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:
Midas.Gold – 000000
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzODkysbl3c
Part of a new wave of fantastically fresh Aussie hip-hop coming straight from Brisbane’s underground is Midas.Gold, who earlier this week came out swinging with a video for his new single 000000.
If you dig trap rappers like Future or Travi$ Scott and reckon they’d go alright with just a hint of Australian flavour then Midas.Gold is straight up your alley. This one is definitely fiery, backed by stellar production from the Bedlam Records crew with the MC declaring ‘I swear to God it’s dollar time’. It just might be for the Brisbane MC, not a lot of Australian hip-hop is taking a direction like this and he’s done so with aplomb.
The music video is a ripper too, Midas.Gold and crew having a great old time atop one of Brisbane’s many inner city carparks (shouts out to the security guard who politely rolls past the whole show in his golf cart) and the heart of Queen Street Mall. There’s lightning flashing in the background but the real lightning is the stuff Midas.Gold has captured in a bottle here on 000000. Stick that in your pipe and huff it, Allday.
Dan Kelly – Everything’s Amazing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ce3qHtacVMY
Things you didn’t know about the nephew of Australia’s greatest Kelly (sorry Ned) Paul, one Dan Kelly: there is no terrain he can’t rock a Korg on, be it on a beach or in a stream, also he can create musical instruments using lightning beams shot from his hands. That’s if you take his latest music video for single Everything’s Amazing! as gospel (I am).
Taken from his 2015 LP Leisure Panic, The track itself is a serene, happy-go-lucky love song and will have you nodding your head in utter contentment. The video for Everything’s Amazing! features some absolutely jaw-dropping natural landscapes in both Cambodia and in Dan’s local Victoria. He gets right in touch with Mother Nature for this one. Featuring flying CGI dolphins and galloping horses while Dan and friends sip coconuts on bamboo rafts, have singalongs on tree branches and do a spot of holistic (probably) dancing here and there, it’s got just everything you want there to be in a music video by far.
The Blaze – Virile
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UivZrL2znh0
Popping across the Atlantic for a stop in France for this next one, with French production duo The Blaze and their new single Virile.
It’s a dark and stormy cut just made for the midnight hour, a mellowed out backbeat buoying along some bass-heavy vocals, the synths kicking the door in around the halfway mark make the whole thing just soar. The video depicts what looks like a real good boys night in, an apartment full of dancing and durries and great times between the pair, the bromance spending the entirety of the music video teasing a ‘will they or won’t they’ proper romance.
The song can be caught on the aptly in this case titled Bromance Records and their latest compilation album, Homieland Vol. II. Look out for this French duo in the future too.
Oh Wonder – Lose It
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgwcPiCjQ-0
Just a hop, skip and a jump across the English Channel into London with duo Oh Wonder for this next video, one that will absolutely tug at your heartstrings.
Lose It is the title, a track from their gobsmacking 2015 self-titled LP: a year-long project that saw a new track released each month. It’s electro-pop that will soothe the soul, gorgeous vocal harmonies dancing with some brassy synths and a lilting piano to create a four minute slice of paradise on the ears.
The video is so refreshingly cool too, Oh Wonder setting up a fake audition for dancers to star in their music video. Each dancer thinks they’re competing for the one spot, it’s only when the confetti explodes from the roof and a horde of backup dancers join them that they realise they’re already starring in the video. Reactions are priceless.
Having just slayed Australia on a tour including stops at Falls Festival, Oh Wonder are poised for a very, very bright future with tracks and visuals as stunning as this.
Eskimoe – The Ceiling (ft. ThisisDA)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6avMypJH_E
Sticking in the UK for this next one, although going a little dark and somber. It’s the latest track from Oxford RnB singer Eskimoe, The Ceiling. Gritty and gloomy, an atmospheric backbeat that mimics an English drizzle with Eskimoe’s haunting vocals spread over the top, a featured verse from Bristol MC ThisisDA upping the tempo, the combination creating a lights-off deep thinker of a track.
