February 2009: Deja Voodoo, Dictaphone Blues, Dimmer, Erakah, Fur Patrol, I Am Giant

A stupid-fun fate, the wireframe wilderness, a severed cord, cool in the club, and snowboarding stuff.

Deja Voodoo “Punisher” – missing

“Punisher” is Deja Voodoo’s discussion of what it’s like to be in a band that largely appeals to young dudes. The song opens with “Security, won’t you take these morons from the front row/Let the girls come through” — and just maybe that’s inspired by the “girls to the front” slogan of the Riot Grrrl movement. Rather than literally depict this, Deja Voodoo find themselves kidnapped by some tiny troll creatures, who torture them, kill a couple of the band, and let Matt and Chris free, only to have them meet a worse fate. It’s a stupid-fun video with impressive stop-motion animation.

A press release from 2009 reveals this information about the video shoot:

[Chris Stapp and Matt Heath] directed and produced the excellent video for ‘Punisher’. Drummer Piers Graham wrote the treatment and puppets were by American stop motion animator Chester Dextar who was especially flown in for the video. In true Deja Voodoo style, it was shot in an Auckland sewer and in Chris’ girlfriend’s garage.

Note: This video was previously available on MySpace, but has since been taken down.

Director: Chris Stapp, Matt Heath

Dictaphone Blues “You Put It In Me”

“You Put It In Me” is Dictaphone Blues’ first funded video – and last until the Making Tracks era. The video was filmed in what looks like the Southern Alps, with dramatic snow-capped mountains providing the backdrop for Dictaphone Blues’ pop. But it’s not your standard scenic New Zealand video. The videos are given a wireframe outside, suggesting that all this magnificent  scenery is all computer generated, which is genius.

Director: Jensen Downes Picture Co

Dimmer “Cold Water”

The “Cold Water” is a poetic undersea sci-fi adventure. It’s set on an undersea platform, where a group of three pressure-suit-wearing maintenance workers have been dropped off. One of them has set off with a safety cable, only it breaks and he immediately starts falling down, down, down. And that’s the rest of the video – three minutes of the guy falling in water. But being a Dimmer video, the animation (courtesy of Gary Sullivan) is very good, and with the music the whole thing becomes very poetic and moving.

Director: Dylan Pharazyn
Nga Taonga Sound & Vision

Erakah “Infatuated”

R&B singer Erakah had her first single, the very cool “Infatuated”. The song also features a guest rap from Temple Jones, and has to be the first time in New Zealand when a female MC has done a guest spot on a song by a female singer. The video puts Erakah in a nightclub, attempting to make sense of her feelings amid the glowsticks. There’s no strong narrative, just a video that works hard at looking good, without the feeling of a manufactured nightclub video scenario.

Director: Ivan Slavov

Fur Patrol “Little Fists” – missing

All signs point to this video not having been made, yet it’s on NZ On Air’s list of completed videos, so I dunno. Instead here’s a live performance of the song on Juice TV for New Zealand Music Month 2007.

I Am Giant “City Limits”

I Am Giant was the new project of former Blindspott drummer (and future X Factor judge) Shelton Woolright. The video is set on a snowy mountainside, where snowboarding dudes do… snowboarding stuff. The band can be found playing their instruments and/or walking around the mountain. Shelton spends a lot of time walking along a thin plank next to a fence. Dunno why.

Nga Taonga Sound & Vision

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *