MIXING 8MM WITH 8 TRACKS.
Welcome to another round-up of new music videos with their hearts in genre films and exploitation that serve as great short films that accentuate the music they’re made to promote while still having an original vision. This week, we’ve got ’80s nostalgia (x3), David Lynch, upbeat noir, puppety goodness and more!
Nine Inch Nails
Came Back Haunted
Dir. David Lynch
Lynch returns to his ERASERHEAD-era surrealist roots in his seizure-inducing video for Nine Inch Nails’ track, which people either seem to embrace completely or think it’s amateurish drivel. I think it’s very akin to the early works of both Lynch and Trent Reznor, and that it’s certainly worth a look.
Ivy Levan
Hot Damn
Dir. Daniel Carberry
A restaurant heist goes bad, thanks the the peppy vocal stylings (and pan-wielding) of femme fatale Ivy Levan in this noir-influenced video with a style Jessica Rabbit would kill for.
Phaeleh
Whistling in the Dark
Dir. Raquel Aly
Phaeleh – Whistling in the Dark – [Official MV/Director’s Cut] from Raquél Aly on Vimeo.
Director Aly was reportedly inspired by experimental filmmaker Norman McLaren’s PAS DE DEUX for the creation of this hypnoticly kaleodoscopic cinematic ink blot test that serves as stunning way to bring the low-key tones of Phaeleh to life.
The Panic Beats
Chop Chop
Dir. Dustin Mills
Chop Chop by The Panic Beats from Dustin Mills on Vimeo.
There’s a great ’70s horror vibe at the heart of Mills’ gleefully lurid, heavily splattery, and female nudity-filled video, which makes sense for a punk band named after a Paul Naschy movie.
Plastiscines
Comment Faire
Dir. Mark Maggiori
French band Plastiscines take on the guises of a “Charlie’s Angels”-like show in this entertaining little try that nails the retro style without being too winking about it.
Steven Roth
Let It In
Dir. Liam White
A moody, low-key song gets a video with its roots deep into the ’70s grindhouse revenge films that captures the exploitation mood with the only telling film scratches appearing in the introduction.
All Dinosaurs
Tight Rope
Dir. Jon Nix
All Dinosaurs – Tight Rope from TurnStyle Films on Vimeo.
A guy innocently reading old monster mags finds his house invaded by a skeletal gang that seems to be offing his roommates in this enjoyably raucus video for metal band All Dinosaurs.
Stepdad
Pick and Choose
Dir. Hannel Elltorp and Johannes Hegelin
Stepdad – Pick and Choose [Official] from HannesJohannes on Vimeo.
A camping outing to the woods goes very, very weird in this wild animated video featuring inventive creatures, complimenting the 8-bit influenced sound by Stepdad nicely.
Vial of Sound
A Lifetime Passes
Dir. Ori Toor
Vial of Sound | A Lifetime Passed from ori toor on Vimeo.
Toor’s animated video for electronic band Vial of Sound is an animated freak-out of a fish-heavy drug trip, the exact sort of visual cacaphony that the music is made for.
Majical Cloudz
Bugs Don’t Buzz
Dir. Gordon von Steiner
You may get a BUG vibe in von Steiner’s beautifully-lensed take on Majical Cloudz’ low-key song, as roaches are much more present in this oddly apocalyptic world than much that resembles humanity.
Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros
Better Days
Dir. Michele Civetta
Footage from BREAKIN’ 2 ELECTRIC BOOGALOO, PARIS IS BURNING and a few other sources are used to compliment this groovy, memorable music video.
Polica
TIFF
Dir. NABIL and Mike Piscitelli
That’s lead singer Channy Leaneagh in duel roles as both a torturer and the tortured in this creepy, brooding video that captures the equally eerie song beautifully.
Indochine
College Boy
Dir. Xavier Dolan
The bullying of a school boy starts out like standard fare and then gets deeply, impressively disturbing in this B&W video for French pop band Indochine.
Jon Marco
Rhianna
Dir. Jim Meegan
I really enjoy this fast-paced ride through recreations of ’80s movie scenes backing the pop track, but there are over four minutes of credits at the end, which is just freaking insane. Maybe it’s because the song itself would work as a great end credits track.
Flynt
Mon Pote
Dir. Francis Cutter
Another entertaining that uses recreations (and, in this case, footage) of classic flicks is this take on French rapper Flynt’s track, injecting the rapper into the likes of RESERVOIR DOGS, THE BIG LEBOWSKI, FIGHT CLUB, LA HAINE(!) and plenty more.
Stolen Babies
Second Sleep
Dir. Ilan Sharone
The heavy, experimental sounds of Stolen Babies are given an appropriately heavy, experimental music video featuring temptation, masked monsters and a footage in water as deep as the track.
Wavves
That’s On Me
Dir. Brandon Dermer
A man destroys various items, much to the joy of a group of cheerleaders who want their appetites sated in this impressively weird clip from the director of Nekrogoblin’s excellent “No One Survives.”
We Show Up On Radar
Hands Up if You’re Lost
Dir. Tom Walsh
We Show Up On Radar – ‘Hands Up If You’re Lost’ from Polymath Pictures on Vimeo.
The spirit of Jim Henson is pretty much everywhere in this beautiful puppet video that makes WSUOR’s uplifting track down on “Fraggle Rock.”
Protest Crayon
Soft Engineering
Dir. Lee Matthews and Racheal Groom
A toy robot invasion will conquer us all, and there’s only a day left before total destruction! But damn, those are some adorable little robots. And they keep promising that they won’t explode.
Divine
Walk Like a Man
Possibly made in conjunction with Paul Bartel’s LUST IN THE DUST (and on her “Maid in England” album released in 1985), our vintage video finds Divine telling the old west that no woman’s worth crawling on the Earth. Divine, however, is more woman that you can handle.
Be back when the jukebox has been restocked. Click here for an archive of all of our Grindhouse Grooves column.
@Paul Freitag-Fey
- [THE BIG QUESTION] WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE FEMALE ENSEMBLE IN MOVIES? - July 22, 2016
- [IN THEATERS NOW] THE BOY (2016) - January 24, 2016
- Cult Movie Mania Releases Lucio Fulci Limited Edition VHS Sets - January 5, 2016
Tags: David Lynch, divine, grindhouse grooves, Music Video, Nine Inch Nails
No Comments