Video Rewind 05.01.2015

Phantoms featuring Nicholas Braun “Voyeur”

Phantoms and Nicholas Braun recorded a song “Voyeur” together. The video is a black and white feature of a very wound up ballet dancer. You can see she’s a bit nervous as she is getting ready in her dressing room. She’s stretching, and sucking in her stomach to make sure that she looks all the part she is trying out for. The audition doesn’t go well, as she makes it through her routine fine until the very end. Falling down while she tries to hold a pose sends her storming out of the room. The fury that follows from her as she can’t handle the failure eventually leads to a dance performance with security guards as her back up dancers. Could be she’s just a perfectionist. Or maybe the world of ballet is filled with sociopaths and psychopaths akin to the movie Black Swan

Death From Above 1979 “Virgins”

Death From Above 1979’s video for “Virgins” deals with a group of supposed virgins. It follows a group of Amish teens who rather than take off for New York City to see if they really want to live the Amish life, eat flowers and mushrooms to get high. Also, they have found the means to have electric guitars and drum sets. At one point a young man brings out an urn. If it’s filled with remains or cocaine, I can’t be sure. What is certain is that they snort this and get even more inebriated. Well, now they’re completely out of their minds. One young woman stares at a photograph only to see the woman in the photograph smile at her and hand her a banana, skin peeled back, and with the very tip covered in a red substance. I’m not sure if these kids are actually getting high, or if they are just faking it. I don’t believe the common flowers or even the mushroom they picked has mind altering chemicals in it. In a way, it feels like them trying to test a theory based on something they’ve heard about the city folk. I mean, when the police show up at the end, they don’t even bother to chase down any of the kids. It feels like they’ve done this before, and that other than the kids being loud, no crime has been committed.

Muse “Dead Inside”

Muse’s video for “Dead Inside” sees the band and two dancers covered in flour. The white powder makes for some interesting visuals, but mostly with the dancers. As the duo move around their momentum stirs the air bringing the dust up in waves. It’s a visual that at times actually gets in the way. For one segment the dancers are surrounded by hovering crafts with lights on them. The resulting dust up and light shining makes it difficult to see what’s going on. And yet, the focus of the dancers is intriguing as while Matthew Bellamy sings about being dead inside, the dancers take turns controlling each other. In the end it seems as if the woman gets the final say, essentially controlling with her hands the man’s head. She’s the one who rises alone glaring at the camera with dark eyes.

The Rentals “It’s Time to Come Home”

The Rentals new video for “It’s Time To Come Home” follows a group of elderly people dressed in white suits you’d expect to wear while trying to keep yourself clean from some kind of contaminate. They don’t wear any face masks, but they still are trying not to have any spread of contact from themselves to the people on the streets. They also seem to be using the old “does this smell like chloroform” gag while knocking people out and throwing them in the back of a van. The way I see the video play out is a group of old people looking for younger bodies for themselves. Everyone becomes connected with electrodes and seem to all be shocked. While it isn’t clear what is happening, I take it that the people are switching bodies. Matt Sharp stands outside of the electrifying room looking through a window. By the end of the video we see an older version of Matt before the screen goes blank and reads “To be continued”. Hopefully the next video will explain more what is going on. In the mean time, don’t get yourself kidnapped by The Rentals.

Alabama Shakes “Sound & Color”

Alabama Shakes have a new video for “Sound & Color”. The video tells the tale of an astronaut that has been sleeping while his ship is in hyperspace. As he comes out of his sleep pod, his body takes some time to come to its senses. In a similar way as he walks through the ship his mind begins to recall memories. Slowly he puts together as much as he can about where he is and what he is doing. When he goes to the control room he tries to contact someone over radio waves. No one answers him, and he looks at a readout of paper that indicates warning messages. It turns out he has veered off course by 500 years. If this means that he is merely 500 light years away from Earth, or that he has returned to Earth 500 years later than intended I can’t say. All I know is that he is completely alone and lost everything that ever mattered to him.

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