Bic Runga “Something Good”

2002-bic-runga-something-goodFirst, two comments from YouTube –

The uploader’s description: “Enjoyable video from 2002 which should be seen more often.”
The top-rated comment: “She comes from the lil country that could…NEW ZEALAND!”

And they both say it all, ready. It is indeed an enjoyable video, and its full of feelgood New Zealandness that goes down a treat with whatever sports-related national pride is setting the country on fire.

The video sees Bic on Cuba Street in Wellington, which had been dressed to make it look even more groovy and boho than it normally does. When the Bucket Fountain goes, it’s not a wet, messy splashstravaganza, but a joyful, light-catching water display. The video was directed by Chris Graham and was nominated for Best Video at the 2003 New Zealand Music Awards. It has a really sweet, warm Wellington-on-a-good-day feel to it, and Bic looks lovely.

But in this pleasant setting, Bic makes an alarming discovery: she’s invisible. For a professional performer, this must be an absolute nightmare. The nicely dressed businessman ignores her. The elegantly dressed kuia ignores her. The hipsters on bikes ignore her. All the stylish people of Wellington are ignoring Bic. Not even her NOM*D belt will render her visible.

What does it is the innocence of a child. A little girl happily accepts Bic’s offer of flowers that she apparently steals from a street vendor. This awesome moment inspires Bic to lift off into the air, causing all the people on the street to finally notice her. And it’s just as well that she’s wearing shorts under her dress.

But Bic’s not quite one of us. She can be seen, but is still semi-solid, as a taxi driver discovers. He seems quite upset by having driven his car through a pop singer, but Bic is on hand to comfort him. She then sets off on foot (best to stay off the road), and is followed by a group of smiling women. This leads her to being given a bunch of flowers by a young boy, at a weird pedestrian crossing where people queue in single file as they wait for the green man.

But we never find out if Bic becomes a solid, visible human, or if she just learns to live with her etherial state. Ah, such is the enchanting world of “Something Good”

Best bit: The Christophers for Crystals shop, a surely a case of nominative determinism.

More: This old-school Bic Runga fansite has a little bit about the video’s production.

Bonus: The single’s B-side was a remix of the song by Submariner, feat Tha Feelstyle. Peter McLennan has made a video for the track, using footage from the original video and clips of Tha Feelstyle from the “Hibiscus Milk” video.

Director: Chris Graham
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Next… home, work and the third place.

Betchadupa “Life will be the Same”

2002-betchadupa-life-will-be-the-sameThis is a fun adventure. “Life will be the Same” is a dark, moody song and the video goes for a similar tone. As a single from their debut album “The Alphabetchadupa”, it continues to have a more serious, less fun feeling than the songs from their earlier EPs.

Things kick off with Betchadupa playing in a dark club. Initially the band are playing in shadows, with only a backlight illuminating Liam’s hair. The stage lights slowly grow brighter and we’re brought out of the uneasy darkness into a familiar rock scene.

After about a minute we meet the subplot, taking a leaf out of the big book of urban legends. There’s a lone hitch-hiker out thumbing a ride late at night. Eventually he’s picked up by Liam. He happily slings his bag in the backseat but soon he gets a little ticked off because Liam will not talk to him. Actually, I’ve never picked up a hitch-hiker because I’m terrified of having to make conversation with a stranger, so I feel him.

Later Liam stops the car in the middle of nowhere to have a wee… and then mysteriously disappears, leaving the hitch-hiker alone. The hitcher gives up waiting and drives off, but ends up being pulled over by a cop. He should have nothing to fear, right? Wrong. The cop (illegally!) searches the car and discovers what we assume to be Liam’s dismembered body in the hitch-hiker’s bag. Whoa! The hitcher is promptly arrested.

But then just to really mess with our minds, the hitch-hiker shows up in the audience of the shadowy Betchadupa show. Is he on parole already? No. This is some non-linear narrative for you. He leaves the club, goes out onto the street and thumbs a ride. And we know exactly what’s going to happen next.

Best bit: the clever fade between Liam’s dark face and a car’s headlights, briefly giving him a creepy “Total Eclipse of the Heart” appearance.

Note: The video is geoblocked to viewers in New Zealand and Germany, but everyone else should be able to view it. So if you can’t view the video, here’s a clip of the band performing the song live on “Space”.

Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Next… a stroll down Cuba Street.

Barry Saunders “Rescue Me”

2002-barry-saunders-rescue-meIt’s another solo release from Warratahs frontman Barry Saunders. He’s had two videos previously funded, popping up in 1995 and 1998, but this is the first that’s been online. “Rescue Me” is a pleasant country song, maybe heading more towards the alt-country side of things.

The video sees Barry go for a walk. And it’s a long walk. He starts off in Wellington, on Cuba Street. It’s down the south end, before it was chopped in two by the bypass, back when it was full of grotty old buildings (including a pre-reno Tonks Ave) full of interesting businesses taking advantage of the cheap rent.

But it’s not all boho Wellington. Through some clever cuts (like passing behind a tree), he seamlessly keeps on walking to other parts of Wellington, and then on to rural areas.

Wherever Barry walks, he keeps coming across musicians playing along with him. It’s not unbelievable to find a guitarist on Cuba Street, but things get surreal when there’s a string quartet in the middle of a field. Scenes with the musicians are shot in black and white (which is borderline cheesy), but as the picture turns to colour, the musicians disappear, suggesting it’s all in Barry’s head.

