fun. kicked off Stephen Colbert’s StePhest ColbChella 2012 last night on the Colbert Report. Watch them perform their hit song “We Are Young.”
Gotye released a mashup video on Sunday, compiling all the YouTube covers from the past year—and there are a lot. He added a disclaimer:
Dispatch today unveiled the official music video for their next single and title track from their upcoming album, Circles Around The Sun. The video was directed by Eric Heimbold and is dedicated to band’s friend, Larry Perry, a young disabled man who (legend has it) was sent unwillingly into space by NASA in the ’60s. The video chronicles Perry’s story. For the band’s upcoming tour dates, click here.
Circles Around the Sun releases on Aug. 21. Variance recently caught up with Dispatch, and the story is forthcoming.
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BBC Radio 1′s big Hackney Weekend in London was a huge success, with an estimated 50,000 people attending the first day which featured a slew of big-name performers. Artists taking the stage included Jack White, Ed Sheeran, will.i.am, Rita Ora, Nicki Minaj, Emeli Sande, Calvin Harris, Swedish House Mafia (who just announced their latest tour will be their final one) and, of course, the headliner Jay-Z, who was joined by M.I.A. and Rihanna for the first half of his set. For the last half hour, Kanye West surprised the crowd and joined his Watch the Throne comrade.
The pair performed renditions of “Otis,” “No Church in the Wild,” “Murder to Excellence,” and last but not least, “N----- in Paris”. Fortunately for those who could not attend, BBC broadcasted the free event on television, meaning for the first time, there’s pro-shot video of The Throne performing.
Sunday's line-up features headliner Rihanna, along with performances from Florence and the Machine, Tinie Tempah, Jessie J, Plan B, David Guetta and Lana Del Rey.
Watch video of Jay-Z and Kanye West performing at Hackney Weekend below. Scroll to around the 21:00 mark to see Beyoncé mosh to “N----- in Paris." It's pretty amazing.
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Passion Pit has unveiled the clip for the first Gossamer single, “Take A Walk,” a video from the perspective of a world-traveling, bouncing blue ball. It’s a collaboration with the Creators Project and it comes ahead of the album's upcoming July 24 release on Columbia. This week the band released the second single, "It'll Be Alright."
Watch the video for "Take A Walk" and listen to "It'll Be Alright."
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Yes, this may seem a little weird at first, but Usher recently performed a rendition of Foster the People's “Pumped Up Kicks" for BBC's Radio 1, and it's actually pretty good. And if that's not enough, the man plays bass, too.
Watch the video below.
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In preparation for her video for “Every Single Night”, the first from Fiona Apple's long-awaited album, The Idler Wheel is wiser than the Driver of the Screw, and Whipping Cords will serve you more than Ropes will ever do, the singer gave director Joseph Cahill pretty simple instructions: “do things to me and put me in situations and surprise me.” The end result, as revealed early Sunday morning, is definitely interesting. The entire video is a bit strange, but beautiful.
Watch the video here for "Every Single Night" below (via Sundance Channel). The Idler Wheel... will be available on June 19.
Last year, M83 released the video for "Midnight City," the first single off the album Hurry Up, We're Dreaming. Today, the follow-up was released with a video for "Reunion."
This second video features mysterious functionaries chasing the same children which appeared in the "Midnight City" piece around an eerie cityscape. The video is directed by Fleur & Manu, who also directed the first video.
Watch the video below.
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Florence and the Machine debuted a new video on Wednesday, this one for the track "Spectrum" off the latest LP, Ceremonials.
David LaChapelle co-directed it alongside John Byrne, and the clip features all the expected sumptuous visual ridiculousness that LaChapelle is known for.
Take a look below.
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Andrew Bird has released a new animated video for his track, "Eyeoneye," and it's definitely an interesting one. It includes little gremlins living inside Bird's body conspiring to break his heart and make thoughts explode in his brain. It's quite a scenario. The video itself is animated by Yu "Ewan" Morita.
Watch it below.
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Jay-Z and Kanye West have released the video for "No Church in the Wild," one of the most popular tracks off their Watch the Throne album, which features vocals by Frank Ocean.
Neither Jay-Z nor Kanye West actually appear in their Romain Gavras-directed clip, which was released online Tuesday night, but it's probably for the best, considering the rappers appear to be sending a very strong message in this newest set of visuals.
At the beginning of the video, a clash begins with a fiery explosion in the middle of a Prague street. Gavras depicts a power struggle familiar to people all across the globe, regardless of locality. Of course, there is nothing in the video that directly details a specific storyline or plot: Instead, viewers are expected to rely on their own interpretations of the scenes.
While the deeper message is debatable, the visual is certainly powerful. By the end of the five-minute video, the freedom fighters seem to have notched a victory of some sort, standing in triumph in the face of their oppressors.
