Winny Puuh!

Ah! Music from Estonia! And not just any music - this is Winny Puhh! 

Are they metal? Are they hip-hop? Are they some new kind of music that no one has ever heard before? Probably the latter. They certainly warp the perception that most people have of music, especially with this live performance of Meiecundimees üks Korsakov läks eile Lätti.

It's almost like Naked City's song Bonehead that plays at the beginning of Michael Haneke's Funny Games (a great horror film if you haven't seen it). The vocals are perhaps the most dividing in terms of musical taste - the non-sensical (or not really because it's a foreign language) and screaming ludicrousness is an attack on one's senses and I can imagine a lot of viewers pulling away from their laptop screens covering their ears against this madness. But that is precisely why I enjoy this performance. Winny Puhh push the boundaries on musical art and everything from their eccentric showmanship (dangling upside down) to their bizarre costume design (are they Sasquatch's in athletic gear?).

Now check out the music video for Peegelporand:

This is an interesting music video. The song is much more hip-hop infused than the first video I included (although using non-traditional hip-hop instruments). The music itself is very Eastern European, harking to the Estonians' cultural roots but creating an upbeat tempo that matches the rap vocals nicely. This goes to show Winny Puhh's diverse range and interest in including various genres into their musical catalog. The video itself is quite reminiscent of European arthouse cinema, using eerie zoom techniques and tableau inspired compositions. Not to mention the creepy way the performers look directly into the camera like something out of Fellini's most bizarre work (see Fellini Satryicon for an example of this).

I Fink It's Freeky And I Like It A Lot

I know a lot of people will disagree with me on this, but I think Die Antwoord are some of the most creative artists around these days. I generally don't listen to a lot of pop music (including hip-hop and dance music) but every now and then something comes up that I just can't get enough of (usually everyone else I know gets sick of). This happened with Psy's Gangnam Style (I know, I know - but I loved it!).

So I first heard Die Antwoord's crazy tunes when I saw the video for Rich Bitch, which was kind of a history lesson on Yolandi's life and how she became a success. It's pretty ridiculous and when I first heard them I didn't really like it. Then I saw the video for I Fink You Freeky and my perception of them was turned out. This video is nuts! It's all shot from the same perspective, creating a tableau mise-en-scene a la Wes Anderson.

What do you think of this crazy video? Do you think it's just stupid and worthless modern music (if you dare call it that)? Or do you think this is true art and Die Antwoord are brilliant composers of the hip-hop/dance world?

Nightmare - Can You Do It?

Can you do it? Nightmare can. This is another one of those rockin' visual kei bands I have a taste for from our friends in Japan. Now, I haven't heard a whole lot of Nightmare's material besides this track but I keep on returning to this PV (promotional video) nonetheless. 

Visual kei - always looking like anime characters

First off, the song is pretty decent, despite being in pretty cookie-cutter form. Sure, it has some decent guitar playing skills and a cool rhythm but it really doesn't set itself apart from most other J-rock groups (the drummer has some promise though). I can see why I never really got into the band's other work due to this, but then why do I keep returning to this video? Honestly, it's for pure cinematic reasons. The footage they have here and the way they shot it is incredible. The lighting glints perfectly off the players' slick pseudo-trashy attire and gel-infused hair and the shot compositions are tight. This tight composition keeps each player within their own dedicated frame, fully capturing the energy and passion they are playing with. The wide crane shot makes sure to tie the group together, reminding us that they are a team, but it's the tighter shots of each player that sets this video apart. The guitarist lays down some slick guitar playing at the very end but it is the great shot and his framing that brings the virtuoso power out of the performance. This goes to show how much power the visual image can have in making band look incredibly awesome.

Schoolyard Heroes

Today I want to share with you one of my personal favorite music artists. I started listening to Schoolyard Heroes a few years ago and was sad to discover they had broken up after the release of the their third full album. 

The band, who can only be described as an alternative conjuration of horror punk, create a wonderful array of sounds with the macabre lyrics of Ryan Donnelly (who has a hauntingly weird voice on her) matched up with the sometimes-spooky-sometimes-hardcore punk rock of the guitar, bass, and drums. Their songs are obvious references to a slew of B-picture horror films ("Panic in the Year Zero"), or weird fiction stories by the likes of Stephen King ("Sometimes They Come Back") and Richard Matheson ("Nightmare at 20,000 Feet"). They may be the epitome of horror-themed lyricism in music, borrowing heavy hallmarks from previous groups like The Misfits or The Bauhaus. I'd like to share one song from each of their albums (which I just had to order online to have my own copies). Take my hand and listen, my friend, to the Schoolyard Heroes:

The Mechanical Man VS The Robot From The Outer Limits

from The Funeral Sciences

Nightmare at 20,000 Feet

from Fantastic Wounds

Cemetery Girls

from Abominations

PS: It was really hard to pick only one song from each album, because I truly love each and every song this group produced. In the future I may share a few other favorites. Cheers!

Grimes - Genesis

So this is unique. Grimes is a Canadian pop artist from Vancouver whose musical style can clearly be described as synthpop and dark wave electronic but Wikipedia goes on to include her genres as dream pop (which really defines Genesis) and also as "witch house". This is an interest genre term that I've never come across. Apparently it is defined as occult-themed dark electronic music with a visual aesthetic (see the costume design in the video). Witchcraft-infused trance music? Count me in! But let's look at Grimes for now.

The description of her music as "dream pop" sums it up perfectly. The music is hauntingly atmospheric with a synth-wave that carries you away into an ethereal dreamscape. Ambient music has always been a love of mine (having first immersed myself into Akira Yamaoka's haunting scores for the Silent Hill series and later discovering Brian Eno via U2) and I always felt it had a dreamy quality to the droning, floating progressions. Grimes' vocals hit the dream-zone spot on, being both eerie and sweet at the same time. I feel comforted but also a little lost in the way she sings. Her lyrics are nearly indecipherable, which can be off-putting for some listeners, but it doesn't bother me (I've listened to so much foreign language music and screaming metal that indecipherable lyrics don't detract from sound for me). The video here fits the bill of dream pop quite nicely too. The sunset landscapes are perfect for that dreamy quality, shooting right around "magic hour" (if you've seen Malick's Days of Heaven then you recognize the surreal quality that early morning can have on a cinematic image). However, it is largely the content of the film that creates a weird dream world - from the bizarre costume and make-up of the performers to their awkward dance routines. Characters stand still in unique postures while one person dances mystically, schoolgirls in rich cars play with large snakes, and a group of cybernetic females joy-ride an SUV dragging medieval swords along the desert. Am I dreaming? Yes, you're dreaming of Grimes.

Watch Genesis below.