WATCH IT: Depeche Mode "Personal Jesus (remix)" (Patrick Daughters, dir.)

Even though I'm not sure if witches are supposed to float or sink when puritanical nitwits dump them into the water, I'm pretty sure that it's a supernatural sign if/when the body levitates out of the water. And, I'm also pretty sure this video directed by Patrick Daughters is a pretty inspired companion to this remix of the Depeche Mode classic, "Personal Jesus." --> watch "Personal Jesus (remix)"

Depeche Mode "Personal Jesus (Stargate 2011 remix)" (Mute UK)
Patrick Daughters, director | Matthew Fone, producer | The Directors Bureau, production co | Martin Ruhe, DP | Joe Guest (Final Cut), editor | Petr Kunc, production designer | MPC, post | Marianna Bruynseels, Julie Evans, post supervisors | Bill McNamara, Bryon Woofinden, vfx supervisors | Lana Kim, exec. producer | John Moule, commissioner 

NEWS: The Directors Bureau Signs Sam Brown

The Directors Bureau has announced the signing of Sam Brown to its roster. He will be repped for U.S. music video work by the company's Lana Kim.

Key directing credits by Sam Brown include:

• Foo Fighters "The Pretender"
• Corinne Bailey Rae "Put Your Records On"
• Jay-Z f/ Swizz Beats "On To The Next One"

 

WATCH IT: Brandon Flowers "Crossfire" (Nash Edgerton, dir.)

Ninjas. Charlize Theron. Brandon Flowers. Need I say more?  --> watch "Crossfire" plus a Behind The Scenes featurette

Brandon Flowers "Crossfire" (Island Def Jam)
Nash Edgerton, director/editor | Lawrence Lewis + Anke Thommen, producer | The Directors Bureau, production co | Morgan Susser, DP | The Mill - Los Anges, fx/post | Beau Leon @ New Hat, colorist | Lana Kim, executive producer

WATCH IT: M.I.A. "Born Free" (Romain Gavras, dir.)

All the opening actions in this forceful new video from M.I.A. are red herrings. Some pun intended. Director Romain Gavras delivers an allegory that perfectly captures the anger and message of "Born Free," while also delivering what amounts to a powerful rebuttal to the anti-immigrant zeitgeist that's now crescendoed with Arizona's "show me your papers" law. A powerful, sure-to-be controversial video. Warning: The video takes a very disturbing turn about midway through. There's also brief nudity. --> watch "Born Free"

M.I.A. "Born Free"
Romain Gavras, director | Mourad Belkeddar, producer | El Nino, production co | André Chemetoff, DP | Gaetan Rousseau / Paradoxal, executive production | note: Romain Gavras is signed with The Directors Bureau and repped by Lana Kim

WATCH IT: Liars "Scissor"

Liars frontman Angus Andrew is a survivor, floating along in a life raft in the middle of the ocean. Problem is, it keeps filling up with stones that come splashing out of the water and into his vessel. Escaping to a nearby boat doesn't offer any respite from the stoning problem. In fact, things only get much more hectic. Moral of the story: Sometimes you can't escape a sinking ship. --> watch "Scissor" [note: Video Static provides music video promotion services for Mute Records]

Liars "Scissor" (Mute)
Andy Bruntel, director | Jett Steiger, producer | The Directors Bureau, production co | Eli Born, DP | Ed Yonaitis, editor | Megan Fenton, production design | Jennifer Johnson & Martha Dame Cary, wardrobe | Martha Dame Cary, make-up | Mads Heldtberg, sound design | Kevin Phillips & Matt Harfield, camera crew | Lana Kim, executive producer

SNEAK PEEK: Coldplay "Strawberry Swing"

The new Coldplay video, "Strawberry Swing," is set for debut July 20 on babelgum.com. The video — directed by the creative/animation team Shynola — features a superhero version of Coldplay singer Chris Martin doing battle with a killer squirrel in a chalk board world. There are also two nice twists in terms of the video's delivery: 1) "Strawberry Swing" will be featured in the new Coldplay iphone app as a playable game; and, 2) The video will also getting a theatrical premiere as a trailer before screenings of Brüno and The Proposal at ODEON cinemas across the UK, starting July 22. A trailer of the video is below, with more info and clips at babelgum.com/coldplay.

