Clark - Herr Bar

The world of music videos throws up yet another surreal excursion exploring human body parts, alien worlds and fantastical creatures. There was Encyclopedia Pictura's Star Trek geo-porn and Motion Theory's 20,000 lengths of electrical cable under the sea. Now we have this NSFW animated fun park ride through a world of human anatomy by Clemens Kogler for Clark. Clark obviously likes his videos on the experimental side and seems to have a penchant for millipedes. 1stAVE Machine featured the more traditional variety, while Clemens Kogler has opted for a chain of...well...I'm not quite sure.

Embedded QT here

Kasabian :: Live

One of the blessings of living in this city is that you get to see most of your favourite bands up close and personal. Bands always fit a stop in to Amsterdam on the European leg of their tours and there are really only two venues - Paradiso and Melkweg - both of which are small. So whereas in London you'd be struggling for a decent view, here in Amsterdam both venues have wrap around balconies and excellent acoustics to allow for maximum enjoyment (for even the latest of stragglers).

Last night's Kasabian gig at Paradiso was a perfect example. We turned up about 20 minutes before they got on stage and still managed to claim a spot on the 1st floor balcony so close I could have poured my beer on to Chris's bass. We had some friends turn up late and they managed to slot right in behind us...all at a sell-out gig. So good.

Though Kasabian's swagger is something of an anachronism in these days of indy winsome posturing, it is nothing if not infectious. They picked up the place from the moment they belted out Reason is Treason and never let up. They were totally wired and were clearly enjoying themselves whipping up an extremely responsive and largely British crowd. With the chanting echoing throughout the venue, the whole experience was like being at a football match. One skinhead up the front got so amped up he started throttling other gig-goers out of sheer over-excitement. Luckily for his victims, his big breasted girlfriend intervened each time to calm him down.

While Kasabian may not be breaking any new ground, they are the masters of guitar AND synth driven rock. Last night they rocked the venue with flawless workmanship. Leadsinger Tom whipped the crowd into a frenzy with his Mick Jagger swagger and 'come-on-let's-have-it' gestures (like Mick, Tom's stage routine is just the right side of camp for rock n' roll). Serge stayed as still as possible so the girls could get a good look and swoon, Jason looked like he was dressed for a Jesus and Mary Chain convention and Ian and his ever increasing girth bashed the hell out of his tom-toms.

It was an excellent gig that mainlined rock n roll into your veins. Even the most cynical hipster couldn't have stopped his foot from tapping. Kasabian are good and they know it.

They also give good video. See below for their Banksy-esque 'Reason is Treason' clip

The Rapture 'Pieces of the People We Love'

I am but one of many that has been loving The Rapture's latest album, 'Pieces of the People We Love'.

Their video for their hipster dissin' 'Whoo! Alright-Yeah... Uh Huh'directed by Ben Dickinson was the most fun had on a Brooklyn rooftop since I don't know when.

So what are band and director to do for a follow up?

Change direction it seems. Ben Dickinson shares the directing credits with Jon Watts in this video for album title track 'Pieces of the People We Love'. The boys drop the superhero capes and Beastie-Boy-goofiness to go for a more stylish and paired down vibe. Colour and animation also step aside to allow for desaturated and minimalist photography in a white studio egg - with characters literally emerging from the shadows.

It works.

Oh - and they throw in a glitter suit to let us know they're not taking themselves too seriously.




Streaming Quicktime here

Bright Eyes 'Four Winds'

The king of performance-based indy music videos, Patrick Daughters, has directed this effort for Bright Eye's 'Four Winds'. Patrick has an enviable reputation for eliciting powerful performances from the artists he works with - most notably for Yeah Yeah Yeahs' 'Maps'. Coner's performance doesn't disappoint in this video and Patrick's photography is typically sharp and captivating (and there's the signature gig-in-an-irregular-venue setting), yet the core concept somehow falls a little flat with me...



...maybe it's the plastic cups. I can appreciate they are the only thing venues will let you drink out of these days, but it's all a bit soft compared to what the Blues Brothers had to put up with:



PS. I'm yet to find a version of Four Winds without a screwed aspect ratio. How do you manage to fuck that up? Did they get their grandmother to capture it on her new widescreen TV? Tsk.

tpc 'Smoker's Delight'

I'm no fan of your generic hip-hop video, but me here at hairybones has an open-minded approach to music and videos and if it's good, I feel the need to call it. I stumbled across this on Antville. The track has a "somethin somethin" and I found the photography and editing smoothe (last time I promise) on the visual palette.

