Marina and The Diamonds “State of Dreaming”
Marina and The Diamonds‘ new single “State of Dreaming” is off her new album Electra Heart. Marina croons about how her life is a play, and how the only time she’s awake is when she’s dreaming. That’s the life of a performer. You’re never entirely yourself, but you’re also never entirely someone else. The video setting looks like the corner to some stage performance with Marina sitting in front of scenery that includes stairs that lead to nowhere. We begin in black and white before pulling the Wizard of Oz switch to full color. The whole time Marina is grandiosely moving as though she were acting, or even performing in an opera. It’s all so much more fascinating than real life. Even the dress she’s wearing is not the everyday attire of us normal folk. Yet, she makes it well known that this is a life of captivity. She cannot do whatever she wants, but has to follow some direction of others. You can’t stop making music, shooting videos, doing publicity. You’re not free at all but now tethered to your craft. The only place you are free to be is in your dreams. So true for the rest of us as well. I guess you don’t have to be Marina and The Diamonds to know the beauty of dreaming every night.
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The Darkness “With a Woman”
The Darkness released an album titled Hot Cakes last year. The album features “With A Woman”. The video, bear with me here, is a weird twist on “Hot For Teacher.” We find our young heartthrob in high school making out with his girl. Then, the finest specimen of a biology teacher I’ve ever seen walks in. Seriously, if biology teachers looked like this I’d be more interested in biology than I already am. As a side bar, a calculator makes its way into the video just to demonstrate the old “boobies” gag. You know, typing in 5318008 on the calculator and turning it upside down. Come on, calculators have no business in biology. It’s a science where multiplication and division are the same thing. Back to the video. Today’s lesson is on the bear. As the teacher doesn’t seem to mind bending over to show off her chest, or sticking her backside straight out to pick up papers, how can you blame the young impressionable blokes for getting very interested. Here comes the kicker. Our young Romeo has been drawing inappropriate pictures of himself and the teacher. Ok, so they’re not that inappropriate, but they are enough to upset his girlfriend. We come to find out that he has been drawing the teacher as a bear. This is awkward. It all ends with the teacher turning into a bear in a freak chemical accident. See it for yourself. I can honestly say that while I have found some of my teachers attractive, I’ve never imagined them as an animal.
The Uncluded “Scissorhands”
The Uncluded is a collaboration between Aesop Rock and Kimya Dawson. Together they are releasing an album titled Hokey Fright on May 7th. The first single is a song titled “Scissorhands”. While Edward Scissorhands is referenced in the song, we do not get to see either Aesop or Kimya rock the scissorhands. Not to be outdone, though, we do find some talent working in the video. Face it, women don’t just paint their nails anymore. Now they can have all kinds of fancy designs on them. What we see are a woman’s nails being painted with these fancy designs included the band’s name The Uncluded, as well as portraits of Aesop Rock and Kimya. While not the most fascinating of videos it does go well with the skill that one Edward Scissorhands demonstrated. As a bonus, the song is catchy. It’s a bit of an upgrade from last week where we watched Aesop really exploring his nostril.
Brandt Brauer Frick featuring Om’Mas Keith “Plastic Like Your Mother”
On March 19th, Brandt Brauer Frick will release their new album, Miami. Their single “Plastic Like Your Mother” features vocalist Om’Mas Keith. The song implies something to the effect of being fake as one’s maternal parent. The video could be a substitute for Daft Punk works. We see the trio of dance hall maestros and Om’Omas on stage center. Dancers dressed as television cameras come out and dance around them. It’s quite the choreographic feat. Getting everyone to do their job on time and in unison is always hard work. The cool thing is that from time to time we get point of view shots from some of the cameras. This means at least some of the dancers actually had cameras in their headgear. While I can’t come up with how being plastic like your mother and dancing television cameras relate, I can say that it’s still an interesting piece. It’s like an unusual scenario where Willy Wonka owns a television studio and has camera people instead of Oompa Loompas.
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Unknown Mortal Orchestra “Swim and Sleep (Like a Shark)”
Unknown Mortal Orchestra released an album entitled II back in February. The album features the track “Swim and Sleep (Like a Shark)”. The video has nothing to do with sharks. We begin this adult puppet show with a male puppet masturbating in his bathroom while looking across the street with binoculars at a female who is in her shower. This woman deserves to be spied upon. No, she doesn’t. But why wouldn’t you have curtains in your bathroom? Where’s your shower curtain? Who gets naked in front of a window and is surprised by peeping toms? Our sexual deviant is obviously depressed and worried. He goes to see a therapist, possibly the worst therapist ever. While divulging all his troubles he looks to find his therapist masturbating while looking at a horse with binoculars. I swear, this isn’t bestiality week. Where do you go from here? You find hobbies. Our sad little hero begins to paint only to be ridiculed by some unruly gentlemen who graffiti a wall. They’re mean, boys and girls. Don’t be like them. He returns home where he sits disappointingly on his bed. Looking out the window he realizes that someone is gawking at him through binoculars. With the uneven shake motions we can assume that this admirer is wanking one off. I can only guess it’s his neighbor returning the favor. Why else would he be smiling? Hey, it is sometimes good to be the desire of someoneelse’s sexual fantasy.
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