Month: August 2011

Greg Johnson Set “Isabelle”

Inspired by the impact of the conflict from the Croatian War of Independence upon the ordinary people of Croatia, “Isabelle” was Greg Johnson’s attempt at connecting with the country on the other side of the world while he was “stuck on an island”.

The video does a good job of creating a landscape that might be New Zealand or might be Croatia. Though if, as Greg sings, Isabelle comes from the modern metropolis of Zagreb, what’s she doing living in a little Borat-style shack in the woods? And the more we see of the woods, they more they look like New Zealand. Perhaps Greg’s longing is starting to transform downtown Zagreb into a New Zealand national park.

Isabelle is played by Gina From Shortland Street, who wears black and looks mournful because all her people, they are dying. Greg, meanwhile, is wearing a waistcoat with a skivvie (for it is the ’90s) and occasionally pops up with his mandolin to make everything better.

Best bit: Isabelle’s numb reaction to seeing a crashed military vehicle with injured passengers.



Director: James Holt
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Next: A suburban ode.

Maree Sheehan “Dare to be Different”

The second time around, Maree Sheehan’s video is to be found online. “Dare to be Different”, a sultry dance track on the theme of acceptance, seems to take more than a few cues from Madonna.

There’s Maree in a mansuit, but because it’s the early ’90s she’s wearing it with a peasant blouse (ok, that’s a drink). This is also the first video to bust out some serious dance moves. Sure, Moana had a few in “A E I O U”, but in “Dare to be Different”, Maree is getting down too.

Also in a Madonna style, Maree is seated with two gal pals in a convertible, a la “True Blue”. This is cut with posh ladies at a dinner party and some bros huddled and/or dancing around a fire in a barrel. Homelessness: just because it’s different don’t mean it’s wrong (?)

While the video has a lot of big ideas behind it, there’s one that feels the most dated – the fly girls. As soon as the MC Hammer-style dancers start doing their thing, it feels like the video ought to be given to a ’90s culture exhibition at Te Papa. That is, until this stuff becomes fashionable again, which won’t be long.

Best bit: a woman with a towering beehive chowing down on a banana.

Director: Josh Frizzell
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Next… Greg is stuck on an island.

D-Faction “Babe I’m Not Original”

D-Faction were a perfect slice of South Auckland funk. Their specialty was originally funked-up covers, but the chilled-out soul track “Babe I’m Not Original” is actually an original single. While the video can’t resist a tiny bit of green-screenery, it mainly consists of a straight studio performance cut with footage around the Otara markets.

It’s a stark contrast – the smooth studio style cutting to scenes of raw fish, only to have the raw fish footage repeated later in the video. Whoa – there’s a glitch in the matrix.

I’m really happy that YouTube user slydogmania has taken it upon himself to upload heaps of D-Faction videos, including this absolute doozy: D-Faction on the TV3 kids show “Yahoo” in 1990, interviewed by Moana, talking about producing music for Ngaire, and then they perform a cover of “Stuck in the Middle” only two years before Quentin Tarantino was to recontextualise the song beyond redemption.

Best bit: the cool dude little boy hanging out by the rack of rugby league t-shirts.

Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Next… Maree gets superfly.