Music video

Disclosure: Jaded

As the days get ever fewer before the release of Disclosure’s second studio album Caracal, which comes out officially on September 25, they seem to almost be dropping a track a day. Today we have Jaded, the only song so far which doesn’t feature vocals from another artist. Instead it boasts lyrics sung by none other than younger half of the brother duo, Howard Lawrence. Lawrence also features heavily in the film, which comprises part four of a series of music videos set in an eerie, dystopian future. The story follows main character Mariella in a futuristic world where a group of men are stifling music and party culture of the youth. They attempt to hypnotise her but instead of revealing secrets she begins to flicker and transform into different people.

Caracal has already revealed tracks with vocals by Sam Smith, Gregory Porter and Kwabs, and promises the likes of Lorde, Miguel and the Weeknd. They may have been a little quiet for a while, but Disclosure are making one hell of a comeback.

Meg Mac: Never Be

Despite currently traveling Australia on her sold-out headline tour, Meg Mac has just released a powerful music video for track Never Be. Taking place on the side of a rocky ocean, the film emphasises the songs’ thumping beat and captures her incredible presence as an artist. Mac spoke about how the chant-like repetition of the song came about because she was driving. Since her phone had run out of battery she was compelled to keep singing it over and over to herself to remember it.

“And that’s my favourite thing about the song, how it feels like a chant you tell yourself over and over.”

Mac still has performances to go in Adelaide, Melbourne and Brisbane, and is then set to take part in the Gentlemen of the Road tour, which will also feature Jake Bugg and Mumford & Sons. After that, if her vocal chords haven’t fallen out by then she’s straight off to Falls Festival to perform over NYE.

Montaigne: Clip My Wings

Montaigne has released an awesome music video for Clip My Wings, featuring the Sydney artist being pulled and tugged by invisible forces. Co-written, produced and mixed by Tony Buchen, who has also worked on tracks by The Preatures and Andy Bull, the song has a force, and an unrelenting beat to it that isn’t un-similar to Meg Mac’s. Montaigne spoke about how the idea to have her be jolted around in the video didn’t just come from the title ‘wings’, but also from her love for a video game called Kingdom Hearts.

“I didn’t come up with the plot-line, but I did drive the inspiration behind it visually as I had the very distinct idea of falling and flying in my head, not because of the ‘wings’ metaphor, but because I am obsessed with this video game called Kingdom Hearts – a game which formed much of my creative style.”

Montaigne’s performance is surprisingly agile, and well-filmed, throwing into question whether they used an invisible harness for the entire thing or if she just managed to make it look that way.

Banoffee: With Her

Banoffee’s music video for With Her, the feature song of her forthcoming self-titled EP is remarkably vulnerable. The action takes place in a swimming pool, where the Melbourne artist stands immersed in water. Behind her, synchronised swimmers sway to the rhythm. The utilitarian swimming pool combined with a faded, warm-tinged colour scale gives clip a nostalgic, timeless quality. Shrouded in dripping pink clothing, Banoffee stares at the camera and gives a raw and honest performance of a song that obviously brings up memories of pain. Lyrics like;

“Every time I heard your voice on the phone, I thought I had you to myself,
That we were alone
Every time I saw your face on the screen I thought you were with me,
You with her, her, her”

Bare Banoffee’s soul, and tap into a feeling of rejection that so many of us can relate to.

New Order: Restless

New Order has released a fucking awesome music video for their track Restless, the first single to be taken from their latest album Music Complete. Directed by Spanish filmmakers NYSU, the film is a kind of fusion between a rendition of the medieval tale of Arthur’s sword and a modern day rave. I personally found the modern day party scene a little bit unnecessary, and distracting from the much stronger storyline of Arthur. Particularly well shot is the part where Arthur and his lover are being rolled in black crates filled with what appears to be milk (god knows why). It’s a little random but visually incredible.

Steven A. Clark: Can’t Have

Steven A. Clark dropped his insane single Can’t Have two weeks ago, and now he’s offering the visuals to go with it on vevo. The music video is sleek and stylish, featuring two very beautiful people going through relationship struggles. While the plot isn’t exactly groundbreaking the film is cool, smooth and effortlessly sexy, just like it’s creator.

Fascinator: Dead of the Night

Set to join forces with Kirin J Callinan and open Tame Impala’s two sold-out shows at Hollywood Forever in Los Angeles this week, Australian artist Johnny Mackay has a lot on his plate. That hasn’t prevented him from continuing his epic battle against the mundane, as he’s released a ridiculously trippy music video this week for his latest track Dead of the Night. The film features multiples of Fascinator in various different colours and sporting some fantastic robes. You know what? It’s the kind of video you just need to watch. Nothing I say will adequately describe how truly random it is.

