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 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:
Club Cheval – Young, Rich And Radical
Kicking proceedings off all the way from Lille in the North of France are electronic music collective Club Cheval and the latest single to be released from their debut album Discipline. The wonderfully-titled Young, Rich And Radical is a certified banger, slow-burning and methodical before the chorus cashes in, all driving beats and soft falsetto.
The video is an interesting concept, showing young people adopting a lifestyle of chastity and sobriety: swapping tie-dye for plain black, water for wine and generally just behaving very, very sensibly. I may disagree with the lifestyle choices but it’s still a wonderfully clever music video.
Discipline is out now via Bromance Records.
Ngaiire – Diggin’
One of our favourite Australian artists going at the moment is neo soul star Ngaiire. She’s had a huge week, currently roving around rural Australia as part of the Groovin’ The Moo 2016 lineup, she has also announced her next album Blastoma as well as releasing the video for her current single Diggin’.
The song itself is beyond infectious, restrained percussion and throbbing synths, more stellar production with long-time collaborator Paul Mac. The chorus ups the intensity and showcases Ngaiire’s fantastic vocal range. The music video is awash in gold, a pair of contemporary dancers interpreting the narrative with movements convulsive and fluid at the same time, Ngaiire the rightful centre of it all. If Diggin’ on the back of debut Lamentations are any indication of Ngaiire’s trajectory, it’s undoubtedly skyward from here.
Blastoma is out June 10th via Maximilion Brown.
Urthboy – Daughter Of The Light (ft. Kira Puru)
Sydney MC Urthboy is out with another single and the third from his huge fifth studio album The Past Beats Inside Me Like A Second Heartbeat. It’s the Kira Puru featuring Daughter Of The Light, a loving tribute to the sacrifices made by Urthboy’s mum and will uppercut you fair in your unsuspecting feels. Big dramatic synths and Kira Puru’s stunning vocal alley oop hammer it home.
The video is full of introspection, Urthboy rapping from a total of six different rooms, each with their own story and meaning to the narrative. Kira Puru belting out the chorus in front of a sea of bright lights, collaborators Broken Yellow (who were also behind the video for Long Loud Hours) have come up all kinds of clutch.
The Past Beats Inside Me Like A Second Heartbeat is out now via Elefant Traks.
Spit Syndicate – Know Better
Sticking in Sydney and sticking within the realm of Australian hip-hop on this next one, the latest single from dynamic duo (Nick Lupi and Jimmy Nice) Spit Syndicate. Know Better is the name. It’s a party track encompassing all kinds of them, ragers, chilled nights with dinner and drinks and friends and everything in between.
If you’ve ever gotten down to any One Day Sundays (put on as part of the One Day collective the duo are a part of) then you might even have a cameo spot in this one, the music video being comprised of footage from some of those events.
Spit Syndicate are touring Know Better around Australia from early June.
Alex Cameron – She’s Mine
Not many people have a business partner who is also a saxophonist, but Sydney’s Alex Cameron (who you may know as part of Seekae) certainly does. It’s been a big week for Cameron, he’s just signed to Secretly Canadian and simultaneously released a brand new video for She’s Mine.
A punchy backbeat and some restrained synths form the backdrop for Cameron’s smoking lounge baritone. It’s very early Future Islands-y. The video features the singer-songwriter breaking out some vicious dance moves in front of (and on top of) what looks like an old Buick (I don’t know cars so don’t quote me) and a dreary skyline. Bloody brilliant. Also, few people can make sneans looks quite as cool as Alex Cameron does.
With this recent signing as well as US tour dates on the horizon, Alex Cameron looks about to have a huge year.
Tegan And Sara – Boyfriend
Next is the greatest Canadian identical twin sister duo in the history of music in Tegan And Sara. With next album Love You To Death almost upon us, the Quin sisters have this week released the visuals accompanying their first single from that album; Boyfriend.
It’s a three minute synth pop tune full of fire and swagger. The video, directed by Clea DuVall (Chuck’s doctor on Better Call Saul) features the girls at the mercy of a director who just doesn’t quite get directing all that well.
Catch Tegan And Sara when they hit Australia for Splendour In The Grass later this year.
Moistoyster – Repetitive Strain
Winning two of this week’s awards for ‘Tongue Twistiest Band Name’ as well as ‘Band Name That Sounds Gross But Isn’t’ are Perth surf rock outfit Moistoyster and their new single Repetitive Strain. It’s breezy as all hell and definitely the kind of song that has you lamenting the fact that Winter is coming and the beaches aren’t as inviting.
Speaking of beaches, the accompanying music video is set on an absolutely stunning one for this one-shot clip. The chilled out air of the song becomes juxtaposed darkly and dramatically with the antics of deranged-looking frontman George Foster. It certainly leaves a whole lot of questions unanswered.
If you’re on the West Coast you can catch Moistoyster at a couple of shows they’ve got coming up in June.
TOKiMONSTA – Giving Up (ft. Jonny Pierce)
Just done rocking out her home state of California as part of this year’s Coachella, TOKiMONSTA has released a brand new single this week for the breathtaking Giving Up. Featuring Jonny Pierce (who you would know for his stellar work fronting The Drums), giving up is an ode to unrequited love.
With urgent, almost frenetic production and ethereal and evocative vocals throughout, Giving Up will put a lump in your throat. The music video for it documents one man’s spaced out and colourful descent into madness when he realises the love of his life doesn’t feel the same.
TOKiMONSTA’s fourth studio album Fovere is out now via Young Art Records.