French Dressing

Right I have restarted this blog, as I have found something to say after all. Part showcase, part education, part vanity (like anyone will read this regularly and as though I am some sort of authority on this topic). I am going to try and do a monthly Music Video Blog but we will see how it goes might be every 2 months or till I run out of videos.

So here we go, this month in a continuation of my current fascination with France here is a selection of the best, most interesting and/or just plain nuts music videos by French directors.

The work coming out of France is really different and I imagine this has something to do with the French attitude to the arts (and this is an art form) , less a commercial interest more experimentation and aesthetics.

Also you may ask at some point in this Blog, "why no work by Michel Gondry? Is he mad", well that is because in my humble opinion he transcends the French music video industry like a god among men, plus I am planing a whole month on him anyway.

Starting with Ye Ye - eurostar:



Simple, funny and cut to the beat.

Continuing on that simplicity theme are the mighty Pleix collective. This is one of many I could have chosen from but I just love this tune, Vitalic - Birds (poney pt1):



check out the rest of their stuff http://www.pleix.net/films.html. Make sure you check out the rampant rabbit Groove Armada video (not entirely work safe).

Michel's Bro Oliver, disgustingly talented family:



That was for Lacquer with Behind.

This is an oldie but a goldie for Alex Gopher's Child:



This really paved the way for lot of text driven videos, none of which I can think of off hand.

Continuing with the illustrative, two videos for Cassius the first one was done about the same time as the Alex Gopher video and representing a very loose trend in French music video production at the time:



The second is for Sound of Violence. I first saw this at Antenna (the now defunct music video night at the NFT) and it quickly became one of my favourite vids, I would love to tell you all about how they did this but I have no idea, I can only assume it was a hell of a lot of photos stuck in to After Effects?! If anyone knows please feel free to share.



Now lets play spot the photographer who became a music video director, Stephane Sednaoui. This is the classic video that not only made him uber famous (he has his own DVD now, considered one of the big boys) but also made the Chilli Peppers cultural icons thanks to this video, also the production quality on this video is spectacular, from the days when people had money to throw at music promo. Give it away, Give it away, give it away now:



Check out his DVD and see the beautiful work he has done for among other REM, U2 and Bjork, specialising in low narrative, high imagery videos.

Now for something newish I couldn't find a decent version of this on youTube so you will just have to visit Partizan's site and watch, which to be fair, is not a bad thing. They are home to pretty much very decent music video director about. Kasabian and Shoot the Runner by Alex & martin.

I have been given two very good bits of advice in my life. One is always go to the bathroom before you leave and two, never ever pass out at a party...



That last one was a bit dubious as I am not sure if the director/s are French, but J.U.S.T.I.C.E are so that was enough of an excuse to include it.

Well that's it my brief tour of fantastique French music promos. All that's left I suppose is this months thank yous. A big thanks has go to Google/Blogger and the people at youTube you have changed our world. Glenda thanks for inspiring me to make something of this. Plus a thank you to France, well done. Finally, thank you all for taking the time to read this and put up with, both the poor grammar and shite spelling. I will leave you with something that is neither French nor a music video, the Mighty Boosh doing soup. Good times.



Au revoir!!