• artist: Coldplay
• song: "Strawberry Swing"
• label: Capitol
• director(s): Shynola
• production co: The Directors Bureau

WATCH IT: Grizzly Bear "Two Weeks"

There Grizzly Bear sit, in a church, crooning all beautifully and doe-eyed and pure. So pure, that you wonder if the lights inside them will burst through their heads and explode in sparks and flames. (Spoiler alert: That's exactly what happens) Director Patrick Daughters keeps things off-kilter through both simple techniques — ie: letting the camera linger on each band member for maximum discomfort — and also more complex trickery, like the way each band member's face seems squashed and mismatched to the point where the eyes are of Margaret Keane proportions. --> watch "Two Weeks"

Grizzly Bear "Two Weeks" (Warp)
Patrick Daughters, director | Karen Lin, producer | The Directors Bureau, production co | The Mill, vfx

WATCH IT: Dept of Eagles "No One Does It Like You"

Music video maestro Patrick Daughters brings the haunting, yet childlike creations of illusrator/artist Marcel Dzama to dazzling life in this co-directed video for Grizzly Bear sideproject Department Of Eagles. "No One Does It Like You" a rumination on the horrors of war, complete with bodies everywhere and missing limbs and lockstep marches to assured death and a ghostly afterlife. It's all a bit horrible to consider, so the co-directors mask it with a Strangelovian absurdity: Dzama's characters have the same whimsical and surreal sadness that permeates his artwork, while Daughters gets everyone — even the walking wounded — dancing with grace and style. If all that sounds like high art, well, the video did indeed premiere at NYC's esteemed Museum Of Modern Art. --> watch "No One Does It Like You"

Department Of Eagles
"No One Does It Like You" (4AD)
Patrick Daughters + Marcel Dzama, director | Melody Roscher, producer | The Directors Bureau, production co | Shawn Kim, DP | Michael Wadsworth, editor | The Mill - NY, vfx | Cole Schreiber + West Sarokin, lead vfx | Vanessa Walters, choreographer | Jeff Everett, production designer

WATCH IT: Depeche Mode "Wrong"

There's a whole lotta wrong going on in this creepy, yet very welcome comeback video from Depeche Mode. First off, it's backwards. Next off, director Patrick Daughters makes sure that there's another devilish little twist everytime you think you have things figured out. What starts out like a slick car commercial devolves into a nightmarish scenario that gets increasingly f'ed up with every second. (The only thing that could be more wrong is a remix with Dana Carvey as John McLaughlin providing each "Wrong!" Can somebody get on that?) --> watch "Wrong" (YouTube, but click the HD tab)

Depeche Mode "Wrong" (Capitol)
Patrick Daughters, director | Jonathan Lia, producer | The Directors Bureau, production co | Shawn Kim, DP | Akiko Iwakawa, editor 

WATCH IT: Beck "Youthless"

How many permutations of Beck have there been over the years? Beck the leaf blowing antifolker. Beck the hip-hop pastiche master. Beck the r&b sex king. Beck the balladeer. Every album signified a mutation, a new style and a new vibe. Director Kris Moyes captures all those ch-ch-changes in a simple and perfectly executed concept. Moyes and his crew constructed and shot a series of likenesses of Beck that fittingly alternate between spot-on realistic to the more whimsical and surreal. --> watch "Youthless"

Beck "Youthless" (Interscope)
Kris Moyes, director | The Directors Bureau/Revolver Film (Australia) production co

WATCH IT: No Age "Eraser"

There's a prankster edge to indie lo-fi champs No Age that makes me think they were very happy to have their video debut in the context of  MTV's high-profile, prime-time FNMTV Premieres show to an audience that still probably doesn't know what hit them. Taking a page from early Sonic Youth or Pavement*, this L.A. duo delivers undeniable hooks and riffs, but only in short fragments that are often buried in static or bookended by squalling soundscapes. You could — and should — dig the band if you like a little dissonance to balance out the pop hooks, but most people will probably give one listen to No Age and rightfully think, "What the fuck?" The video for "Eraser" plays a similar game by taking the viewer on a hallucinatory ride that does have its own logic and beauty, even if it's near impossible and/or pointless to explain. You'll get it, or you won't. And it'll be with a passion. --> watch "Eraser"