The video is shot in a slowed-down style, giving it a dreamy feel. Even when Barry is doing something as mundane as strolling around Wellington’s waterfront, the video takes on an epic tone. Good result.

Best bit: the trampoline on the grass verge outside a house, pedestrians be dammed.

http://youtu.be/8najMEz3gNk

Director: James Barr
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Next… the perils of hitch-hiking.

Missing videos from 2002

February 2002

Tadpole “Now Today Forever”

The lone missing video for the February funding round is “Now Today Forever”, the second single from Tadpole’s second album, and a rather driving rock number.

Nga Taonga Sound & Vision

April 2002

Che Fu “Top Floor”

There’s also only one video missing from April, Che Fu’s uplifting number “Top Floor”. As it happens, I wrote a summary of this video in 2002. It sounds amazing:

Che Fu and his posse are hanging out on the front porch of a large wooden lodge. A young lady hands out pieces of chocolate cake and MC OJ and the Rhythm Slave pass out cups of instant coffee. With a very laid-back vibe, Che Fu spends most of the video sitting in a rocking chair, knitting. But just in case you think he’s turning into an old gran, in the middle of a song he turns into a robot and does a rap. But then it’s back to the porch. At the end of the song he’s finished knitting. He admires the, er, long red thing he’s made, tosses the ball of wool up in the air and it magically transforms into a snow ball and then Che’s snowboarding off into the sunset.

Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

June 2002

Fast Crew “Mr Radio”

Along came the Fast Crew, which included Kid Deft who later reverted to his maiden name, Dane Rumble. “Mr Radio” was their debut single, a rant about the difficulty of getting play-listed – something that would soon cease to be a problem for the Crew. The single reached #15 on the Independent NZ chart.

Director: Greg Riwai
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Fuce “Restless”

Christchurch band Fuce have their final NZOA-funded video “Restless”. The group had plans to relocate to Auckland in 2003, but I don’t know what (if anything) happened next.

In 2002 I wrote this about the “Restless” video: This video uses two visual clichés, one old, one getting old. The first is where the camera jerks about as if it’s trying to find something to focus on. The second is when the camera moves as if the power of the music is making the camera shake. Yeah, it’s a low-budget NzonAir video, but it’s looking ok. It just could have looked better if it had just shown the band playing the song, instead of all the dumb camera tricks.

Director: Aaron Hogg
Nga Taonga Sound & Vision

Splitter “You’re Right To Rock”

Splitter got in on the rock ‘n’ roll revival with “You’re Right To Rock” an ode to you-know-what. Sample lyrics: “Power chords are ringing like a bell!”. Aw yeah.

Subware “Into”

Subware’s final funded video was the lush “Into”, with vocals from Sandy Mills.

Theo Va’a “Little Angel”

Theo Va’a was an 10-year-old singer (dancer, entertainer, songwriter and professional model) from Palmerston North who later wowed the 2003 Christmas in the Park crowd. “Little Angel” featured Atilla Va’a, who I assume grew up to be the 130kg rugby prop asserting himself here.

August 2002

Mace & The Woodcut Crew “Shake ‘m”

“Shake ‘m” is a collaboration between rapper Mace and Auckland producers the Woodcut Crew producers. I’m going to assume it’s an instructional song about making protein shakes.

Pluto “Perfectly Evil”

Pluto have the dark and synthy “Perfectly Evil”. It’s been entertainingly used as the soundtrack for an almost wordless short film made by some year 13 students for their media studies assignment.

Director: Wade Shotter
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

October 2002

Lavina Williams featuring Emily Williams “Higher Lovin'”

Ex-Ma-V-Elle singer Lavina Williams teams up with her younger sister (and future Australian Idol star) Emily for the soul jam “Higher Lovin'”. Their sisterly harmonies sound fabulous.

December 2002

Crystal Fitisemanu “Sunny Summer’s Day”

I’m not sure if the video for Crystal Fitisemanu’s song “Sunny Summer’s Day” was made. There’s no mention of it online, but there is a brief mention of a $3000 grant in 2001 from Creative New Zealand for Crystal to record five songs.

P-Money featuring 4 Corners “The Xpedition”

“The Xpedition” is another track from P-Money’s debut album, this time featuring 4 Corners on vocals.

Rhombus “Tour Of Outer Space”

Well, Rhombus go on a “Tour of Outer Space”.

Director: Wade Shotter
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Tadpole “Always Be Mine”

“Always Be Mine” was the penultimate single released off Tadpole’s second album.

Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Instead…

This month’s consolation video is “Verbally Decapitating” by DJ Logikal. It was the winner of a competition that TVNZ’s after-hours music show M2 held, with the prize being a $10,000 fancy music video made for the winning track. This is a throw-back to how things were in the days before NZOA, where TVNZ (and its predecessors) made music videos for bands. Though in this case, it was a heavily promoted contest with an alcohol sponsor. The video – which is a really is a proper fancy video – sees DJ Logikal infecting downtown Auckland with his scratched-up beats, and it features pre-development Britomart for some gritty urban decay. It visually name-checks P-Money, and incorporates the song’s samples by having people on the street lip-syncing the words. The video rightly won Best Editor for James Anderson at the 2003 Kodak Music Clip Awards.

Director: James Anderson
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision