Some tragic music videos and some not so tragic ones

Tragedy. The fall and the rise. Loosing and finding and letting go. These are pretty common themes in the music videos all over the world. Sometimes it's over the top but sometimes it's very well done and if so the video will stay in your mind for the rest of the week like a good movie you have just seen.

Within the last two weeks I somehow ended up watching these two music videos couple of times and I would say that they are pretty tragic ones, but still great.

The first is from Mykki Blanco. I saw the name at the gig list of Gretchen (a club here) and thought that I had seen the name somewhere, anyhow I didn't end up going to the gig but then last week finally looked up better who is this artist. Mykki Blanco is an artist from USA, he released his debut album "Mykki" this year (2016). I haven't yet listened the album trough but it seems to be more electronic/hiphop. Some people got to know Mykki Blanco from this video about the USA president election 2016 where he recites a poem by Zoe Leonard "I want a dyke for president" which has a pretty strong message:

Mykki Blanco performs poem "I want a dyke for president" by Zoe Leonard

The actual music video which I watched was for the song "Highschool never ends" it tells a story of a black trans woman falling in love with a white neo nazi.

Mykki Blanco ft. Woodkid - "High school never ends"

The other video is a older one. Just somehow stumbled upon it again and watched it. She's one of my favorite artists: Lykke Li and the music video of "Never gonna love again" She's having this "for ever continuing struggle and pain" -theme pretty often in her music videos, sometimes I get also super annoyed by it, but this video just stays in your head. The song hits hard especially if you listen the song (the youtube video version) without watching the video with your headphones on. You will notice if you try.

Lykke Li - "Never gonna love again"

And then some not so tragic videos but visually really cool ones. Solange Knowles has released a new album "A seat at the table" in September 2016 and I really liked her old music videos and the new ones are also great!

Solange - "Don't touch my hair"

Check also "Cranes in the sky" from her

One other for ever my favorite artists of mine is Roisin Murphy. She has always really cool music videos for her songs. This video "Whatever" is from her new album "Take her up to Monto" which was released in July 2016. Brilliant as ever!

Roisin Murphy - "Whatever"

And as we are in the smart phone theme and the emojis, likes and apps it's good to continue with the really stunning music video of Moby and the void pacific choir for the song "Are you lost in the world like me?" from the new album "These systems are failing". (And finally GEMA isn't blocking anymore the youtube videos because they got into an agreement with Youtube (Finally!) Great for everybody living in Germany) The animation for this video is made by Steve Cutts and it's amazing!

Moby and the Void pacific choir - "Are you lost in the world like me?"

Syrian expat philharmonic orchestra

I had the chance to go and see the "Berliner philharmoniker open air 2016" event in the end of August. I don't go often to classical music concerts so thought this would be a nice chance to enjoy some classical music outdoors without this "stiffness" what you sometimes have in the classical music concerts. The "backyard" of Berlin Philharmonic was packed with people when the concert started.

The opening act was The Syrian Expat Philharmonic Orchestra (SEPO, later using the shortening). The group consists of Syrians refugees who had to flee their own war torn country to EU countries and elsewhere. I was really impressed about the passion and the joy the Syrians had in their music, while knowing how horrendous things are happening in Syria at the same time. You could sense the sorrow and sadness from some of the songs, but still the whole set of SEPO was more vivid than the set of the Berlin Philharmonic orchestra. The whole audience of some 5.000 people (guess) were applauding after every song and shouting "Bravo, bravo."

I haven't listened that much Middle-Eastern music and was very impressed about the happiness and livelihood of the music. There were lot of quick changes, the music stayed the whole time interesting and evolving, it didn't have the "typical" ending of the classical pieces which build up into a huge "bombastic" end but it surprised you just when you though you would know what comes next.

After SEPO had finished and the Berlin philharmonic orchestra started it felt like the whole playfulness was gone and the "serious classical music" -mode was on. I felt almost falling half asleep while the orchestra was playing Johannes Brahms and Antonín Dvorák.

It was anyhow good to stay till the end of the concert because I got to hear the announcement that SEPO would be giving a concert in September at the Konzerthaus Berlin. After some weeks I booked my ticket and was very happy that I did!

Konzerthaus Berlin

Waiting for SEPO

Konzerthaus Berlin is a massive, massive building at Gendarmenmarkt at Berlin. It was my very first visit to this venue. The whole hall was packed with people. I think many of people had done the same as me, after seeing and hearing SEPO at the open air booking their tickets for this concert.

Here's shortly the program and the solists.

