November 2010

WATCH IT: Bruno Mars "Grenade" (Nabil, dir.)

The music is a burden for Bruno Mars, slowing him down and preventing him from being with the one he loves. That premise is displayed in a literal fashion here, as director Nabil has Bruno schlepping a massive piano across the city and eventually to a crashing conclusion that makes the earlier visual references to "Rabbit In Your Headlights" make even more sense. --> watch "Grenade"

WATCH IT: Death Angel "Truce" (Robert Sexton, dir.)

Every music video director seems to have a yet-to-be-produced screenplay, so why not grab a scene from it and make it into a music video? Longtime metal director Robert Sexton borrows from his Sleep No More script — a horror flick co-written with Fangoria's Jack Bennett —  for this new Death Angel video, bringing to life a gnarly autopsy scene in which the organs and muscles are harvested for meat, and then replaced by mysterious vials that get sewn back up in the cadaver. Not recommended viewing for your lunch break. --> watch "Truce"

WATCH IT: Sleigh Bells "Riot Rhythm" unofficial (Bo Mirosseni, dir.)

If Sleigh Bells sounds to you like an epic battle between loud distorted machine guitars and sweet siren human melodies, then this video tale of man vs machine is a perfect fit. The concept at play here is essentially a dorky rewrite of a Rocky montage, in which a young challenger to apply Eye Of The Tiger philosophy so he can win a game of computerized chess. Director Bo Mirosseni shows a similar hustle with the video itself, having made it unsolicited without any band involvement.

WATCH IT: The Steelwells "El Capitan"

While the video itself for this nautical tale of El Capitan is certainly charming with its cut-outs and miniatures home-made vibe, it's even more charming that the video was the made for The Steelwells as a prize for winning Best Song at this year's OC Music Awards. Perhaps there's a deep thought in that, something like,"Leave the trophy fish for the suckers, and focus on catching stuff that can sustain you." --> watch "El Capitan"

WATCH IT: Cast Spells "Glamorous Glowing" (Behn Fannin, dir.)

If you've bemoanded the lack of truly colorful and electic frontmen in music today, then perhaps seeing a literally colorful and electric lightbox as the star of a music video is a dream come true. A floating and flashing monolith floats around the city broadcasting various patterns (and possibly messages) to this Cast Spells track. --> "Glamorous Glowing"

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