Watch This Now: bAnoffee – “Ninja”
“If the wind has got you shaking, I will be your blanket…”
It was the very first day of 2010 that I was first introduced to Martha Brown. Her band, Otouto, were playing at a showcase for Popfrenzy records, downstairs at the Civic Hotel. I remember it vividly – I had never heard them before, and as they were playing I had never heard anything like them before. It was truly amazing stuff. I gushed to Martha about their music and bought their single, Sushi, from them. Although they’ve been a bit quiet lately, they remain one of my absolute favourite Australian bands. Ever? Probably. They mean a lot to me. Some of the best nights I’ve ever had have been at Otouto shows. I mean that.
Here we are in 2013, and Martha is finally shifting the gears on her solo project, bAnoffee. This is the first single to be released from the project, and it makes me very excited for where her solo sound is headed. Directing is Alice Glenn, Martha’s cousin who also directed the two brilliant Otouto clips for Sushi and W. Hilliar, the latter of which made it into my best videos of 2010 list. It’s a simple and intimate portrayal of Martha, who is shown training and air-boxing throughout the clip. Some tender close-up shots and some really cool backwards/forwards shots of Martha wrapping tape around her arms adds to the awe-inspiring visuals. It’s not too complicated or demanding, and it suits the song beautifully. No matter how much things change, some things always stay the same – my music crush on Martha Brown isn’t going away anytime soon.
The Cringe: Deane Wyldman – “Gold Coast’n”
“Five chicks to one, ain’t no time for respect…”
This video came out about six months after I started my blog. To this day, I have absolutely no idea why it’s taken me this long to get around to it. It’s one of the all-time great bad videos, a nasty cultural cringe that has aged horribly (which, considering it’s not even three years old, is saying something). We don’t even know that much about the guy in question – Deane “Deanzy” Wyldman has not been heard of from or since, despite attempts to break into the mainstream both here and in the States with this video. This one didn’t even reach six figures in clip views, and today we’re here to explain why.
Our adventure begins with Deane being woken up by a Skype call… that goes directly to his TV for some reason. “We’re going out!” says the blonde ditz. Wait, isn’t it the morning? Has Deanzy slept until the afternoon? We have no clue where we are or why they’re planning to go out so early. “Where are we going?” asks our hero. “Gold Coast, baby,” she responds. Now, wait just a second – aren’t they already ON the Gold Coast? Isn’t that where this guy supposedly lives? Where else would they be going out? Tamworth? It’s worth pointing out that this complex in my brain has started even before the song has properly started. Naturally, it can only get better from this point.
As we move into the verses, there’s a guy I want you to look out for. It’s the guy with the spiky blonde hair – you’ll be able to recognise him pretty easily, as he’s a good twentysomething years older than everyone around him. I can’t tell if they’re trying to pass him off as a bodyguard (which is EXACTLY what you need when you’ve got eighty thousand views on YouTube) or if he’s supposed to be one of their mates. He isn’t very convincing as either, and comes across roughly as awkward as the other dancing friend in the Friday video. You know the one.
From there, we get some joyless shots of Deane and the crew flying in a helicopter. Seconds later, it’s suddenly night time and we’re all up in the club. Yes, it is exactly as uncomfortable as you would expect. Cheap choreography, girls that look dead in the eyes dancing away and, in perhaps the most laughable moment of the whole thing, Deanzy dropping a stack of clearly fake cash to pay for all the drinks he and the girls are doing to be downing. Get fucked, stud – that isn’t even your goddamn house that you walked out of! Don’t give me that shit!
So: Is it wrong to invest so much into something that clearly had no thought process? Maybe a little. All I can tell you is that I am so very, very glad that this exists. No, truly! It’s one of the absolute great bad clips that this country has ever produced, up there with Warrick Capper‘s and the immortal Tamara Jaber trilogy we featured some time ago. It shows you how literally everything can go wrong, and how gloriously hilarious the results can be. I leave you with this, a real quote from the video’s comment section:
“oi bro dis is sik as ay da chix r way hot n da corous is heaps cachy. Gettin a mad pitbull vibe good stuff man keep it up. GC reperzent!”
That’s completely unedited, too. Party on.
FEATURED FRIDAYS – My Favourite Video: Tim Hart
Tim Hart is an Australian singer-songwriter, best known as the
drummer and vocalist of Boy and Bear.
His favourite video is Always by Junip.
For me, when I look at film clips, I like to see something new and fresh, rather than the age-old band performance clip. Because, let’s face it… they’ve been done to death. Having said that, I’m aware that I’ve been part of such clips; but, for my 2 cents this one is a cracker. It was shot mostly at the Air Guitar World Championships in Finland and it’s weird. I guess, at a stretch, it is technically a performance clip; but the way that it’s done is great.
It starts in a dingy bar with what we assume is a covers musician playing in the corner of a pretty empty bar. There is one rather intense, slightly creepy guy drinking and smoking in a booth. He is staring at the guy playing covers he reaches his hands towards him and miraculously the guitar disappears. The covers musician doesn’t seem to notice and keeps playing. The weird guy then walks in to a room where the three members of Junip are sitting around playing the song together and he performs the same transformation on them, before taking them to air guitar school.
