Famed disco pioneer Giorgio Moroder fills a role as advice-giving limo driver in “Déjà Vu,” a video about one man’s haunting, Sia-wig-wearing paramour fleeing and following. Will they or won’t they?
When you think of directors Jonathan Dayton and Valeie Faris you probably think of their elaborate videos like Smashing Pumpkins "Tonight, Tonight" or Red Hot Chili Peppers "Otherside" — and yes, if you don't live and breathe music videos you think of their 2006 hit film Little Miss Sunshine, or you have no clue what I'm prattling on about, in which case you're totally on the wrong site; go read a list on Buzzfeed or something. BUT, part of what makes Dayton/Faris great is knowing that sometimes simpler is better, as is the case with the seemingly off-the-cuff, but surely planned to perfection performance video for Extreme's 1991 "More Than Words" ballad. It's perfect — except maybe for the close-up of the album art on the kick drum, which I imagine was shoved in there by some marketing doofus.
Proving the longevity of this chestnut is viral master Jimmy Fallon, who teamed with Jack Black to recreate it note-for-note and practically scene-for-scene. Why is it funny? Is it how Black Fallon — a great band name if they team up, by the way — can demolish those fine lines between irony, seriousness, and ridiculousness? Or is it just the hair?
Full disclosure: I saw Extreme live earlier this year without any irony. They were better than whatever crap band you saw last night. Trust me.
Care to get a peek at what Zoe Kravitz and Miley Cyrus are into when they're behind a closed motel door? Check out this this gleefully grimey video for Kravitz's Lolawolf music collective, which plays around the vibe of a vintage surveillance cam sex-tape (minus the sex, but plus the drugs).
Try not to guess the plot in “The Swimmer" — LeBlanc + Cudmore’s super-stylish punk whatever video, until you’ve watched it two or three times — the video is more a pastiche than a strictly plot-driven affair. And quite the pastiche it is! Watch as a guy gets baptised, slapped and beaten-up while taking breaks to enjoy the television or watch some kids dancing.
If Hollywood action blockbusters were allowed to be stylish and strange, then this surreal action homage/parody would be rocking the multiplex near you.
Rarely do you get art packaged with your video, as here with “Upward Mobility” by the Helio Sequence. Animator Emanuele Kabu fills the song’s four minutes with slowly evolving artworks, subtly recalling Peter Gabriel’s “Sledgehammer” or “Like a Pen” by the Knife, both of which shift from scene to scene with different artistic ideas.
