Apr 27 2009

OK Go get ripped off

For the two people in the world who haven’t seen it this is a bloody brilliant 2006 music video by OK Go for their single ‘Here it Goes Again’. The Holy Wikipedia tells of the 17 takes required to capture these three minutes of Trish Tsie choreographed genius. The video is an ever-so-slightly higher budget sequel to the arguably even more brilliant ‘A Million Ways’ video. Both showcase indie-pop gems mimed by bald OK Go bassist Tim Nordwind and not hairy-headed OK Go singer Damian Kulash. Both videos are static single shots. Both videos are magic.

Fast forward a couple of years to school summer holidays 2008 and I’m sitting down to watch the brilliant Wall-E at the cinema surrounded by a bunch of offloaded spoiled brats. I’ve never been one to sit comfortably through the stream of pre-feature garbage they throw at you in cinemas. Regardless, this particular cinema experience is more uncomfortable than you would expect, and it has nothing to do with the little shoeless kid whose feet smell like Billingsgate Fish Market. Some bloody bastard has filmed, as an advert, four people dancing around on treadmills to a catchy indie-pop song (‘Living on the Ceiling’ by Blancmange) and whacked a glass of orange piss-dyeing liquid into the mix. There’s even the bald protagonist for comic value. Berocca it claims makes you feel like “you, but on a good day”. Not today then. Not after witnessing daylight robbery! Well, projector light robbery at the very least. How blatant is this?

I assume, unless people are blind or senile, that this must be one of the most written about topics on the net. It has taken me a good few months to post about it as I didn’t have a blog at the time. However, I wanted to go on record and blog with my two pennies worth.

Uhum… JWT advertising agency; you shameless, uninspired, ethic-less sacks of steaming devil-turd. The fact that a “professional advertising agency” would identically reproduce an artist’s concept insofar as to use the exact same choreography while trying to pass it off as their own work is insulting enough. The fact this “professional advertising agency” would feel they could raise production value through use of montage technique points to artistic ignorance, lack of appreciation, or at best laziness. The fact that this “professional advertising agency” would use said concept to promote a pharmaceutical firm such as Bayer simply adds insult to injury.

Why, oh why is this travesty still being broadcasted onto my telly? Blog over.

-When I first saw the incriminating evidence I was incensed and made a mental note to write about this travesty myself but Kenny illustrates his indignation so well that  I thought I should share it in his words. Here is his original post on the KUTF blog.

I’ve read somewhere that there is a court case pending. Apparently one of the first intellectual property cases involving theft of dance moves.

MP3’s:

OK Go

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Jul 20 2008

Liberté, égalité, fraternité, JUSTICE!

Live At Somerset House, 11.07.08

I’ve already mentioned i had been planning to write this blog for a while now. I had already picked the name a while ago and was just waiting for something to kick start it all so why start now?

Well, in the past couple of months I’ve had the privilege to see some awesome artists who reaffirmed my love for live music and breathed new life into songs i knew inside out. I must say that i am a bit of a cynic and this is not helped by the fact that for a while i saw 4 or 5 gigs a week for both work and pleasure. I admit i lost a bit interest as an increasing amount of bands went through the motions. However, now that I’m mainly going to gigs to have a good time and mostly seeing bands i actually want to see i get to see performances that really make me stand up and notice.

…And that is precisely what happened on Friday the 11th when we went to see JUSTICE play live in London. Having already seen them support CSS earlier in the year i was eager to find out what the French DJ’s would produce for their headline show in the superb surroundings and beautiful acoustics of Somerset House.

I’m sure i don’t need to go into too much detail about the duo as seemingly anyone who is anyone has blogged the fuck out of this band. Suffice to say the boys didn’t disappoint in what was a near spiritual experience. Transferred to a live setting the hour long set sounded immense while the boys oozed cocky self assurance belting out hit after hit. Even the rain seemed to pour when ever there was a crescendo and lull when the music quietened down adding to the entire experience.

Here’s a video someone posted on YouTube of the gig which partly captures the atmosphere.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xu1bNizVah4]

I add the track ‘Let There Be Light‘ which may not be as instantly recognisable as some of their other songs but sounded incredible live and of course i wouldnt be a cliched aspiring blogger if i didnt post the remix that kickstarted Justice’s rise to fame ‘Never Be Alone’

j uly 16