12.09.14: The Last VJ’s Top 5 Music Videos of the Week
Welcome to The Last VJ, music fans! Frankly, everything this week is going to plant scarab beetles in your soul. It’s dark music for a dark time of year, but if you hold on there’s a geek surprise at the end that will lighten the mood. Until then though, into darkness we a-go.
O’Death, “Roam”
I honestly haven’t seen a music video from O’Death since “Bugs”, which is a shame because that was a great piece of work. Now they’ve unleashed “Roam”, and it’s not for the faint of heart. If you’ve ever gotten really deep into Clive Barker’s Books of Blood you’ll understand the vibe. I’m not talking the movie makers, but weird body stuff like “In the Hills, the Cities”, “Skins of the Fathers”, and “The Body Politic”. That’s what comes to mind watching the video as spires and towers are built from collages of human hands and faces. The longer it goes, the more gruesome it feels.
clipping., “Get Up”
Rare is the video that makes me say, “Oh shit” out loud, but “Get Up” is one. On the one hand it’s the most irritating song ever done. With a backing track made almost entirely of an alarm clock squeal it’s so grating under the eloquent rap that it’s a duel to both love and hate with the song itself.
However, despite the essentially minimalist nature of the video you come to a terrible realization around the second chorus that will knock you on your ass. Carlos Lopez Estrada and Cristina Bercovitz do a fantastic job keeping the terrible truth, the violent twist coming so slowly that it will take your breath away.
I Love You But I’ve Chosen Darkness, “You Are Dead to Me”
Jesse Gelaznik delivers some gimmick cinema on this one, but it’s good gimmick cinema. “You Are Dead to Me” is an appropriately creepy video that matches well with the droning, dismal track from ILYBICD. It reminds me of a ‘70s version of Ulver’s “Magic Hollow”, as if someone had taken the themes of woodland paganism and transported them into the genesis of the Satanic Panic. Then they filmed the whole thing through Super 8. It’s stark, dark, and beautiful, but unsettling for all that.
Donkong, “Jawz”
Simply put, “Jawz” is the greatest treatise on the black comedy of war since Dr. Strangelove. Mike Linde takes us along the path of an insane dictator looking to create bioweapons. In doing so he unleashes only dancing zombies, and then systematically proceeds to exile his staff until only he is left. Crazed and confused, he wanders into the orgy of broken people he has left in his wake. It’s grotesque and hilarious, chilling and slapstick. The coming apocalypse has rarely been so perfectly summed up.
Sonya Belousova, “Guile’s Theme”
Finally, I’ll admit that this isn’t much of a video. There’s no story to be shown and no narrative to explore. All it is is a perfect capture of a tremendously talented young woman bringing one of the best Street Fighter themes to glorious life on the piano. I just wanted to tell you how fabulous it was.
Jef has a new story, a tale of mad robot nurses and a man of miracles called “Sleepers, Wake!” available now. You can also connect with him on Facebook.
