"A Girl Like Reba"

I do like a good comedy song now and then. It all started with Weird Al (for me, that is) and has developed to Flight of the Conchords and the Lonely Island - two of the most original comedy teams. Saturday Night Live has definitely been hit or miss this season, but when it hits, it's hitting fairly hard. Case in point: "A Girl Like Reba".

Passion Pit - "Sleepyhead"

This past week, Disney rereleased (just in time for Christmas) Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. I thought I'd share one of the finest-edited music videos I can think of, the Passion Pit song "Sleepyhead" cut to shots from the film. Not sure who put this together, but it is amazing. To see Snow White dance when the song hits its bouncing chorus...

Explosions in the Sky - "So Long, Lonesome"

No explosions in this video!

I love the phrase "post-rock" which describes the instrumental genre that Explosions fit into. Think Godspeed! You Black Emperor, or Sigur Ros. It's basically a meaningless term.

This is just a magical three minute clip that if real (which I believe it is), seems like the greatest day of all time for all involved (except marriage, kids, yadda yadda). I wish I could have seen this in person.

John Mayer - "Gravity"

What can you say about John Mayer? He's dreamy, he dates celebrities, he writes cheesy songs, and man, can he play the guitar. His new album, "Battle Studies", came out yesterday.

I can't say a lot about his songwriting skills - they just don't get me excited. And that's the unfortunate conundrum for Mayer, as I see it. I always remember this line from a Rolling Stone interview of a few years ago: "Ask John Mayer if he is a guitarist or a singer-songwriter, and he replies immediately: 'Always a guitarist.'" It's a tale of two artists: the pop artist seeking to sell records, and the musician seeking to reach beyond his core audience for greater recognition.

At the 2007 Crossroads Festival - Eric Clapton's guitar-fest with a remarkable collection of mostly blues guitarists - Mayer arrived to a stadium of people who likely didn't know him, and likely had preconceived expectations of what they were about to witness. Mayer wowed with his playing and got a good chunk of that recognition he sought. Returning to the festival a year later, Mayer was all the more confident, and all the more welcomed too.

Here's "Gravity" from the 2008 show.

Coldplay - "Politik"

As a logical follow up to the camera-work in Mannish Boy is one of my favourite camera shots ever from Coldplay's 2003 Grammy performance. It was an interesting performance, first, because they chose to play "Politik" rather than one of their bigger, more recognizable hits. It was a great performance, second, because they played it with the New York Philharmonic in front of a beautiful light display.

Best moment as I said earlier is the tracking shot that begins at 3:39 of the video - comes up, sweeps to the right, then swings around to the left completely circling Chris Martin as the audience is shown in the background - a rare shot (especially at an awards show!) where artist and audience are seen together. Who says Coldplay can't be heavy!

The Band (featuring Muddy Waters) - "Mannish Boy"

"Whoa yeah."

I've watched this video so many times in my life, it's frightening how well I know it.

The Band's 1978 concert film, the Last Waltz, is without question the all-time greatest of its kind. Meant to signal the end of an era, the Band hired Martin Scorcese to document their 'final' performance as a group, and they were certainly one of the best of their generation.

Joining them on stage for this show were Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Neil Diamond, Van Morrison, Joni Mitchell, Ronnie Hawkins, Dr. John, and plenty of others. It is a tour de force film that remarkably is always in the discount bin at HMV. Buy it!

My favourite clip from the show is one that came dangerously close to never being caught on film. Shortly after blues legend Muddy Waters and the Band began thumping along to Waters' classic "Mannish Boy", all of the cameras filming the movie crapped out. All but Laszlo Kovacs, that is.

Kovacs alone captures all but the beginning and ending of the song as the other cameramen scrambled to grab new cameras or change their bulbs. But Kovacs, presumably unaware of the production chaos around him slowly directs his lens into a close-up of Waters' dramatic face as he delivers a masterful and emotional performance. The moment when he rasps "well, well, well" smacking the mic is a gem.

Kovacs wasn't just the right man in the right place; he was the Director of Photography for classic films Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces, and later in life, Miss Congeniality. Well, they can't all be classics. But that Kovacs' steady hand was there to capture Waters and the Band, and that he had the presence of mind to keep the shot tight on Waters for a majority of the song is one of those special never-to-be-duplicated moments that gives me goosebumps whenever I see it.

Grizzly Bear - "Ready, Able"

Terrifying plasticine madness!

I don't intend to play the same artist close together too often, nor will I play the same style of video too often either, but every now and then, when I discover a new video, I'll feature it as I discover it.

Following up on the animated 'fan-made' Grizzly Bear video for "Two Weeks" below, here is a plasticine stop-animation film by Allison Schulnik to the song, "Ready, Able". The subjects are monsters(!) and it is an incredible work.

It's nice to see the 'a film by' at the piece's end. These artists deserve wider recognition for their talents and dedication, and Schulnik is no different, with her colourful imagination and uncanny ability to bring these beasts to life. This video is so rich in detail that repeated viewings will only begin to uncover the work's complexities.

Check out another of Schulnik's films by clicking her name above.

