Category: Video

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Atmosphere Returns with Their Most Politically Charged Visuals and Sounds to Date

The act’s soon-to-be-released seventh full-length effort Fishing Blues will feature collaborations with DOOM, Aesop Rock, Kool Keith, The Grouch and others and it features one of the most politically charged songs they’ve released to date “Pure Evil,” one of the uncanniest and frightening portrayals of the banality and stupidity of unadulterated evil and brutality that I’ve heard on record — and they do so while humanizing an evil soul to the point that you can kind of see how easy it is to become evil.

The recently released and extremely cinematic music video manages to evoke old-timey Westerns as it features an evil cop riding through the harsh beauty of the desert after he’s committed a heinous act off screen with no remorse or consideration of what he’s done; in fact, the only thought he seems to have is self-preservation at all costs.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Surreal and Playful Visuals for Izzy True’s “Mr. Romance”

Renowned punk label Don Giovanni Records released the band’s debut EP Troll last year, and their much-anticipated full-length debut Nope officially released today, and reportedly draws from frontperson Isabel Reidy’s experiences dropping out of school, returning back home to deal with mental illness and a desire to find a cathartic and joyful way to combat them all — and ultimately, about loneliness, hating yourself and then leaning how to actually like yourself. Much like the album’s first single “Total Body Erasure,” the album’s latest single “Mr. Romance” consists of a scuzzy, classic rock-leaning that sounds as though it owes equal debts to Marquee Moon-era Television, The Rolling Stones and Pretenders; however, unlike the preceding single, this single manages to deal with the anxious confusion about one’s self and who and what they should want and love, with a self-effacing irony — and in some way, the song’s narrator knows those answers will be difficult to come by, especially if you’re strange.

The recently released video features Isabel in an aluminum jump suit, playing and singing the song, drinking and making out with a variety of people and a shit ton of glitter and makeup.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Film-Noir Sounds and Visuals of Seattle’s Evening Bell

The recently released, film-noir-ish video features the band’s Hart Kingsbery and Caitlin Sherman as a pair of haunted and star crossed, almost lovers, whose love may never be completely consummated despite their efforts — and it features a ton of lonely and contemplative, late night driving in gorgeous, vintage cars and waiting around in idling cars for someone, who may not be paying attention or want them. And as a result, it gives a swooning, Romantic song a bittersweet tinge of unfinished and unfulfilled business.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Party and Fuck Around with Madrid’s Indie Rock Sensations The Parrots

Recorded at Paco Loco Studios in El Puerto de Santa Maria in Cadiz, Southern Spain, The Parrots’ latest single is reportedly inspired by the members of the band drinking beers and Horchata, eating Moroccan delicacies and feelings of deep friendship and loyalty and as a result the song possesses a shuffling, intoxicated feel of elation and adventure — the sort that would come about when you’ve drunkenly stumbled along a new best friend. Sonically, the song will further cement the Spanish trio’s growing reputation for raw and shaggy garage rock as Garcia’s passionate howls are paired with a shuffling and jangling garage rock chords, propulsive drumming and a throbbing bass line, and in some way the song sounds as though it could have easily been released in 1962 or so.

Directed by Pablo Amores, the recently released music video features the members of the Spanish quartet drinking 40s, looking for the next party and goofing off in the streets — and it serves as a reminder that the Spanish quartet are a wild, rollicking party.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Death Valley Girls Go-Go Inspired Take on Troma Films

“Disco,” the latest single off Glow In The Dark is a jangling and propulsive bit of psych rock, complete with droning organs that sounds as though it were indebted to The Jesus and Mary Chain but with a sneering, punk rock air — and a badass, in your face, self assuredness. Interestingly, the recently released music video was directed by Kansas Bowling, who recently directed BC Butcher, the latest release from proprietors of all things low budget gore and horror, Troma Films. As a result, the video is a proper send off to all things go-go but with a Satanic murderess, who kills people with records.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Cinematic and Lonely Visuals of Psychic Ills’ “Baby” and “Another Change”

