TGIF Video Hodge Podge – Hecuba + Loxsly + Tapes ‘n Tapes

I’ve always been a big fan of the music video, probably because when I was growing up MTV actually played them on a regular basis and at that time my beloved glam metal dominated the airwaves.  Yes kids, long before there was Carson Daly and TRL, there was Adam Curry and Dial MTV.  Back when I used to watch, the daily countdown was a veritable who’s who of hair bands, with bands like Poison, White Lion, Warrant, and Def Leppard dominating video landscape and virtually every single released was accompanied by some sort of visual interpretation.  I’m not sure what happened, but somewhere along the way the music video lost its prominence in the musical landscape.  I personally haven’t watched MTV or VH1 or any of the other music video stations in a good 15 years, but I am aware that even those outlets no longer rely on music videos to drive their programming.  As a result there seem to be less and less videos on the landscape these days, and due to the high cost of making them, most of the videos you do see are from mainstream acts on major labels.  Clearly the indie artists are hit the hardest in this area, with their videos relegated primarily to the Internet for exposure.  This is quite unfortunate given that most of them are far more interesting and watchable than the Britney and Beyonce garbage spewing forth from the networks these days.

I have actually been watching a bunch of really great videos on the web this week, and I am going to do my part to get them out there to the masses by dedicating today’s Hodge Podge entirely to music videos.  Keep in mind that these are just a couple of the many that you can find in the blogosphere and elsewhere on the net, so be sure to check out your favorite artists’ pages and see what else you may find.  And for those of our readers who are just here to grab some free tracks to add to their iTunes libraries, I also have an mp3 from each artist for download as well.

I knew I was gong to love today’s first video before I even watched it.  Why you ask?  The primary reason is because it includes a cameo from one of my favorite music personalities, Devendra Banhart, but also because the song is excellent.  I won’t go into detail about Hecuba’s debut LP Paradise because it has been well-documented across the web at this point, but it is worth noting that the video for their first single, “Suffering,” is a highly addictive three minutes of cinema.  With help from Sundance-award-winning cinematographer Arthur Jaffa, the video is a nod to the work of famed 50’s occult filmmaker Kenneth Anger.  The story of the effects of love, both happy and lonely, is told through a roving landscape of characters who seem plucked straight from a 50’s biker flick, complete with leather and hair grease.  In addition to Devendra, who I should mention appears sans beard if you can believe that, the video also features appearances from Rainbow Arabia and Pit Er Pat. The album is out now on Manimal Vinyl, so snag it now if you haven’t already and enjoy Hecuba’s unique brand of electronic doo-wop.

Hecuba – “Even So” (You’re Mine Mix)

Buy Hecuba @ Insound!

The next video up today is slightly less straightforward in terms of storytelling, but it is every bit as intriguing and imaginative.  Austin band Loxsly’s latest record, Tomorrow’s Fossils, is something of a concept album about the struggle between technology and humanity.  Their latest video for the track “As The Constellation’s Arms Uncurled” is definitely a take on that concept, chronicling some sort of strange science experiment done the old fashioned way, with books and pencils and microscopes.  There are a lot of ways to interpret what is going on so I don’t want to cloud your individual take on it with my personal thoughts, but I will say that the worms in the experiment are almost certainly meant to represent mankind in this metaphor.  The song itself is a magnificent synth pop gem with tones of darkness, which is indicative of the direction that the band has taken with their latest effort, and the video is one of the coolest I have seen in a long time.  If you have about five minutes to kill I strongly urge you to give it your undivided attention.  The album is out now on Little Mafia Records.

Loxsly – “Battalions”

I can’t remember if I have already posted a Tapes ‘n Tapes track as my vault selection already or not, but even if I have I am totally fine with doing it again.  Their debut full length, 2005’s The Loon, was an instant favorite for me from the moment I heard it, and even today it gets fairly regular play on my iPod.  Known for being shot into stardom by bloggers much like ourselves, the Minneapolis quartet self-recorded The Loon in a Wisconsin cabin without really knowing what they were doing.  The result is startlingly good, and in my opinion far better than its follow up which was recorded with the help of studio whiz David Fridmann.  The lead track from the album, and the song that almost broke the blogosphere back in the fall of 2005, was “Insistor.”  The video for the track wasn’t produced until over a year after the album’s release and after XL Records purchased the rights to the music.  I’ll be the first to admit that the video isn’t a cinematic masterpiece by any means, nor is it really on par with the previous two videos posted today, but it is my favorite song by a band that I love so I’ll cut them a little slack in that regard.  It basically tells the story of fighting for love that the song describes through the characters in a 1920’s silent film.  It’s a bit kitschy, but if I remember correctly kitsch was in back in 2005, and it’s still a kick-ass song.

Tapes ‘n Tapes – “Insistor”

Buy Tapes ‘n Tapes @ Insound!