I’m a huge music video fan – always have been. Maybe it’s because I was raised in the era of Michael Jackson’s Billy Jean, Madonna’s Like A Prayer and Guns N’ Roses November Rain. I remember deliberately sitting down to watch the world premiere of these videos – they were cultural events not to be missed. But oh, how I lament the demise of this medium. Today, when I flip on ‘The Hits’ I see video after video that look the same: slick, overly-edited and dull. What happened to the videos that brought us directors like Anton Corbijn, David Fincher, Spike Jonze and Michel Gondry?

Well, in the era of youtube – they only seem to exist online. While ‘The Hits’ is playing mostly drivel, there is a new generation of innovative content online (insert OK Go comment here). There seem to be more and more great videos popping up under the radar - and none of them are budget busting. What I don’t understand is why mainstream artists aren’t doing the same. (Madonna – I’m talking to you!)

In any case – here’s a clip of my current favorite, Gnarls Barkely’s Who’s Gonna Save My Soul which takes the phrase ‘heart on a plate’ to a very literal level (directed by Chris Milk). Great song, great video - I’m sold.

*Additionally - I’d advocate for more muppets in videos (all this time we thought Bert and Ernie were gay, but no, they’re gansta!)

Philip J Brittan

Interesting entry in jet-setting troubadour/intellectual Nick Currie’s (aka Momus) blog about the opening last year of a Japanese division of Pantone, New Jersey-based color coders who’ve become the ubiquitous industry standard in design and printing. Following just on the heels of the Japanese division launch, Pantone also unveiled a new global brand identity.
I just saw the line of Japanese Pantone cellphones last week which I thought was a cool new development in the ever-expanding Pantone Universe, but didn’t think too much of it until stumbling upon Nick’s blog entry, which contains amusingly brainy and acerbic ruminations on Japanese culture, proprietary culture/copyright, and marketing.

Momus (Nick Currie)

These words can be music to an artist’s ears. The latest group to split with their record label over “creative differences” - which usually means the artists want to be creative, the executives don’t - is The Format. Upon hearing the news that their sophomore album would not be released unless the band made some non-negotiable changes, the band said nuh-uh, threw a party and formed their own record label, The Vanity Label; and marketed their music through word of mouth, wild live shows, and this “internet” thing. The album, Dog Problems, features a song called “The Compromise” which wittily details their interaction with their former record label, and the title track is an anthem of grand orchestrations and impressive Freddie Mercury-esque vocals. Here is the “Dog Problems” video, which I think is amazing (and must have been a blast to make)
[youtube]MGHevQoWsGA[/youtube]
Not long ago, Fiona Apple started appearing in public with the word “Slave” written on her cheek, and changed her name to — no wait, that was Prince, circa 1994, protesting his contract with Warner. What Fiona Apple did recently was enter into a stalemate with Sony over her latest album, until her fans cried “Free Fiona” — somehow a copy got released on the internet, then a reworked album, and finally a happy public and, I’m assuming a happy Sony— Extraordinary Machine was one of the success stories of 2005. The song “Please Please Please” contains the lyrics “Give us something familiar/ Something similar / To what we know already…”, mocking her record label. Here is the video for “Not about love” — again, a low-budget, high-concept, original…
[youtube]krTE0AJkqj4[/youtube]

The Format and Fiona Apple are young creative musicians more interested in writing original, personal songs and exploring new genres rather than trying to look like and sound like so many others. I suspect in those record-label executive meetings, they wanted Apple to ooooh and aaaaah and show her belly-button more — skankify may be the word — and they wanted The Format to get aggro on a guitar and ditch the french horns. The race to the bottom, the underestimation of the audience, the striving for the lowest common denominator equals the end of risk-taking, creativity, of originality. These won’t be the last cases of the “creative differences”, but the trend is towards letting the public, the people with the money buying the product, decide for themselves. Who are some new musicians creating original sounds? Let us know…

The Format

Fiona Apple
Related: Atlas Shrugged may actually become a movie, starring li’l Angelina Jolie….

Nice article on the Pet Shop Boys, currently the subject of an exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery in London, accompanied by a catalogue called, appropriately, the Pet Shop Boys Catalogue. Wish I could see the show but I think I’ll have to settle for the catalogue.

(via Design Observer)

Check out this new video for ‘Fit Song’ from Japanese computer-music genius Cornelius (aka Keigo Oyamada) from his new album, ‘Sensuous’. This video is brilliant - see what everyday objects like toothbrushes, sugarcubes, coins and matches get up to when we’re not home.

The ever emerging customization and personalization of the internet seems to grow and grow - some of the results are silly and others are really bloody clever. One of my favourites is this pickled onion site where you can create your own musical musings and discover your inner musical genius. I’m not too sure what this site is for or what it means, but it’s fun. I also love pandora, where you can set up your own radio stations based on artists and songs you like (they call it the ‘music genome project’). Try it out - if you don’t have it bookmarked already, you will soon. Now Uniqlo has jumped on the bandwagon and created this ‘mixplay‘ site (reminiscent of the ipod ads) to promote their US launch. This site not only has music but also some brilliant dancers you can control at will. Enjoy!