July 2014

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The Gaslight Anthem "Get Hurt" (Emil Nava, dir.)

You might not know it, but once upon a time Goo Goo Dolls were a swaggering, staggering, scrappy rock band trying to slash their way out of Buffalo. Cult favorites, especially for those looking for an underdog replacement for The Replacements, but not even a blip on the mainstream until they slowed it down for the undeniable, inclusionary smash "Name." 

The new Gaslight Anthem single is a moodier animal, but it's a similar sort of song that makes damn sure you know the goal isn't to be Bruce Springsteen's favorite young punk/rock band from NJ, but to rule the world. "Get Hurt" wears a bruised heart on its sleeve and meets the pop world halfway — imagine a hydra consisting of "Waiting For A Girl Like You", "Careless Whisper" and the Springsteen ballad of your choice — while still maintaining some ragged edges around this moody ballad. The video even features some dancing, but don't get too nervous: Gaslight leaves that to the patrons who find spiritual release as the band just focuses on doing their thing.

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FACT: It's Fun to Watch Music Videos with Director Isaac Rentz

Is it ok for a grown man to admit that he misses MTV's TRL? Of course it is, especially if that man is a professional director who closely studied each music video on that countdown, picking up all sorts of cinema and style tricks along the way. 

The man in question is Isaac Rentz, who has a new tumblr with the self-explanatory title, This Day In TRL. And a quick read of blog may make you wish for a return of the show so you can sit on a couch with him and listen to him point out details like:

on Avril Lavigne "Complicated" - "If you want to know what real editing looks like, witness the moment at 00:03 where Avril skates up to her friends, stops on a dime, falls into a squatting position- presumably on her board- and gracefully manages to deliver her line. The editor deserves a Nobel Prize for bending the laws of physics to make it look like Avril knows how to skate."

or

on Hanson "If Only" - "[Director Dave] Meyers immediately confirms he’s behind the camera at :9 with his signature zoom-out transition that appeared in every video he ever directed. It looks like low-rent Matrix bullet time FX and I’m sure in 2000 it screamed “expensive.” It became a staple of early-00’s TRL videos, even ones Meyers didn’t direct"

So, while I don't think TRL is coming back — except when co-opted by Ariana Grande — maybe there's room for a sort of Beavis and Butthead, but with Isaac pointing out all that is genius and often overlooked in music videos. And, hey, I wouldn't mind playing Beavis in that duo.

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2 Chainz "Freebase" (Dos Cadenas, dir.)

First off, you have to love any video that opens with a message that it's "for entertainment purposes only" — or maybe it's a coy way of saying that too many videos are boring and serve no purpose at all. Anyway. But, it's the subsequent lines of the foreward that make you realize that 2 Chainz is treading on hallowed ground, or rather moonwalking. 

"Freebase" is a lo-fi remake of Michael Jackson's "Thriller" video, placing 2 Chainz into that red leather jacket and getting his groove on with some walking dead. It's awesome, even if I wish they had an Ola Ray cameo in it.

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Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros "Life is Hard" (Benjamin Kutsko, dir.)

What looks at first like a collection of vintage newsreels turns out have a Zelig suprise with singers Alex Ebert and Jade Castrinos integrated into some unlikely places...

Benjamin Kutsko, director:

"The only shooting I did was a day of green screen with Alex and Jade. We had to shoot all of the plates specific for each shot to match the lighting, so the edit had to be done before we ever shot anything. It was a much larger undertaking than I anticipated, so much time researching all of the history and finding the moments that felt right. And then there was the issue of rights and working within the budget, trying to find as much public domain as possible and saving the budget for the shots we had buy." 

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