Put Your Hands In the Air...?

Well, well, well. It seems like Placebo strike again with another wonderful release from their highly praised album Battle for the Sun (I hope you can feel the irony). This time it's Trigger Happy Hands, one of the new songs from Battle for the Sun Redux Edition (really now, how many editions of this album are they willing to release? Read my lips: this ain't no good!) The song is supposed to be a picture (and a very dark one) of the modern society. You know the story: wars, politicians and the rest of the plagues. As expected (we're talking about a song that appears on Battle, remember), the lyrics are shit if you compare them with Placebo's previous releases. Scratch that, if you compare them to anything. And it really hurts to say it, considering the fact that for over a decade, Placebo amazed us with sexual, straight-into-your-face, but also romantic and full of poetry lyrics. Even worse than that, they also seem to lack musical inspiration (at least the other songs from Battle have good instrumentals).

However, let's forget about the song and concentrate on the video. It does lack the awfulness of The Never-Ending Why (it takes a lot of effort to sink that low) but that does not mean it's the most wonderful thing you had the chance of seeing in your life. On the contrary. Trigger Happy Hands is the kind of video that anyone can make without any problems. Just film your little nephews in the garden playing with some water guns, throw in some violent images (the news are full of such things, that should not be a problem) and add a few images with Placebo in a live concert. And there you have it! It's a shame when you think what videos and songs these guys used to release. Nowadays we can give them credit only for their live concerts, which continue to be awesome. But they should know this won't last forever.

Siberian Breaks

Rarely has something so disturbing been so endearing.

EDIT This video has been removed due to copyright, so you can watch it here.

She Don't Care About Any Of That

Grinderman are here competing for the most random video of 2010. Hallefuckinglujah

P.S.: The tache owns. End of.

From Another World

There are few bands that immediately put big stupid smiles on our faces. Klaxons are one of them. The video for Echoes is like nothing they've ever done but is fantastic, further prove these boys can do no wrong. And the song is just as fabulous and will be, just like its demo version, on repeat for many days to come.

Stop Pretending

Do press play if you were in the mood for a stylish video and a good song.

Aguileratouille!

What happens when you screw up with your best asset in pop music business? Where budgets for music videos are so large in order to compensate the lack of delivery from a simple song. Well, like a previous video that we commented, you plain and simple get a ratatouille. Britney and Madonna are in the studio, Gaga is in a lawsuit and planning what other crustacean to put in her hair, Beyonce is continuing to bore with her enormous feet, so who’s left? Aha: some dirt, a kid, some glamour and jazz later and now a poor mix from those, here’s Christina Aguilera. Not Myself Tonight, much voice for nothing. Sadly we are here because of the video.

This is the era of image, where music videos can be masterpieces. Ahm, not for everybody. So Hype Williams, with a so impressive music videos resume (just names no image masterpieces there), dares to push it to the next level with a pop image video for Aguilera. The fact that throughout the video Aguilera is a big copy, no not a salute, of Mama Madonna or Gaga, is not that awful. But the music director seems incompetent enough to not select from different image ideas.

We have stylish makeup for a first shoot on white set but then she is dancing in a bluish room where the other dancers have actually better outfits. Then she’s in the rain, then on top of some stairs (so Madonna’s Express Yourself) then she’s in a house, foggy blue next to a chimney, a closet, a bed. Then she’s dancing in a church. Is the George Michael’s Freedom color palette the new theme set? No. We return to white where she resurrects (poorly) the shiny black leather and again to that awful red lingerie. Red lingerie on golden sheets?! So … limp dick. I mean if we are walking down the memory lane let’s clarify things. When Madonna did shiny leather she kept the whole video on white and George Michael kept all those supermodels in the same house, same light. Make-up as mentioned is good, red lips rule and she does it good, but hair – Gwen Stefani frindge, curly Mohawk, wet hair …

The pity in all the video is not the abundance of ideas (the Coco Chanel “Less is more” advice for anything) or the bad editing of those fast paced shots that you can’t even adjust your eye to. But rather that in all that ratatouille she had two great ideas from which, if chosen or not, would have nailed the video. White set with first Bionic makeup-up and Christina Aguilera in the church-like set with dancers. Wow! I mean stop a little to notice that church set. That idea alone is stylish, subtle and controversial. But why be that when you can be a glamorous peasant?

Good Shoes, Good Beats

Good Shoes - The Way My Heart Beats

The Candy Man

We're making a habit out of missing the launch dates of Arctic Monkeys videos. Probably because the last ones were utter shit. But with My Propeller, they seem to try and wash away all their visual sins. And we forgive them.

Like A Monkey With A Miniature Cymbal

Turns out this is comedy week in video land... Check out the moment when the five Hot Chip show up in the middle of the crowd.

On The Stereo

Seriously, Jules...

VideoPhone

I like my moments of consumerism. Capitalist whoredom. Moments when plain brainless commercial songs fill my elitist heart with joy. No, really, I like Timbaland’s The Morning After or Rihanna’s Rude Boy. I keep it a secret, but I like those songs. Surprise, surprise, ever since Let’s Dance, like a plastic Jessica “Is it chicken or fish” Simpson, I jumped on the Gaga bandwagon (and made no secret out of it). I’ve played Bad Romance at parties and rejoiced when NME gave The Fame Monster an 8/10. I admire her for writing her own lyrics (imbecile at times, but her own) and for being able to pull some off-the-hook outfits.

