Cave hideaway, funeral crashers, car park party, places other than the recording studio, and a wander around K Road.
Mumsdollar “Brothers in Arms”
Suddenly Mumsdollar are looking very grown up – almost too grown up. They’ve subtly shifted from a youthful punk band to looking like a bunch of teachers and IT workers who like to jam on the weekend. The video puts them in a cave, lit with dramatic streams of light. It looks great, and the combination of confined space of the cave and the militaristic lyrics give the impression of a rogue group of Christian solidiers, plotting an act of rock ‘n’ roll terrorism.
Director: Ivan Slavov
Nga Taonga Sound & Vision
Pearl “Take Me Back”
“Take Me Back” was Pearl’s third and final funded video. It stars Alasdair Kincaid (aka Frank Flash of What Now in the 1980s). He plays a man about to deliver a eulogy at his father’s funeral, when suddenly in burst Pearl. They play a song so infectious that the man is taken over with an urge to badly breakdance, with the urge eventually spreading to all the mourners.
But wait – just check out the mourner’s eyeball acting as he is torn between the exciting musical lady with the skunk stripe and the formalities of the funeral.
Pearl’s three videos are delightfully nuts in their own ways, and this rounds out an entertaining trilogy.
Director: Patrick Gillies
Nga Taonga Sound & Vision
Percieve featuring PNC & Flowz “Whoa”
Well, this is an adventure. Car park buildings often feature in music videos for their gritty, urban look. But this is the first that’s properly made a feature of one. “Whoa” is a one-shot video, following Percieve (i before e when hip hop MC), PNC, Flowz and friends as they explore the car park on the corner of Stout and Ballance Streets in Wellington. The action isn’t limit to the car park, with shots of some guys doing parkour on corporate sculpture next door, and a crowd partying outside the District Court across the road. It’s a great work by director Shahir Daud. The only flaw – the video feels very dated by the product placement of a Telecom NZ Windows phone.
Director: Shahir Daud
Nga Taonga Sound & Vision
PNC featuring Chong Nee “Find Me”
Where will you find PNC? Mostly in the recording studio, he says. The music skirts around this nerdy scenario, instead placing PNC in a church, by some graffiti, in a state housing neighbourhood, in a car park, and in the general downtown Auckland area. In the lyrics, PNC shouts out to the 03, 06, 06 and 09 area codes, but misses out the 07. What’s up, PNC? You got something against people in the Waikato/Bay of Plenty/Thames Valley/King Country area who have landlines, which admittedly these days is probably only Tauranga retirees, but still? Yup.
Director: Warren Green
Nga Taonga Sound & Vision
Recloose featuring Tyna “Emotional Funk”
It’s been a while since K Road featured in a music video, but here it is, all over “Emotional Funk”. Tyna starts off in the Lim Chhour building, crosses the road, wanders around some corridors, and ends up around the back of St Kevin’s Arcade, before wandering down Myers Park. The video feels a bit gimmicky, a bit busy. There’s so much crammed into it that sometimes the song feels like an after thought.
Director: Anton Steel
Nga Taonga Sound & Vision