Conductor: Ghassan Alaboud

Solo clarinet: Kinan Azmeh

Solo violin: MAias Alyamani

Solo nay (sort of a flute): Mohamad Fityan

Solo violin: Jehad Jazbeh

Solo oud (sort of a lute): Maher Mahmoud

Solo percussion: George Oro

Solo soprano: Rasha Rizk

I wished I would/could have done notes from all of the songs. But here are the songs which were played:

1. Tomorrow

2. My beautiful homeland

3. (song name only in Arabic)

4. Oh birds

5. Oh! My homeland

6. Rose

7. One way ticket to Damascus

- Break -

8. Passion

9. Sea waves

10. Damascus - one more aspect
11. The silk road
12. November 22nd
13. Wedding
14. Longa Nahawand

SEPO

I truly loved the whole concert! It was so great to see so much commitment, strength and passion in the orchestra playing. I was very astonished by the vividness of the music. Some songs reminded me bit of the Greek music. The Middle-Eastern music has such a different rhythm than the western music. It was refreshing to hear something totally new. And knowing what these people had to go trough made the concert extra special. I think many from the audience felt quite moved after the concert. The whole hall was standing and clapping till the orchestra went off from the stage. It was also my first time hearing a soprano singing in Arabic. I would have loved to hear more songs with the oud played by Maher Mahmoud, really loved the sound of it. But I have to admit that all the soloistst were amazing!

Standing ovation

Unfortunately SEPO doesn't have yet any albums out, I would surely want to buy the album of this concert.

You can follow SEPO on facebook here:  https://www.facebook.com/Syrian-Expat-Philharmonic-Orchestra-SEPO-108858616125496/?fref=ts
Here's the official homepage: http://sepo-philharmonic.com/

Here's a short video report of DW from the concert in Berlin.

One song from the concert at Malmö, Sweden the day after the concert in Berlin:

"Damascus, one more aspect" (with oud)

And here's their own YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtDjhSW1vaNthlKlFUygQeg

More info about Middle-Eastern music: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_Eastern_music

Mix and mash part 2

The second part of the notes is purely from the Bleep newsletters I get. You can also order them via bleep.com. They have often quite interesting picks. I went trough some of the older emails I had and picked my own favorites from there and there were many. There's going to be some classical music, techno, drumm n' bass, oldskool and some African music!

Jherek Bischoff is an American musician, composer, well, a multitalent. I haven't heard before about this artist but I'm considering buying the new album "Cistern" from him. His soundscapes remind me bit of Nils Frahm. 

Here's a short discription of his new album from the Soundcloud page:

"Cistern is an album inspired by time Bischoff spent improvising in an empty, two-million-gallon, underground water tank, with a 45-second reverb decay. The unique acoustics of the space forced Bischoff to slow down and adapt his compositional approach - something which, unexpectedly, brought him back to his childhood, and the slow-pace of life he experienced growing up on a sailboat."

I haven't yet listened trough the album but for sure it will be interesting to listen! You can find the full album already from Spotify.





This next one is just hautingly beautiful and a touching song.



Here's the link to Bischoff's Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/jherek-bischoff

And just now noticed that of course the record label where Bischoff is, is Leaf where's also artists like Colleen, Caribou, Efterklang and Vladislav Delay and here you can find the rest

http://www.theleaflabel.com/en/artists

I'm an optimist but sometimes I have to listen music from a Pessimist ha ha haaa...I know a lame joke but I had to. Pessimist aka. Kristian Jabs comes from the UK and makes drumm & bass music.
Even though I haven't been a big fan of drumm & bass (well Burial..) I really enjoy Pessimist's work and sounds.









Here you can find the Soundcloud page of Pessimist: https://soundcloud.com/pessimist


Then it's time for some totally awesome oldskool vibes. Letherette aka Andy Harber and Rich Roberts come also from the UK,

Letherette - "Maybe"

Letherette - Maybe from Synesthesiæ Films on Vimeo.

Check the new album under this link (can't embed it)
Especially the songs "Sweeter" and "D&T"

https://soundcloud.com/letherette/sets/letherette-album

Sweeter found from here:

https://bleep.com/release/71449-letherette-ep3

More you can find at Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/letherette

Volte-Face is a totally new UK artist for me, but oh he makes great techno! I really really love his sound! Just listen this stream trough and you'll love it! Even though the last song is named "Dead cat on the dinner table" it's an amazing song! Put your techno shoes on!




You can buy Volte-Face's "You bury me" from Hard wax: https://hardwax.com

One other artist I found from Hard wax (I should take time and go them all trough) is Emiel Zwart who comes from The Netherlands, Rotterdam. (A great place of techno in the The Netherlands). Should buy also his stuff!





And one more via Hard wax: Abayomi who's a Berlin resident.





