Entries Tagged 'Music Video' ↓

That Peculiar Noise Art Makes.

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Perhaps lecturing at the University of Iowa last night, about pics I took a quarter-century ago of Public Enemy’s founding members, has put me in a reflective state of mind. (That presentation went grrreat, by the way, and I’m expecting to do it at other schools. E- me if you can help make this happen.)

Right now, though, check out this clip of The Art of Noise, shot at Wembley Arena for the “Produced by Trevor Horn” Prince’s Trust fundraiser, November 11, 2004, as the band performs a live version of their ill, 1984 masterwork, “Close (to the Edit).”

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Handling Our Business.

Under New Management T-shirt

Available in XS-XL for $16 ($22 in heather gray), this t-shirt, above, boasts an outline of the U.S. map that, celebrating our recent general election’s outcome, forms the words, “UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT.”

Sing it, baby!But given the passionate American outburst over Barack Obama and his ascension, not to mention the upcoming inaugural, perhaps, evoking singer Miki Howard’s exultant 1989 hit, right, that shirt should read “IN LOVE UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT.” You know what I mean?

And, in a related-unrelated, here’s a surprise that surprised me: Squint and check the director’s credit on Howard’s video.

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Funkiest. White Boys. Ever.

Kraftwerk, “Numbers,” from their Minimum-Maximum DVD

Reclusive wunderkinds Kraftwerk (“power plant,” in German) have been making ill, steely beats since 1970, when Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider, above, founded the concept group in Düsseldorf. (They’d met as students in the conservatory there, during the late ’60s.)

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Where No Man Has Gone Before.

Kirk and Spock “fanfic”

Fan fiction, or fanfic, is a literary subgenre where super-obsessed viewers of a given TV show or film write their own stories, based on the characters and conventions of that film or show, exploring new or different narrative directions that don’t appear in the original. (For example, in Lord of the Rings, having Frodo and Sam trying to kill, and take the throne from the king, Aragorn.)

Slash is a subunit of fanfic, typically written by women, that enages the otherwise straight male characters of a narrative in homosexual sex with each other. For example, at each rest stop, having Frodo toss Sam’s salad.

Without question, one of the longest ongoing and most voluminous bodies of slash belongs to the original Star Trek universe, which, for some reason, compels fans to create bodice-rippers based on the misadventures of Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock.

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Stating What’s Obvious to All.

“You’ll be hypnotized in a minute.”

One of the reasons my wife, Zakiya, and I can’t watch television together has to do with my refusal to stop talking to the TV. I’m always critiquing inconsistencies in the storyline, yakking about subtext, or adding stupid voices.

Z usually yells at me or leaves the room, but, in fact, I love trying to crash the fourth wall, and adore media that’s self-referential in that way, whether it’s Mystery Science Theater 3000, or rudely scribbled penises and word balloons on subway ads.

So, you knew I was gonna dig this: DustoMcNeato’s “Take On Me: Literal Video Version.” Here, the original lyrics, vocals, and even the tracks on Norwegian power trio a-ha’s 1985 hit have been scrapped for a hilarious, subtitled imitation that blasts the once vanguard video’s now cheesy “plot.” Oh, it’s funnier than that sounds.

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“Move” Somethin’.

“Get *down*.”

Nothing like an artist disappearing over the horizon, only to return with both jets dripping nitro. That oppressive fuel smell is Q-Tip’s “Move,” from his upcoming album, The Renaissance.

I don’t know if I’m most jolted by the public access grittiness of director Rik Cordero’s aggressively underproduced visuals, above; the brisk, stringy timbre of Q-Tip’s inimitable vocals; or the Michael Jackson-getting-stuffed-in-a-bag disassembly of the Jackson 5’s “Dancing Machine”—fashioned by the late, great Jay Dilla. I just know Q-dog’s bringin’ fire, and my eyebrows just got singed.

[via SpineMagazine.com]

Shut Your Mouth.

This guy is a bad mutha…

To me, Isaac Hayes’ “Theme from Shaft” may be the most transcendent piece of film music ever made. So, this guy, above, is either leading the greatest travesty of all time, or the second coolest thing ever: The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain’s rendition of the famed work. Don’t tell me I never gave you anything.

[via Current Virals]

Baring All.

Alanis Morissette Gives Thanks

Seeing the video for Alanis Morrissette’s “Thank U,” above, released ten years ago today, is probably the closest I’ve ever gotten to a religious experience while considering a piece of popular art.

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Whip Appeal.

“Mm-HMM!”

I was at the book party, Tuesday, for colleagues Cey Adams’ and Bill Adler’s upcoming tome DEFinition: The Art and Design of Hip-Hop, which outlines the history of graphic art in the form. (I’d urged Cey to do a book about this topic easily a decade-and-a-half before, based on the work his company, The Drawing Board, was doing in the early ’90s for pretty much everything that left Def Jam in those years. I even strategized on how we might do it together, so I’m glad that it finally exists.)

There were many faces in the house I’d not seen in a month o’ Sundays, more I’d never met before, and hugs all around, but easily the most startling reunification was with rapper Positive K, above, who I’d not run into since, well, since I was talking to Cey about doing a book on rap music and graphic design.

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The Gap Band: Making Charles Goodyear Extremely Proud in 1980.

Where there’s smoke there’s fire…

When inventor Charles Goodyear accidentally dropped a piece of untreated rubber on a hot stove and “discovered” vulcanization (“Mesoamericans” had mastered the process centuries earlier), he probably never dreamed that, over 140 years later, the notion of burning rubber would lead to a #1 R&B smash for the GAP Band. Yet, alas.

Merci to hyper-cool Digital Femme Cheryl Lynn for linking to the video, which I’d never seen, despite the track being fundamental as 11-dimensional strings when it came to me getting through senior year at Freeport High School. Most of all, though, Lynn argues that “Burn Rubber On Me (Why You Wanna Hurt Me)” should be cited as “Reason #525 why Rock Band needs a Funk Band Expansion Pack.” To which I say, hear, hear.