Teeth & Tongue is New Zealand born, Melbourne based singer/songwriter Jess Cornelius. After starting her musical career performing in bar/club rock bands, Jess picked up some drum machines, a keyboard and an electric guitar and formed her own sound. (more…)

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Image via NRK P3 on Flickr

Kanye West, love him or hate him, is constantly pushing boundaries. His productions have helped keep hip hop appealing to a new generation, and he is constantly looking for ways to reach people through technology and social media. Pushing the boundaries of being an entertainer, West now comes out with a 35-minute long video called Runaway; an amalgamation of his songs, punctuated with epic, grandiose displays of cinema and downright weird linking segments.

Spending the last year apologising post-MTV VMAs (I’m'a let you finish…!), reflecting, and rebuilding, West has made all the right moves from a career perspective, and genuine or not, his character popularity seems to be back on top. Using new media to his advantage has been a large part of that rebuilding process, to appeal to a skeptical music consumer.

Kanye’s new new album hits the stores next month, and this video will surely serve as a great introduction to the latest release. The long length of the video doesn’t seem to deter people from watching – 2.5 million views are already logged on Vevo, and so maybe he is again reaching a new audience, intrigued to see what he is evolving into this time and drawn to his possible director skills or Bon Iver-sampling music.

Check out the ballet dancers, explosions, sheep, and of course, plenty of Kanye camera-time…

Lee Jarvis.

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Music videos can be political, artistic, thought-provoking, creative masterpieces…. or they can be funny as heck spin-offs. Here we share some of the most original and hilarious musical takes in our favourite music video parodies.

Weird Al Yankovic – Eat It
King of the parody, Weird Al has been doing this for decades… check out his 1984 spin on Michael Jackson’s Beat It.

Newport ((Ymerodraeth State of Mind)
Jay-Z and Alicia Keys’ ode to New York was remade and dedicated to dozens of cities and towns worldwide, but the funniest by far has to be Newport in South Wales.

US Navy – I’m on a Boat (more…)

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Looking to make a music video to help promote your music? Well, you could learn a lot from OK Go’s unique work. Here are a few videos that you can also learn from, and by that I mean avoid these mistakes at all costs…

5) Get Technical

Do not adjust your set, this video was filmed in black and white. In a forest. And possibly in the dark.

4) Choreography

If you are going to have some kind of group dance scenes in your video, it may be worthwhile getting some moves choreographed. Or practicing.

3) Flow

Even if you do just slap together random home video clips of you and friends from over the years, it’s probably best to skip the shower scene. (more…)

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Recently there have been quite a few animated “tributes,” per se, of pop stars and some of their hit tunes, and some re-worked versions.

Billboard has called attention to a few, which included Ke$ha’s song “TiK ToK” on the Simpsons, and Kanye’s face off on The Cleveland Show. Also, will.i.am was given a not-so-flattering tribute on the season premiere of The Boondocks. The episode focused on all the celebrity hype surrounding President Barack Obama’s election back in 2008, and it featured a music video with a cartoon likeness of Black Eyed Peas front-man. The song took the beat of “It’s a New Day,” which will.i.am released after Obama was elected President, and added surprisingly catchy (yet, NSFW) lyrics.”

On the Sunday night episode of The Simpsons the song “TiK ToK” has the entire cast appearing throughout the song for the opening credits, obviously replacing the regular theme. The song is sung by Ke$ha throughout, with various characters ‘lip synching’ along to it. It’s extremely entertaining and crazy all at the same time. I’m sure it caught all of the viewers’ attention as it did mine – it was definitely an unexpected yet cool twist. It’s amazing to see all the different ways pop culture keeps ebbing into our lives in different facets.

After the Simpsons came The Cleveland Show. In the episode Cleveland Jr. takes on Kanye West, after supposedly hitting on Kanye’s girl. (more…)

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The new Lady Gaga video with Beyonce came out last week, and I was just now able to sit down and watch the whole thing – the explicit version, which I didn’t know exactly what I was getting myself into by clicking the little play arrow.

I’m still not sure what I think of the whole thing. Shocked, that’s the first feeling that comes to mind. I know MTV no longer plays music videos, and the whole music video idea seems to have faded out to some extent. But what Lady Gaga and Beyonce have done is much more than simply a music video; It’s a short film. It’s nearly ten minutes long to start, and I’m kind of left thinking about their motivation for the project.

Billboard had the following to say about it: “Lady Gaga and Beyoncé unveiled the video for their “Telephone” collaboration on Thursday night (Mar. 11), and it more than measures up to the hype. Directed by Gaga’s “Paparazzi” video helmer Jonas Akerlund, the “Telephone” clip is chock full of intrigue, prison fights, makeout scenes, mass poisoning and plenty of skin-baring versions of what you might call “outfits” (if strategically placed caution tape counts as such).”

(more…)

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It has recently been announced that the wonderful Sia will be stopping by North America and Europe to sprinkle some of her musical magic dust as part of The We Meaning You Tour. Tickets are on sale now, and I am definitely heading along to the Chicago show on April 25th.

Tickets are selling out fast, with only a very limited number of VIP tickets left, so check out the list of US tour dates below and then hurry on over to SiaMusic.net to buy your tickets (EU dates also available via that link).

NORTH AMERICA

Check out the video below for Sia’s fantastic version of You’ve Changed, with her own unique quirky character shining though as strong as her epic voice. If you like what you hear you can also get a free download after the jump…

(more…)

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Chicago-based indie rockers OK Go caused a sensation with the video for their 2006 song “Here It Goes Again”. The video featured a choreographed treadmill dance routine, and reached nearly 50 million views on Youtube, and inspired scores of remakes. The band became the perfect example of viral marketing in the new music industry.

So, any follow-up would be a tough task, and would need to be a pretty impressive video. “This Too Shall Pass” premiered yesterday, and has received some great reviews so far. The latest project collaborated with Syyn Labs on a two-story Rube Goldberg machine. The machine, constructed in a warehouse in Echo Park, keeps perfect time with the band’s latest single “This Too Shall Pass,” thrashing TV sets, dropping pianos, launching paper airplanes, blasting paint, and much more in spectacular synchronicity with the song. Check it out here at US Music Jobs.

What do you think of the video? Do you see it being another hit for the band? How relevant are music videos in the internet age? This will definitely inspire a further music video post from me, and I would like to hear your views.

Lee Jarvis.

To celebrate the video release, OK Go will be taking part in a concert fundraiser for LACMA Muse. Friday, March 5, 2010, LACMA West Penthouse, 8 pm–12 am. More info here.

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