Song of the CENTURY

Over the past weekend, Dodo made me watch this music video:



At the time, I just stared at the screen--wide-eyed--not really sure what to make of it. Once Monday rolled around, I decided I needed to watch it again. After watching it a second time, I felt it necessary to do some research, to understand what was going on. Let me tell you that this music video has snowballed into an obsession. I've watched it at least a dozen times. I can't stop laughing when I watch it and every time I do, I catch something new and more ridiculous about it.

So, please allow me to deconstruct this masterpiece.

Let's start with the basics.
Who: The video stars a young blogger/ model from Harajuku named Kyary Pamyu Pamyu (apparently also known as Carrie).
What: This is Kyary's first single called PONPONPON from her debut album entitled "Moshi Moshi Harajuku." This is produced by Time Warner Music Japan by some hot shot Japanese music artist. And if you want the lyrics, which are hysterical, you can find them at the bottom of this page.
Where: Harajuku. Which, for those who don't know, is a very fashionably transgressive part of Japan. It's a city where fashions get started and many designers look to the area for inspiration, as youths come out with different, albeit wacky, ideas for fashion and dress accordingly. Kyary was one of these youths and (from what I can tell) was a fashionista blogger.
When: This video came out about 2 weeks ago... so despite the seemingly weak graphics, THIS IS BRAND SPANKIN' NEW.
How: I'm not totally sure, but what I can tell you, is that this video is really not at all over-the-top for Harajuku. This is just how art is done, it's all pretty much fashion-based. Just cray cray for us.   
Why: Because the world was down on its knees, begging for it.

Now, let's get down to business.* In a probably vain attempt to make sense of this video, I will point some things out with visual aids.

We have two girls in the video. One dancing with pigtails (shall now be simply known as Pigtails), one with a pink face (Pink). My first theory is that Pink is somehow controlling what's going on with Pigtails... perhaps Pink is her brain causing these hallucinations? Or is just a manifestation of a child's mind (and by child, I mean, person tripping ballz)?

Evidence:

Birds: Flyin' out her mouf.

BAM: Birds comin' through the window.

Eyeballs: Rollin' out her mouf.

BOOM: She's hanging out with eyeballs!

Next theory: Pigtails represents the erratic and often changeable moods of children. Sometimes she's having a grand ole' time--making faces and dancing--other times she's taking herself a little too seriously with weird hand gestures (teenager perhaps?).

Evidence:

All surrious.

Wacky faces. What a crazy kid!

Oh shit. Time for serious bidness. You can tell by the hand--it looks serious.

Farting Art, happier times.

Here's an interesting combo: serious hand gesture, yet she's slyly picking her nose--what a jokester!

Srsly guyz. SRSLY.

Final Theory: Clearly inspired by the 90s... childhood of the generation now entering adulthood? People making this video grew up in the 90s? Childhood, adulthood, manifestation, monomania, discombobulation, and other academically-weighty words?

Evidence:

Mac and Cheese reigned supreme in the 90s. And you see that little box of Golden Grahams? WHO EATS THAT ANYMORE? (Answer: Nobody).

That skull is totally reminiscent of the designs on the coolest Pogs.

Holy shit! LISA FRANK.

Last, but not least, I need to list off what Pink is wearing on her head.

Nurse Barbie, Plastic Bird, Grapes, Strawberry, Banana

Bone, Bird Wing, Butterfly, as well as the above.

Plastic Panther, Giant Flower, along with above.

The one part of the video that I sincerely cannot even imagine what it "symbolizes" is this:

Clap for bread.

Other interpretations are more than welcome (as mine were utter and complete bullshit). LET'S DECONSTRUCT THIS TOGETHER. But, I think the best theory is that people are just batshit cray cray and like to experiment with psychedelic drugs and then make videos of what they see to share with humanity.

Regardless of what it all means, this song has made it onto my youtube work playlist.
Basically, I listen to it.
Daily.

*Note: Only cool people, after reading that sentence, would start singing the song from Mulan in their heads.

Song of the Week

I am a little bit obsessed with MNDR. Just a little bit. Don't be scared by the video still, guys, this song is great.





xoxo
zuzu

Song of the Week

This week's song of the week was recommended by a good friend, and, boy, do I love this guy. Well...back to twiddling my thumbs.







xoxo
zuzu

Song of the Week

So lately Hall and Oates has made a subtle reentry into my life. Every time I hear them I have distinct memories or sitting in the backseat of my mom's mazda compact and singing that someone's kiss was on my list...and not knowing what that meant.

A few months ago I realized that one of the bands that I like (The Bird and The Bee) had made an entire tribute album to the magical musical stylings of Hall and Oates. I downloaded the whole thing, and I love it so much. But for me the best tribute song is "Rich Girl." So that is my song of the week.

xoxo
zuzu

Song of the Week

I received the following message yesterday from Kleine (who I can only assume sent it between bites of her baguette avec fromage):

"i'm obsessed with this song"

...and with that, I present our Song of the Week.

xoxo

kleine (via zuzu).

Song of the Week: Repost Because I Don't Understand the Delete Button

I accidentally deleted this post...so it is old, and I am reposting it. Please ignore unless you didn't see it the first time...

If you like Bon Iver, you will like S. Carey. He is pretty awesome, although he will definitely make you feel depressed if you listen a bunch of his songs in a row. Anyway, I am posting two songs by him, because while I was doing my research for this post, I saw that the song that I originally wanted to post, In the Dirt, had just been used in an episode of a television show that a lot of people in the country watch.

