Category Archives: Music Videos

Seekae adds a new dimension in live “Yech” peformance

Seekae, an Australian electronic trio you’ve maybe not heard of yet, have thus far made their name on elegantly crafted, emotionally-affecting electronic songs in the vein of former empire-mates Mt. Kimbie and James Blake. Tracks like “Void”  make heavy use of synth pads, hip-hop descended rhythms and vocal snippets for an effect that’s more summer meadow than sweaty club.

With new cut, “Yech,” the group takes the inevitable next stop for crafting electronic pop and throws some vocals in the mix. Surprisingly enough, one of these dudes, Alex Cameron, can sing. It’s the same sort of sad-soft croon that Blake has used to such great success. Although Cameron’s refrain–“I can feel my heartbeat… my ghost is coming,”--is appropriately haunting, the song itself never stops moving long enough to ascend from this plane. Performing with a full complement of analog and MIDI gear while amber sunshine splashes in from the Sydney bay, the trio builds the skittering, pulsing track up from drum machine to synth pad, giving it real weight. It’s only one song, but let’s hope there’s a whole album of this coming.


Seekae- Void (download)

Follow me on twitter at @dan_siegal.

Blood Orange dreams up a nightmarish wonderland with “Champagne Coast”


Happy Friday, everybody. Enjoy this sexy wonderland of a music video, courtesy Dev Hynes’ synths-n-jamz persona, Blood Orange, which has been making its way around the internet today.

Moving from lush room and sexy lady to more-lush and sexier-lady, all lava lamps and skylines and marble pedestals, the whole thing is rendered in a disorienting 90s-video-game 3D. Even the sexy ladies are kinda weird. But that’s the point, or so I would imagine: the everything-is-great-everything-is-fucked spell that unrequited lust casts on your whole world. Or maybe Hynes just thought it would look cool.

As for the song itself, it starts out as sweet and light as “St. Germaine air” to quote a recent acquaintance, but give it to the two-minute mark, when a mega-sexxxy guitar noodling drops in to add some spice to Hynes’ plaintive, Dan Bejar-with-a-cold stylings.

If anything, the comparison with Destroyer is a flattering one for Hynes–like most of Kaputt, “Champagne Coast” is a fundamentally sad song, a tale of longing and aching. But you can move to it, and on a Friday, that’s enough.

Follow me on twitter at  @Dan_Siegal.


Blood Orange- Champagne Coast (download)

Wanderlings’ “Swingin”

Here’s fresh track from a relatively new band named, Wanderlings.  If you ask me to name this band without prior knowledge, I probably would have said they were Cut Copy or a very hip (and happy) Midnight Juggernauts.  Not much is known about them (yet) other than they’re from the UK, so just listen to the sweet sounds and dance your night away.  Enjoy the weekend everyone.


Wanderlings- Swingin (download)

“Sa Sa Samoa” (Elite Gymnastics Remix) Video

Without condoning drug use in any fashion, I present to you the greatest music video of 2012. Scarring my retinas like nothing since Shaq’s Kazaam, the video for a remixed version of Korallreven’s “Sa Sa Samoa” by Elite Gymnastics is indescribable. Perhaps its an advert for ecstasy? Or maybe its the hyped, four-minute version of Gaspar Noé’s Enter The Void on speed. Whatever it is, it’s ridiculously awesome–the audio representation of what it feels like to be in some dirty Japanese warehouse that’s blasting 90′s rave at 4:35 in the morning.

The remix, which mixes in sped up elements of Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” lifts off on a few piano notes before blasting the ears with rapid tempos and heavy synth dissonance, rendering Korallreven’s contributions almost unrecognizable. It’s not for the faint of heart, nor is it one for classification. Elite Gymnastics self-labeled genre for the track? “ヘ(^_^ヘ)(ノ^_^)ノ.”


Korallreven- Sa Sa Samoa (Elite Gymnastics remix) (download)

M. Ward’s “The First Time I Ran Away”

You can argue all day about whether to love Zooey or hate Zooey, but here’s the rub: M. Ward was around before her and will last long after her.

Need proof? The first 20 seconds of his single, “The First Time I Ran Away,” starts out bare-bones tinkling and then — boom — it’s lush, rich texture à la M.

The three-part ditty tells a tale as formulaic as a country song but with the tiny sweetness that Ward’s work never misses, accompanied by animation that plays with motifs of fish, waterfalls, faces and pink argyle patterns. It works. (Bonus point: You might recognize the work of Joel Trussell, the video’s director, who also did the video for “Chinese Translation.”)

Ward’s A Wasteland Companion is out April 10.


M. Ward- Rave On (Feat. Zooey Deschanel) (download)