Gnarls Barkley "Smiley Faces"

And that's the effect this video will have on you. These two never fail to make each video unique and just about better than 99% of the other stuff out there. Sure, it's a performance-based piece, but they keep us intrigued through the whole video with their wit.

I can't help but think these guys would make a killer variety show. Something in the Smothers Brothers fashion. Maybe they perform during a segment then maybe it's a quick sketch. Wouldn't be out of their grasp. Heck, the Mandrell sisters got away with it for how long?

"Smiley Faces" is presented to us as a documentary-style video about an individual named "Gnarls Barkely." It starts off with Dennis Hopper portraying a historian named Milton Pawley, and Dean Stockwell playing an older record exec. named Sven Rimwinkle. They both discuss the mystery surrounding the elusive figure and his ties to the music industry, yet, there's no photographs of the man himself.

As the song begins, we are taken back to the Prohibition era where the real Gnarls Barkley is playing with a big band. Montages of raids and a "speak easy" follows and helps to join decades together, forming a reference and establish the fact that this video will be moving you through different, significant musical eras. Next up is Duke Ellington playing away on the piano, essentially leaving Danger Mouse with nothing to do but sit in the background while Cee-Lo sings. We are then taken through what I figure is the Bay of Pigs incident as the two are superimposed in photos concerning a coup attempt (I could be totally wrong, so don't comment on my inaccuracies after you have to consult Wikipedia to correct me). Next up is the hippie era with footage of a festival and Cee-lo holding a sign warning of the brown acid.

The references pick up speed including shots of the group with Andy Warhol, Bob Marley and The Clash. But perhaps my favorite segment is the 1980s. Mainly because I actually remember the material they pulled from. First up is the sweet dancing segment from Michael Jackson's "Thriller" video. We're then shown Funkmaster Flex mixing while Mouse enjoys the show from the other side of his turntables. It's great stuff! The last reference shot if probably my favorite, with the guys leaning up against the wall in the David Bowie video "Lets Dance." This video used to drive me out of my mind. When you're 9 or 10 and waiting for the latest Duran Duran video to come on, you'd think this is the only one they played. It still wasn't as creepy as his video for "China Girl." We close with the two gentlemen giving their parting thoughts on "Barkley's" influence; one stating he never existed and the other saying he just disappears.

You know, last year Chili Peppers did the video for "Dani California" which just seemed like a reason for them to dress up in iconic music movement styles of the past and perform on a stage. Not really a stretch. What I think Gnarls Barkley was able to do was take that idea about one hundred steps further and really develop the concept. It gives us something more clever and even a bit educational for today's younger audience who don't really have a way to learn about older music. Very entertaining.

Grover, over!

Snoop Dogg "Candy (Drippin' Like Water)"

"The kind of candy I sell they call 'Deez Nutz!"

Snoop, you so crazy. This little gem looks like Snoop was rollin' and decided, "I wanna shoot a video right here on this corner." And so it was. That's about the limit of creativity harnessed in this masterpiece. "Gin & Juice" was along the same lines, but somehow it seemed more fun and genuine. Here Snoop has invited about 200 of his closest friends and family. A few other artists are mixed in for good measure. I was playing "Where's Waldo" and even spotted Tupac. I'm telling you, he's alive!

This blog doesn't exist to critique Snoop's lyrics or musical abilities. Sounds alright, but I could do without half of the lady repeating "Want it? I got it, drippin' like water." Although they do look someone tasty in their color-coated wardrobe. Aside from that, it's your usual rap video fare of a large group of people and everyone but the artist taking their turn at the mic. I think Snoop might actually have two lines in the tune.

It seemed at first as if the director was trying to create a continuous shot video. It might have added a nice little twist on what is otherwise a basic video. No dice though as we get cut-away shots on some of the guest rappers on the track.

I wonder if this was just an easy idea, or if a director actually turned in a treatment with this in mind. Snoops last CD, "R & G (Rhythm & Gangsta) The Masterpiece" had a great video with "Drop it Like it's Hot." On a side note, the first track from the CD is amazing! And the track "Lets Get Blown" is nice too.

So maybe there's a reason this latest video seems like a light-hearted, quick solution to promote a new CD, but aside from that excuse, there's not a lot more that can be said about it.

At the risk of ruining my chances of someday having Snoop record my away message on my voice mail for me, I'm giving this one 2.5 out of 5. (This rating thing still feels lame and pretentious. Maybe I can come up with a creative solution in the near future?)

Grover, over.

Modest Mouse "Dashboard"

I'm going to take another stab at this music video blog thing by starting off with the latest from Modest Mouse. It was directed by Motion Theory. I know I've seen that name before, but can't remember what else he/she/they might have directed. (Been out of the game for a bit!)

I'm familiar with the two other mainstream videos by Modest Mouse, "Float on" and "Ocean Breathes Salty." As far as their music video style is concerned, I tend to lump them in with Foo Fighters where each video has a different personality but still form a solid artistic body of work. Now, the content of the videos might not have much to do with the lyrics, but the theme runs the whole length.