I think this video is great because it has a narrative and it manages to convey it effectively (something that so many videos attempt to do and fail at). The culmination of the video is the band been wheeled up on to stage at the air guitar world championships and sitting on the stage in the same very understated formation they were playing in when Weird Creepy Guy discovered them. I love that the director was clearly taking a shot at the overly serious “trying to be rock and roll” videos, and I think he nails it. In the end, creepy guy doing weird dance moves+ air guitar + Junip = my favourite film clip.
Boy and Bear‘s new album, Harlequin Dream, is in stores August 16th.
You can pre-order the album here (physical) or here (digital).
The band are also headed out on a national tour in support of the record.
All tour dates can be found on their official website.
Watch This Now: Janelle Monae feat. Erykah Badu – “Q.U.E.E.N.”
“Hey sister, am I good enough for your Heaven?”
Back in the game, people! My sincere apologies for the lax posting as of late. Just been quite busy with a myriad of other projects, things, bitlets… it’s all good, though. You can take the music videos away from DJY, but you can never take DJY away from the music videos! Especially if we’re talking about my next client. In 2010, she released the hands-down best song of the year in Tightrope, as well as one of the absolute finest records of the year in The ArchAndroid. Needless to say, she was featured in my best videos of the year. Twice! In 2012, she also played the single best show I saw in 2012 – keep in mind I also saw Prince, The Beach Boys, Ben Folds Five, Coldplay, Radiohead et al. when I say that this woman utterly dominated.
So, where do we find Miss Janelle Monae in the throes of 2013? Once again, it looks like the petite powerhouse is out to save the world again; as she readies her new album The Electric Lady. So, how do you get people even more excited that you’re back? I mean, apart from the fact there happens to be a guest verse from Erykah freaking Badu just sizzling away in the song’s third act. No, no, we need bigger! Are you thinking what I’m thinking, B1? It’s video time!
Q.U.E.E.N. sets itself in the seemingly-not-all-that-distant future, in which time-travelling rebels have been captured, thrown into suspended animation and brought to The Living Museum in Metropolis. Two women enter the exhibit which contains Monae, Badu (here known as Badula Oblongata) and her bandmates, known under the Wondaland collective. After Q.U.E.E.N. is put on a very cool-looking record player, the exhibit comes to life. I’m sure you can imagine the chaos that ensues – we are talking about one of the greatest creative forces of the 21st century, after all. When Monae steps up, she steps fucking up. It’s such an exciting clip to watch – gorgeously shot, with great direction work from one Alan Ferguson; not to mention the outstanding costumes and wigs (I’ve always wondered what JM would look like with a short cut). I love the concept, I love the song. The Electric Lady could well be another game-changer. Don’t believe me? The booty don’t lie.
Watch This Now: Laura Imbruglia – “Awoooh!”
“I wanna thank your ma and pa, and anyone who made you who you are…”
Hey, check it out! It’s old mate Laura Imbruglia. No… Laura. C’mon, now, we’ve been through this. She’s the good one. She’s on our side. Anyway, it’s been awhile since she dropped The Lighter Side Of…, toured with Eels and not only gave us the fantastic I Wanna Be Your Girlfriend video, but even came on and guest-blogged about a so-bad-it’s-amazing Queen video. Ahh, memories. So, what’s been going on? Welp, Laura’s been passin’ the hat with a fun lil’ Kickstarter in order to make her new studio album, What a Treat! The campaign was a success, and we’ll hopefully be getting the record mid-year. Until then, however, we’ve got ourselves a new video! Aw yis!
Loz is dressed to the nines here, looking a little like Mojo Juju with her slick hair and badass suit. She’s trying to hunt down the ladykiller on the other side of the bar, but there’s just one problem – she’s a werewolf. Oh dudes, you were expecting a song called Awooh! to not have werewolves in it? There’s also a revolving cast of lovesick puppies throwing in a bit of slapstick for good measure – oh, and it all ends with a dance number! Oh, glory! Mad props to LI and the crew for putting this one together. I dig the l0w-budget-high-ambition feel going on here, and the song is one of her catchiest ever. Really, what more can you ask for in a situation like this? I’m stoked we still have this lady around, kickin’ starts and breakin’ hearts. Let’s sing another song, boys.
Watch This Now: Paper Arms – “Tanks of Dust”
“The smoke is clearing, and I can see it’s burning out…”
If you look closely at the most recent tour poster for Adelaide melodic punks Paper Arms, you might see a dude at the far right having a good old fashioned scream-along directly into the face of Josh Mann, the band’s frontman. “Gee, David, are you doing a none-too-subtle mention of the fact that you’re on the tour poster?” Why yes, dear reader, as a matter of fact I am! And the point of this story? Why, simply to tell you that I fucken love me a bit of Paper Arms.
This year, they’ve finally dropped their second studio album, the follow up to 2010’s positively bitchin’ Days Above Ground. In order to generate a bit more interest, the band have teamed up with Adelaide collective Passel Media to deliver an intense visual portrayal of the album’s opening number. It’s a single location of the humble dining table in the middle of the kitchen area, which seems to start off innocently enough as the start of a morning between a couple. That is, of course, until they start playing mind games around the same time that the drums kick in. I won’t give it away, but I can tell you this much: If you’ve learned one thing from this blog, it’s that actions can speak a shitload louder than words, and sometimes silence can convey more than a speech ever could.
Watch This Now: Aluka – “Keep My Cool”
“I’m trying to keep my cool, but you’re looking so good…”
In 2010, I fell in love. With three different women. At the exact same time. I knew them only as The Lady Garden at the time, the three impeccably dressed and perfectly-harmonised backing vocalists of Clare Bowditch and the New Slang. It wasn’t until later on that I discovered my triple-threat crush to have another collective name – Aluka. The magic in their voices continues to flourish in their original material, and now they even have a gorgeous little video to go along with their new single. Perfection!
Keep My Cool was directed by Alice Glenn, who is no stranger to having her work featured on the blog. Her video with Otouto, the No Lights No Lycra collaboration W. Hilliar, was one of my favourite videos of 2010, placing at number 26 in my top 30. Here, she brings a jittery, aerobic style of choreography to Aluka, bringing a sweetness and charm to their song, mixed in with some great editing work and some very cute dresses. Can’t pick a fave among the three, and thus my triple-crush continues. Wanna get a smoothie sometime, you guys? I’m not mental, and I have an extensive knowledge of beards and indie rock from 2004. Surely that’s incentive…
Watch This Now: The xx – “Chained”
“We used to be closer than this, is it something you miss?”
How have we not talked about The xx before? As cliched as all the hype has been around their follow-up to 2010’s xx record, I have to say that I have been mightily impressed with Coexist, the band’s second album that dropped earlier this year. It’s a perfect late-night listen, a perfect bliss-out listen and a perfect record to fall asleep to. Not that it’s boring, of course – it just happens to have a certain mystique and quietness to it that lures me into dream.
Okay, let’s get the hyperbole out of the way, and move on to the business at hand. The trio have just teamed up with a creative endeavour inventively titled The Creatives Project, which has brought the first official video from Coexist for the track Chained. The track seems to be documenting the demise of a relationship and a lack of intimacy with the perspectives of both people involved. Exactly what having all three band members jumping into water in super-slow-motion has to do with the song is anyone’s guess, but the two themes manage to merge together quite impressively. The locations are breathtaking, and that sense of being lost in the water alone (for the most part, at least) gives a great resonance to refrains like “we used to be closer than this.” One for the lovers.
Watch This Now: Royal Headache – “Girls”
“I wait, oh she waits, does she wait for me?”
To see a band rise from nothing into something truly remarkable is something I almost always find really inspiring – especially if I’ve been a witness to it. Seeing Royal Headache go from in-stores and house shows to sell-out gigs and international demand is truly satisfying – this is a band that deserves every last cent of their success both here and abroad. To celebrate their amazing run this past 12 months or so, they’ve put out a very cool clip for Girls, originally from their self-titled seven-inch and re-recorded for their self-titeld debut album. Yeah, not big on names, this lot. And I prefer the seven-inch version, but that’s neither here nor there.
With the 95 seconds or so the band has to work with, they’ve slapped together a bunch of tour and party footage – mostly the band being silly buggers while out on the open road. And there’s not a damn thing wrong with that, thanks all the same. I also don’t know if it’s an effect or they actually used Super 8, but the whole thing just looks awesome. Very boho-chic, he said as he stroked his pretentious mustache. I totally recognise one of the girls in this video, too; that one with the glasses and the curly brown hair. I saw her at a bunch of gigs and was all “wow, she’s really pretty” and, naturally, didn’t do a damn thing about it. Classic me. Wait, what? Why are you still here? Go watch the damn video already.
Watch This Now: OKGO – “Skyscrapers”
“It ain’t always pretty, but it seemed there was no other way…”
Before we get started, I just got told that this is my 400th post here on Y,WGAV! That’s a pretty cool milestone if you ask me, so thanks to everyone that’s been involved so far! Looking forward to 400 more.
Moving on: You know how a few weeks ago we talked about Needing/Getting, the supposedly final video from OKGO‘s Of the Blue Colour of the Sky record? Yep, turns out we were wrong. They’ve got one last clip for us – the incredible eighth video from this record cycle over the course of 2 years. It’s for one of the slower jams on the record, and they’ve left it in the trusting hands of long time collaborator Trish Sie, who is the sister of lead singer Damian Kulash. She knows exactly how to work with these guys, and the exact kind of eccentricities that they are after in their videos – and although this might be a bit of a stripped-back affair in comparison to previous clips, it’s still a sweet and touching way to go out.
Sie teams up with her dance parter Moti Buchboot for a swell, sensual tango that only moves forward – the twist is that the dancers change the colour of their outfit as soon as they move ff screen. It creates this beautiful spectrum of colour and a dizzying display of what a simple dance routine can do. There’s no dogs, treadmills, cars, jumpsuits or Muppets… it’s just a clever idea with a vintage OKGO twist. NOW we’re done with Of the Blue Colour of the Sky… I think.
Yes, We've Got a Video! 