I feel like the inaugural post for a blog like this needs to be epic, almost biblical in proportion. Fortunately I recently came across this little offering from an artist named Woodkid which suites that need quite well (or at least attempts to). The rest of his music is pretty low key and mellow compared to this number and he only has an EP out with a few songs and a couple remixes, so who really knows what he is truly like as a musician. Regardless, I like this song, if only for the shear ballsiness of it as an artist's first volley into an overcrowded music market. And the drums are pretty infectious too. I feel like at some point I'm going to hear this on an episode of Breaking Bad.
p.s. while there is an obvious negative commentary on religion in the video (mostly toward the end), I can't help but wonder if it is maybe directed specifically at Mormons. The clean cut, youthful minister; the giant pipe organ, and I swear that is the Los Angeles temple at the end (oddly situated in the mountains, however). Am I just being paranoid? Yes, I think I am.
FYI: my cousin saw the video and identified the building at the end as the Swiss temple. I looked into it and it looks like Woodkid is French, and I think the Swiss temple basically services most of europe, including France. Not that that really explains why it shows up in the video. Either way, I pat myself on the back for being right (sort of).
ReplyDeleteOk, so I don't want to sound like an idiot, but I just might. I don't see how this is a obviously negative on religion. I can see that religion is integral in the video but I don't get an overwhelming negative feeling - except for the preacher, maybe? I don't know. The video is awesome, but why do you think it's negative?
ReplyDeleteMaybe the Temple is the only safe place for him (cheesy, yes, yes it is).
Hmmm... Interesting. So the way i was seeing this is that this preach (who is dressed in a multi color outfit, which I take to mean hipocricy and changibility) is literally calling down helfire and damnation upon these people. Granted, the people don't seema ll that nice to begin with, so maybe their condemnation is justified. But mostly what makes me think this is anti-religious is that image of the temple at the end. If you add a couple dead trees and some tombstones it essential becomes the quintessential haunted house image. Very ominous. :)
ReplyDeleteWho knows really. I just find it odd that the Swiss temple shows up. Maybe he grew up near it and just thought it was a cool looking building.
you're probably right, it just wasn't that obvious to me. sometimes i feel so dense around you.. like how do you get hypocrisy and changeability from a multi-colored outfit?
ReplyDeleteit's like the sufjan concert, you show me things i would have never seen, and i usually think i'm pretty observant!
I'm surprised that you feel dense around me. I think you are a very insightful and deep thinking person. You probably just don't spend your time looking for meaning where there is none, as I seem to do. That's my problem, if I feel like something has a meaning that is not readily understood, my mind goes into overdrive trying to figure it out. The only place where that doesn't seem to be true is in the temple, where I've learned to find meaning in the general experience not necessarily through the interpretation of its symbols.
ReplyDeleteEither way, just know that nine times out of ten you can just tell me to pull my head out of my butt and you will be in the right.
Oh, and the multi-colored suit? I think there's a literary precedent for that interpretation, but I can't seem to find it right now: where a preacher's clothes (including our missionaries') usually give the appearance of seriousness and consistence, the multi-colored suit represents their "true colors," extreme variability and dissonance, coming through.
But then, maybe I just made that up, and I need to pull my head out of my butt.