Here at Nonstop Sound, we feel as though the music video, as an art form, is highly undervalued. In an effort to bring attention to the forgotten format we’ve created the Video Roundup, a weekly column highlighting some of the best (read: artistic, fun and creative) new music videos out there. We hope you enjoy!
Our first offering comes from Austin, TX based The Black Angels who’s third full-length Phosphene Dream was released last month on the resurrected Blue Horizon label. The track “Telephone” is a tale of heartbreak we’ve all experienced while the video depicts a game we’ve all played. The theme for the video is a take on the World War I story of a message being sent down the trench line that began as “Send reinforcements, we’re going to advance,” but arrives at its final destination as “Send three and four pence, we’re going to a dance.” In the same fashion the video shows the quintet sitting at a diner counter as the camera pans down the line to the final member who sits next to red telephone. The music pauses, the phone rings and a message gets relayed back through the ranks except this time they are outfitted in masks. The unwelcomed message riles the band member at the opposite end of the counter and the same message the WWI troops received flashes across the screen, but the camera quickly pans back down the line, each member more possessed than the last. See The Black Angels with Black Mountain at Bowery Ballroom on November 3 and Music Hall of Williamsburg on November 4.
Our second spotlight shines on The Moondoggies and their video “Empress of the North” off their forthcoming album Tidelands, (Hardly Art). The animated clip is a road film of sorts focusing on the travels of a bearded gentleman in search of a heart that will power his river boat appropriately named Empress of the North. After retrieving the heart from the bottom of the ocean, he returns home to take the Empress on her maiden voyage only to encounter a storm that beaches his ship and has him realizing that he is better off without the heart. As he tosses the heart back in the ocean the song proclaims, “I don’t expect you to understand / what is exactly inside a man,” and we become conscious of the fact that we all have different wants and needs. The Moondoggies invade Mercury Lounge on October 27.
Last but not least we have an offering from the Canadian quartet Hollerado. Their new video for “Americanarama” was directed by Greg Jardin and is nearly certain to catch viral fire due to its one take, OK Go like style. There isn’t much to say about this low-budget, stop motion video except that it’s a heck of a lot of fun. Enjoy it below and see Hollerado when they play in support of Free Energy and Foxy Shazam at the Bowery Ballroom on November 24 and Music Hall of Williamsburg on November 26.