Ok some more easy going music now.... The Avalanches sounds groovy! The next would happen most likely if you watch "The wizard of Oz" on drugs..

The Avalanches - "The Wozard of Iz"

The Avalanches - The Wozard of Iz [Music Video] from Danny Brown on Vimeo.

And when the whole village goes berserk....don't drink that neon-lemonade!

The Avalanches - "Frankie Sinatra"

The Avalanches | Frankie Sinatra from DIVISION on Vimeo.

Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/theavalanches

Konx-Om-Pax comes from Scotland but resides in Berlin. They have a new album called "Caramel" out from the label Planet Mu. I really think I will end up buying it!

I couldn't find my favorite "Perc rave" anywhere else than the Bleep page:

https://bleep.com/release/74090-konx-om-pax-caramel

"Oren's Theme" and "Caramel" are great too...Just check all of the songs!

Here's their Soundcloud page: https://soundcloud.com/konx-om-pax

Special request aka. Paul Woolford is a great artist too

Listen "Damage" from here:

https://www.beatport.com/track/damage-original-mix/7221942

Check from the "Modern warfare" songs "Take Me" and "Simulation" .

https://bleep.com/release/64252-special-request-modern-warfare-eps-1-3

My Nu Leng are from Bristol. Great club music. This song is from a cool collaboration, which My Nu Leng participated too, between musicians and Malawi.

"Beating Heart is an exciting music project 65 years in the making and featuring 21 artists including: RUDIMENTAL, MACHINEDRUM, LUKE VIBERT, THROWING SHADE and many more. They have taken the recordings of man called Hugh Tracey who wanted to share African music with the world and remixed them for tracks to feature on a brand new album with a brand new sound. Release 3rd June 2016."

 Here's a short trailer about the project:

Beating Heart project

Beating Heart - Malawi from VOX Films on Vimeo.

My Nu Leng - "Eyes"

Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/mynuleng

Definitely worth of buying this collection "Burning heart - Malawi". (Though I think I will have to get some other ones too, too much great new music out!)  Hope you enjoyed the music tips of this post! Until the next one!

Mix and mash part 1

You know the moment you start to have too many notes on tiny pieces of papers lying around on the floor, on the table and some are already lost. I usually write all the new nice songs which I hear down so I decided to go trough some of my notes and emails and found some nice new music. Lets start with something legendary...After laughter comes tears...

The song "After laughter" is originally done by Wendy Rene (1947-2014) written together with her brother in the 1964. Maaany artists have done covers from this song.

Wendy Rene - "After laughter"

Nicolas Jaar has made a quite cool remix of the original song:

Wendy Rene - "After laughter comes tears Nicolas Jaar edit"

Should actually write a post about Nicolas Jaar because he has done a lot good music!

Even though the Eurovision song contest was competed already a while ago, (see, my notes are bit old), there were some great artists that even didn't get to compete to Sweden. One I really liked was Mick Pedaja from Estonia with the song "Seis" (Stop). I really love the magical atmosphere of the song. I would definitely love to see this artist live or to buy an album of his!

Mick Pedaja - "Seis"

Here's the extended version of the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwCKtC5E4Bg


Mick Pedaja - "Peakskiviimaks / Ought at last"




Go and check his Soundcloud page too because he has some really beautiful ambient tracks there:

https://soundcloud.com/mick-pedaja

And then jump to something totally different...a mix made in heaven! Burial & Four tet mix can only mean something good!

Burial & Four tet - "Nova"

Lets stay bit in the same vibe with this one:

Christian Löffler - "Blind"

Should also write and check more songs from him! Here's the Soundcloud account:

https://soundcloud.com/christianloeffler

Next one I heard thanks to Spotify....

Turtle - "Who knows"

Here you can find the Bandcamp page of Turtle: http://turtle.bandcamp.com/album/who-knows-ep

I heard also the first time Beck, (well at least knowing it was Beck) now even though I've heard the name before, but I totally love the new single which is out just now!

Beck - "Wow"

We are not happy with GEMA.

here's just the link because GEMA wants to be annoying:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZlbahhoEIo

and a short teaser: 

WOW from Ulysse Prom on Vimeo.

Die Antwoord @ Zitadelle, Berlin

Finally I got the chance to see the one of the most controversial bands from South-Africa; Die Antwoord. They were playing at Zitadelle at Spandau, Berlin 4.6.2016. The event was sold out already for a long time before and I was expecting that there will be lots of people, but not really that much what it actually was. According to Berlin Morgenpost there were aprox. 10.000 people at the gig!

