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Januar 2014

Top Music Videos 2013 – No. 5-1

5. Is Tropical – »Dancing Anymore« directed by Megaforce (riffraff films). The future of teenager fantasy films may based on this clip. This is the story of a poolboy on the verge of puberty. His daily work slows down due to an unexpected thought with curious details. The dramatic climax reaches into a great scene: the boy gets a blowjob off a corpse in the middle of a warzone. Banned from YouTube just 25 minutes after airing. Definitely the freak out of the year.

4. Bonobo – »Cirrus« directed by Cyriak. The music video by New York-based producer Bonobo is animated in a most fantastic way, all of it layered into a kaleidoscope of pretty colors and vintage footage, with source material from the public domain video treasure trove, The Prelinger Archive. What starts out as a few simple repeating elements soon becomes a chaotic collage of video snippets that take on a life of their own.

3. Gesaffelstein – »Pursuit« directed by Fleur & Manu. This video is incredible, a rectangular array of symbols and arrangements, evil, and violently sexy. The camera is constantly backing away from a series of strange surroundings. A masterpiece of a music video. The concept behind the video in the director’s own words: »It is a trip through the quest for power, showing the bad aspects of it. Power, money, success should never be the goal otherwise you lose your soul.«

2. Jon Hopkins – »Open Eye Signal« directed by Aoife McArdle. The colors, the light, the depth of field and above all, the setting. Absolut fantastic. And additionally one of the best tracks of 2013. Directer McArdle describes it this way: »The track is really special. I saw it as a singular, hypnotic journey that’s almost endless. You get lost in it. I liked the idea of a city kid taking us on that journey… just one day suddenly deciding to escape his life and see more of the world in the only way he understands… via skateboard.«

1. Jon Rafman + Oneohtrix Point Never – »Still Life (Betamale)« directed by Jon Rafman. Filthy keyboards, digital pack rat interiors, fetish anime art and 8-bit video game graphics embedded in a loopy realness – the digital lifestyle of Jon Rafman’s »Still Life (Betamale)« collage is breathtaking, or as Brandon Soderberg said: »This collage of a clip invokes awe, empathy, sadness, and horror all at once, or one after another or who even knows, could receive, right?«. The world is a strange place. Even the digital world. A worthy winner in a tight contest!

John Wizards – Lusaka By Night

John Wizards Produzent John Withers und Sänger Emmanuel Nzaramba sind John Wizards aus Kapstadt. Gesungen wird auf Englisch, Kinyarwanda und Swahili. Für den Guardian war es »das magischste Album des Jahres« 2013.

Top Music Videos 2013 – No. 10-6

10. Russ Chimes – »Turn Me Out« directed by Mathy & Fran. A fantastically choreographed music video to a powerful disco/house track. The London based directing duo have taken the vibe of that anthem and created a sophisticated performance video that combines modern dance with very atypical elements. By the way: Russ Chimes didn’t start the »Turn Me Out« craze. It all goes back to 1994 in Cutting Records Studios in New York City.

9. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – »Sacrilege« directed by Megaforce. Sacrilege is the epic and stormy first single from Yeah Yeah Yeahs‘ fourth album »Mosquito«. Watch mindful: The video consists of chronologically reversed sequence. We slowly see a story pieced together of how a group of people end up shooting a man and burning a woman alive from end to beginning. Starring actress Lily Cole who stirs up a riotous witch-hunt among the outraged townsfolk.

8. Oneohtrix Point Never – »Problem Areas« directed by Takeshi Murata. Like the song, the video is completely artificial like an artificial still life. His colorful, immaculate hyperealistic digital pop art consists of apparently mundane everyday objects arranged in seemingly random compositions. Or as Lopatin said, »I wanted to characterize a linear world with cracks in its edifice.« Watch and enjoy the eye-catching music video for Oneohtrix Point Never’s first WARP single release.

7. Major Lazer – »Bubble Butt« directed by Eric Wareheim of comedy team Tim and Eric. In this clip huge butts are getting injected into »bubble butts« – several women’s asses are injected with air like balloons! This clip is a totally insane, hypercoloured, rear-jiggling frenzy, featuring a giant Buttzilla lady and her dance companions. And don’t forget: Contrary to popular belief Bubble Butts are not big asses. »Bubble Butts are round like a globe, usually complement a slender body.«

6. Dizzee Rascal – »I Don’t Need A Reason« directed by Emile Sornin. Damn! Dizzee is the king. An excellent video completely twisted, based on video loops and animated GIFs. It’s the work of french director Emile Sornin, who gained acclaim last year for Alt-J’s »Fitzpleasure« clip. Watch and be amazed.

Top Music Videos 2013 – No. 15-11

Take the following list as a relaxed supplement to the many best of’s of the past weeks. Take your time and relax, the public hysteria is already over. 2013 was again the big comeback of the music clip far away from MTViva (does anybody remember?). Viewed from each side – commercially, artistically, technically – the last year had a bunch of aha! moments and amazing ideas. It wasn’t easy, but I picked 15 of my favorite clips from 2013. Hope you enjoy!

15. Action Bronson – »Strictly 4 My Jeeps« directed by Jason Goldwatch. New York rapper Action Bronson shot this video with his friend RiFF RaFF in Queens and on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Bronson shows us that he knows how to drain jump shots, prepare feasts, and turn cartwheels even with a lot of pounds to lose. The lascivious shots of seriously overweight women is daring, but works wonderfully well.