Apart for a love of Tribe Called Quest, Wu-Tang Clan, Jurassic 5 and Tone Loc's not so popular 'Cool Hand Loc' album (yep)...I'm not really knowledgeable of the Hip-Hop genre. So I decided to call in my resident hip-hop specialist Cherribones. She didn't mind the track and thought that the director was obviously aiming for something Paul Hunter-esque. Cherribones didn't think it was any different from any of the other big hip-hop directors and not much of a stand-out.

I think Cherribones might be a bit harsh - but what would I know. Best you judge for yourself.



High Quality QT here

Update: Cherribones does soften the blow by saying this video is indicative of a welcome trend in the world of hip-hop videos away from ho's shaking their booty just for the boys towards a more minimal aesthetic and artistic use of performance and framing (see Justin Timberlake's 'My Love' by Paul Hunter, Jay Z's '99 problems' by Mark Romanek, Kelis' 'Trick me' by Mr X)

Klaxons

I don't watch much telly these days - but with BBC1 & BBC2 being shown here in Amsterdam I always make sure I catch the The Culture Show. Whether it's high art or or pub rock, they treat each piece they cover with consideration and objectivity.....while leaving a platform for letting rip with opinions in the on-set discussions.

Watching this week's episode I was not surprised to see the Klaxons on there....but I was surprised to see what kind of Klaxons. You see, about this time last year I saw them perform here in Amsterdam at the Vice Magazine launch. Everyone was pissed-up on free Heineken and not paying them much attention. I was transfixed though. Not because they were good (they were fucking terrible), but because I couldn't believe the audacity of these guys. They looked like first year uni students who'd attacked their little sister's fluro paint set in the midst of a cocaine psychosis and had decided to form a band...only days before. They were off key, off tempo and looked as though they'd done one gram slugs of coke moments before hitting the stage. Yet much like the first time I saw The Libertines, I couldn't take my eyes of this car crash waiting to happen. And much like The Libertines....there was no inkling that you were seeing future stars in ascendance....just a feeling (which may or may not be amped-up by hindsight) that you had seen something different.

Fast forward a year and they have a strong debut album, NME hyping them to the stratosphere by way of claiming they've pioneered a new genre (Nu Rave), legions of fans...and a slot on the Culture show no less.

During the segment it seemed as though no-one has been more surprised by their success than they themselves. No false modesty here - just shellshock that what was seemingly a laugh by a bunch of chancers (and believe me they were chancers) has paid Gold.

It seems they've already calmed down on the drugs....no Doherty disintergration here. They spoke of a time in Paris where one of them had gone missing, one was roaming around the city in a bunny suit and the other was projectile vomitting and how at this point they realised that the extreme hedonism wasn't part of their success, but detrimental to it. They've been given their big chance and they're not going to fuck it up. They're smart kids. They're managing their image...their way. They do their own album artwork, know which directors they want to shoot their music vids and even manage their web comms with their fans. Good luck to em (and anyone labelled with Nu Rave that thinks to cover Grace's 'Not Over Yet' is fine by me).

Below is their latest release Golden Skans where they've moved on from the fluro (and possibly Nu-Rave) and on to glitter and streamers in this Jackson 5esque effort from director Saam.





Update: QT here (hat-tip to cliptip)



And the drug-fucked fluro Klaxons I'm more familiar with (also directed by Saam):



Large QT here

Grizzly Bear - Knife

I'm a fan of Grizzly Bear's low-fi folkadelia - and in particular this track. As a band they seem pretty out there, so it's no surprise that their clip for their new release is on the bizarre side - but this really pushes the boundries of weirdness.

Directors Isaiah Saxon and Sean Hellfritsch (Encyclopedia Pictura) have gone all out on this. All out on the prosthetics, all out on the bizarre symbolism, all out on the schedule (it took them 6 months to produce)...and all out on the camera case full of drugs. I still don't know if I like it or not. It's different, but is that enough?



QT here


Maybe the problem I'm having with taking this clip seriously is that 3/4 of the way through - I can't help but think of this:

Unklejam - 'Love Ya'

When I first saw this clip, it made me feel old. Referencing 90's retro already? Damn.

Jam!...more like.

This track kicks, is dancefloor gold and will be huge. The clip isn't too bad either and Director Paul Gore has his tongue firmly planted in his jowels for this (almost) one take extravaganza. Filming the guys dancing on slow then cranking it up is a nice touch too. Check it out.



QT here