*check out Pavement's Westing (By Musket And Sexton) compilation. It rocks

• MTV
• Music Videos
• MTV Shows
• Entertainment News

No Age "Eraser" (Sub Pop)
Andy Bruntel, director/FX/editor | Lana Kim, producer | The Directors Bureau, production co | Eli Born, DP | Mike Beamer, production designer

SHOT: Hercules & Love Affair - Kris Moyes, director

Director Kris Moyes of The Directors Bureau with Hercules And Love Affair mastermind Andrew Butler on the set of "You Belong."

artist: Hercules & Love Affair
song: "You Belong"
label: DFA/Mute
director(s): Kris Moyes
production co: The Directors Bureau

NEW RELEASE: Feist "I Feel It All"

I told my friend this new Feist video gave me flashbacks to Audioslave "Cochise." My friend, being more clever than I, countered that it made him fearful for a reprise of that Michael Jackson Pepsi ad with the flaming hair. I made an ill-advised "explosive" pun in desperation, but it was too late. His reference was better. Watching it again, however, I think we were both wrong and that the real precursor is Art Of Noise "Close To The Edit." Barrels? Check. Sparks? Check. Punctuating each melodic stroke with a slash or jab of destruction? Heck, yeah. And, more importantly, that 1984 video by legendary director Zbigniew Rybczynski marked the beginning of music video as a surreal art form and it's not a gynormous overstatement to claim director Patrick Daughters as the current heir apparent. And with this latest swooning masterpiece with the Canadian singer Feist — the previous being "1234," "My Moon, My Man" and "Mushaboom" — it's undeniable that he's found his muse. --> watch "I Feel It All" in Quicktime or via YouTube

Feist "I Feel It All" (Cherry Tree/Interscope)
Patrick Daughters, director | Emily Skinner, producer | The Directors Bureau, production co | Jim Hawkinson, DP (PS: no edits means no editor)

NEW RELEASE: St. Vincent "Jesus Saves, I Spend"

Ah, merit badges. What better way for a budding Scout to show his worth than to have ten or twenty of them sewn on his sash? Sure, it's a little bit dorky, but what else should kids do with their free time (besides multi-tasking, apparently)? Directors Andy Bruntel and AV Clubber Bucky Fukumoto make Scouting cool again in this whimsical clip for St. Vincent aka Annie Clark. Theyre's a few new badges that sound like totally awesome additions to the BSA lineup, especially the one for Book Eating. (review by Kevin Holy) --> watch "Jesus Saves, I Spend"

St. Vincent "Jesus Saves, I Spend" (Beggars)
Andy Bruntel & Bucky Fukumoto, director | Daniella Southgate, producer | AV Club /The Directors Bureau, production co | Marc Ritzema, DP | John Paul Horstmann, editor |  Megan Fenton, production designer

NEW RELEASE: Interpol "No I In Threesome"

Seated beside a dying fire in the cold ruins of an old mansion, Interpol singer Paul Banks listens to the hollow notes played on an unmanned piano. While it may seem like the start of a nifty new horror flick, director Patrick Daughters instead treats us to a visionary and quite literal traipse through the looking glass in the band’s newest effort, “No I in Threesome”. There is no escape from this crumbling edifice, only introspection, as we are guided from the past through the present to an ultimately apocalyptic future in a long tracking shot. Like the song’s theme of a dying relationship, the mansion keeps us moving in an endless cycle where freedom might not be the ultimate desire. (review by Ced Esters) --> watch "No I In Threesome" plus a "making of" special

Interpol "No I In Threesome" (Capitol)
Patrick Daughters, director | Matthew Fone, producer | The Directors Bureau, production co | Denzil Armour Brown, DP | Joe Guest @ Final Cut London, editor | Oily Williams, art director

NEW RELEASE: Sia "Buttons"

Celebrities do pretty awful things to their faces in the name of beauty. Nose jobs, cheek implants, lifts, collagen and botox injections. Staying pretty ain't for the squeamish and that's exactly what director Kris Moyes and Sia skewer in this viral video for "Buttons." The lovely Sia sings while enduring a series of painfully misguided face applications that look horrendous and probably stood a good chance of resulting in asphyxiation. Most of the face wrangling and mangling is truly absurd, yet not any more so than strategically injecting botulism into your skin to eradicate wrinkles. --> watch "Buttons"