The video complements the sound wonderfully, grainy black and white shots of the wintery grey skies and ceaselessly tagged buildings of urban Britain that’ll have you thankful for the summer heat of Australia or tugging your jacket a little tighter if you find yourself in the Northern Hemisphere.
Watch the hype for Eskimoe escalate in the very near future.
Run The Jewels – Meowpurrdy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gzkkm_m3mVE
Jesus Christ. Just when I thought I couldn’t hate cats for the horrific little creatures that they are, rap kings Run The Jewels are fixing to have me in a cold sweat every night re-visualising their latest music video.
Yes the cat-noise remix album we all didn’t know we needed (we definitely did though) was definitely so much cooler than I initially thought it ever could be. They’ve already released two videos for tracks from the album (both of them terrifying) to date, but this is on another physical plane of nightmare right here.
Made for Meowpurrdy (the remix of initial album-starter Jeopardy), it features a whole lot of melted face and creepily warped out cats all over your screen. Created by English animator Cyriak, it’s a trip and will probably have you glancing at your nearest feline friend forever just to make sure it doesn’t grow a third eye and start trying to murder you. Despite all that cat-induced terror, the song still goes as unbelievably hard as ever and is a nice little reminder that Run The Jewels 3 is imminent…
The Chemical Brothers – Wide Open (ft. Beck)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BC2dRkm8ATU
Manchester electronic royalty The Chemical Brothers have a brand new and mindbending music video out this week for their latest single. Taken from their number one album Born In The Echoes from 2015, Wide Open is a cracker, featuring Kanye West‘s favourite Grammy-winner of all time, Beck.
Those same familiar, pulsating beats and synths that The Chemical Brothers have made a multi-decade career out of, with Beck’s unmistakeable voice guiding it all, Wide Open is a banger in every facet. The video ups the ante as well, dancer Sonoya Mizuno reanimated for a dance around an underground parking lot in ways that will have you double-taking at the sheer effort the visual effects team have gone to here.
Stellar and creative through the absolute roof, you’d expect nothing less from a duo as seasoned as The Chemical Brothers.
The Rubens – Hold Me Back
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hs58pcvDsXA
Fresh off of taking out 2016’s Triple J Hottest 100 in polarising fashion, The Rubens aren’t resting on their laurels for a second. Immediately after taking out perhaps the biggest bragging rights in Australian music for chart burner Hoops, the boys have hit up with a video for their latest single Hold Me Back.
The video is a warm and fuzzy, sepia-toned snapshot of Australia. It might as well have been any number of Hottest 100 parties this year, verandah drinks and beach trips set to a soundtrack of world-beating modern Australian rock interspersed with shots of the band rehearsing and fooling around, the whole thing culminating in one of their mammoth live shows with frontman Sam Margin crowdsurfing in an inflatable pool.
Say what you will about The Rubens, this latest music video is a cracker and a snapshot into their lives as a band that fans will appreciate.
The Chemical Brothers have just released an amazing video for Sometimes I Feel So Deserted. It features a female cyborg trekking through a cobalt desert. She finds a petrol pump and inserts into her throat. Its all rather macabre. A group of emaciated, beady-eyed desert rats chase her in a van. It is really quite annoying to watch, because the pursuers almost perfectly resemble the cigarette-munching youths (word used sparingly) that grace (gracelessly) our train platforms.
I found myself thinking: “Fight back! Fight back, robot lady! They appear scary because they are as snappy as rabid dogs in heat. But they are, in fact, toothless nincompoops.”
And, in total agreement to my retaliatory musings, she turns around and sprints for the van with a vim and vigour that would have Cathy Freeman shouting ‘gold’. Basically, its a great video that really takes you on a Mad max-esque ride. Watch it.
The track features on The Chemical Brothers’ long-awaited recent album Born In The Echoes. While the album received mixed reviews and it’s clear that the band, well, reached their prime, new Chem Bros is still new Chem Bros. In any case, with a solid reputation for impressive live shows, let’s all hope that a tour is announced soon!
