A simple, but neat music video for their song “Sleep-walking” by Russian band Everything is Made in China, or EIMIC. One blogger saw this band at the Illosaarirock Festival in Finland and recently wrote:
EIMIC took the stage and absolutely mesmerized the entire crowd. 1000 people stood in perfect silence as the band fill the tent with lush synths, beautiful melodies and epic, Caspian style drums keeping everyone entranced.
Take a listen before they appear on the cover of Time Out for an article about breakout bands from Russia.
Music Go Music’s sound echoes earlier pop acts, most notably ABBA, and in particular their song “Light of Love” seen performed live in this video evokes the style of that era.
They’ve exploded the formulas from the inside out, sounding like a hundred others and no one else. ‘Light of Love’ is a true celebration of pop music’s potential – laying a thin sheen of magic over the world around it, and making the tedious bits of the human experience a little less so.
Today we can enjoy Music Go Music’s new album Expressions and still maintain our hip street credentials by calling them “indie-pop.”
Canadian duo WeWereMonkeys weren’t monkeying around in this music video they directed for Land of Talk’s hauntingly wistful “It’s Okay.” The video’s contemplative concept seems to perfectly capture the song’s pensive pace in a surprising and visually gorgeous style. Excuse me now while I manfully wipe my tears away and blow my nose.
Brooklyn band Grizzly Bears’ (previously) latest music video for “Ready, Able” from their third album Veckatimest features some freaky stop-motion claymation. Directed by artist Allison Schulnik, the video’s intentionally raw and unrefined aesthetic reflects Schulnik’s style evident in her art. When asked about her technique, she explained: “I over-indulge. I really just make work and I don’t really think about it. I like to see the material move and breath, and melt. I don’t like things to stay static. “For more information and insight read this interesting interview with the artist.
Legendary hip hop group The Roots remind us that they’re still a force to be reckoned with despite their mainstream-friendly daily duties backing up Jimmy Fallon as his house band. From their upcoming album of the same name, “How I Got Over” blends a socio-political message about brotherhood and lending a helping hand where “someone has to care,” with a breezy radio friendly hook. The music video was directed by duo Alex Bergman and Maxim Bohichik of BBGUN.
American-born, French rapper and singer Uffie recently debuted her first music video for her catchy song “Pop the Glock.” If the song sounds familiar it might be because it received some attention when it first came out in 2006, but even three years later (eons in Internet time or “hella old” as one YouTube commentor wrote), her blend of electro-pop-rap still sounds relevant and holds up today. You can listen to some of the other songs at her MySpace profile, but the album isn’t scheduled for release until sometime in 2010, The sexy music video was directed by Nathalie Canguilhem.
This is one of my favorite music videos I’ve seen all week. Slightly NSFW, Saman Keshavarz directed this sexy concept for Cinnamon Chasers’ catchy song “Luv Deluxe.” Shot in HD first-person POV, watch closely as the viewer is presented with three different scenarios of a road trip, which correspond to different personalities.
I’ve been watching on repeat lately the music video for Brooklyn rapper Blitz the Ambassador’s single “Breathe” from his new album Stereotype, an iTunes Hip-Hop top ten chart (without label support! Dang, someone sign him UP! ). Before moving to the States for college at Kent State University, Blitz’s musical style was strongly informed and influenced by his experience growing up in Ghana surrounded by the sounds of Afro-Beat and Highlife, as well as playing djembe in drum circles. Speaking of style, if “Breathe” is any indication, he’s got that and then some. The music video and the sound, backed by his band Embassy Ensemble, is brimming with head-nodding, shoulder-shaking, foot-tapping energy.
Blitz recently composed the original score to the PBS documentary, BRONX PRINCESS, which chronicles a Bronx-bred teenager, Rocky Otoo’s journey from New York City to Ghana to reunite with her chief father.
Check out the music video from Phenomenal Handclap Band (”a genre-breaking Manhattan/Brooklyn collective…that shifts from rock to disco to psychedelia without hitting the brakes”) for their single “15 to 20.” Director Moh Azima combines 8 split-screens in this video shot throughout New York City.
I enjoyed the un-distilled and amateurish flickering animation in the video for Firefly Escape’s “All the jokes are on me.” It took a very dedicated and patient director David Mahler four months to illustrate the 1,640 hand drawn and water-colored frames used in the video.