Sia "Buttons" (Astralwerks)
Kris Moyes, director | The Directors Bureau, production co

NEW RELEASE: Bright Eyes "Hot Knives"

Director Patrick Daughters is the current king of performance videos, an underrated genre of music video that is impossible for most to master. When Daughters does his best work, he transforms the artists he works with into indie music icons. Although Conor Oberst and Bright Eyes already has an avid and worthy fan base, "Hot Knives" is the video that should propel his band onto the playlists of mainstream video channels where, not coincidentally, Daughters' "1234"  video for Feist is beginning to heat up. And where "1234" is playful, "Hot Knives," like many of Daughters' other great videos, is cinematic and supremely confident. Backlit by a swirl of psychedelic projections, Oberst's excellent songwriting and performance skills are seen in a new light; one that is masterly and mature. (review by Kevin Holy) --> watch "Hot Knives" in Quicktime 

Bright Eyes "Hot Knives" (Polydor UK/Saddle Creek)
Patrick Daughters, director | Janice Biggs, producer | The Directors Bureau, production co | Jill Kaplan/Skyway Productions, commissioner | Shawn Kim, DP | Akiko Iwakawa, editor

SHOT: Bright Eyes - Patrick Daughters, director

Screens, projections, psychedelic patterns, white lights/white suits... A series of photographs taken from the Brooklyn set of the new Bright Eyes video, "Hot Knives." Click em, make em bigger.

artist: Bright Eyes
song: "Hot Knives"
label: Polydor UK/Saddle Creek
director(s): Patrick Daughters
production co: The Directors Bureau
commissioner: Jill Kaplan/Skyway Productions

IN DEPTH: Architecture In Helsinki "Heart It Races"

The Noids. Not to be confused with The Noid. Architecture In Helsinki. Not from Helsinki, not to be confused with anything to do with architectures. They are from Australia, as is director Kris Moyes, and all involved have a taste for the absurd. And dancing. And ironically enough, what I do is akin to dancing about architecture. So, rather than prattle on about this excellently weird song and video — perhaps, I would have referenced Mummenschanz as the video's forebear —I pestered Kris Moyes into properly introducing and explicating the director's cut of this absurdist gem.

Kris Moyes, director: "The band are dressed as Noids, a mystical race of people (a la Mayans/Martians) with tiny bodies attached to their heads. The puppet idea was inspired by Bunraku, where a puppet is manipulated against a black backdrop by a number of puppeteers also dressed in black.  The difference here is that I made the puppeteers more visible —i.e., against an exotic backdrop of Teotihuacan and the floating gardens of Xochimilco in Mexico — so we can appreciate the craft and the story at the same time, or enjoy one independently of the other depending on our choice of perspective."

Additional info:

• Australian fashion label Romance Was Born designed the costumes.
• Ben Jones of art collective Paper Rad provided the voiceover
• Video was shot in Mexico and there are photos a'plenty

--> watch "Heart It Races"

Architecture In Helsinki "Heart it Races" (Polyvinyl)
Kris Moneys, director/DP/editor | Kris Moyes & Anne Johnson, producer | Kris Moyes / Mr. Woo / The Directors Bureau, production co

NEW RELEASE: Blonde Redhead "23"

After more than a decade away from the video scene, director Melodie McDaniel returns with a trippy, experimental performance video for NYC's Blonde Redhead. Singer Kazu Makino is layered inside smoke, lights and colors  as she asks a friend  to repent any number of times. I'm not sure the number 23 has any significance here, but the video does share some similarities with one made seven years ago for a band with five letters in its name: Doves "Catch the Sun." Both videos have beautiful photography, but this one matches the colors of the band name, which, incidentally, has 13 letters in it. A video for fans of prime numbers. (review by Kevin Holy) --> watch "23"

Blonde Redhead "23" (4AD/Beggars)
Melodie McDaniel, director | Eric Escott, producer | The Directors Bureau, production co | Patrick Simpson, DP | David Michalson/Ingenuity Engine, editor |  Mike Dunkely/Ingenuity Engine, visual effects