Such is the case with "Dashboard," a "fish this big" storyline, where an old man enters a fishermen pub and proceeds to explain how he came about the microphone which is where his right hand used to be. Of course, none of the others believe his story, as is demonstrated by the subtitles at the bottom of the screen.

One area you will find no fault is in the production design of the piece, as we are plunged into the story of the fisherman and his boat at sea. He's much younger in age and apparently on the hunt for something given the vintage map he keeps referring to. His boat is tossed about the waves. Eventually he casts his line into the waters, using a CD as bait. For days he pursues a large fish he saw leaping out of the waters during a storm. Hallucinations set in and finally the fish bites. With the fish too large to reel in, his boat starts to be towed by the monster.

When he wakes he finds his boat has run ashore some sort of technological wasteland. And even more surprising, the fish is still attached to the line. Now, with the stranded boat aiding him, he recommences reeling in his fishing line. He wrestles with the marine animal until we sea it pop up from the side of the boat and take off his outstretched hand. All the while we jump back and forth to the old telling the tale with props from the pub. After jumping back into the tale, we find he is being carried on a stretcher further inland between hills of undulating speakers by people in strange outfits.

Now comes the typical fashion of wrapping up what might have been a near-perfect video; the performance segment. They're dying for you to see this band play. So, instead of giving the last third some odd twist, or new and interesting turn, we now discover he is the lead singer of Modest Mouse. (My pet peeves are: a) performance videos, b) the focusing on of certain band members who are lead singers, or more radical looking than the others, i.e. Fall Out Boy, and c) music video directors McG & Dave Meyers.) Back to the video though, he is laid on the ground, by who I assume are the rest of the band in costume (again, we're not allowed to see their face because they're not half as important as the guy who's singing) some sort of voodoo people start appearing. The leader attaches the microphone to the man's hand we're off and singing! With the whole band performing, the tribe starts dancing and we see they even have electronic devices in the place of body parts.

Back in the present we see the old man's narrative getting more exaggerated to the point of being preposterous. The older elderly men begin to mock him until the bartender, who has to this point watched from afar, comes out from behind the bar, slams a stool down, places his foot on it and lifts his pant leg to reveal his lower leg has been replaced with the neck of a guitar. Clever, but not surprising.

If I can come up with a rating system, I will edit this post to reflect it. Until then, you'll have to settle for 4 out of 5 starts.

Grover, over.

Getting to know me...

Having always dreamt of becoming a music video director, I had quite a bit of trivial knowledge about MTV and some of the other video-based channels. I was educated in the cinema of 4-5 minutes advertisements for a band's new album from the time MTV hit the air. I can't explain why they fascinated me. A majority have few redeeming qualities, mostly consisting of performance pieces mouthed to an audio track while the director barks out orders.

I needed to do something with all this information I had amassed. Sure, it was useful in certain conversations. Maybe somebody remembered the fact that there were two versions of Duran Duran's "Girls on Film." The clean version everybody was familiar with, then there was the adult version available on the VideoDisc compilation which was extremely rare. I was about ten years old so I would have to wait until it was available on the "Decade" VHS. All this knowledge wasn't soaked up for some contest, or so I could outwit somebody in a discussion and sound extremely pretencious. It wasn't even used to impress any ladies (as if that were an option).

I think I was stimulated by the avenues one could take when translating another artist's work into their own vision. You hear the lyrics, but what form should the visuals take? Literal, figurative, or even so abstract it has nothing to do with the meaning of the song? Unfortunately, 95% of the time the answer is a performance piece. Look, even if you have the group, band or artist in an atypical setting and they're performing, it's a performance piece. Sorry! It doesn't automatically make it a bad video.

Don't misunderstand my rant. Conceptual seems very hard to come by, and more than anything I assume the record companies strongly discourage it. Execs want to artist(s) to be seen. It amounts to more money for them. This might explain why bands like Boston or Supertramp didn't last into the '80s. Not the best looking bunch.

Around 2000 (A.D., of course) I found a site on the internet called EmptyV.net. It was run by a young guy named Andrew. He also had a larger site it was linked to covering multiple forms of entertainment. He would select a number of videos each week and review them. I was in Heaven. He also had practical opinions of what he was watching. If it was crap, he would call them on it.

Eventually he switched the site over from his college account to a full-blown independent site. Soon after the updates stopped and the web address belonged to somebody else. I've tried to contact him many times but nothing has come of it. With all of my efforts exhausted, I'm sort of picking up where he left off and giving it a shot. Maybe it catches on, maybe not.

I've had a little experience having done some year-end music video countdowns (2001, 2002, & 2003) for an an old friend's site. Hopefully this allows me some cred. But in the end it's all opinion. I'll try not to have any bias, or show favoritism to the style of music I prefer. And unless 1940's war-era music makes a huge comeback, that shouldn't be too much of a problem.

Please feel free to contact me to engage in any sort of conversation concerning the material I review or stuff you think I should know about. I love to talk about the format day and night.

Thanks for stopping in and I look to have my first weeks-worth of reviews in by October.

Grover, over.