But my elitist self decided that backlash is upon us. There is only as far as I can go and the name “Beyonce” is one of my limits. I hate that woman. She is nothing but a talentless, vulgar attention whore. And she has ugly legs. Now Gaga brings upon us The Apocalypse and records a song with this woman I would gladly put down using a shotgun. The end is near, my friends. Save yourself and your Smith vinyls while you can.

Bad taste? Tacky? More like plain stupid. Ok, I love the cans. But the rest is awful. God awful. There are too many abrupt cuts in the evolution of the song (forget about remembering the song after you watch the video), the story line is boooooring, the lines are so cliché it hurts. And, can you bail someone from a prison? Not a simple police station, but a state prison. Gaga is embarrassing in her attempt to reinvent herself once more (forget that Bowie-esque chameleonic ability), Beyonce is over-whelmed by it all.

Verdict: OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!!!!

P.S.: The video is also further proof Beyonce can’t act. The song is

proof she can’t sing (or at least can’t pick the instrumentals that fit her

voice). Gaga can’t act either, but at least she can sing.

Back to you, Keith!

Sometimes it's better for us to shut the fuck up and let bands speak. So we should let We Are Scientists describe their own comeback:

'With the budget of a 30 Seconds To Mars clip, the raw fx firepower of James Cameron's Avatar, and the intensively rehearsed, flawless timing of an OKGO video, the new music vid from We Are Scientists proves once and for all that rules -- ahem -- truly do not stop these New York City dynamos.'

And here you have it, the new video from the legendary band...WE ARE SCIENTISTS!

Heartbeat

Yeah, The Futureheads are a bit of jokers. They don't really seem to take things seriously and it's ok. One should be able to have a good laugh once in a while. Their latest video is, well, a bit of a joke. It's overtly stupid, it had loads of bright colours (just like the guitars of the song) and silly characters (that even do a weird little dance … yes, to the beat of the music).

Grey

Remember the video for New Young Pony Club's Ice Cream? Yeah, that video from 2007 that gave a whole new meaning to the word 'eyecandy'.

And here we are, end of 2009 the girls and guy of NYPC are back, but now nu-rave is dead and mood are darker and colours turn into shades of grey, blacks and whites. And maybe Tahita should reconsider dying her hair black again. Blonde's not really her thing.

Beat Pyramid

Ok, I'll agree with you if you feel like rolling your eyes and not decide not to watch this video till the very end: after all, it is seven minutes long. But, my God,it is a fantastic seven minutes long video. Every frame, every second come only to complete the totally menacing (they do know how to work a bass, these kids) and tribal (yes, the drums kill) sound of These New Puritans' new song We Want War. And even the clam moments of the song.

Flower-Power

No, no hippies included. It's just that, when you have a video called In the Flowers (or having any title that includes the word "flower"), the first thing you have in mind is this expression. Blame in on the 60's and on Animal Collective for that, don't blame me. Speaking of the '60s, even there are no hippies included, the colourful drawings that appear in this video made me think of all that psychedelic crazy shit (crazy shit in the good way, okay?!). If you're afraid that your eyes will hurt, don't. You have the chance to rest your eyes once in a while, between flowers and black and white frames and those two dancers and... oh my God, I've never took drugs in my life, but I guess this must be the feeling. Don't ask me what the hell is with that mask at the end, 'cause I don't know. Peace and love.

Primary Colours

They kinda sound like Echo and The Bunnymen, they look really cool in those black outfits and they lights used in the video are a very nice effect. Nothing more, nothing less. Ladies and gents, this it Running Away by Goldhawks.

Please, Please, Please

Well, hello, Monsters Of Folk! Are people skating in your new video? And are M. Ward, Mike Mogis and Jim James dressed-up like WWII soldiers ? And is that Conor Oberst playing guitar in a beginning-of-the-century-southern-town outfit? And I who thought Patrick Wolf had weird videos.

All Fired Up

Today’s semi-obscure band of choice: Demontré, a three piece post-punk/shoegaze trio from London. They take bits and pieces from bands like Joy Division, Bauhaus, Josef K and Pere Ubu but also include psychedelic guitars and a certain Interpolesque sensibility in their songs. While they have been around for a while (2006-2007) and should by now be enjoying the fruits of the media’s sudden interest with The Horrors and co, they have only just released their debut single, Brandenburg. The song features spoken words backed by shoegaze guitars and a big post-punk chorus. The video draws its influence from the omnipresent Joy Division and their Love Will Tear Us Apart and is undeniably elegant. It’s one of the things that will forever make us, followers of the new London scene, think that the bands we love and cherish so would be huge if only properly promoted (just like fans of 80s indie pop used to say about their bands).

A Design For Life

The Horrors' new video, for the b-side Whole New Way, just came out (a day or two ago, and I honestly have no idea how we’ve missed this). It’s simple but not in the Cornerstone-kind of simple. It shows the five boys walking in a field with medical spectacles (a kind that protect you against the light) as the sun goes up. It also fits into the whole make-over of the five Southenders. It follows the idea of maturity and growth they have been talking about ever since their sophomore album came out. But it drops the psychedelic/chaotic approach they had for Mirror’s Image and takes on the elegance of Who Can Say and Sea With A Sea.

And as the colours get warmer, as the sun turns every shadow into a clear silhouette, the synths burst cheerfully and invade your ears like any Our Love To Admire-era Interpol song would.