So you just read our feature on the worst songs of 2015 so far, and I know that you heard some things you can never un-hear. You might be wishing that you’d googled the crimes of a serial killer instead – it might have been less disturbing. You might have even preferred to read about this creepy thing going on in Sweden right now. But, just like that time you drank a bottle of Passion Pop and vomited all over your best friends favourite shoes, some things just can’t be undone. Turn off that Ed Sheeran track you have been listening to on repeat to heal your pain. You’re better than that. We can get through this together.
Our “worst of” list gave you six tracks, and I am a strong believer that there must be at least twice as much good in the world, so let’s look on the bright side with the 12 best songs of 2015 so far.
12. Holy Holy: You Cannot Fall For Love Like a Dog (Album: When the Storms Would Come)
Holy Holy are already making massive waves and their debut album isn’t due out until the 17th of July. If this track is anything to go by, it is going to be expansive and powerful – a crowning achievement for the Brisbane/Melbourne duo. The pair, who we interviewed last year, produce a sound that is sophisticated and effortless, with sublime melodies, amplified by driving guitars.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrVadO8BHRk]
11. The Chemical Brothers: Go ft. Q-Tip (Album: Born in the Echoes)
Daft Punk did it with their album Random Access Memories and The Chemical Brothers do it again with Go. Listeners are transported to a sleazy jaw-clenching nightclub in the best possible way -The kind of place where open chested shirts and questionable facial hair choices are not only accepted, but encouraged. And it sure as hell is better than the goddamn Salmon Dance
If it was a club from Saturday Night Live character Stefon, it would be the one called: “Thank You! Located inside a crashing blimp, this Eurotrash utopia is the creation of beatnik doctor Soul Patch Adams. This place has everything: Zip lines, fish food, that fat Hawaiian guy that no one invited, an old Pakistani woman that looks like a California Raisin…”
From album Born in the Echoes due out on July 17, I’ve got my dancing shoes ready for a marathon. Pre-order it here.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LO2RPDZkY88]
10. Gang of Youths: Vital Signs (Album: The Positions)
Australian indie rock outfit Gang of Youths are just killing it with their vibrant chorale sound. They have all the weight and depth of bands like The National or Arcade Fire, but with far fewer collective years – so just imagine where they’ll end up! Vital Signs is an epic track spanning seven and a half minutes with a pulsing drumbeat and an anthemic build that reminds me of everything good about indie music. As wonderful, if not more so live than on record, make sure you get to a GoY gig as soon as you can.
9. A$AP Rocky: L$D (Album: At.Long.Last.A$AP)
To be honest, I wasn’t sure about A$AP Rocky’s latest release until I heard this track (but read our album review here to judge for yourself.) My best advice: turn it up loud. Real loud. You don’t just want to hear those sweet opening bass notes, you want to feel them right down in your toes. Overlaid with some saucy vocals from A$AP it’s enough to make a nun hot under the collar. It’s slick, smooth and surprisingly lovely. Considering it’s the only non-rap track on a sprawling rap album, we’re thinking A$AP could even consider a career move to making indie-psych music in the future. Oh, and for a stunning live rendition of this track, check this video out from A$AP’s recent performance on Jimmy Fallon’s late night talk show.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=feDLr_e4v5A]
8. Torres: Sprinter (Album: Sprinter)
Torres weaves a story with her voice in a way that evokes PJ Harvey or Fiona Apple, but has a sadness that is all her own. Considering that Torres, aka Mackenzia Scott worked with PJ Harvey producer Robert Ellis and Portishead’s Adrian Utley, it’s not surprise that this is one hell of a gorgeous sound. Sprinter is a complex, emotional and enthralling track that makes you feel everything. I may be a glutton for punishment but I can’t stop listening.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6SIw30IOt8]
7. Alpine: Foolish (Album: Yuck)
The first taste of sophomore album Yuck, Foolish (which was appropriately released on April Fool’s Day) is very much the opposite. Sweet, syrupy and delicious, it’s a track that will no doubt leave you on a sugar high. Foolish sails you down a little river of good vibes and leaves you feeling toe tappingly blissful. The follow-up to their chart topping debut album A is for Alpine, Yuck officially dropped last week – purchase it here.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6I4MZUtCCo]
6. Editors: No Harm (Album TBC)
Some songs just can’t be summed up in words. I could try and say it’s like the genetic recombination of Nick Cave and James Blake but it still wouldn’t sum up the cold, dark, haunted beauty in a way that does justice. Having been around for a lot longer than other artists on this list, it’s pure bliss to see bands who can consistently release songs of this calibre, four albums and more than a decade into their musical career. Deep, rich and seriously powerful, you need to listen to this track.
