, melted ice cream sort of feel. It’s also the same time they have performed vocals ont he same track. The strangely hypnotic visuals depict the band members faces transposed over the top of each other with a layering effect, spliced in with washed out colours and patterns. The song itself is all kinds of good, and a tantalising taste of what the album will hold when it’s released on October 16th.
Mazde – Pitch Black feat. LissA
Mazde makes music with a cinematic quality that tells a story with its slow moving electronic frames. It is fitting then, that the video for Pitch Black is shot with all the grandeur of a film. Each frame is a photo in an album tracing the steps of a couple as they move through the motions from meeting to heartbreak. The story itself is pretty formulaic but when narrated by the vocals of LissA it becomes more than your standard love story. The strength lies in the direction from David Engledo, who translates the bittersweet emotions of the track into a self contained narrative. The 21 year old Berlin based producer is set to support Odesza on his upcoming Europe tour, so I am sure we will be seeing plenty more from him in the future.
Willow Smith – Why Don’t You Cry
Willow Smith continues to etch her way as an artist with latest clip for Why Don’t You Cry. The song itself has the makings of a hit with charging synthesisers and an emotionally rich vocal track, and continues to explore the singer’s exploration of self-discovery. The opening sequence sees Smith arguing with staged parents about going to a party before releasing all that angst in a series of thrashing dance sequences and gut wrenching shouts under the watchful eye of an ethereal twin. When she succumbs to the howling line “why don’t you cry?” with a release of tears, it is with a smile before a mirror, advocating crying as a release. It’s a heady and passionate number, and probably her strongest to date.
Ibeyi – Stranger Lover
Ibeyi is a duo made up of the twin daughters of Beuna Vista Social Club drummer Anga Diaz, and they have been making all kinds of waves with their self-titled debut album. With the clip to accompany stunning track Stranger Lover, they further cement their eclectic style. It’s a little bit world music, a little bit soul, a little bit jazz. The simple clip shows the faces of the two women grabbed and moved by masculine hands with motions that tread the line between passion and violence. The black back drop at times hides the silhouettes of the sisters before revealing them in their natural beauty with all that wonderful hair. It is a stirring and lovely exploration of femininity firmly rooted in their cultural upbringing.
Love Signs – Not Used to Losing
With their latest video, Brisbane’s Love Signs take us on a journey to a set reminiscent of The Virgin Suicides. It’s an eerie high school movie feel with a distinctly Australian bent. As the all female four-piece sit in bleachers from their home city, pulling roll-ups between their teeth, there is a real twang of nostalgia for slow moving summer days. It takes almost two minutes to reach the oh so catchy chorus, but it’s well worth the wait, with harmonies straight from the 50’s and an 80’s beat to match. As the scene transitions between karaoke rooms, malls and abandoned warehouses it’s a hazy, dreamy stroll through the fun and poppy sound of this fourtet. I want more.