Yeasayer - "No Need To Worry / Red Cave"

I hope it's not too soon for this, but if you can expand your mind a bit, you'll be very rewarded with this clip from Yeasayer, an "experimental" band from Brooklyn, NY. Yeasayer's first album, "All Hour Cymbals" reminded me of various completely different bands: Midnight Oil, MGMT, and Fleet Foxes, just to name a few. Blending those different sounds would seem unnatural but hasn't been for them. Their music is full of interesting harmonies, arrangements and killer grooves.

Add in la Blogotheque, one of the best websites. Period. The Blogotheque films what they like to call "take away shows" - unique videos capturing musicians out of their element, performing in an unusual setting or manner. It's a dirth of incredible performances by some of the best acts out there, and well worth exploring.

Perhaps my favourite of all their videos is the Yeasayer clip for "No Need to Worry / Red Cave", performed accapella in a Paris subway. Obviously missing from "No Need" is the tremendous musical breakdown that journeys the song's latter half, but the version of "Red Cave" that follows, jubilant and quite drunken, does justice to the joy that ends the song.



I'm So Blessed to Have Spent the Time / With My Family / And the Friends I've Loved In My Short Life / I Have Had / So Many People I Deeply Care For

Grizzly Bear - "Two Weeks"

I'm a big fan of animation, particularly when linked to music. For that matter, I also love feature films recut to music, animation or not. A video making the blog rounds is one set to Grizzly Bear's "Two Weeks". The song is a beautiful ballad of art-rock, with some great drums near the end.

The video is actually made by a fan, Gabe Askew, clearly an exceptionally talented artist/animator, who does this sort of thing for a living. I'm sure this video will have the added effect of getting him noticed by some important people. It's really quite amazing, full of creativity and life, as every new frame brings a different fascinating vision. I hope the trend in indie rock to turn to such artistic visual outlets continues for a long time to come.

Imogen Heap - "Just For Now"

When I was in my early teens, whenever I heard that someone played all of the instruments on a CD, I'd always envision them in one of those ridiculous contraptions with strings all around, sitting at a drumset with a guitar in hand. It was impossible to play all of those instruments at once, I thought, and except for the occasional street performer, it is.

Obviously, I was a little confused as to the recording process.

Through the invention of looping, however, an artist can lay down a track, have it repeat, and then build upon it, and so on. Freddy Mercury did this in "the Prophet Song", for one. I can think of a number of live performances that have used this technique but none better than Imogen Heap's "Just For Now".

In this video, Imogen, who has a reasonably distinct voice, shows that her true talent lies in using that voice to create a symphony. I've never been the biggest fan of her recordings, save for "Let Go" (Garden State soundtrack, recorded as Frou Frou) and a few others. But this performance changed it all for me and demonstrates incredible talent that will hopefully lead to bigger platforms down the road.

Note: "Can you get me out of here?" at 3:20 onwards. Awesome.

Ryan Adams - "Come Pick Me Up"

Not everyone realizes that Paul Shaffer is the 'musical director' of the Late Show with David Lettermen. What that entails is more than just being the goofy sidekick; he also books the acts. So Shaffer deserves all of the credit for being the most relevant musical performance outlet on American television. I'm always amazed by how well Shaffer's finger is on the pulse, how he consistently books the best up-and-coming acts. You'll notice in time that I favour performances on this show, as I intend to post a number of them.

I also enjoy watching Letterman's reactions to the acts. You can tell when he likes a group. One of Letterman's favourites has to be Ryan Adams who he's had on repeatedly. Adams is best known for his song that opened the movie Old School ("To Be Young"), his chilling cover of "Wonderwall", his "New York, New York" video which was filmed only days before 9/11 with numerous shots of Adams playing in front of the Towers, or throwing tantrums and leaving the stage when people shout "play 'Summer of '69'!". Or now, being married to Mandy Moore.

Adams is certainly one of the most prolific songwriters of the twenty-first century. He's churned out 11 albums so far, including three (3!) in 2005 alone. He's also underrated as a live act.

Here's Ryan Adams singing a classic, "Come Pick Me Up".

Inaugural Post: a Tribute to Freddy Mercury

I thought I'd start things off with two truly remarkable performances from the Queen tribute to Freddy Mercury. This event took place at a packed Wembley Stadium only weeks after the singer had died, and a who's-who list of artists joined the band to honour one of the great singers of rock music history. These two songs feature 3 artists and a crowd that couldn't be more into it.

First up is George Michael singing Somebody to Love. While many know of George Michael as a great singer, many also think of him as that 80's singer or 'that guy in the public bathroom', but this performance is a testatment to his incredible talent and confidence. In particular, his control during the song's climax is remarkable. And the shots of the crowd clapping in unison are killer.



Second up is a duet between David Bowie and Annie Lennox singing Under Pressure, with its rallying cry of "why can't we give love one more chance?" Their chemistry is undeniable and the manner in which they come together - physically and lyrically - at the end of the song has a drama to it that probably couldn't have been pulled off by anyone other than these two legends. Plus, Bowie's wearing a bright lime green suit.