6 awesome videos you might have missed with Dirty Beaches, U.S. Girls, and more

by Jesse Locke

January 10, 2014

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Living on Video is a weekly column that unearths forgotten VHS gems, Vimeo obscurities, and YouTube oddities from the musical ether—all obsessively curated by Weird Canada music editor Jesse Locke.

Before 2013 came to a close, AUX shared their favourite videos of the year in GIF form. The image of Ray Wise crooning under fireworks is enough to haunt your dreams for 12 more months, but none of my personal picks made the list. To kick off this column again for the new year, here’s a last look back at six clips you might have missed.

 

Dirty Beaches – “Casino Lisboa”

This song’s heavy throb is one of many standout moments from Dirty Beaches’ monster of a double LP, Drifters / Love Is The Devil. The video from director Gary Boyle combines a strobe-lit performance from the band’s trio line-up in Bangkok with stark shots of the city going bump in the night. None more badass.

 

U.S. Girls – “28 Days”

Montreal filmmaker Emily Pelstring previously worked with U.S. Girls on the glam-rock homage “Jack”, and followed it up with something even more striking. The summertime strut and sing-a-long with a parade of backup dancers à la The Exciters is awesome enough in itself, but learning about the song’s bodily inspirations really brings it home.

 

The Knife – “Full of Fire”

Nothing shook me to the core last year like this 10-minute chiller from Swedish duo The Knife. The soundtrack of mutated Mortal Kombat techno ramps up the intensity of these images from transgressive filmmaker Marit Östberg, featuring gender bending, leather and all kinds of taboo-busting behaviour (suffice to say, NSFW).

 

Sic Alps – “Biz Bag”

Shortly before calling it quits, Bay Area jokers Sic Alps dished out their final release with the quickie EP, She’s On Top. “Biz Bag” is the most rockin’ tune and the best of three videos by William Francis-Bashore Keihn. Flashing through a slideshow of San Francisco streets, curious characters and some colourful balloons, the barrage of images matches the song step for step. These guys will be missed.

 

Sugar Boys – “First Taape (Bike Ride Version)”

This mind-melting Montreal trio features members of the three Ts (Tonstartssbandht, Tired and Tops). Throwing back to Sabbath’s psychedelic projections this clip shows them gettin’ gone Mainliner style while greenscreened into white line fever. Director Jason Harvey is also the mastermind responsible for Avatar 2.

 

Jay Arner – “Out To Lunch”

Speaking of gloriously outdated computer animation, Kelowna’s only married film team Fred and Sharon made their triumphant return in 2013. Jay Arner approached the couple as a fan and allowed them to create their own interpretation of the song and a few band photos. In Fred’s words: “What went wrong with perfect love?”

Tags: Music, News, Dirty Beaches, Jay Arner, Living On Video, The Knife

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