Romano

Romano was the warming up act for Die Antwoord, He's a pretty well known German hiphop/rap artist. He is known from hits like "Köpenick" (it's a city district next to Berlin) and "Klaps auf den Po" (Claps on the ass). I like his style and sound, was just bit surprised when watching the music video of "Köpenick": it was shot in L.A. Compton. I was looking forward to see something cool from Köpenick itself, maybe next time then when he would write a song about "Königs Wusterhausen"! Romano mixes his rap with dance electronic sounds like in "Klaps auf den Po". Romano's music made everybody dance (even though I didn't still understand all the lyrics, but the beat and sound was good enough on its own). And as a non hiphop/rap person I was convinced and danced along, this guy has a good sound and attitude!

Romano - "Köpenick"

Romano - "Klaps auf den Po"

Check also the "Metalkutte" from Romano! More videos here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7La9K4wQtzU2q7gQ57X3cQ
And the official homepage: http://www.romanomusik.de/

After Romano had played it started to rain quite a lot, and there was still waiting before Die Antwoord would go on stage. DJ Craft (K.I.Z) was playing still in between, but it was pretty boring to be honest (mixing just some big hits until the point the public was getting tired with it and wanted to see Die Antwoord).

Finally after some hours (about two including the both warming up acts) Die Antwoord came on stage! They had literally an insane show and the public was with them. I was pretty much forced to go bit back in the crowd because everyone, meaning this huge sea of about 8.000-10.000 people, was starting to jump and push around "crowd moshing or mosh pit". But as a bit smaller person this was seriously not fun, being stuck and trying to keep other people on jumping on me I kinda lost the first parts of the gig totally trying to just concentrate on not getting mad and punching other people.

Maybe I should have read this one before, How to mosh in a mosh pit: http://www.wikihow.com/Mosh-in-a-Mosh-Pit

Die Antwoord had just released a new album "Donker mag" a day before the gig (3.6.2016) but they played maybe like 2/3 new songs. It was great the hear all the huge hits like "I fink u freaky", "Enter the Ninja" etc. The stage show was good and hyper energetic as you could expect from Die Antwoord. Great backup dancers and lots of Die Antwoord clothing (crazy sweaters, neon colours and red). Saw also one dedicated fan who was looking exactly like Yolandi Vi$$er, props for her!

I've now listened couple times the new album "Donker Mag" through and sort of liked the sound, but the "angst" is just still too much in the album, can't help it. My favorites were "Ugly boy", "Cookie thumper", "Donker mag" (with beautiful organs) and "Girl I want 2 eat U" which had bit the sounds from reggaeton (at least remotely).

But I have to admit I've developed now sort of a like/dislike relationship with this band since the first time I heard about them. I do get that they want to give this "crazy wacky" image. It's anyhow quite hard to become a huge name/artist from the South-Africa and so quickly. In that they have succeeded. I'm anyhow still bit disgusted/disliking/"done" with some of their music videos, like the "Pitbull terrier". I have just seen too often this super angst what they have in their videos and all the violence, and I'm not now talking about just someone shooting someone or so, but about Ninja dressed in rubber "pitbull terrier" mask eating other people's necks while the blood is bursting all out. (wrong for all the nice pitbull terriers out there!) Here you can see for yourself if you want!

Die Antwoord - "Pitbull terrier"

And here you have real pitbull terriers:

The "Ugly boy" is bit less in a good way but again the blood is flying...

Die Antwoord - "Ugly boy"

After a while you just kinda get tired of it... I still like the music from them but I hope they would just some time soon(!!) take the next step from this "hate/violence/angst/666" stuff...I started to feel that the band is solely based on this "shock effect"and that would be sad...very sad.

I was anyhow happy that I went to see the band live but would NOT recommed Zitadelle for such big events, was just too many people in too small space.

Here you can listen trough the new album "Donker mag":

Berlin music video awards day 2 part 2

So finally found to the time to write about the rest of the music videos from day 2 of BMVA. In the coming categories the same "hip" themes of the year were used quite often, stripper bars, pouring paint on bodies, milk baths and black contact lenses (so stolen from Die Antwoord...) You can again see the full list of contestants from here and all the videos too: http://www.berlinmva.com/main/nomineescategories-2016/

"Best art director" category

Mat Zo - "Sinful" from this song I only noted down two things: welding masks and strippers in a bar.

My favorite from the category of Best art director was definitely the Jolin Tsai - "Play".  The artist is coming from Taiwan. I really loved the humor of this video! You see the Taiwanese hipsters fighting and getting out older and older cameras and gramophones while trying beat each others in this coolness competition. The hipsters then end up in a big fight hitting each others with ukuleles.