Ali Barter: Hypercolour

Ali Barter has just released her latest video clip for her hit single Hypercolour, from her forthcoming EP AB-EP, which will be released on September 4. The film is elegant and simple; Barter simply plays her music at a shitty little Chinese restaurant, while the few men in suits who happen to be there don’t give her a second chance. This doesn’t stop her from having an epic time and really enjoying herself. The concept makes a powerful comment and what it is like to work in the music industry and have your efforts often go unrecognised.

Art of Sleeping: Bleeding Out

Fresh off the back of their amazing Splendour in the Grass set, Art of Sleeping are about to head off on a nationwide tour supporting the Jungle Giants. In the meantime however they’ve left us with this parting gift, an incredible black and white music video for their latest track Bleeding Out. The film depicts the artist’s face broken up into different parts, like shards of glass. The graphics are absolutely awesome, using colour and negative space in a way that is really sophisticated, kind of similar to Hopium’s incredible music video for Cut.

Andrei Eremin: Anhedoniac ft. Kucka

Anhedoniac is defined as a person with the inability to derive pleasure from normal pleasurable things. A chronic masturbator has an imbalance of the hormone dopamine, rendering him or her incapable of enjoying life to the same extent when they aren’t in an orgasmic state. For people that love to go out every weekend and rail MDMA, coke and booze, normal life becomes a little pale in comparison.

The notion of becoming trapped in an endless cycle of seeking out the next high is a theme that has been explored countless times in electronica, techno, and house music, for obvious reasons. They are styles of music that we like to get fucked up to, and in most cases the person who creates it has at least a basic understanding, if not a full-blown love for that lifestyle.

The real question here is whether Andrei Eremin is really making us contemplate the seduction, and perhaps the destructive qualities of the party life. Or is he celebrating them? Or indeed is he just showing us a bunch of hipsters having a freaky night out in Melbourne? Maybe it’s a bit of all three.

When asked to comment on the video, one of its directors, Louis Mitchell responded, “It’s a sign of poor health to be well adjusted to a sick society”.

Take that how you will.

Art vs Science: In this Together

I feel as though if Sam Kristofski, the director of this latest music video made a one-line pitch to Art vs Science he would have raised a few eyebrows…

“Sci-fi vibes, weird space war between people that are all wearing the same clothes, evil helicopters, all shot on a super los res camera… Oh and it’ll be shot on the beach and also in a field. Oh and also at the end it becomes a ’90s style video game.”

Right. Got it. Then again, Art vs Science aren’t really known for being conventional, they probably jumped right on board. In This Together is the lead single from the bands forthcoming album, Off the Edge of the Earth and Into Forever, Forever. The album will be independently released on 9 October via the band’s own label Magellanic/MGM.

R.W. Grace: Shell

R.W. Grace has released a stripped back live version of her hit single Shell. While the bones of the song are still there, the instrumentals are restricted to a tiny OP1 midi-board, which Grace uses to play a simple beat. A choir in the background gives the song the lift that it needs. Grace talks about how she met the choir and decided to do a version of her song with them.

My band and I were in a final rehearsal before some shows and I was completely wiped out from these pain killers I took for my wisdom teeth. It was the first day I had taken them, so had no idea how strong they would be. I was literally lying on the floor of the rehearsal studio when through the walls I started to hear an incredible a cappella choir in the next room over. It basically broke me out of this coma. I sat up and spoke for the first time in hours.. “WHO IS THAT?”

Szymon: Medusa

Szymon was an intelligent, immensely talented artist who took his life in December 2012, at only 23 years old. Despite having worked throughout all of 2008, recording an entire album of music, he had to postpone the release of his music due to bouts of depression. As a result, Szymon was unfortunately unable to release his music before his death. Such is the nature of tragedy though, that it can bring about the beauty in others. Craig Hawker from Sony ATV and Mark Holland from EMI were big believers in his talent and potential. They worked hard to release the album in a way that was both respectful to Szymon’s work, and gave his music the attention it really deserved.

Curated by both family and friends, Tigersapp is an album that gives a glimpse into the world that Szymon wanted to share. Medusa as a song is both playful and deeply moving. Beautifully animated illustrations depict a world that is grey and dark, but not without hope. Warm orbs of light move around through fish, and are passed between people. The illustration brings to mind the final lines of The Road by Cormac McCarthy, in which after wandering through the apocalyptic wasteland that the world has become, the boy finds trout in a stream.

“You could see them standing in the amber current where the white edges of their fins wimpled softly in the flow. They smelled of moss in your hand. Polished and muscular and torsional. On their backs were vermiculate patterns that were maps of the world in its becoming.’

