Memory Tapes – Yes I Know

Memory Tapes’ Seek Magic is one of my favorite albums of the last few years and joyfully, they have a second album called Player Piano coming out soon (July 5th). Below is the bizarre yet beautiful music video for “Yes I Know.” I just love this song. It’s quiet and shambling, pretty and haunting, filled with a synth line from Dire Straits and old organ and flute sounds from the 60’s. It’s basically perfect for listening to while wondering around at two in the morning.

Memory Tapes “Yes I Know” from Najork on Vimeo.

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Pogo – Fan Videos

YouTube’s goldpikpikcarrots has done a great job of taking some of the Pogo tracks that don’t already have videos and creating his own very faithfully to what Pogo himself would have done. First up is “Hundred Acre Flurry”, a song based on the Disney version of Winnie the Pooh. I could listen to the Pooh sample at the one minute mark over and over.

Pogo’s actually running a fan video competition for his track “Mellow Brick Road” right now. If this version of the song based on The Wizard of Oz can’t win, I really want to know what will.

3 More Fan Vids from goldpikpikcarrot After The Jump Cut

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Florrie – Experimenting With Rugs

New Florrie! She has a new EP coming out next week, which is very exciting. This isn’t my favorite video of hers, but the song is still great and that’s all that really matters. It looks like she’s been working on another music video, so I guess expect another Florrie post in the near future.

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Katy Perry – Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)

Whether or not you like Katy Perry’s music, you’ve got to admit that this video for her new single “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)” is pretty epic. It’s an 8 minute mini-movie in the style of a screwball 80’s teen comedy featuring guest stars galore. There’s cameos from a couple of the guys from Glee, Cory Feldman, Debbie Gibson, Kenny G, and Hanson, PLUS my favorite guest of them all, original “nice girl” Friday party thrower, Rebecca Black. How great is that? The song also has a great 80’s vibe like the video, with that guitar riff and especially that Kenny G sax solo. If more popular artists would make videos as good as this one MTV might actually start showing music videos again.

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Cults – Abducted

It’s time for a fan video vs. official video comparison of another of my favorite songs of this year. This time we’re listening to Cults’ “Abducted”, a nice bit of retro Californian surfer rock. While the official video better suits the song’s lyrical content, I think the fan video does a much better job exemplifying the energy of the song with it’s crazy euro-60’s mod fashion and dancing. I personally like that version better. What do you think?

Official

Fan

Cults – Abducted from George Tanasie on Vimeo.

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Glass Candy – Feeling Without Touching

When going through my tags I was shocked, SHOCKED, that I didn’t have a single post about Portland’s Glass Candy. The song’s not new, but it’s Glass Candy, so that’s enough.

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Girls (Who Love Major Lazer) – Nicola Roberts / Beyoncé

Recently Beyoncé created a bit of controversy (amongst hipsters, anyway) with her new single "Run The World (Girls)." The song significantly ripped off Major Lazer’s "Pon de Floor," although we have to use the term "ripped off" loosely, considering Diplo and Switch (aka Major Lazer) actually produced the track. Sure, everyone samples songs nowadays and there’s nothing wrong with that. But the beat to this song is so obviously "Pon de Floor" with Beyoncé’s vocals slapped over it that it just seems like lazy songwriting. This would make for a great bootleg track but it seems like an odd practice for an actual official studio song.

Today when I stumbled across the new single for Nicola Roberts’ "Beat Of My Drum" I again heard that familiar beat. Unsurprisingly when I checked out who produced the track, Diplo and Switch’s names popped up yet again. The only difference here is that "Pon de Floor" is so much more seamlessly integrated into the song this time. Unless you are listening for it you might not even notice that it samples "Pon de Floor", which is what ever good sample should do.

I’d never heard of Nicola Roberts before, but apparently she was a part of Girls Aloud, a girl group created on a British TV pop competition. She looks a lot like Gossip Girl’s Blake Lively and the song sounds a bit like if the Basement Jaxx made a silly little pop song. I actually like it quite a bit.

If you aren’t already familiar with the song, or just want hear how it compares to these two songs, you can check out the original Major Lazer track "Pon de Floor" here.

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Shitty Viddy Friday

Ever since Rebecca Black came into the public’s consciousness Fridays have never been the same. As shitty as that song is–and oh, is it shitty–it’s also extremely catchy, which is the reason why it blew up into the internet phenomena it is today. I don’t believe it is a contradiction to say that it is one of the worst songs ever made AND one of my all-time favorites. I just can’t help but laugh my ass off every time I hear it.

Unfortunately after the initial explosion of “Friday” spoofs that came out in the days following the video’s release on the internet, new ways to laugh at Rebecca Black have dried up. Coming down from watching “Friday” over and over again is a bit like coming down from a post Easter/Halloween candy binge. Fortunately, I found found some new shitty videos to tide me over until I can get my next fix.

First up, from Norway, is Tonje Langeteig with the amazingly titled, “I Don’t Wanna Be A Crappy Housewife.” Instead, apparently, she’d rather be on a Norwegian version of The Jersey Shore. Like that’s better. She doesn’t want to be a crappy housewife, but somehow she’s fine with being a crappy everything else.

Next up from New Orleans is Mr. Ghetto with “Walmart”. If you haven’t seen this video yet, well, I don’t really know how to prepare you for it. Apparently the best place to pick up girls in the South is Walmart. Who drives to Walmart with a Jaguar? And there’s an entire verse dedicated to feminine hygiene products. As shitty as this video is though, you’ve got to give the guy props for making a National Lampoon’s Vacation reference by linking Walmart to Wally World. Nice.

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Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs – Trouble / Household Goods

Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs have an amazing new single coming out called “Trouble” from an upcoming, still untitled full-length album. Along with having one of the coolest band names in music they also have a fantastic sound. Think Gaga-esq art direction meet Hot Chip’s bouncy nerd beats. Ever since their ethereally beautiful single “Garden” (still one of my favorite songs) I’ve been in love T.E.E.D. This video is suitably weird, and I think makes for a nice companion piece to Alex Winston’s “Sister Wife”.

In doing my research for this post I discovered that they put out another single I hadn’t heard about called “Household Goods”. This track has more of a club beat than their other stuff, but it’s still really good.

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Alex Winston – Sister Wife

Alex Winston must be missing Big Love after the series finale, because how else to explain “Sister Wife”? This is one of my favorite songs this year, mainly because of its crazy infectious chorus:

“Hey there, Sister Wife
Get the hell out, it’s my night
You don’t know the way to his heart like I do.”

Not really sure what’s happening in the video, but if I had to take a guess, I’m pretty sure that this is what the Rapture is going to look like. Maybe.

Alex Winston – “Sister Wife” from stereogum on Vimeo.

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