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/200911419″]
5. Tyler, The Creator: The Brown Stains of Darkeese Latifah Part 6-12 (Remix) (Album: Cherry Bomb)
Sometimes he can be hard to love, but when Tyler the Creator is on, he can also be hard to hate. The Odd Future ringleader, (who will be visiting our fair country later this year) just dropped his new album Cherry Bomb, and this is easily our favourite song from the release. On The Brown Stains… he is all the way on. It’s not ground breaking, sure, but it doesn’t need to be. Loud and obnoxious and raw in a way that’s really quite unique to the gravel-voiced rapper, there’s so much to love about this track.
4. Tame Impala: Cause I’m a Man (Album: Currents)
Kevin Parker and co. keep on dishing out their own brand of chill psychedelic licks that melt faces like ice cream on hot pavement. If I had to sum this track up with a picture it would look like this:
Their HIGHLY anticipated new album, Currents, is due out July 17th (the same day as the Holy Holy record, so it’s going to be a great day for Aus music!) If you need me, don’t, because I will be very much unavailable. Let’s hope that they actually see money from the sales this time. The internationally renowned psych-rockers will also be headlining July’s Splendour in the Grass, meaning that we’ll be among the first in the world to hear the new material performed live!
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hefh9dFnChY]
3. Courtney Barnett: Pedestrian at Best (Album: Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit)
I love our homegrown rock poet Courtney Barnett with a big heart and a healthy dose of jealousy. Who doesn’t? We love her so much that we’ve not just taken photos of the Melbourne artist rocking out, but we’ve reviewed her live show twice.
I often find myself wondering why I can’t be witty and profound while making catchy ballads about smoking weed and tending to my garden. Why can’t I be a modern female Bob Dylan with a great haircut? The answer is because she already does it so well, and deep down I think I am ok with that. Pedestrian At Best was one of our first tastes of her brilliant album Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit, which has gone on to become one of our absolute favourite albums of the year so far.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-nr1nNC3ds]
For now I will just make do with singing the lyrics really loud. Do it with me: I’m a Scorpiooooo!
Feels good right?
2. Alabama Shakes: Don’t Wanna Fight (Album: Sound & Color)
Brittany Howard can do no wrong. When the first single off Sound and Color, burst onto the airwaves in February I was a little nervous. I loved the band’s debut Boys & Girls so much I wasn’t sure they could live up to the hype. But all my expectations were turned on their head with that husky squeal, that soft growl, that old soul bursting from her 25 year old body. It’s pure ecstasy. If you loved their first album, you’ll love their second offering even more. Brilliantly complex and overwhelmingly diverse, it’s another one of our absolute highlights of the year so far.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nin-fiNz50M]
1. Kendrick Lamar: King Kunta (Album: To Pimp a Butterfly)
Was there ever any question that this would be at the top of the list? Kendrick Lamar is the golden goose with the Midas touch in 2015. Yes, that’s a lot of references to gold, but probably not enough to summarise how amazing this song is. It is smart, soulful, catchy and everything you want from a “song of the year.” Plus, if that isn’t enough it also incites some amazing dance moves, even from a rhythmically impaired white girl like me. As politically and culturally powerful as it is musically brilliant, this was a shoe-in for our top choice.