The song is quite dance pop but combined with the video it makes a perfect couple. I think this video and song was one of my favorites from whole BMVA 2016. Here's the music video with English subtitles (click them on while watching, it's more fun when you know the lyrics too)

Jolin Tsai - "Play"

Catz 'n Dogz feat Tanika - "Get it right". This Polish creation was also high on my list. I like how they have gathered so many different groups of people into this video; you have the motocross boys, cheer leaders, american football girls, equestrians, priests, fishermen, the hooligans and the high class house wives.

Catz 'n Dogz - "Get it right"

Petite Meller - "Barbaric" not so much to say; scary make up, random dance moves and a swimming pool with old people.

Tame Impala - "The less I know the better". Not so much to say either; crazy video with a basketball player going oral on a girl and then the girl is later stolen by a big gorilla. And the gorilla dies in the end when a basketball pierces it. Here's a impala for you:

and the other kind of impala

Be quiet - "Ichor" yet again another music video with lots of....MILK. In this video though the milk is kinda taking over the whole world, in a very literal way.

Here's the milk wave taking over the world!

The best editor category was bit hard for me. I first just mostly disliked all the videos coming up...or maybe I was just being too picky and getting tired of the overdose of music videos. (Can happen!)

Synapson - "Fireball" in this video two girls are getting bored with their boyfriends and end up being a couple. Pretty common story line, but even being in Berlin the audience gave a small "ohh" sound when they saw two girls kissing in the end of the video.

Gilligan Moss - "Choreograph"  Only want to say: lots of fried eggs.

Reid Willis - "Search for the blue pearl" maybe I've seen too many time Matrix because I was wanting to write the name of the song several times wrong: Search for the blue pill.  This was one of the rare videos that was shot in Berlin (you can spot the S-bahn (city train) from the video). I like how the song itself is pretty minimalistic and so are the small subtle changes. They have shot normal every day life from Berlin and surroundings and afterwards changed small parts and made non living things move with the music. You see the iron bars jumping up and down, lights turning on and off. I really liked the theme of how the whole city gets its own life.

Here the link to the video: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x43ndgx

Sbcr - "The grid" video with a very very angry bodybuilder.

Delta Q - "Ode ( An die Freude)" (Ode for the happiness)

This was the only stop motion animated music video of the category and possibly of the whole BMVA 2016. The Delta Q guys are singing multiple times the same song but in different styles and for each style they created own scenes. Was thinking how insane amount of work this has taken. I totally agree that this music video was also the right one to win this category of best editor. 

Delta Q - "Ode (An die Freude)"

The "Best song" category went bit pass me, being so tired after seeing all videos I was forcing myself to stay and see the videos. In this category they had thought only about the song and didn't care about the video itself. It was very easy to pick my favorite from this and my personal winner was: Robot Koch & Julien Marchal - "Care". I knew Robot Koch from before and was waiting already something great when hearing the name. The video is also quite astonishing with the colors floating trough the air, combined with the dreamy song it definitely was a perfect combination.
Watch this from a bigger screen if possible!

Robot Koch & Julien Marchal - "Care"

Berlin music video awards day 2 part 1.

On the second day of the festival I was able to attend it myself. Second day there were videos competing in five different categories: Best visual effects, Best cinematography, Best art director, Best editor and Best song. So it was a full day's or lets say full evening's work to watch all the videos. It took about 4-5 hours to watch it all (including breaks). The BMVA took place this year in Gretchen, which is a nice club close by Mehringdamm in Berlin. FYI I don't mention all the videos that were competing but my favorites or dislikes. You can go for the full listings to BMVA site: http://www.berlinmva.com/main/nomineescategories-2016/

The first category was Best visual effects 

The new "hip" in this year's videos were different kinds of paints and liquids splashing or oozing from the eyes. After you saw it in a couple of videos you started to think if they had seen bit too much of X-Files (black oil kröhmm..). There were some big names competing too in the best visual effects category, one was Zayn with "Pillow talk". I had heard the song quite some times in the radio before but was surprised how visually beautiful the video was. But at some point the couple's kissing and the red oozy eyes were getting bit blah..but anyhow the video had some beautiful moments. Here's some photos from it:

  Find more from http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/pop/6859330/pillowtalk-moments-zayn-grown-up

and here the bloody eyes:

I think Gem club - "Speech of foxes" should have competed in the best narrative section instead of the best visual effects. While watching I was just thinking about the story of the man in the video, where he was burning all his old photos. While throwing the photos into the fire he started to burn himself too and turning slowly into ashes.