14. Satellites – »Wasteland« directed by M-I-E. Yibi Hu and Joe Marshall have created a delightful animated video for Satellites‘ Wasteland, telling an allegorical tale of artificial intelligence – and the importance of batteries. Unfortunately the lack of promotion made this fine animation pass quite unnoticed: the man behind Satellites quietly released »Satellites.0.2« to no publicity.

13. Brandt Brauer Frick feat. Om’Mas Keith – »Plastic like your mother« directed by Daniel Brandt & Julian Schleef. »Plastic Like Your Mother«, featuring Om’mas Keith, was the first single from Berlin’s trio Brandt Brauer Frick’s third album »Miami«. For their video the German experimental techno trio have strapped cameras to the heads of 28 dancers and let them loose. The choreography was created by Kiani Del Valle. The song itself takes a while to fully kick into gear, but the whole thing suddenly morphs into a dramatic dancefloor anthem.

12. Django Django – »WOR« directed by Jim Demuth. The clip – for Django Django’s best song ever first released back in 2010 – doubles as a mini-doc about the phenomenally brave men who both ride bikes and drive cars on the »Well of Death« at the Maha Kumbh Mela grounds in Allahabad, India. Based on an original idea by Django Django’s drummer, producer and defacto band leader, Dave Maclean.

11. Kanye West – »Black Skinhead« (stylized »BLKKK SKKKN HEAD«) directed by Nick Knight. If there were a special »Post Production« category, Black Skinhead might win. An computer-animated Kanye runs shirtless across the screen, wearing leather pants and the best gold chain you have ever seen in a HipHop clip. West and Knight have made the video interactive, allowing the viewer to speed up or slow down the video, or take screenshots, using a cursor that gives you the finger. Watch it at YouTube and get the full experience!

Podcast January 2014

machtdose_jan14
For the cover I used a photo by Jurriaan Persyn [CC BY-NC 2.0]

Gosh, I’m too tired for a real introduction here. But I think it’s quite a good episode and good start for the new year. I love especially the finale!

  1. Too Many T’s – Let it loose [Album: Beats We Wish We Had] CC BY-NC-ND
  2. donny and the robot – Liiiights Free Download
  3. Fourstep – after moovie [Subwise SBWS164] CC BY-ND
  4. Sable Beats feat. Alina Duleva – I’ll be First [Ultra Vague Recordings] CC BY-NC-SA
  5. Phondupe – Fistful of Lizards [Album: Greenhouse EP] CC BY-NC-SA
  6. Transient – The humans are shallow [Phonocake phoke96] CC BY-NC-ND
  7. Paul Minesweeper – Bitter Sun [GV Sound gv236] CC BY-NC-ND
  8. Solar Order, Izzard & Skywide – All I Have Are Memories [Øuttallectuals Ethereality Vol.2] CC BY-NC-ND
  9. Meesha – Stayed (feat. Warsan Shire) [Album: Movements EP] CC BY-NC-ND
  10. Pollen Trio – Bowie [Wood & Wire] CC BY-NC-ND
  11. shonen bat – self [Album: No competition] CC BY-NC-ND
  12. Max Fotheringham – Bases [Higher Living Records HILIV005] CC BY-NC-ND
  13. Meanwhile Project Ltd. – Sea of Sulfur [WM Recordings wm125] CC BY-NC-SA
  14. 尿ジョッキさんチーム – More Not Better No [Canata Records] CC BY-NC-SA
  15. sbsst – Soar [Album: Pillar Of Ire] CC BY-NC
  16. John Whitehorse – Envy [Deep-X Recordings deepx277] CC BY-NC-SA
  17. Kenobit – Burning Chrome [Album: Kenobit] CC BY-SA
  18. ChasingBleeps – Incredible [Album: Hollow] CC BY-NC-ND
  19. Bastian’s Happy Flight – Come For The Early (Stay For The Late) (Sweater Beats Remix) [Die High Records] Free Download
  20. myk. – Between The Lines [Cult Classic Records] CC BY-NC-SA
  21. Inch-time – Home (aheadphonehome remix) [Feralmedia] CC BY-ND
  22. Tactus & MAKO – The Whole Mountain (All Of It) [Abaga Records] CC BY-NC-SA
  23. Leopard Da Vinci – Only One [BMM Records BMM007] CC BY-NC
  24. Rameses B – Big Bang ft. Charlotte Haining [Album: Russ EP] CC BY-NC

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The People’s Trust

Disused theatres and movie palaces, record stores and book shops are among the most ordinary closed and abandoned buildings you can expect. The bank’s business is quite simply not the same as the high risk of investing in culture – it behaves quite differently. Nevertheless, banks are taking significant steps to follow their lead. The People’s Trust by Michael Vahrenwald looks at how US bank buildings have been repurposed.

Cicero Trust and Savings Bank, Cicero, IL, 2012

Cicero Trust and Savings Bank, Cicero, IL, 2012

Greenwich Savings Bank, New York, NY 2013

Greenwich Savings Bank, New York, NY 2013

Detroit Savings Bank 2, Detroit, MI 2012

Detroit Savings Bank 2, Detroit, MI 2012

All images © Michael Vahrenwald.

La voiture de police poulailler

French artist Benedetto Bufalino has humorously transformed a 1970’s police car into a chicken coop. »La voiture de police poulailler« is an old vehicle whose interior has been gutted. Unfortunately, not organic. Organic eggs must come from chickens that live in cage-free environments. Don’t miss his whole battle of ideas.

La voiture de police poulailler - Ferme d'élevage de Vernand, 2013

La voiture de police poulailler – Ferme d’élevage de Vernand, 2013

Benedetto Bufalino

Benedetto Bufalino