The Avalanches

Another one of my favourite bands is "The Avalanches," who are an elecrtonic band from Australia. They belong to independant record labels, Modular Recordings, XL Recordings, and Elektra.

Their official website and the music track is very fun so take a peak ..
http://www.theavalanches.com/

This song is called "Since i left you" which their successful debut album which shares the same name. The song consists of approximately 3,500 vinyl samples
even though they are using other peoples samples, i think they create something that is totally their own. Sometimes i hate it when artists these days rap over a perfectly good song and call it their own, but i think The Avalanches are creating something different for the dj/party scene.This won Video Of The Year at the MTV Europe Music Awards.



In the video, two diggers underground find a tunnel that leads to a dance studio where a couple of girls are dancing in front of judges. The two guys seemed confused but then randomly break into a dance routine! The girls start dancing along too and the judges continue to mark their performance. Its amusing and very sweet. The song and the video are very uplifting and its makes me smile when i see it. It also has stylistic elements, of colour/black and white. It begins in black and white when the guys are underground, and the place they discover brings colour/life/fun.

Directed by Gondry

I didnt realise that Gondry directed some great videos!

this one by the chemical brothers is also repetitive, but it is the actress who has been repeated for effect. I feel hypnotised when i watch it! The editing must have taken ages.

Directed by Gondry

This video by the white stripes uses photo animation and is repetitive.

Directed by Gondry

These are the three music videos i have picked which were directed by Gondry.
I remember this video really well and it makes me think about when i was younger! i used to reanact the dancemoves of the robots around my living room! Each person/element repressents a different instrument and they move around in a cirle, like a vinyl record. Its become a very popular music video

Michel Gondry

Michel Gondry is a french film commerical and music Video director. He relies on videotography and camera tricks which play with frames of reference.I chose to look into GOndry because he has directed for one of my favourite bands Daft Punk and also Chemical Brothers. Gondry started his career making music vidoes for the french rock band Oui Oui. His videos caught the attention of singer Bjork and asked him to direct the video for her song "Human Behaviour." He later went on to direct seven Bjork music videos. Gondry has also created numerous television commercials. He pioneered the "bullet time" technique later adapted in The Matrix in a 1998 commercial for Smirnoff vodka, as well as directing a trio of holiday-themed advertisements for Gap, Incorporated.
Gondry made his feature film debut in 2001 with Human Nature, and " Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" in 2004. Eternal Sunshine uses many of the image manipulation techniques that Gondry had experimented with in his music videos. Gondry has directed short films, documentry films, advertisments and a tv episode for Flight of The Concords "Unnatural Love."

Music Videos
1993- 1999
"Let Forever Be" - The Chemical Brothers (1999)
"Gimme Shelter" - The Rolling Stones (1998)
"Another One Bites the Dust" - Wyclef Jean (1998)
"Music Sounds Better With You" - Stardust (1998)
"Bachelorette" - Björk (1997)
"Deadweight" - Beck (1997)
"Jóga" - Björk (1997)
"Everlong" - Foo Fighters (1997)
"A Change Would Do You Good" - Sheryl Crow (1997)
"Around the World" - Daft Punk (1997)
"Feel It" - Neneh Cherry (1997)

"Sugar Water" - Cibo Matto (1996)
"Hyper-Ballad" - Björk (1996)
"Like a Rolling Stone" - The Rolling Stones (1995)
"Isobel" - Björk (1995)
"Protection" - Massive Attack (1995)
"High Head Blues" - Black Crowes (1995)
"Army of Me" - Björk (1995)
"Fire On Babylon" - Sinéad O'Connor (1994)
"Lucas With the Lid Off" - Lucas (1994)
"Little Star" - Stina Nordenstam (1994)
"This is it (Your Soul)" - Hothouse Flowers (1993)
"It's Too Real (Big Scary Animal)" - Belinda Carlisle (1993)
"Human Behaviour" - Björk (1993)
"Believe" - Lenny Kravitz (1993)
"She Kissed Me" - Terence Trent D'Arby (1993)

2000- 2009
"Too Many Dicks On The Dancefloor" & "Carol Brown" (unofficial videos) - Flight Of The Conchords (2009)
"Soleil du Soir" - Dick Annegarn (2008)
"Declare Independence" - Björk (2007) [2]
"Dance Tonight" - Paul McCartney (2007)
"Cellphone's Dead" - Beck (2006)
"King of the Game" - Cody ChesnuTT (2006)
"Heard 'Em Say" (U.S. Version) - Kanye West (2005)
"The Denial Twist" - The White Stripes (2005)
"Light & Day" (movie version) - The Polyphonic Spree (2004)
"Winning Days" - The Vines (2004)
"Mad World" (Donnie Darko soundtrack version) - Gary Jules (2004)
"Ride" - The Vines (2004)
"Walkie Talkie Man" - Steriogram (2004)
"I Wonder" - The Willowz (2004)
"The Hardest Button to Button" - The White Stripes (2003)
"Behind" - Lacquer (2003)
"Come Into My World" - Kylie Minogue (2002)
"A l'envers à l'endroit" - Noir Désir (2002)
"Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground" - The White Stripes (2002)
"Fell in Love with a Girl" - The White Stripes (2002)
"Star Guitar" - The Chemical Brothers (2001)
"Knives Out" - Radiohead (2001)

