LAURA JEAN.
I wrote about Laura Jean‘s ‘First Love Song’ a little while ago, it’s one that affected me a little. Coupled with the destructiveness of the lyrics was this real intimacy, a real sense of being still and being with, present even.
The clip furthers this stillness. It feels like home video, but isn’t captured in the way that most home video is. There’s no ‘oh hey man, how can we make this footage look all retro and stuff like we rescued it from an old camera that was stuck in the attic even though we only just recorded it the other day, and hey, isn’t instagram the best?’
Instead, it’s just footage. It’s just friends being silly and stupid with each other, and intimate in a very still way. It’s beautiful footage in that it captures all that is eery, strange, and close.
The clip was directed by Laura’s cousin Alice Englert, an Aussie actress/film maker now based in London. Incidentally, Alice is also the daughter of the director, screenwriter, Australian and international film legend Jane Campion – may come in handy at that next trivia night that is rather specific because it is about female auteurs from Australia and their children.
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Miks
HOPIUM.
This here is a song about desperation.
HOPIUM are a duo from Melbourne, and although they’ve only one track to their name, and very little is known about them, they’re already hitting it up rather massive online.
Their track ‘Cut’ is about just that. It’s a track about the prospect of loss, a track about the intimacy and physical embodiment of human emotion. It’s dark and industrial sounding, but provides enough space for for just enough emotion to seep through.
And then there’s the clip. As a heads up, it is NSFW, so perhaps if you’re sick at home, like me, it’s fine. But not in the office. The clip captures that intimacy and dark nature of the track really bloody well.
If the clip reminds you of some gritty fashion clip, then you’d be sort of right. It was put together by Yoav Lester and Chris Mitchell at Floating World Films and Ribal and Gil @ Superteam Studios. These guys usually work in the fashion world, but are lending their expert skills to the music video world.
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Miks
PALMS.
I think Palms will do alright/I know Palms have done alright in quite a few end of year lists. Mine will come shortly, but man, these boys are just the best.
A little while ago they released a clip for their track ‘A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again’. It’s all grainy, black and white, and if you’re a local Sydneyite, then you’d recognise the setting being Brighton Up Bar. It’s a clip that doesn’t take away from the raggedness of the track. And that black and white really does complement the glimpses of hope that Al’s voice seems to capture.
The boys have also been nominated for an FBi SMAC Award for Sydney record of the year. Fingers crossed.
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Miks
SNAKADAKTAL.
This is a really distressing clip. But really good nonetheless. Good as Sunday afternoon chill. Snakadaktal‘s debut full length Sleep In The Water is due out August 2 and will feature this track ‘Hung On Tight’. There’s a fair bit of anticipation surrounding the release, and with tracks like this one, may well live up to the hype.
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Miks
BRIGHTLY.
So Melbourne dudes Brightly released their new track a little while ago, complete with a pretty innovative way to distribute it. You can catch up on all that here.
All that’s good and everything, but then they went and made, easily, one of the best clips ever made for the track. Every time I watch this, and trust me, it’s been a few times, I get the whole goosebumps shivers thing going on. Make sure you watch it in full screen too. Or even better, check it out in it’s full interactive glory over at tweetflight.wearebrightly.com
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Miks
MAAMF: an australian music blog 