So just to keep things fresh, I am posting another great song by S. Carey, too. It's called All We Grow. I don't like All We Grow as much as I like In the Dirt, but I still like it a lot. 

xoxo

zuzu

Song of the Week

How to find a band you like:

1) Have a conversation with your sister's boyfriend telling him you are looking for good music, and asking for suggestions.

2) Check out songs by the musician he talked about.

3) Check out side projects by the musician he talked about.

4) Scour the interwebs for information about that musician.

5) Stumble across an article that mentions another band that took their name from a song done by the side project of that musician.

6) Start listening to the other band.

7) Pretend that you found the other band all on your own, and talk about how awesome you are at finding good music.

...Hey, look at this band I found all on my own! I am so awesome at finding good music. My discovery of The Antlers had nothing to do with Dodo's boyfriend suggesting three years ago that I might like Mirah. I really liked their album Hospice, and I really like their new album Burst Apart.

xoxo

zuzu

Song of the Week

I have already mentioned how much I like those crazy Swedes and their musical stylings, so it should come as no surprise that this week's song is provided by one. I kind of just choose this particular Lykke Li song because of how weirdly awesome the music video is. I'm just going to look past the fact that she looks like a bizarro Olsen twin for most of the video, because I've never thought that before and I hope I never think it again.  

xoxo

zuzu

Song of the Week

Every year I scan the interwebs for articles about SXSW. I have never been to SXSW, I just kind of watch it from afar during math class, and stick love notes in its locker between class periods when no one is looking.

Even though I have never been to SXSW, I read about it a lot because with over 2,000 bands performing there each year, I am always bound to find something new to love. I gleaned several things from the articles I read this year:

1) I am old
2) I will never be cool enough to own a pair of skinny jeans
3) This band is great


Sample of a youtube comment for Typhoon: "I fell asleep with this song on and woke up with a beard." I feel that is pretty much spot on. I know it's long, but it is also worth it!

xoxo
zuzu

Song Of The Week

The City of Subdued Excitement gave us a gift that keeps on giving: Death Cab for Cutie. Death Cab is awesome. After years of loving them from afar, I finally saw them in concert when they were promoting Narrow Stairs in 2008, and they were incredible.  

 

They have a new album coming out at the end of May, and they just released their video for their single You Are A Tourist. The video is full of Busby Berkeley-esque goodness. Me likey.

 

 

xoxo
zuzu

Song Of The Week

I'm about a week behind with this, but I love Swedish music. Adore. I searched record stores in 2007 to find imports of the Robyn CD before anyone in the U.S. (including Katy Perry) seemed to think of her as anything more that a one hit wonder (see "Show me Love"). I then put her song "Handle Me" on every mix I made for 6 months, whether or not I thought the mix recipient would like it.

There are so many things going on in the Swedish music scene, and they've been going on for a while. For example, Britney's song "...Baby, One More Time" was written and produced by her frequent collaborator Max Martin, who just happens to be Swedish. Point is, there is a lot of Swedish-ness going on, and it is frequently great. I love poking around trying to find new Swedish bands and artists. I came across this group, and fell in love.

Sometimes I hear a song, and then I have to listen to it 8 more times just to process all the emotions it makes me feel. I know this song has been around for about 3 years, but I still fall in love with it every time I hear it. The trio, Fredrik, is always interesting, and in honor of their new album (which it looks like you can already download on itunes), I am declaring their song "Black Fur" song of the week.

xoxo

zuzu

p.s. there might be another song of the week this week, because i am so late!

Song Of The Week

As tempted as I was to post that Rebecca Black song that has been contemplating world domination all week long, it is only Thursday, and I'm still not even sure which seat I will pick in the car during my Friday morning commute to school. So I'm just going to leave that situation alone until another time when I'm not so overwhelmed by seating decisions.


Instead I decided to go with one of my favorite songs of all time. Basically, I love the Talking Heads, but I can't claim to be a diehard fan. I would say I'm "conversational" in Talking Heads, but by no means "fluent." Howewer, I sincerely think that this is one of the sweetest songs I've ever heard, and it might be a good reminder of a simpler time in music. A time when nobody even knew what auto-tune was, and people danced with lamps. This is the version of This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody) from Stop Making Sense. I love both versions, but just in different ways.




xoxo
zuzu

Song of the Week

In all honesty, I don't know more than about two facts about this band, (one of those facts is the name of the band and the other fact is that I like this song) but I think it's a pretty good song of the week...even though I can already tell Dodo's not gonna like it. But Dodo should still watch to the end, because it's got a message, and also because it demonstrates why it's okay for me to have an apparently deep-seeded love for videos using finger puppets and/or miniaturized worlds.




(also hands up if this video reminds you more than just a little bit of Modest Mouse's "Dashboard" from 2007...in a "full of nautical goodness" kind of way).

xoxo
zuzu

Song of the Week

So since no one complained about my song of the week post from last week, I'm doing another one this week. But this time I'm going to post about a band that Kleine told me about, because maybe she will be inclined to start contributing to the song of the week more actively...but for now, enjoy this band. Good find, Kleine. (note: if you like this song, check out the song "Marathon" too).



xoxo
zuzu

Song of the Week

I am always trying to get my sisters to listen to my music, because I tend to have a highly ridiculous opinion of my own musical prowess, so I decided that I might be able to force them to do it, by creating a "Song of the Week" post, and hoping that they actually listen. This week I am loving Kathryn Calder. I am not going to say to much, because if you guys like her, hopefully you will do heavy research into her background (or just find out if she's "big" enough to have a wikipedia page yet).

This song in particular has been in frequent rotation...also the music video is just adorable, but sad at the same time, with a finger puppet bunny losing and trying to find his friend across the universe.



xoxo
zuzu