Directed by New York-based filmmaker Jason Evans, the cinematically shot videos for “Baby” and “Another Change” were designed as two parts of an extended short film, shot in and and around New York and at Cowtown Rodeo in New Jersey. The videos form a portrait of a young cowboy, desperately longing for something he can connect with, a desire that becomes clearer by the end of the second video. Throughout both videos, the viewer follows its male lead John Reddy, who actually grew up on as a rodeo rider in Pine Ridge Reservation, South Dakota, as he smokes in his tiny room, gets dressed, commutes back and forth between suburban New Jersey and a backbreaking job in a restaurant in the City and runs errands. And from the way he walks and dresses, the videos protagonist doesn’t quite fit in anywhere — and from his expressions our protagonist carries a profound sadness and loneliness that’s old-fashioned and proud but with a masculine vulnerability. When he encounters a lovely young woman in a local bar, there share a simple yet profound moment of connection over their shared loneliness and heartache, and it’s shot with a subtly golden hue that suggests it’s those small moments that remind us of our humanity.

The second videos follows our protagonist to Cowtown Rodeo, where he watches fellow cowboys ride horses and he quickly falls in love with a beautiful white horse that he immediately connects to — and as he connects to his horse, he find himself with the young woman at the bar.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Harsh and Haunting Sounds and Visuals for Boogarins “Cuerdo”

Much like the album’s previously release single “Tempo,” the album’s latest single “Cuerdo” is a deeply contemplative song; however, the dreamy new single sounds as though it draws from Kid A and Amnesiac-era Radiohead and Dark Side of the Moon-era Pink Floyd as reverb-heavy guitar chords, a subtle yet gorgeous horn arrangement with the vocals at times feeling peacefully submerged, almost entombed within the dreamy and slow-burning mix. Interestingly, as the band’s guitarist Benke Ferraz notes, the song focuses on the feeling of not belonging and being in a situation in which you can’t express yourself — perhaps out of danger if you’re part of a minority group.

Directed by Ricardo Spencer, the recently released video for “Cuerdo” reveals the haunting and harsh beauty of nature as it depicts a group of buzzards descending upon a dead cow at various angles — a cinematic wide screen which has every figure involved look like microscopic dots before quickly panning in to see the vultures eating the dead cow in super slow motion. As the band’s Ferraz expressed in press notes, the vultures seemed to represent quite a bit for anyone who feels for minorities of any stripe and how our especially conservative — and seemingly sadistic — societies and media outlets deal with them.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Surreal Animated and Hyper Aggressive Visuals for Cowtown’s “Tweak”

Clocking in at 92 seconds, Paranormal Romance’s second and latest single “Tweak” sounds as though it were indebted to the Ramones and 90s alt rock, as the the trio pairs propulsive and thundering drumming with blistering power chords and an anthemic and infectious “oh oh oh” at the hook that you can imagine a crowded and sweaty bunch of kids yelling lustily while moshing — and with a youthful abandon.

The recently released animated video by Molly Kaplan pokes fun at cartoons, the relentless barrage of commercials we’re inundated with on a regular basis — but with neon bright colors and a surreal sense of humor.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Swooning and Heartbreaking Visuals and Sounds of Charlotte Cardin’s Latest “Like It Doesn’t Hurt”

Big Boy’s latest single “Like It Doesn’t Hurt” will further cement Cardin’s burgeoning reputation for aching jazz/soul and pop vocals — and in this case paired with a sparse yet extremely contemporary production featuring twinkling and moody keys, undulating synths and electronics and stuttering boom bap-like drum programming and a guest spot from Montreal-based emcee Husser; while lyrically, the song describes a turbulent and dysfunctional relationship full of ecstatic highs, crushing lows, bitter and aching separations. And as a result of both Cardin’s vocals and the production, the song possesses a swooning almost drunken urgency — and it should remind the listener of young, foolish, passionate, heartbreaking love.

Directed by Kristof Brandl, the recently released video for “Like It Doesn’t Hurt” features the song’s collaborators Charlotte Cardin and Husser as the video’s central couple and with a series of frenetic cuts and flashbacks, the video emphasizes the turbulent and tumultuous relationship at the core of the song as you’ll see a couple who fight and love passionately and are separated after a violent incident, which has Husser arrested and sent to jail.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Otherworldly Visuals and Sounds of Beach House’s “The Traveller”

Although released last October, Thank Your Lucky Stars was recorded during the same two month period as its predecessor Depression Cherry and continued an ongoing collaboration between the band and co-producer Chris Coady. And naturally, both albums build upon similar aesthetics and themes, although “The Traveller” manages to possess a subtle world-weariness and bitter regret at its core — while also subtly reminding listeners of Mazzy Star.