                                                     Gem club - "Speech of foxes"

One other big name competing in this category was Björk with "Mouth mantra".
I had pretty mixed feelings about this video. First I thought oh how cool idea, then it was just gross and then I was thinking if I'm watching a mouth or a vagina..so after all that going trough in my head I just disliked the extreme close ups of the mouth. If it was Björk who's mouth was being filmed I can say at least that she has good teeth! See for yourself:

                                                            Björk - "Mouth mantra"

Carpenter brut - "Turbo killer" was one of my favorites from the category or maybe even my favorite. It's super camp disco style but it was cool and fun to watch! And the video stayed in my mind afterwards which tells that it was good!

Prepare for some camp and fasten your seat belts!

Carpenter brut - "Turbo killer"

Montmartre - "Out of violence" was confusing video to watch. The song was pretty dance'ish happy going and the video was like the world would be ending.. If they tried to use this contrast as a powerful tool they failed. The song has some vibes from Daft Punk, it would be nice to dance to in a disco, but combined with this huge black storm thingy (which reminded me of the Dementors from Harry Potter) I couldn't really enjoy the video.

Montmartre - "Out of violence"

M+R / MONTMARTRE - OUT OF VIOLENCE from NOSIDE on Vimeo.

And here a Dementor for you too!

Darwin Deez was competing in multiple categories this year but I still didn't like his video "Kill your attitude" that much. It had a funny idea behind though...the whole music video was shot like the singer would be part of a video game "Counter strike". But I never really liked Counter strike so then I didn't really like the video either.

Noah - "Flaw" was one of my favorites too. A visually beautiful video with amazing landscapes. I liked the flying clothes and the floating bodies. The song was bit Sigur Ros'ish. Super dreamy!

Noah - "Flaw"

Noah "flaw" from takcom™ on Vimeo.

My immediate favorite was Stromae - "Quand c'est". I've listened before some music from him and have big respect towards this amazing artist! He has other genius videos too you should check out! (At least Tous les memes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAMWdvo71ls) The song "Quand c'est" when translated means "When it is?" in English. The trick is that if you say Quand c'est in French it sounds bit like cancer in English. Stromae uses this kind of tricks often in his songs and lyrics like "Moules frites" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Z2fQjJIWMw) If you understand French the double meanings of the lyrics will open up easier.

But anyhow back to the video of "Quand c'est". It is a captivating and touching video to watch. How the "cancer" is taking hold of the theater and then eventually of the dancer while Stromae is singing. He is asking when the cancer would be taking a holiday, telling how mischievous it can be starting from the mother's breasts and taking slowly over the whole body. Stromae won the category of best visual effects with this video.

Stromae - "Quand c'est" 

The second category Best cinematography.

Alice on the roof - "Easy come easy go" was totally new for me.

Easy come easy go is a very beautiful song, but the video didn't really get high points from me, it was another "breaking up" video. Seems like that was one themes of the music video's this year's competition.

Here's a live session of the song instead. It's soo much better than the original video. Sometimes voice is all we need.

Alice on the roof - "Easy come easy go"

More music from Alice on the roof: https://soundcloud.com/aliceontheroof

Major Lazer ft. Nyla & Fuse ODG - "Light it up"

Major Lazer is more known from his tongue in the cheek type music videos like "Pon de floor" so I was very surprised about the video I saw, in a very positive way. The music video tells about a funeral in a small village somewhere in Africa. I think there they see funerals as a more joyful party to celebrate the life of the deceased person. I like this idea a lot better and think that it should be more common in Europe too. Why to just mourn these people while we can celebrate the life what they had and remember the good things?

The "Light it up" video is just beautiful. It has a short extract from a poem in the end. The poem is called: "Kae" (translated remember). I was lucky enough to find the poem and would like copy it here so you can read the full poem before listening and watching the music video. It's a bit long but worth of reading trough. It tells about the struggle and the suffering Africa had to go trough because of the invasion of the western people. I tried to fix the possible typos what the translator left there..

"Kae"

 by Kwadwo Nkita-Mayala as translated into Twi by Obadele Kwame Kambon

"My people

Do you know what time we are in now?

It is time to remember

To remember

To remember life

My people

We’ve rested so long in sleep

Far too long

Let us arise

Let us arise and remember

Remember life

Wise people and Fools

Beautiful stars and powerful Suns

Children and Elders of Africa

Remember

Can we remember the time before

The arrival of albinos/Europeans to Africa?

The time before we were dispersed all over this earth

Before slavery

Before colonialism

Before exploitation

Before the heart of Africa began bleeding

Who caused all of this suffering?

We know

We know

And remember

We did not forget

Remember and be prepared

Who ignores the truth?

Who ignores the history?

Who can forget Our suffering?

