The music industry is in a bit of a state right now. In case you haven't noticed, there appears to be a surfeit of artless dross clogging our radio waves and stadium stages, and artistic integrity and genuine invention are two things that hit the skids around the turn of the century, at least when it comes to the top 40. It might have something to do with the fact the upper classes have started to dominate the music industry the same way they've dominated everything else (we can no doubt look forward to another few hundred public schooled Ed Sheerans being forced down our gullets throughout the next decade), or it might simply be a result of the nation's growing indifference towards the new, the inventive and the passionate.
Still, if there's one area in which the music industry has never failed to offer up a little shot of creative adrenaline, it's in everything about the business that doesn't involve the actual music. Excessive and inventive online campaigns and stage shows are much more common now than they were ten years ago, and the humble music video has also been given license to grow and flex its muscles thanks to the ubiquity, power and reach of YouTube.
Colonel Blimp is a London-based production house that has produced everything from commercials and music videos, to show-reels and art films
Whilst glitzy fashion shoots come-product placement extravaganzas from the likes of Kanye West and Taylor Swift might rack up the views, however, the flexibility of the online platform has also spurred creative production companies such as Colonel Blimp on to some truly unique projects. The latest to catch my eye has been the ambitious video for heavy rock dup Royal Blood's new single “Out of The Black.” The song itself is the kind of dumb but infectious riff-based rock the early 90's alternative scene was built on. I for one am glad that a band who actually write their own songs, and who have refused to dilute their sound to appeal to the gawping masses, have made such an impact on the music buying public, but I'm not here to talk about music (If I was, I'd be here all day).
Royal Blood – Out of the Black
Colonel Blimp is a London-based production house that has produced everything from commercials and music videos, to show-reels and art films. Their commercial work had already caught my eye, particularly the spots they produced with BBH London recently for the adult soft drink brand J20, featuring a gang of break dancers facing off against an irish folk troupe. This is the first music video by the company that I've sat through though, and I have to say it made me sit up and pay attention like no video since the absorbingly odd clip for Sia's “Electric Heart,” which you'll probably remember as the one that saw Shia LaBeouf dance-fighting a little girl in a giant cage.
The plot involves a murderous convenience store robber dressed in a giant bunny suit
The Royal Blood video, on the other hand, is a far less arty, but no less striking affair directed by David Wilson and Christy Karacas. It's far from the first music video to blend animation with live action, and it certainly won't be the last, but it does so in such an acerbic and gleefully aggressive way, that it defies such easy categorisation. The primary plot involves a murderous convenience store robber dressed in a (quite adorable actually) giant bunny suit, but morphs seamlessly between live action and heavily stylised animation that blends the horrific monsters of H.P Lovecraft with the animation style of Adult Swim (hardly a coincidence given that Karacas is an Adult Swin veteran) and the over the top violence of the Itchy and Scratchy Show. It syncs perfectly with the heavily distorted pop rock of the band, and builds with mounting fury to a climax that features the bunny alongside a giant ice cream, cartoon heart and snowman as the convenience store clerk takes them all down.
What are your thoughts readers? Is all this ultra comic violence and bunny blood shed a little bit too over the top? Are there any other recent music videos that have caught your attention of late? Sound off below!
Benjamin Hiorns is a freelance writer and struggling musician from Kidderminster in the UK. He made a low budget music video with his band once. You don't want to see it. Trust him.