Directed by Jennifer Juniper Stratford, a media artist and founder of Telefantasy Studios, an analog media lab dedicated to the creation of avant-garde television and video experiments, the video was shot using an ancient television camera before being processed with a video synthesizer and a reconfigured broadcast mixer to create imagery that possess a cosmic glow, as though the female figure in the video is crossing through several different dimensions.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Wild, Animated, Unofficial Music Video for MF Doom’s “Gas Drawls”

Originally starting his recording career as a member of KMD with his younger brother DJ Subroc, who tragically died in a car accident, Daniel Dumile has written and performed under a number of monikers and with a number of stage personas including Zev Love X and MF Doom, for an incredible array of collaborations including Madvillain with Madlib, DANGERDOOM with Danger Mouse, DOOMSTARKS with Ghostface Killah, JJ DOOM with Jniero Jarel and NehruvianDoom with Bishop Nehru, as well as for one of the most inventive and imitable emcees in hip hop as you’ll hear on “Gas Drawls,” as the emcee employs the use of pop culture references, surrealistic punch lines over a dusty, keyboard jazz sample.

The unofficial music video was largely inspired by Doom’s album artwork — mostly Jason Jason’s illustrations for MM Food and the Metalface version of Operation Doomsday and the video recently got MF Doom’s approval as it captures his wild aesthetic.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Clipping Returns to Pair, Stark Post Apocalyptic Visuals to their Stark, Abrasive, Industrial Sound

Comprised of production duo Jonathan Snipes and WIlliam Hutson, along with emcee and actor Daveed Diggs, Los Angeles-based hip-hop trio clipping never expected to find much of an audience for their sound. After all their […]

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Disco and Synth Pop Inspired Visuals and Sounds of Chrissy and Hawley’s Feminist Anthem “I Got A Life to Lead”

Now as you may also know, as the story goes both Chrissy and Shoffner are originally from Kansas, which the duo immediately bonded over and they began working on material that effortlessly meshes both of their unique styles into something rather seamless. Their self-titled debut’s latest single “I Got A Life to Lead” has the duo pairing Shoffner’s bitterly and frankly incisive lyrics telling off a selfish, needlessly combative, soon-to-be former lover, with a sleek and sensual production that would make the legendary Giorgio Moroder proud — as tambourine, shimmering and undulating synths, a propulsive motorik groove, stuttering drum programming, a sinuous bass line, a subtle yet noticeable string sample and an anthemic hook to craft a song that’s not only a certified disco-influenced club banger and a great tell off to any asshole soon-to-be former lover, who you’ve gotten sick and tired of and a decidedly feminist anthem in the veins of Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive” — but while openly saying “I’ve moved on from the foolish bullshit.”

The recently released video borrows liberally from 80s tropes and follows Shoffner singing and swaying along to the song as though she were in a karaoke bar — but shot in a seductive and hazy hues of purple, green and red, complete with views from several different TVs and a brief appearance by Chrissy pressing buttons. And in some small way, the video should remind folks of how deeply influenced the Chicago-based duo are by late period disco and 80s synth pop but while putting a subtle modern feel on it.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The 80s New Wave and Post-Punk Inspired Sounds and Surreal Visuals of Beach Baby’s “U R”

The London-based quartet’s latest single “U R” has the band pairing shimmering guitar chords, a propulsive, motorik-like groove, a soaring and anthemic hook that you can practically hear kids in a sweaty little club lustily singing along with, with lyrics that focus on the start and bitter ending of a relationship that has its narrator feeling ambivalent and confused. Was the relationship one of the best things that happened to this life? Or was the breakup the best thing that happened because the relationship was so wrong, so dysfunctional that he’s freed from something truly terrible? Should he even feel bitter and confused? Although open-ended, much like life itself, the song manages to be wistful and bittersweet look back at a relationship that should feel familiar — while evoking the dashed hopes and expectations of a relationship and of one’s summer.

The recently released music video follows Lily, its protagonist through the five stages of break-up grief that evokes the surreal feeling of your life being irrevocably altered and not quite knowing how to react or what to do before you finally begin moving forward with your life.