In slavery

In exploitation of colonialism

Nevertheless

We survived

We survived

Remember

Our enemy will be brought before justice

He cannot hide from the eyes of the Ancestors

Remember

Remember and stand

Birds have feathers because they were passed down to them by other birds

Remember

Remember

Where is the returning path (to Our Way)? 

Look back and feel the unseen power of remembrance

Because Our Ancestors are with us

They are Our strength

Our Ancestors work very hard on Our behalf

We also, we must work very hard

To help Our children and change life on earth

Life is dying and undying

But you must remember

Look back

And remember

We are at a crossroads

Between life and death

Who will show us the way?

Who will open the path?

It is 

Train your mind

Train your mind

To remember and to heal

To remember and to destroy

Remember

To hold onto that which holds you up

Do not give it away

Rise up (spiritually)

Sing a new song

Remember Our traditions

Let’s Return

To Our roots

To Our systems/nature/order

Remember

For Change

Remember

For Justice

Remember

For Balance

Remember

For Life

Remember

Collectively

Remember"

And here the music video which was one of my favorite from best cinematography category:

Major Lazer ft. Nyla & Fuse ODG - "Light it up"

Nao - "Bad blood" was also something totally new for me. It seemed to be also a trend to have naked people walking around. As a person from the North I was like okay again they have tried to use this nakedness as some sort of an effect, so people would go like "Oh what, she's naked!". I saw the person naked as a some sort of a life giver. When she was watching people they would have small trees popping out of their eyes. And the people would arise from dead. The song itself is pretty much house.

Nao - Bad blood

Lunakid - "Technicolor". Lunakid comes from Germany and some of the producers and other crew of the video were also present. The video had very cool costumes! I hope there would be actually a category only for costumes. It would be awesome! I remember from this video mostly only the golden and black masks and the vcr tape. The atmosphere is pretty dark and so the song too. They are worshiping VCR cassetes, well sort of...maybe.."Must have old tape!"
Anyhow it is a cool video!

Lunakid - Technicolor

Susanne Sundför - "Accelerate"
I was happy to see Susanne Sundför competing in this category and knew the song already beforehand. Accelerate is a music video with loots of strobo lights, big disco ball and people floating naked in the water. Kinda sexy! The video is well done and fits the song good. Great song to listen bit louder!

Susanne Sundför - Accelerate

Hurts - "Lights"  was a totally new artist for me. They had a pretty crazy video with some as crazy dancing in a disco. And if you watched the video you'll know not to mess around with these people while they are dancing! This video won the category even though I would have wanted to give the prize to Lunakid!

Hurts - "Lights"

Lance Butters - "Es zieht, ich zieh" (Google translate says: It attracts, I pull)
This was maybe the most disgusting video of the competition. It shows a man shooting himself to the head and how the corpse starts to rot with maggots wriggling around and mice eating the body. So in you have been warned and you can watch the video if you want. Maybe not good thing to do while eating or before eating.

Lance Butters - "Es zieht, ich zieh"

I'll leave the Best art director, Best editor and Best song to the next post!

Berlin music video awards day 1

I got the chance to go to the Berlin music video awards this year (noticed the event just in time). It is the 4th time they organized this four day long festival. If you are a friend of music videos I really recommend this event! You will get the chance to see all different kind of music videos from all over the world. So far they have received videos from 100 countries. So if you feel bored with watching only mainstream videos BMVA is a good place. (They have always some big names competing too, but the nice thing is that they have the same chances as the other "less known" artists.

So I was at the festival only on the second day, but was checking videos of the other days later and will (try) to make a post about every day of the festival and pick up my favorite videos and songs.

On the first day there were competitors 3 different categories: Best concept, Best narrative and Best director.

In best concept category there were quite some good participants so it was kinda hard to decide which I would like the most. But nevertheless, I ended up choosing Yvein Monq - "Twun" as my favorite one. The music video is a high heel nightmare compilation, people tripping with their high heels. You can feel the struggle of the people walking in these insane shoes. I just hope nobody got hurt while doing this video. The video is especially bit hard to watch if you have had a ankle injury yourself!
The song itself is also a good one, cool, bit down tempo house'ish song. The music video and song is a collaboration of three different countries: Spain, Hungary and France.

Here is the music video.

Yvein Monq - "Twun"

  

You should also check Yvein Monq's Soundcloud channel:

https://soundcloud.com/yvein-monq

As a second I would choose from the best concept category Elliot Moss - "Pattern repeating" from Norway. This music video invites you to peek inside a life of a Norwegian green morph suite family. And no, not every family is wearing green morph suites in Norway! And this family seems to be very sporty too and there's one golden family member who seems to like bondage.

