Entries For: January 2007
01/29/2007
Fionn Regan: "Be Good or Be Gone"
Emotionally evocative, there is something hauntingly simple about this downtrodden love song. It seems as though the artist, Fionn Regan, is speaking directly to each listener from his soul. His tone is firm yet flexible and his eyes seem drenched with pain.
Using a variety of urban and scenic landscapes, the video was shot with live acoustics and pieced together by editors. Beautifully filmed, the audio often competes with wind, running water, and lofted ceilings. Each scene has its own background and ambient noise, yet the song never drowns in the fluidly chaotic motion.
“There's something captivating about the gentleness of the song, and it's never overpowered by the visuals,” says Pitchfork in their Forkcast feature of Regan’s vid. “Whether he's completely alone or competing with ambient noise, Regan's voice-- accompanied by just a guitar-- is unwavering, and he has no trouble staring down the viewer when he delivers the song's title-line ultimatum.”
01/21/2007
Circle Circle Dot Dot
Winner of the latest make-the-video-for-a-new-single-and-post-it-to-YouTube contest, this stop-motion vid by Nate "Blunty" Burr reminds us an awful lot of all the other Legos-come-to-life tripe we've seen since strewn about the Internets. But the plastic alter-egos of Jamie Kennedy and Stu Stone have what it takes to make the Blunty3000 video stand out.
01/18/2007
Britney Spears is "Fed-Up"
Oh, popular culture. Even when we don't want to know who might be the subject of Britney's freshly leaked single, the former Mr. Spears' oh-so-hardcore nickname keeps us from pleading ignorance. Really, there are so many things about Britney Spears we never wished to know, but she refuses to stop telling us about them; that she's chosen to do so in a new single represents some kind of change, at least.
But the song's name is by far the most clever thing about it. On a musical level (yeah, we know) "Fed-Up" is no more offensive than any of the artist's lighter fare, but doesn't even begin to approach the cheesy dance goodness of "Crazy" or "Toxic." Which is a shame, because Ms. Spears has some serious work to do in order to win back her once-adoring public. She has some self-delusion to overcome first, though.
"So take a picture of me I don't care/Gets me driving in my underwear." Underwear, Britney? We'd honestly prefer that to the alternative.
01/11/2007
Thinking About You - Norah Jones
Much like Nora Jones’s previous hits "Come Away with Me" and "Don't know Why," this slow, lackadaisical song makes my want to stare out the window of a train and watch the countryside slowly pass me by. The first single from Jones’s third album, "Thinking About You" is a familiar continuation of the Grammy winner's breezy, jazzy style . Simple and melodic, this single implies that Jones's new album will further her career as talented songstress with serious pop appeal.
Exploring the windows of the singer/song writer’s mind, the newly released music video explores the clouds of thought that distract and dilute the brain -- especially on a long subway ride. Animated with fuzzy clouds and pulsing hearts, the dreamy video reveals the web of Alice in Wonderland-esque fantasies.