Try NOT dancing like Taylor Swift every time it comes on.
2015, I’d dare you to release a better song, but I am not sure my heart could take it.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRK7PVJFbS8]
The Chemical Brothers recently announced that they will be releasing their first new album, Born in The Echoes, in 5 years. If you want to read more about that, you can do so here.
Go, featuring Q-Tip, is a tremendously funky electronic beat. I am listening to it on repeat currently and I cannot stop bopping my head and tapping my foot.
The video clip, directed by Michel Gondry, portrays a kind of fast-paced, industrial style dance, which fits beautifully with the beat and lyrics of the song. This is definitely one for both the dance party and the running playlist (I would imagine, have never actually gone for a run before). I am also a big fan of any video that portrays women in a way that is not at all sexual, just fun and a little bit weird. Classic Chemical Brothers, basically.
This song and video will be sure to pump you up for the rest of the album, if you’re a true Chemical Brothers fan, there’s no way you’ll be disappointed. If you’re sick of listening to me describe it, why not watch it yourself, below.
Born in the Echoes, featuring Go, is out July 17th. View the full track list below:
1.Sometimes I Feel So Deserted
2. Go (featuring Q-Tip)
3. Under Neon Lights (featuring Vincent)
4. EML Ritual (featuring All Love)
5. I’ll See You There
6. Just Bang
7. Reflexion
8. Taste of Honey
9. Born In The Echoes (featuring Cate Le Bon)
10. Radiate
11. Wide Open (featuring Beck)
Living legends in the electronic scene The Chemical Brothers have officially returned with news of a new album – their first since 2010’s Further. Having been booked as headliners at Glastonbury, Sonar and Bestival, the announcement is not so much surprising, but still so. Damn. Exciting.
Their eighth studio album titled Born In The Echoes will feature eleven tracks, and some very notable collaborations. Previous collaborators Q-Tip and Ali Love join St Vincent, Cate Le Bon and Beck on the star studded track listing of the album described in a press release as “the sound of a reinvigorated Chemical Brothers creating some of the most mind-expanding music of their career to date.” That description alone is enough to send any Chemical Brothers fan into a tizz of extreme exciting anticipation and impatience, one that was both softened and exaggerated with the release of their first single.
Completely transcedent and mind bending – as is to be expected from the influential duo – Sometimes I Feel So Deserted has already been played over 400,000 times on the official YouTube clip, with that number undoubtedly set to soar as it embeds itself into more people’s minds with it’s repetitive, hallucinogenic electronics and catchy as hell vocals. You can check the incredible accompanying visuals below:
Born In The Echoes is out 17th July, with Sometimes I Feel So Deserted coming free with every pre-prder. Check the track listing here:
- Sometimes I Feel So Deserted
- Go (featuring Q-Tip)
- Under Neon Lights (featuring St. Vincent)
- EML Ritual (featuring Ali Love)
- I’ll See You There
- Just Bang
- Reflexion
- Taste of Honey
- Born In The Echoes (featuring Cate Le Bon)
- Radiate
- Wide Open (featuring Beck)
Words by Cozzie Wood & Lauren Ziegler
Following the news that FKA Twigs, previously Twigs, might be getting forced to change her name once again, we take a little look at five other artists who have had to change their names for legal reasons:
BLINK 182
American rockers Blink 182 had to add those three magical digits to their name after clashing with Irish pop/rock band Blink. Fans still debate over the meaning of the supposedly arbitrary number to this day. Official records claim it was a random number, but many have delved into conspiracy research, trying to find a deeper meaning.
Highlights of real fan explanations include:
– “The 182 is the number of time Al Pacino says the work “fuck” in the movie Scarface.”
– “Its actually because their name means f**k RB. rancho bernardo highschool. R is the 18th letter of the alphabet and B is the 2nd. they went to poway and one of them went to RB high. and i go there so i know this”
– “If you have to ask this now, you ain’t a real fan.”
