What better time than a Thursday to indulge in a little bit of spastic hyperlinking?
Even if you’re not a fan of Gnarls Barkley (and believe me, I can sympathize with people who got really sick of hearing Crazy everywhere they went!), you’d have to admit that their music videos have tended to stand out from the crowd. From the Rorschach-inspired video for Crazy, all the way to the somewhat disturbing narrative video for Who’s Gonna Save My Soul, pictured above, the band has opted for originality over glitz and glamour. Equal parts cute, melancholic and downright freaky, Who’s Gonna Save My Soul is definitely a video worth watching. The video is directed by Chris Milk, who previously directed Gnarls Barkley’s video Gone Daddy Gone and has also worked with Kanye West, U2 and others.
Over the course of their two albums, Gnarls Barkley’s videos have changed a lot while otherwise staying the same. I admire the retention of some of the key elements from previous videos, like the stoic Danger Mouse cameos and tendency to superimpose Cee-Lo’s lips onto pretty much anything, but as the band matures the narrativity of the videos has increased along with the complexity of the songs themselves. Their newer album The Odd Couple reads like a novel in comparison St. Elsewhere’s catchy pamphlets and posters; it’s harder to get into The Odd Couple, but it’s a much more satisfying read in the end. Thankfully there aren’t any songs with quite the radio stopping power of Crazy, which ought to give the other songs on the album enough room to breathe and be recognized for their own merits instead of being dismissed as filler for a one-hit wonder.
I feel like ought to spotlight a particular artist here, like the brilliant, surrealist work by Josh Keyes, well worth checking out for its environmentalist themes and beautifully rendered imagery. Instead, I think it would be better to explain where I tend to find out about people like Keyes.
Drawn.ca is one of the best art and illustration blogs I know of, frequently updated and highlighting the work of very talented artists the world over. They profess to be a “illustration and cartooning blog,” but their subject matter dips in to animation, fine art, video art, comics and even design as well. Brilliant site; I follow a ton of blogs, but this has always been a personal favorite!
Finally, once again there is suspicion that legendary graffiti artist Banksy has been unmasked. I’m know how I feel about his anonymity, or lack thereof, but it doesn’t change the immediacy or power of his work.