Response to Cd covers

Looking at all of The Radio Dept.'s abums as a whole they do keep a similar theme going, even when they are released years down the line. The band name is always either in the corners or like Pet Grief, at the top. The album title is then printed in a smaller font underneath it. The images chosen for the album do look a lilttle random but often envolve people. It is unlcear whether it is the band or not. I Artists havnt exactly promoted themselves but the name. Its all about "The radio Dept." not the members in it. The relaxed style of music does compliment the album covers which look dreamy and quite simple. Although the single "Freddie and the Trojan Horse" has a dead animal on the front, it looks calm and deserted. Ive also noticed that the titles of the albums/singles dont really have any reference to the picture in the background, again showing that its about the brand name. The albums have an arty theme and black and white images are a common feature.


The Radio Dept. -The Worst taste in music : this video combines film, and photography.

A closer look at The Radio Dept

The Radio Dept.

The idea for the band was first concieved by two schoolboys in 1995, called Elin Almered and Johan Duncanson. The name came from a "gas-station-turned-radio-repair-shop called "Radioavdelningen" which is Radio Department in Swedish. In 1998 they were joined by Martin Larsson,Lisa Carlberg,Per Blomgren andDaniel Tjäder.
The three remaining band members are in pink.

LabradorRecords signed the band up after the group sent recordings to a Sonic, a music magazine ( the magazine also came with a free cd with sampler songs!)

For great success all bands/artists need to promote themselves globally . The Radio Dept. are going on tour in 2010 to play in Japan, Denmark, and will be in the UK next month.


20 May 2010, Thursday, 7:30pm

Bush Hall
310 Uxbridge Road
London W12 7LJ
United Kingdom

For more info: http://www.bushhallmusic.co.uk/

*
Stag & Dagger Festival 2010 - London
w/ People Under The Stairs, Filthy Dukes,
Friday, 21 May 2010
Shoreditch, London,
United Kingdom

For more info: http://staganddagger.com/
*
Stag & Dagger Festival 2010 - Glasgow
w/ People Under The Stairs, Filthy Dukes,
Saturday, 22 May 2010

For more info: http://staganddagger.com

http://theradiodept.com/
of course, The radio Dept have their own website where fans can have their own login. The website features daily posts, samples of latest releases, a "community" page and even a "Discography"


http://www.labrador.se/artists/radiodept.php3
- Labrador records website with a page dedicated to band with information of who they, how they were formed and posts of their latest releases.

http://www.myspace.com/officialradiodept
the band also have a myspace, which is great for the fans because they feel they have a personal connection with the band members and they can also check for tour dates and post comments.


This is the poster for the China Tour in 2009. The photograph in the background takes up most of the poster and therefore catches your eye. However it is interesting that there is no colour but maybe thats the style of they were after. The name of the band is in bold, and white so it stands out and the tour dates are listed at the side. There is a lot of information but in the way its been positioned, the poster isn't overtaken by text. At the bottom they have included websites and record labels.

Single/ Album covers



Pet Grief
(album released 2006)











Freddie and The Trojan Horse
(single released 2008)













Lesser Matters
(album released 2003)













David
(single released 2009)














Pulling Our Weight
(single released 2003)

The radio Dept. - Pulling Our Weight

1995- present

The Radio Dept. are an Swedish indie pop band that i love! You might of heard one of their songs "Keen on boys" which was included in the soundtrack for the film Marie Antoinette.
The band isnt actually featured in the video, which is different and doesn't conform to the conventions of a typical indie video. I think the animation is very sweet and gentle which flows nicely with the rhythem of the song :)

Justice- D.A.N.C.E

The aniamtion in this video is very fast and eye catching. i havnt seen another video like this one before. I like the transitions between the moving images and that it stays on the t-shirts as thwe two guys are walking.

My favourite videos: Blur- Coffee and TV

I really like this video because the i first saw it from flicking through the music channel, and it caught my eye. im not a big fan of Blur, but the song grew on me because i kept watching the video. It tells a story as it goes along and the little milk carton is so sweet and his expressions make me laugh.