Blink 182 are currently in the news for announcing, finally, what an astonishing dickhead guitarist/vocalist Tom DeLonge actually is and that he’s left the band. Their upcoming tour will feature Alkaline Trio‘s Matt Skiba. Apparently DeLonge has said that he never quit, and then wrote a long letter about it that I haven’t read because I don’t care.
THE CHEMICAL BROTHERS
Grammy-winning duo The Chemical brothers first Djed under the alias The 237 Turbo Nutters. Luckily, they quickly changed this to The Dust Brothers, in honour of the US production duo of the same name, responsible for works including The Beastie Boys‘ Paul’s Boutique, Beck‘s Odelay, and most importantly, Hanson‘s smash hit single MMMBOP.
Yes, The Chemical Brothers named themselves after the guys who produced this song.
The British big beat pioneers didn’t encounter any problems until embarking on their first international tour in 1995. Turns out that naming yourself directly after another artist doesn’t go down too well for the other artist – especially when you’re about to become one of the biggest electronic acts in history. Retrospectively, it was a pretty dumb decision. Threatened with legal action, they became The Chemical Brothers that we know and love.
THE RACONTEURS
One of Jack White’s many musical spawn, The Raconteurs are responsible for his biggest non-White Stripes hits including Steady As She Goes, Salute Your Solution and Many Shades of Black. Around the world, they are known as The Raconteurs. Except for here, in good old ‘straya. Some band from Queensland were already called Raconteurs. They were offered money for the name, but stupidly refused and asked for even more money. The record company said no. The band have 69 likes on Facebook and are probably feeling pretty sorry for themselves right now.
Anyway, White and co went on to release music in Australia under the name The Saboteurs. They’re currently on an indefinite hiatus, but that’s okay, because Jack White’s solo releases are sickkkk.
RÜFÜS
Speaking of Australia, Sydney electronic duo RÜFÜS had to revise their name in 2014: Introducing the all new (but exactly the same) RÜFÜS DU SOL. Don’t worry, incase you were wondering why you hadn’t noticed this sparkly new addition, its only for North America. The incident occurred due to an existing US trademark on the term ‘Rufus.’ Following months of “colourful internal debate” and “months of strongly worded letters,” they renamed themselves for their US audiences, “because trademark is a serious bitch.”
We don’t really know who specifically trademarked the name, but the Sydney Morning Herald reckons it’s Chaka Khan’s “1970s Chicago funk band Rufus, who topped the charts with Tell Me Something Good and Ain’t Nobody.” In any case, it seems that they’ve adapted to their new name quite well, considering one of the members has since been DJing under the similar name JÜAN DU SOL.
DAVID BOWIE
That’s right, even bloody Bowie changed his name. Formerly, Davy Jones, our favourite glittery starman was often confused with The Monkee’s lead singer of the same name. He was also generally unhappy with how boring ‘Davy Jones’ sounded, so he went and renamed himself after the 19thcentury American frontiersman Jim Bowie, who is also known for popularising famous hunting blade The Bowie Knife. He of course then went on to provide himself with a fantastic androgynous glamrock alter ego, Ziggy Stardust.
I don’t know about you but I can’t exactly imagine a world where Bowie was actually called Davy Jones.
Name changing seems to be a thing in his family. Bowie had a son in 1971 currently named Duncan Zowie Haywood Jones. For a long time, he was simply known as Zowie – or Zowie Bowie. He grew up and is now known, thankfully, as Duncan Jones.
A few more fun facts:
The Preatures used to be The Preachers
Eves The Behavior was Eves
Hinds were Deers
The Temper Trap used to be called Temper Temper
Panic! At The Disco were plain old Panic At The Disco
Similarly, Godspeed You! Black Emperor used to be Godspeed You Black Emperor!
Prince famously changed his name to a symbol, and for a time, becoming The Artist Formerly Known As Prince