Here is the music video:

Elliot Moss - Pattern repeating

Elliot Moss – Pattern Repeating (Official Video) from Elliot Moss on Vimeo.


Underwater filming seemed to be a big theme in this year's contestants. So this music video is not making an exception. The whole video is shot underwater, I wonder if they used professional free divers for this..song is from a more known artist Naughty boy ft. Beyonce & Arrow Benjamin with the song "Runnin' (Lose it all)".

The video has a dreamy feeling and parts of the video is shot upside down.

Naughty boy ft. Beyonce & Arrow Benjamin - Runnin' (Lose it all)

I think the music video survives from the cliches of an underwater video and has quite some beautiful floating moments in it. This was my favorite underwater video from the whole festival (believe me there's was quite some underwater music videos!)

Naughty boy has made some super known songs and collaborations like the "La la la" ft. Sam Smith (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QX0vetz2Y_o) and many collaborations with Emeli Sandé - "Lifted" https://youtu.be/9Yi_o8iB0b0

Third one I would like to choose Yanis with "Hypnotized". They had really hypnotized all the dancers of the music video (you can see it in the video too). The song is pretty easy going, nice Saturday afternoon sun song. 

                                                                Yanis - "Hypnotized"

YANIS - Hypnotized from YANIS on Vimeo.

I would like to mention still from the best concept category one Polish entry: Rysy - "The Fib". The video itself wasn't that much my thing, though I really like the minimalism of it, but I liked the song even more and was astonished to find how much cool house and techno music is coming from Poland and found some other interesting artists via Rysy. Here the video:

                                                                 Rysy -"The Fib"

I ended up listening some more songs from Rysy and couple other polish artists. So now some non BMVA-videos.

You should watch the next video from a big screen.

Rysy - "Brat"

I found also one amazing singer via Rysy.. Justyna Swięs she has the most amazing voice.

Justyna Swies

Sonar soul - "The dive feat Justyna Swies (The Dumplings)

I will definitely keeps my ears open in the future for this singer! Okay, one more artist that was not BMVA related. Polish band which I found via Rysy...called Bokka. They play more pop'ish music, but nevertheless nice stuff!

Bokka - "Let it"

The next video from Bokka is a really beautiful one. Telling a story about a boy who was dreaming about flying and built his own wings. (Oh yes, bit syrupy, but watch it anyhow). I really liked the video and the song! Definitely worth to check some other songs from Bokka too!

Bokka - "Town of strangers"

Here the soundcloud page of Bokka: https://soundcloud.com/bokkamusic

And the ofiicial homepage: http://www.bokkamusic.com/

Okay okay, now back to BMVA!

So the next category was Best narrative...it was first bit hard to find your favorite from this category when many of the songs were about just killing, shooting and bloody people. But when I saw Lucille Crew's - "What the hell" and Savage's - "Like Michael Jackson" I was like yeah, finally! 

Lucille Crew had a nostalgic music video made as a old computer game. I really liked the theme and the jokes in the video, like when you jump and catch a joint you will be soon flying with a jetpack trough the game and the girls are throwing razor blades in fire. Even though I'm not a big fan of hip hop but I still liked this song!

Lucille crew - "What the hell"

Here's the webpage of the Lucille crew: https://soundcloud.com/lucille-smokin-soul

One other music video that I wanted to mention also from the best narrative category was Valsaland - "Ensamheten". It tells a story of a lonely robot (like the name ensamheten - in English loneliness)

Valsaland - "Ensamheten"

"Ensamheten" - Valsaland from Chaosmonger Studio on Vimeo.

But my favorite from the best narrative category is definitely Savage - "Like Michael Jackson". The songs is sort of a mix of trap music and rap. But this music video made me laugh..it all starts with a lonely glitter glow having an adventure... I recommend to watch this from a big screen and bit loud.

Savage - "Like Michael Jackson"

SAVAGE | Like Michael Jackson from James Chappell on Vimeo.

The last category of day 1 was Best director. I really have to admit that it was hard to find something what I would have really liked from this category...

Petite Meller was competing with "Baby love".  I had never heard anything from this artist before...and when watching the music video I was just being concentrating to the extra clownesque lipstick what she has. Ans I was thinking in my head is this some new disco copy of Yolandi Vi$$er from Die Antwoord. See for yourself the comparison.

Petite Meller up

Yolandi Vi$$er

I couldn't choose a favorite, but for sure the craziest video in this category was from Dillon Francis - "Not butter". The music video repeats itself and every time the same party and story gets more crazier. This is a video not to watch at work. Sex sells??

Dillon Francis - "Not butter"

Some new music video reviews from the BMVA coming soon! Stay tuned!