Youth Lagoon “Rotten Human”
Youth Lagoon – Rotten Human from Fat Possum Records on Vimeo.
The real stars of Youth Lagoon’s video for “Rotten Human” were the offscreen people who picked the location and shot the video. I can’t explain the floating heads in some of the shots, but I can say that the captures of nature in this video are superb. I don’t understand the appeal of cities, so for me watching the green landscape with cliffs and the sea is where it’s at. I think the lack of trees draws me as well. I would like to walk an open landscape just like in this video and feel as though I am truly alone.
MUTEMATH “Monument”
Some of the lyrics to MUTEMATH’s “Monument” say “let’s make a monument for our love”. That’s why the home of Charles “LaLa” Evans is perfect for this video. Charles was married to his high school sweetheart Louise for about 60 years when she passed in 2011. That was when he turned their house into a museum of their love. The video captures how the walls are covered with photos and memorabilia of their relationship. There’s even a television where he watches old films of the two. The remarkable thing is that he’s laughing and smiling at reliving these memories. It must be hard to be with someone you love for so long, and then wake up one day and they aren’t here anymore. Yet, LaLa keeps on living and demonstrating his power of love. It is a true monument to what his wife and he shared.
Major Lazer featuring Wild Belle “Be Together”
I haven’t thought about Wild Belle much since I saw them perform live in 2013, but I was excited to see that they worked together with Major Lazer on the song “Be Together”. The video features Wild Belle’s Natalie Bergman and Diplo as a couple of motorcycle drifters. As we learn early, Diplo isn’t around anymore. We get a Mexican style funeral where Diplo’s body is wrapped in cloth and lined with flowers. All the people gathered are dressed in black, but there are plenty of vibrantly colorful flowers in their hands. The yellow flowers particularly pop off the screen, but of particular notice are the red roses Natalie carries. As we follow the video we see that there is indeed a motorcycle accident. Diplo’s body is laying on the ground with dark red blood around it. Natalie is also on the ground, but there is no blood near her, and she is starting to stir. Just as she brings the red roses to the funeral, I can’t help but feel that she brought the crash resulting in Diplo and his blood on the ground.
ODESZA featuring Zyra “It’s Only”
ODESZA – It's Only (feat. Zyra) – Official Music Video from ODESZA on Vimeo.
The beginning of ODESZA and Zyra’s video for “It’s Only” shows two humans sleeping under a pelt near a fire. It’s an image that takes us back to the earliest of man’s days on this planet. While the two are sleeping, another man holding a stick comes across them and looks at the female with the eyes of desire. We’re then taken on a journey of time with people making discoveries and finding that others stand in their way. There’s the Spanish conquistador finding a nugget of gold in the water only to look up and see a Mayan, or Incan, or some such young boy staring at him. We know the mess that this kind of meeting lead to. Europeans killed native Americans and took everything they had. In a way it reminds me of General George S. Patton’s poem “Through a Glass, Darkly”. In it, Patton writes about his lust for blood throughout the ages in various forms from the vile desire for rape, to hunger, to vengeance, to winning a battle. He keeps coming back as different people, sometimes on the victorious side, other times on the losing side. Yet, he is constantly involved in this bit of history that repeats itself. This all brings us back to the swerve of the video. The man with the stick who appeared to be longing for the woman doesn’t use his stick to attack the other man. Rather, he’s been enamored by the fire all along. So he dips his stick into the fire, and takes the flame with him
Point Point “Life in Grey”
Those who can do. Those who can’t teach. And teaching can make you crazy. In a way you could say that is the story of Point Point’s video for “Life in Grey”. It starts out with someone in a garage sharpening to pieces of metal into long and sharp blades. It then takes a turn to a choreographer and her dancers. It’s interesting how there is one scene where she walks over to a dancer and touches the dancer’s hair. This could be a sign that she shows favoritism to this one dancer, and might just be grooming her. I could be jumping to conclusions, so let’s just deal with the facts. The whole lot, dancers and choreographer, seem to be friends. They’re hanging out together outside of the studio, but the choreographer always seems so upset. Cue the party where everyone is dancing, smoking cigarettes, drinking alcohol, and popping pills. It’s at this point where everyone passes out. Our choreographer takes our favorite girl and drags her to the bed where she starts to undress her. Here I’m thinking she going to rape her, and when she doesn’t I’m quite grateful. But what follows isn’t a consolation. The other girls are in their leotards tied up by their hands to ropes hanging from the ceiling. Our teacher’s pet is dragged to the center of the studio, with those blades tied to her arms and a blindfold around her eyes. Another pill is dropped into her mouth, and the choreographer takes her place by the camera. The performance begins, and as the dancer spins around performing her moves she’s also killing her fellow dancers who aren’t conscious of what is happening. The question is, how much of what is happening does our dancer know about? Is she in on this, or just an unknowing tool? Psychopaths have a way of reaching people us normal folk don’t.
