ListenUp
Sally Shapiro, Atoms For Peace, Hanni El Khatib and more in our weekly music recap
Following our first installment last week, we continue to chart our musical findings at CH with ListenUp, a recap of the songs we Tweeted throughout the week.
Young Dreams: First Days of Something
Oslo-based director Kristoffer Borgli lends his distinct cinematic touch to “First Days of Something,” a song off of Young Dreams’ soon-to-release album Between Places. In a music video that feels much more like a short film with an excellent soundtrack, Borgli creatively explores what it feels like when there is a song you just can’t stop listening to. The Bergen collective explains on their label Modular, the optimistic album is “about documenting and capturing the sound of people trying the best they can. And that’s maybe one of the most beautiful things in the world.”
Sally Shapiro feat. Electric Youth: Starman
On Tuesday the enigmatic Swedish duo Sally Shapiro dropped Somewhere Else, their third full-length album and first in nearly four years. You won’t catch them live anytime soon, as they continue their notorious stance against touring, but you can glean a sense of their world in the Edwin Brienen-directed video for “Starman,” a track featuring Canadian twosome Electric Youth, or groove to the whole album on Spotify.
Twin Peaks: Stand In The Sand
We brightened up a cold, rainy Wednesday in NYC with a little fun from the young Chicago rockers Twin Peaks, whose video for “Stand In The Sand” has us eagerly anticipating the carefree days of summer. The rebellious band of teenagers are already carving out a name for themselves with their self-recorded album Sunken, and their lo-fi sound is surely going to be a hit among the crowds at SXSW this year.
Hanni El Khatib: Family
Before turning to music full time, Hanni El Khatib was the talented creative director behind cult skateboard label Huf, and it’s easy to see both his artistic background and penchant for the Thrasher side of life in the video for “Family.” Directed by Nick Walker, the “Wild Asian Motorcycle Sex Gang” concept feels like the perfectly salacious visual tale for El Khatib’s gritty, garage rock tune.
Atoms For Peace: Ingenue
We couldn’t help but immediately add a second #ListenUp track to Thursday when Atoms For Peace released their video for “Ingenue,” which is seemingly a follow-up to Thom Yorke’s conceptual dance video for the Radiohead song Lotus Flower. Enlisting the same team—choreographer Wayne McGregor and director Garth Jennings—this time Yorke has a partner, contemporary dancer Fukiko Takase. Donning matching three-piece suits, the two oddly pirouette on an empty stage in a routine that is curiously alluring.
Husbands: Dream
French trio Husbands tapped the imaginative duo behind Cauboyz to create the playful video for their catchy tune “Dream.” The deceptive concept features a specially-built set of lightboxes that are connected to a web of wires, which are strategically switched on to reveal a typographic display of the words comprising the song. Be sure to watch the making-of video for a full look at the manual design, which gained them a Vimeo Staff Pick.