Cleopold: Down in Flames

Cleopold’s dark, brooding music video marks his beginning as a solo artist. Down in Flames as a single is everything that an emerging artist should aim for, unique, beautifully restrained and technically flawless. The film complements this perfectly, displaying an insight into the artist’s music writing process, as he calmly commands a grande piano. Cleopold has been based in Los Angeles, and has written multiple singles for Cassian and Miami Horror, as well as collaborating with Australian acts like Bag Raiders. With such enormous potential, it’s no surprise that his debut EP was immediately snapped up by Detail Co., a boutique record label owned and curated by our very own Chet Faker.

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Rooms: Fig

Two-piece Sydney act Rooms are new to the scene, but if Fig is anything to go by, we’ll be hearing a lot more about them real soon. Combining electronic music with live elements like guitars, drums and vocals, Fig is a captivating and unique musical blend. The accompanying video clip shot by Varna Park, depicts the two in old-fashioned princess and knight attire having a little battle with an opposing group on a field. It’s not what you’d call flashy, but the tongue-in-cheek melodrama, combined with the homemade feel, makes it a pretty funny accompaniment to the track. The video follows the track, growing wackier and more intense as the music builds, ending up with the pair going to a party, having a final showdown on a stage and all trying to kill each other. It’s a lot of fun. If you dig it, head to Waywards in Newtown on September 11 for Rooms’ EP launch.

Rytmeklubben: Girlfriend

Feel free to disagree, but this is probably one of the best music videos I’ve seen this year. It starts with the simple idea of creating a music video that is completely seen via an Ipad screen. We follow Rytmeklubben’s every click as he navigates his way through text messages, tweets, photos and the entire world that we created for ourselves on our computers. The clip features cameos from up and coming producers such as Wave Racer, Cosmos Midnight, Basenji and Sable and more, but my personal favourite moment is when Kanye West requests to Facetime. Rytmeklubben declines (obvs) he’s too busy making a music video. The overall effect is lighthearted, but it points out how incredibly digital our lives really are. Through a few clicks and typed words Rytmeklubben conveyed so much about his networks and lifestyle.

MYAMI: Soldier

MYAMI has released a music video for her debut single, Soldier, and in a word it is powerful. Again starting with a simple idea, MYAMI stands in a white room (wearing a similar get-up to the outfits worn by the women in Robert Thicke’s Blurred Lines.) In certain shots, her hands, and then her hair and clothes are covered in a thick black ink. The music video speaks of the concerns for young women going into the music industry, and the artist’s own battle between her true self and the expectations of others. The track was produced by beatmaker and collaborator Wayfarer, and toes a beautiful line between soft vocals and strong, sharp beats.

Unknown Mortal Orchestra: Ur Life One Night

Unknown Mortal Orchestra have dropped a very quirky, enchanting music video for their latest track Ur Life One Night. Directed by Manoj Leonel Jahson, the clip incorporates various themes of Asian art and Indian miniatures from the Mughai-era to create a dreamlike experience. Jahson spoke about wanted to create that abstract sense of magic:

“When we first spoke with UMO, the idea of creating something abstract yet fun, for their single “Ur Life One Night” sounded very exciting. I am deeply inspired by the quirky Indian magical-realism from our mythology and wanted to create something rooted but still visually appealing. The music lent a dream-like quality and the lyric pushed us to the motif of the Goddess being pursued, yet always being out of reach.”

Crayon Fields: She’s My Hero

Crayon Fields have put out a lovely music video to go with their track She’s My Hero, which comes from their latest album No One Deserves You. Featuring some very sassy men in sunnies, the clip is composed of a collage of different shots of beaches, sea creatures and boats. Essentially where you’d rather be. Feel-good easy watching at its finest.

Mod Sun: Free Love

When they gave Mod Sun money to direct and shoot his own music video, he had a bit of a field day. He pretty much sums his excitement up perfectly via the text on the screen:

“On May 19th Rostrum Records gave me money to shoot a proper video for my song Free Love. I decided to throw a party for all friends on a rainy afternoon. And spend all the cash on ridiculous things like trampolines and girls clothes and a half pipe.”

The clip embodies Mod Sun’s spirit perfectly; relaxed, no shits given, and infectiously joyful.

City Calm Down: Rabbit Run

When you first watch City Calm Down’s latest clip for Rabbit Run you might mistakenly believe that it’s just another generic post-apocalyptic music video set in a shopping complex. It’s not though. It’s all in one take. The amount of preparation that would have gone into making sure that everything worked perfectly, from the singer’s words being in time to the extras coming in on cue must have been substantial. As to whether the pain was worth the gain… I’m not sure. The single shot gives the music video a gentle, mournful sense of motion, working perfectly with the doomsday/zombie apocalypse vibe. Then again it would have a fucking pain in the arse to shoot.