Basquiat When I Paint

Catcall “The World Is Ours” Aussie pop maven Catcall delivers this visual for her the new single from her forthcoming The Warmest Place.  The album has probably been the one I’ve been most anticipating for the last year or so. I fell in love with her music after hearing “Swimming Pool” and then again when she released “Satellites.”  The video has her borrowing concepts from all the great 80’s flicks (Carrie, Friday The 13th, Revenge of the Nerds, Halloween III (???)). Her album is going to be pop greatness. Pick it up on May 4th.

Flatbush Zombies “S.C.O.S.A.” You already know. FBZ’s back with another off the wall banger. Erick Arc Elliott drops an aggro synth slapper that Meechy Darko and Juice get zany over. My favorite part of the video is Erick going nuts on his Roland synth. If you are wondering what the title stands for, there’s a little bit of it going on towards the end. See if you can decipher the meaning. I can’t wait til these guys drop an official project.

Mister Lies “False Astronomy” One word: beautiful. Although the video itself is truthfully little more than a cranked-up Windows Media Player graphic, combined with Mister Lies airy, ethereal, haunting, sunny-yet-sad instrumental it becomes something unto itself. Breathy vox keys, pianos, drums and some light synths combine with Joni Mitchell’s filtered vocals to create the perfect soundtrack to a night drive, or maybe even a dream.

The Big Pink “Give It Up” My favorite song off of this year’s Future This gets treated with a psychedelic, kaleidoscopic, drugged-out video featuring hazy visuals, lots of shots of the guys, and breasts. Nothing amazing but what I love so much about this song is how The Big Pink created a track that is definitely rooted in electro-pop, but branches heavily into hip-hop. The chopped sample is evidence of that, and even the female vocals at the end sound like they could have been ripped from a 90’s one hit wonder.

ForteBowie “Impala” What a perfect fusion of electro-pop, R ‘n’ B and screw music. Atlanta-bred rapper/singer ForteBowie harnesses Friendly Fires’ “Pala” and flips the “in Pala” lyric into this ode to swangin’ whips.  I’m impressed by his vision because when I first heard “Pala,” it sounded like a slow track that would be on one of The Dream’s albums. It was begging for some R ‘n’ B vocals and he saw it. Sprinkle in some screwed-up raps and you have this awesome track (and the video is pretty cool too). You can download his mixtape, Eargasms: The Life & Times of David Ruffin, Jr., from ForteBowie.com.

Jay-Z & Kanye West “Ni**as In Paris” Damn, this video is the fucking business.  I personally thought Watch The Throne was overhyped and overrated, but fuck me if they didn’t come hard for a video for the best song from the album.  The clip opens with a heads-up for all the epileptics out there. That’s how serious it is. It makes the “All Of The Lights” video look like a silent film. From there it morphs into kaleidescopic images ranging from live footage of the Watch The Throne tour to models bouncing to stalking panthers.  They even threw in the actual Blades Of Glory clip sampled in the track. Its the kitchen sink and then some. Must see video.

Cults “You Know What I Mean” A perfect slice of early-60’s pop, “You Know What I Mean” is my favorite song from last year’s self-titled album by Cults. Although the whole LP wears that 50’s/60’s rock label in some form, it’s in its fullest display on this track. The video depicts bandmates Brian and Madeline playing lovelorn carnies whose relationship is tested when a fellow carnie purposefully injures Brian in a stunt gone bad.  Good video, great song. Looking forward to more from Cults.

Miguel “Adorn” For my money, a couple of the only real cats carrying the R ‘n’ B torch right now are Miguel and The Dream. Despite numerous hit singles, I’m willing to say 2010’s All I Want Is You was still slept on. Let’s hope this is not the case with Art Dealer Chic, Vol.1., his new LP dropping on the 27th of this month.  “Adorn” is the first song from the album, and I’m feelin the sound and lyrics (you may not know that Miguel writes for a lot of singers in the industry). The video has Miguel traversing the graphics of the album’s cover, which is original artwork that he painted himself. According to Miguel: “The visual for “Adorn” is the projection of a dream I recently had. I wanted to use simple creative elements in a symbolic way to communicate the intense desire to understand its meaning.”

Neon Indian “Fallout” Pop glitchsters Neon Indian deliver this 80’s throwback video for their lush track, “Fallout” from last years’ Era Extraña. Teaming with Adult Swim, Neon Indian obviously goes cartoon for the clip. It’s all the best parts of Turbo Teen, M.A.S.K.,and Tron (nothing was cooler back then than the depiction of open, rolling highway…right?), with sex and innuendo thrown in from a sexed-up Jem thrown in. Awesome video and maybe the hottest gas fill up ever. The very good Era Extraña is out on Mom + Pop.