Clipping featuring Mariel Jacoda “Get Up”
I have a cousin who is an art major. She recently helped out a friend in one of her classes by being part of a presentation piece. Basically, my cousin sat there with strings attached to her teeth. There’s more to it, but the point is that she was part of a presentation. It was art. Clipping’s video for “Get Up” reminds me of a presentation piece as well. We start with the artist, head to the side, one arm bent and the other straight but off to the side. We get that annoying buzz of an alarm clock going off and a red light flashing. He’s in a white tank with a hole in his upper left abdomen. When the chorus hits, he turns towards the camera and is showered in a white light. As the camera zooms out we see the hole in his abdomen is now bleeding out. This repeat itself to Clipping’s high paced vocals. A sense of urgency is coming out. The final time the chorus hits and he is showered in white, we close up onto his eyes and see a reflection of Mariel Jacoda singing the chorus. Then, Clipping falls back, now he’s dead. It’s the visuals of a man shot down trying to fight to get up. His body just will not let him.
Bite the Buffalo “Polka Dots”
It’s true, sometimes a guy just needs a good wing man. In their latest video for “Polka Dots”, Bite the Buffalo utilize a boombox for the wing man. The young man in the video doesn’t appear to have much luck with the ladies. When we stumbles upon this magic boom box that has mouths where the speakers are supposed to be, he thinks he’s found gold. Buyer beware. He takes the boombox home and quickly learns that it can be a trouble. Don’t leave your food near it. He winds up taking said boombox out to the bar, where it does help him score a girl. Pretty soon, all three pairs of lips have women on the other end. Being the nice that he is, our hero leaves the boombox with another lovable loser on the park bench.
Yuna “Broke Her”
In Yuna’s latest video for “Broke Her” we find her on the floor among other things. There’s a broken vase and the rose that was in it. There’s a camera. There are a few books, all open and laid down. Then, there’s Yuna. She finds herself among all these things but is also reflected in them. There’s a poetry book that looks opened to one of the last pages. Other books lie with their pages down and cover up, somewhere in the middle. They’re unfinished, just like Yuna in this relationship. As she sings about her ex lamenting that he broke, but she’ll be all right, we see the vase and flower come together and up onto the mantle. And just like that, as Yuna herself says she’ll be all right, the floor is clean. Yuna get’s up, because you can break her but not stop her.
Bass Drum of Death “For Blood”
The video for “For Death” by Bass Drum of Death is all about revenge. We start with a little kid in a jacket that says he’s the Town Devil. He certainly acts like he might be. Though he goes around slapping hands with the first two groups of people he meets, he also likes kicking things. It doesn’t seem to upset anyone, which is weird. He is in the process of walking his bicycle, because that’s what you do when you’re the Town Devil, until he comes across a group of boys who don’t seem to like him. They take his bicycle. But, when you’re the Town Devil you don’t let this stand. He takes off running around to hide behind a wall next to an alley. His friends are with him. At the opportune time he strikes his assailants down with a bucket presumably filled with something. What happens next is up to your imagination. The video ends here, but seeing as we are dealing with the Town Devil, it can’t be anything good.
Gary Clark Jr. “When My Train Pulls In”
Gary Clark Jr.’s video for “When My Train Pulls In” deals with two young people that would like to have better lives. One is a white girl in high school who doesn’t have much chance of making it due to the relationships she has. Her father would rather drink beer that be a good father. Her boyfriend isn’t the kind of guy she needs in her life, but she won’t leave him. He just wants her for her body, trying to get her to leave cheer leading practice, and even has her leave a meeting to get some guidance for getting into college. She doesn’t have anything to look forward to, but can’t leave. The young black man walks around with a photograph of his father in a small pocket bible he carries around. He works hard at a minimum wage job to struggle paying the bills as he looks after his mother and brother. He’s really good with his brother, too. That’s the sad part, he’s doing everything he can so that the problems the family faces aren’t felt by his brother. Only one of these two have a high probability of making it, and I’d put money on the one with at least one healthy relationship.
