Saturday, June 7, 2008
Chemical Love Child
OK, maybe I'm going a little overboard, but you can never get enough Chemical Brothers (or at least I can't). I've been a huge fan of theirs ever since seeing "Setting Sun" on the shortlived MTV Friday latenight show called "Amp" back in 1996. (That was also how I first heard Daft Punk.) I know you all are tired of my fanboy-blathering about one band, or book, or movie, or whatever, but I'm only here to help bring an ounce of happiness to your day, away from the mind numbing, spirit crushing routine that we call every day life. Anyway, check out the first video above, "Let Forever Be". This one was directed by Michel Gondry - a genius in optical illusions. He's done countless commercials and videos for many other artists including Beck and Bjork. If you like his work, also check out his movies - "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind", "Human Nature", and "The Science of Sleep". This video always brings back fond memories of 1999, right around the time Akemi and I were making all the arrangements for our wedding in Yokosuka. I happened to catch this video several times back then on "Channel V", Asia's premier video channel (I think it was broadcast out of Taipei).
The second video, "The Golden Path", is a fantastic song featuring Wayne Coyne, lead singer from The Flaming Lips. This video is brilliant in its pure psychedelic optimism. It kind of makes you step back and reflect on your humdrum life. I love all of the little details that the "Chemi-Bra" (Akemi's Japan-abbreviation for Chemical Brothers) throw in, such as the date and amount of the paycheck, the old percolator coffee pot, and the "employee of the month" photos (all featuring a bizarre conjoined Chemical Brothers employee!). In fact, they throw in their own brief cameo into almost all of the videos, in one form or another.
Sorry for carrying on so........and enjoy!
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Aren't I glamorous?
2 comments:
I've seen "Let Forever Be" yet not "The Golden Path", thanks for both. It's such a welcome change when artists actually become creative with their music videos. I remember growing up watching videos in the 80's and actually being entertained. Now it's all so lame. If I ever made it big my videos would be something like those two. I'd have to come up with my own channel, also, seeing as MTV only plays stupid reality shows now.
Absolutely! I can't relate at all anymore to any of the crap reality shows they show. I used to watch "The Real World" pretty regularly up until around 1997, when I left the states for my first tour in Japan. It was getting a little far-fetched then; now it just makes me nauseous to see it. Even VH1 shows a lot of garbage now. If you want to see videos/concert footage you need to check out VH1 Classic. Sundance has a pretty cool show called "Live From Abbey Road" (but we can't see it anymore because I cancelled a lot of the premier channels after the free 3 month trial period ended!)
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