Tag Archives: videos

Cool Video: KAWS Shows Off Newest Installation at Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts



Street Artist turned fine artist and designer KAWS (Brian Donnelly) is the subject of the above video feature created by Mass Appeal (a digital content channel platform). Kaws is ‘caus-ing” a bit of a commotion just recently with his design for the MTV Awards stage and a concurrent exhibit at Mary Boone Gallery in Manhattan, but this video focuses on what is his largest installation to date, now on exhibit at the historic Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.

This exhibit at PAFA says so much about the evolution of street art to fine art, as KAWS, speaks about hosting the biggest exhibit of his career in one of the oldest museums in the US. At PAFA, his modern sculptures, paintings, and designs are displayed in installations around other famous artworks from the 18th and 19th centuries – creating a distinct view of how far art culture has come. In this fun video, KAWS discusses his approach to the installation, how the project came to be, how he worked with the space and the materials he used.

KAWS-@-PAFA-Pennsylvania-Academy-of-Fine-Arts
KAWS Installation View at PAFA (Image Source)

KAWS at PAFA will be on Exhibit Through January 5th, 2014, while his Sculpture at the Building’s Facade will be on Display Into August of 2014. Find Out More About the Exhibit, and Get Museum Hours and Information, at This Link.

Video Clip of The Week: Dinosaur Pile Up, “Peninsula”



Ever since The Beatles crossed the pond in the early ’60s, the UK has been a fertile breeding ground for innovative rock music. Dinosaur Pile Up is Rock/Pop UK-based band I just heard about and they impress me as being pretty groovy. While their press compares DPU’s music to “an early New Found Glory,” I can’t really speak to that, since New Found Glory is one of those bands that’s completely flown under my radar. So, you be the judge on that score.

This frenetically edited, performance clip-based video (shot in luxurious black and white) is for the song, “Peninsula”— the first single from the band’s just-released EP of that same name. Drawing from my deep well of classic influences, I’d say Dinosaur Pile Up capture the short and sweet, hit-and-run songcraft of The Buzzcocks or Husker Du while harnessing those adhesive, razor sharp guitar riffs that the early ’90s wave of Grunge bands took to the bank. And that’s a winning combination any way you look at it.

Dinosaur Pile Up’s full length album, Nature Nurture will hit the US in early 2014. Enjoy!

Dinosaur Pile Up
Dinosaur Pile Up

Video Clip of The Week: Minor Alps, “I Don’t Know What To Do With My Hands”

Confession: the primary reason I started this Video Clip of the Week series several months back is because I needed an excuse to force myself to write about new music. Pop music has reached an absolute nadir to the point where I’m 1000 times more excited to write about Food these day than I am to even listen to any new band. And that’s just a shame.

So, nobody was more surprised than me to discover a new group comprised of seasoned musicians who, rather than harnessing a retread, have dug deeply into their roots to unearth a vibrant-yet-comfortingly-retro sound. Minor Alps is the collaborative vision of Juliana Hatfield and Paddle Board Mania Matthew Caws; two songwriting-based, music industry veterans who helped to blaze the trail for what became Alternative Rock Music back when Nirvana was still in its infancy. This week’s featured Video Clip is the duo’s “I Don’t Know What To Do With My Hands,” the latest single off their debut album, Get There (just released October 29th, 2013 on Barsuk Records).

With a refreshing and understated, artsy video directed by Animator/Musician Clyde Petersen “I Don’t Know What To Do With My Hands” is a remarkably strong track that harkens back to a time before American Idol, Emo and Autotune ruined 99.9% of all pop music. Caws’ guitar playing is as original and compelling as anything on a 90s-era Bob Mould record, while the 20 intervening years since Hatfield fronted The Blake Babies has allowed her vocals to mature into a rich and sweet aural nectar with just enough bite in it to favorably recall The B52s’ Cindy Wilson.

Minor Alps will be on tour across the US during the month of November. Enjoy!

Minor Alps Band
Juliana Hatfield and Matthew Caws are Minor Alps

Video Clip of The Week: Sirsy, “Cannonball”



Comprised of Melanie Krahmer on drums and vocals and Rich Libutti on guitar, Sirsy is a Rock & Roll force to be reckoned with! Their new video for the awesome song “Cannonball” is lots of fun in that it was shot entirely at live shows by fans using cell phones! I mean, I hate cell phones, but…Cleverness! I totally love Melanie’s smoky, sassy powerhouse of a voice that I would compare favorably to groundbreaking female rock vocalists like Brenda Lee and Dusty Springfield, but also modern soul singers like Duffy. And High Fives all around to Sirsy for being able to put so much swing into this tune with only drums and guitar — what a couple of badasses. “Cannonball”– from the CD Coming Into Frame (on Funzalo Records) is Super Groovy! Sirsy will be releasing a new EP with a new single and some live material in early December, 2013! Enjoy!

SIRSY PRESS PHOTO
Sirsy Press Photo By Julia Zave

Video Clip of The Week: Destruction Unit, “The Holy Ghost”



Well now. There isn’t much I don’t love about this simultaneously frightening and compelling, and all-together intriguingly atmospheric video for “The Holy Ghost” from Destruction Unit. I mean, you’ve got your deep and apparent influences from the likes heavy aural gloom masters Killing Joke and Bauhaus (check and check) and the drummer — who, by the way, is a total badass on the kit — gets serious bonus points for wearing a Brian Jonestown Massacre T-Shirt. I love this band! “Holy Ghost” is the brand new single from Destruction Unit’s latest CD, Deep Trip, on Sacred Bones Records. The band is currently on tour in Europe. Enjoy!


Destruction Unit Deep Trip Cover Art