Valentine’s Day seems to be a pretty polarizing holiday. If you’re sharing it with someone special this year, the first video is probably what you’d like to see. If not, and you’re in the mood for some schadenfreude, the second is about a married brute going out to the clubs and then being blackmailed by the one he pursues.
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The Go! Team
7 FebA contemporary 6-person group from the UK whose sound was inspired by double dutch jump roping chants. Some serious energy, and videos very much of the retro persuasion. If that’s sounds like a good time to you, then let’s go!
Are You Ready For Some Football???
31 JanI’m not sure how much overlap there is in demographics between The Daily Psychedelic Video and avid followers of American football. The latter isn’t something that’s ever held my attention, but when a friend of mine sent me this video after I had been outside the US for a while, I developed a new appreciation for how bizarre the whole scene really is.
I invite you to bask in the insanity.
Thank you, Kyle, for showing me this one.
Oddisee – After Thoughts
24 JanGorgeous visuals overlaid on top of one another, imagery varied but put together oh so elegantly, mightily chilled out trip-hop to accompany it all. Ladies and gentlemen, I hope this one is a suitable contribution to your weekend recreations.
Clubfeet – Everything You Wanted
17 JanI have great respect for simplicity. I admire this video for its use of just one feature of film editing to give us something to follow and anticipate the whole way through.
Pretty Lights
10 JanMy lifestyle has allowed me to step in and out between life in the city and life in rural America. I’m about to give up the cities for quite a long while, and videos like this do well in capturing what it is that I’m going to miss. Day to day lives of people in all different states of mind and stages in life, all of it melting together in the streets. Briefly and constantly. If you’ve only got time for one video, and you’re feeling something mellow, existential, anthropological, I’d take the first one. If you’re in need of something with a bit more energy and want more of a ride than a people-watching experience, maybe give Door Number 2 a try.
Lest Ye Become a Monster
27 DecNearly everyone I’ve shown this video has said they wished they understood the lyrics. I haven’t been able to find the article for some time, but I remember years ago reading an interview in which the artist said that the video was supposed to be about people’s tendency to shape their identities according to their profession, trying to make themselves more closely resemble some kind of ideal prototype of a master of this occupation. If there are any Russian-speakers out there, maybe you can confirm or refute this?
Regardless of the meaning, there is something I find oh so visually satisfying in the marching sequence and the clay homunculus that accompanies each profession. The rap might be a bit abrasive, but now that this one’s a staple of my collection, I always find myself trying to mumble along despite not speaking a word of Russian.
And if you dig the featured artist, maybe search our archives for Lyapis Trubetskoy…
(Thank you, Warren, for showing me this years ago.)
There’s Gonna Be Some Rock n Roll This Winter
20 DecThis tune has become a staple amongst my former flatmates and I during this time of year. Actually, we sing it most of the year, but it gets a far better reception when we’re in the appropriate season. The video brings us back to the grand old days of glam rock, when psychedelic visuals were left to the costume department. A time when Roy Wood (who is better known for his days with the Electric Light Orchestra) looked like a Muppet from another dimension. And those lyrics are warm and fuzzy enough to bring holiday cheer to the biggest Grinches around. Like the bassist. Honestly, why is he being such a goon?
Oh well. At the very least, if you find yourself struggling to find the right politically correct greeting this season, I’d just go with telling folks to “Have a wonderful rock and roll winter, baby.”
Made from Stock
13 DecWhen a friend showed me this video for the first time, I asked him, “How would you go about making a video like this? How would you describe this vision to a director?” It turns out that you don’t. Carl Burgess was given complete freedom in creating this video for Ratatat, and the finished product was made entirely from stock footage. Here’s a full article on the production: http://www.fastcodesign.com/1662128/carl-burgess-director-of-the-years-creepiest-coolest-music-video
And while the above is my favorite, I think it would be dishonest of me to post a Ratatat video for a community like the DPV without tossing in at least one more. I’d say Falcon Jab is probably the most traditionally psychedelic of their videos–that I’ve seen, anyway–but there’s just something all too human in the video for Drugs that made me choose it for my headline this Saturday.
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