Keep Shelly in Athens featuring Ocean Hope “Now I’m Ready”
Keep Shelly In Athens recently debuted a video for “Now I’m Ready”. The song features Ocean Hope. While it may appear at first to be a tale about a woman who loves to get her hands dirty by planting in the forest, it’s not. This is a tale of love. They say you hurt the ones you love, and in some cases you straight out murder them. That’s the case here. It’s not known what is said or done to set this woman off. All that’s clear is that this relationship didn’t last beyond breakfast. She puts in the work of dragging her former beau deep in the woods and digging a hole to bury him. When she’s finished she glances up at the trees and feels peaceful at last. Some people may enjoy a nice walk in the woods. Others prefer a nice burial in the woods. Get to know your lovers, people.
Lawrence Rothman featuring Charlie XCX “Oz vs Eden”
Lawrence Rothman teamed up with Charlie XCX for the song “Oz vs Eden”. The video plays out like the next installment of American Horror Story. You have an angel who may or may not be on drugs. You have the blonde twins who are clearly up to no good. There’s the devil lady in the bathtub. Oh, and let’s not forget our weird version of Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy who themselves may be experiencing a bad trip by the stairs. The costumes in the video are nice especially for this time of year. And from the title you can gather that things are going to be a little weird here. Oz is a magical land that is, or was depending on when you join the narrative, terrorized by a wicked witch. Eden was a magical place until a snake convince humans to do the one thing they weren’t supposed to do. Somewhere in between lies this video.
Kishi Bashi “Q and A”
Kishi Bashi have just touched my heart with the video for “Q and A”. This animated feature is about a young girl who loves rockets and a fox. I’ll take this pair over anything Peg + Cat has any day of the week. No offense to that show, I just prefer my space adventures to carry more suspense than keeping a monster from eating all the chicks. Back to the video. The girl and fox each have their own ships that they launch from Earth. They make it pretty far into space when they are attacked by aliens. Here’s where the feels come in. The fox takes a hit and is jettisoned from his ship. Let’s ignore that this should kill him. He’s close to a black hole and starts to get sucked in. The girl flies over to save him, but with the black hole so strong, they’re both now being sucked in. She thinks quick and is able to save the fox but at the cost of her going in. There’s a wave, and a tear down my check, before she’s gone. She goes on to live the rest of her age until she’s an old woman. The fox has seen her entire life through the black hole. He makes a desperate move to get to her. There’s clearly a lesson in this allegory, and it has to do with never losing your sense of wonder as a child.
Mura Masa featuring Shura “Love For That”
Mura Masa’s video for “Love For That”, the collaboration work with Shura, begins with a couple sitting across one another attached by a long chain and a handcuff on one hand. They get up and started dancing, even using the chain at various points of their performance. The problem here is that the dance is a representation of a problem they are going through. Eventually, the female is able to free herself from her handcuff. She makes a break for outside, where she starts to dance on her own. When the man chases her out, they yell at one another before she storms off. We pan back inside where the man is seated as he was at the start of the video, but now he is alone. A relationship is a two way street, but sometimes it can feel like you’re stuck in traffic on it. You just want to get off, but nothing’s moving. In cases like this, you may have to get out of the car and just go. It’s not ideal, but it’s better than feeling handcuffed to something you don’t need or want anymore.
Lazyboy Empire “Vampire”
Lazyboy Empire have fun with vampires in their video for “Vampire”. This plays out a bit like a cross between Buffalo Bill from Silence of the Lambs and a run of the mill vampire. The man listening to an mp3 player at the start of the video is indeed a vampire. He stalks his victims on the city street, and even though there are other people around, he seems to never get caught biting anyone’s neck. He takes his victims to a party van where he transports them to some facility that he has prepared with plastic. I guess he doesn’t want to get blood everywhere. He just plops the bodies down wherever and proceeds to dance and play the saxophone. This is all being recorded on a video camera. Eventually, he finds a female vampire. I guess in a way, this couple continues on biting victims and taking them to the facility where they plop the bodies down and dance on camera. I’m not sure that there has ever been a serial killing couple who were actual vampires. But these two sure do look like they’re having a great time.
