This is a great song from 1998 by the band commonly abbreviated as BEP. 21st century makes me really sad sometimes.
Hello creepy! So here’s how it goes: while our pink suburban housewife is preparing her signature casserole dish and disturbingly green jello dessert vigorously topped up with a generous ladle of whipped cream, mysterious barking interrupts the family idyll. Fortunately, there’s the all female choir that steps in to explain the circumstances. The viewer learns that the household lament is caused by the devil who has inhabited the husband’s body. Bad luck, I’d say. The story unfolds, the possessed man freaks out the barbecue guests and even the local witch (the proud owner of 17 cats) seems to be helpless. In the end, the story offeres an unexpected, and slightly anticlimactic, twist.
The fairly literal visual rendition of the events is accompanied by the “live” commentary from the wife and the unforgettable choir which magnifies the dramatic aspect of the story, channeling Ancient Greek Theater.
This curious little story might have been easily inspired by Polanski’s Rosamary’s Baby… or is it too far-fetched of a connection?
As it usually happens with “cult” bands, the internet does not know much about Pulsallama which graciously provided us with this ear and eye candy. Apparently the song proved hugely successful amongst collage audiences and Manhattan alternative club-goers in 1982. Bless them. I’m fascinated, naively wishing we had more girlbands with hit songs like that these days.
WTF? - was the question I asked myself havinf stumbled into the above.Now, that I’ve watched it several times in a row the question remains constant. What is this? A real life reincarnation of Casper the Friendly Ghost? Albeit the dude is not a ghost! He is a giant head floating in the air creeping on this poor sausage connoisseur. It would’ve all been nauseatingly twee with the Zooey Deschanelesque lady being all cute and deeply immersed in her thoughts..while rollerblading. But it’s not, as someone ingeniously (?) came up with adding this giant head, and I mean giant. I don’t love music making like that but the giant blue head surely deserves some attention.
goodbye
Everyone, or at least everyone who knows of Aztec Camera, also knows that they are one of those severely under-appreciated UK bands from the 80/90s. God knoww why. Not everyone knows though that they developed a taste for funky looking video-clips. Oblivious is my all time favorite and so is the video. I am certain that there must be some sort of a grand idea behind the tarot cards popping out on screen in seemingly insignificant moments. Plus that computer generated pink fence carefully guarding the protagonists. Random? I don’t think so. Unfortunately, despite my avid attempts at deciphering the subliminal meaning behind all this, I got nothing. I remain oblivious. (the unsubtle pun - very much intended)
The rather popular band Beach House has recently become even more popular. The reason for this sudden popularity are, most probably, the indie music connoisseurs’ raving paeans over Beach House new-ish album (which title I, quite frankly, can’t remember and opening a new tab in order to Google it does not seem particularly worth of my time and probably would not really ad much value to this post, ignorance is bliss.)
Anyways, I still love Beach House. Teen Dream, their previous record made cycling through the snow in 2010 much more pleasant of an activity. My personal favorite Lover of Mine comes with a rather surprising visual embellishment which I only came across a few weeks ago. I remember seeing many a few other videos for Teen Dream but they were nothing compare to this gutsy piece of art. Unlike the song itself, the clip relishes sex, violence, chest hair, and let’s be honest - its “wtf factor” exceeds everything I’ve posted here before. To be even more honest, I really don’t get “what the author meant ” but we’ve got some rather brilliant characters in there. The Indian Shaman and his two pals who like to jump over flaming hoola-hoops make a quite mesmerizing site. I also like the giant baby. The main long-haired protagonist is a bit of a let-down though, pink bathrobe? What a cliche.
The YouTube reactions as always entertaining.
And here’s some for those “DIY” purists. These guys epitomize the ethos. They’ve got their own cassette label, relish basement recordings and everything basement related, I suppose.
I have not been able to stop listening to this for days. It’s a pretty straight-forward, one could think, simple track. Yet, it’s irresistible, gleefully infectious, and filled with that un-jaded buoyant vigor. A total sing-along on top of that. It makes me want to move to Portland (ia) and spending some quality time in its finest basements, and probably set up a zine or make cover art for all these cassettes.
The video aesthetics should not surprise anyone. It kind of looks like an unintended pastiche with all the slightly overcrowded shots we have all seen somewhere before. The guys are indulging in every day activities hanging out in different rooms of the house, including the bathroom obviously. They are wearing pretty unorthodox and wildly colorful clothing which will probably cause a few of these “hipster shit” comments on YouTube once the video gets more popular. Who cares?
Here’s a little curious clip about a couple of anthropomorphic lighters on a casual night out in the movies. At some point, the two jump into the on-screen and devour junk foods at a cartoon drive-in. That’s just a small part of the clip but seems quite prominent and shows the biggest narrative potential. The rest evolves around the broadly presented idea of movement which ties in pretty neatly with the song title. So we’ve got some impressive routines from figure skaters, various explosions as well as some weird chemical substances of different textures and densities. Some of the very flubber-like (remember the great Robin Williams’ film from the mid 90s?). Anyways, it’s all quite mesmerizing.
Who are the Laurels? They are from Sydney. I don’t know much about them, though I really like the guitar work in this song.
New York Magazine just informed me that the “wedding season” has officially commenced. Hence, this little visual accompaniment of the song Crows by A Grave With No Name seems highly appropriate for the occasion. Btw, the guy behind this “grave” has a name, thanks to the popular online search engine, it wasn’t difficult to establish it’s Alex. Alex has “awesome long metal dude hair” and a penchant for feedback induced lo-fi production. In Crows, he sounds a little like another fellow who shares similar aesthetics called Bradford Cox.
Anyways, the video perfectly sums up any wedding-y type situation. The profile of the proud in-laws, yawning bridesmaids, stained glass windows of that perfect little church. But most of all the doubting wife-to-be whose Ancient Roman looking profile is caught be the anonymous voyeur. Does she want to be taken home?
Twin Sister - Bad Street
And here’s something different but who said that there is anything wrong with infectious and, let’s not be afraid of this epithet, c-a-t-c-h-y summer hits. Especially if they are immaculately crafted.
I remember very clearly when I became aware of the Brooklyn-based band Twin Sister. It was “introduced” to me by a fellow Brooklynite one night at one of the Amsterdam’s finest bars back in 2010. What a precious piece of recommendation. As much as I don’t like the idea of devoting all the attention to the “cute female singer”, Andrea Estella is just too special. She is irresistibly adorable in the least annoying way which doesn’t make you want to strangle this pile of cuteness.
Andrea’s well executed whimsical ensemble seems genuine and effortless. And so is this beautiful video. Make no mistake, this bunch of cool kids are not just randomly crashing a Hispanic family fiesta. The clip was shot at Andrea’s family house in Long Island with a generous participation of friends and relatives. Everyone is having a blast with all the swimming, the food, the dancing and the ever so popular piñata. It is truly admirable how there are still people capable of making sincere and touching clips that wouldn’t make you cringe for a second. And what about the little girl’s face when she sees all the birthday gifts? Priceless.
Ela Orleans - Apparatus
Tres cool, c’est ici! There’s something fundamentally French about this Ela girl despite her Slavic roots. The origin of her foreignness is difficult to pinpoint. Nico-esque - people say and I obediently concur. The person who made this tasteful little clip knows pretty. Eyes appear to have been one of the most “in” body part for a while now. The visual appeal behind “an eye” has been used to its fullest aesthetic potential. Plus a pretty lady and many brilliantly balanced colorful sequences. Movies for ears and music for eyes at once.
