April 2009: Boh Runga, Cobra Khan, Cut Off Your Hands, Dei Hamo, Deja Voodoo

A rough ride, a band deconstructed, girls in grey and black, and a high school musical.

Boh Runga “Evelyn”

Like the Stellar’s “Taken” video, “Evelyn” also sees Boh Runga putting on her driving gloves and getting behind the wheel of a classic left-hand-drive car. But this time Boh is driving along a CGI road, looking like a scene from an old video game. And she’s better dressed than the toga dress she was wearing in the Stellar video. Not much happens in the “Evelyn” video. Sometimes Boh drives along the CGI road, other times she plays her guitar in the middle of the road. Near the end of the video she reaches a large metropolitan area and then the faux landscape starts to fall apart. So symbolic.

Director: Tim van Dammen
Nga Taonga Sound & Vision

Cobra Khan “Walk Through Fire”

“Walk Through Fire” was the last of Cobra Khan’s eight funded video. While it wasn’t the end of the band (they played their last show in 2012), the video is a good send-off. The band themselves don’t feature in the video. Instead they are represented by a piñata, an inflatable sex doll, a scarecrow, a store mannequin, and a cardboard robot. A number of overall-clad workers then proceed to disassemble, blow up, smash and burn the figures. So symbolic! It’s a chaotic mess, and it nicely fits with the Cobra Khan sound.

Director: Dan Kircher
Nga Taonga Sound & Vision

Cut Off Your Hands “Let’s Get Out of Here”

More sunny indie pop from Cut Off Your Hands. The band are absent from this video, instead it stars two women wearing grey sweaters, black skinny jeans, and with long hair and Zooey Deschanel bangs. The almost-clones engage in stiff robotic dancing, shrugs, steps; all edited together with repetition. It feels more like an art video less a music video. This was directed by Peter J Brant who later co-directed Solange Knowles video for “Lovers in the Parking Lot”.

Director: Peter J Brant

Dei Hamo “Lyka Teen”

The video begins with Dei Hamo joking with his mates: “You gotta harden up a little bit, bro. I’m not saying you gotta do what Chris did to Rihanna cos that’s not ok, lady. That’s not ok. But ok, I mean, you gotta be a little bit stern.” Yep, he’s joking about Chris Brown brutally assaulting Rihanna. And the implication that while it’s “not ok” to physically assault your girlfriend, it’s somehow acceptable to do a bit less than that. No. None of that is acceptable. The piece sets up a joke that Dei Hamo is just a big softie, and isn’t actually “stern” around his girlfriend (she makes him feel like a teen). But it still casts a very dark shadow over an otherwise fun video.

Director: Ivan Slavov, Daniel Strang
Nga Taonga Sound & Vision

Deja Voodoo “Girls With Guitars” – missing

Deja Voodoo have “Girls With Guitars”, their ode to, er, girls with guitars. Sample lyric: “Girls in bands! Here’s my money, stamp my hand!”. It’s not just wishful thinking – Matt from Deja Voodoo’s girlfriend is Lani the bass player from Foamy Ed and Elemeno P. Awww… The video is missing, but I’m hoping it was an epic rock production. The audio, however, lives here.

Nga Taonga Sound & Vision

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