So say you really like Feist, but you’re a hipster, so of course you can’t ACTUALLY like Feist because everyone and Starbucks already likes Feist. What are you to do? Well hipsters, you are in luck, because you can still like Bell before she becomes so cool that you naturally can’t like her anymore.
[Disclaimer: By actually liking Bell now you are no longer a hipster, because I totally liked Bell way before you did. Poser.]
[BTW, this video is really cute. I like it.]
Spike Jonze has made an epic new Beastie Boys video featuring GI Joe’s, Yetis, Nazi zombies, sharks and much, much more. It’s pretty much the definition of awesome.
RIP Walter.
Bonus Beastie video: The Sesame Street gang lays down some “Sure Shot”. This absolutely made me LOL.
Are you ready to have your mind blown?
In terms of J-Pop “PONPONPON” is actually a pretty catchy song, but, my God, is the video weird. Seriously, Japan, WTF? According to Google Translate, きゃりーぱみゅぱみゅ means “Pamyupamyu carry over”, although have you ever used Google Translate before? I’ve yet to understand a single paragraph of a foreign website translated by Google, so who knows what きゃりーぱみゅぱみゅ actually translates out to. Here’s what I do know: きゃりーぱみゅぱみゅ is the name of a 18 year-old model who’s made one of the weirdest videos to ever come out of Japan, and that’s saying something. We’re talking about Japan after all. Whether or not you actually like this video doesn’t matter because it’s definitely guaranteed to entertain you.
[EDIT: After doing more research I discovered that きゃりーぱみゅぱみゅ basically sounds like Kyary Pamyu Pamyu in English, which makes sense, I guess. I also found a translation of the lyrics, which are pretty normal for a pop song. Pon Pon Pon basically just means “Clap Clap Clap” and all the song is about is going out into the world and making something of your day. God bless the Japanese.]
Need a vacation? Consider Hypnolove Island! Where else can you enjoy this French band’s Italo-disco Caribbean dance song? “Holiday Reverie” is bright, cheerful, and guaranteed to put a smile on your face. If this song doesn’t scream summer to you, then I don’t know what else will.
Now I’m not saying y’all should start smoking or anything, but this video for Tom Vek’s “Aroused” is damn sexy. While the shots of models smoking cigarettes definitely has something to do with that, I honestly think it has more to do with the song. It’s got a fantastic melody that calls out to you that you should get your butt on the dance floor, pronto. Plus there’s that little Japanese sounding bit that I just go crazy for. Check it out:
The video is nothing special, but Washed Out’s “Eyes Be Closed” is definitely one of my favorite songs of 2011. Washed Out has a great debut album called ‘Within And Without’ out now and “Eyes Be Closed” is absolutely the highlight. The song is so calming and relaxing, super pretty and perfect for the upcoming Indian Summer days. The song just washes right over you like ocean waves.
I love Cults. Er, I mean I love the band, Cults. Should probably clear that one up because this video is about one of the most famous cults out there, The People’s Temple, otherwise more famously known for the poisoned-Kool-Aid-drinking Jonestown massacre. This video uses news footage taken of the citizens of The People’s Temple, with the Cults lead singer digitally included. I think it’s a pretty smart video, much better than their last one, which I shared here. The song is one of my favorites too. They’ve really got that 60’s AM radio vibe down. There’s a pretty xylophone tinkling for the melody and sing-song lyrics for the chorus. Good stuff, great video.
Go Outside, by Cults from Boing Boing on Vimeo.
You may remember Bad Lip Reading from my Rebecca Black post on “Gang Fight,” their re-imagining of “Friday” by someone who had never heard the song before and made a song up based solely from what they saw in the video. Well, their latest endeavor is “Russian Unicorn,” a re-imagining of Michael Bublé’s “Haven’t Met You Yet.” Now I’d never heard the original song before but I am familiar with what Michael Bublé sounds like (my mom, of course, loves him). What’s really amazing about this…cover (?)… is that you can almost imagine that Michael Bublé is actually singing, but I’m pretty confident he’s never sounded like this:
I’m amazed at the production quality in a lot of the songs Bad Lip Reading has made. In most cases if you didn’t listen too closely to the lyrics you might actually think that this was the real song. “Russian Unicorn” the song on its own is actually pretty catchy.
Take “(Rockin’) All Nite Long”, their take on Taylor Swift’s “Our Song”. This video is so well done that for a second I actually thought Wiz Khalifa did a song with Taylor. How crazy would that be?
The first music video on MTV was memorably The Buggles’ “Video Killed The Radio Star,” which quite prophetically predicted that music videos would completely change how popular music got to the masses, and in turn would completely change popular music. I’m bringing this up for two reasons.
First, the internet has brought about a similar revolution today. The internet has democratized remixing. Now anyone can make a remix and get it out there for the world to enjoy with little to no effort, whether it’s a more traditional remix of a song, editing a fan video to a favorite song, or in Bad Lip Reading’s case, remaking the song into something completely and utterly new and different.
The second reason I bring this up is because “Dirty Spaceman” is based on a will.i.am / Nicki Minaj song called “Check It Out,” which just happens to sample for its main beat — you guessed it! — The Buggles’ “Video Killed The Radio Star”. The irony was killing me and I just couldn’t help pointing out how the circle is now complete.
If you were craving a pretty little acoustic guitar ditty for your summer nights, I think Kurt Vile’s “Baby’s Arms” will fit the bill very nicely. It’s a relaxing tune for unwinding after a long day.
This video takes the fairly standard (ie boring) music video with models lounging at a pool at some beautiful location like Ibiza (or, ‘The English Rivera’, which just happens to also be the name of the album this song is on) and turns that cliché on its head just enough with some clever 24-esq juxtaposition of frames within a frame to make this video interesting. It helps that the song is pretty good too.
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