BUG 27

Justice – Audio, Video, Disco

A reunion of the ultracool French DJ artist-producers with So Me, the creative whiz behind the Ed Banger record label and the hugely influential design of the early Justice releases (including the video for D.A.N.C.E., with its So Me-designed animated T-shirt designs).

Tom Vek – Aroused

Be prepared for a promo that has more smoking in it than The Towering Inferno. Saam Farahmand’s video for Tom Vek’s Aroused is all about smoking – and fashion. Resembling something like a Calvin Klein ad from the early1990s, the relationship between beautiful young people and their cigarettes is fetishised and choreographed, so that oral gratification becomes really rather sexual.

Oh Land - White Nights

The directing team from Barcelona who have made habitual appearances at BUG in the past year, with their outstanding videos for El Guincho, Scissor Sisters, Battles and White Lies. Here they have harnessed their surreal approach to the demands of a proper pop video for the beautiful Danish singer.

Fulton Lights – Staring Out the Window

Some would call Ninian Doff’s promo for Fulton Lights’ Staring Out the Window ridiculous, even offensive, for what he’s done to a bunch of crows while they hop around Clapham Common. But most people will just wonder why it’s not been done before: he puts arms on them.

Milgrom – Boy

Created in Israel by Lo-Fi People (Hadar Landsberg) this delightful example of classic stop-frame animation that serves to introduce this new ‘virtual/animated’ band – in particular the intriguing dual personality of mischievous singer ‘Dolly Breakfast’.

Cults – Go Outside

An ingenious, but chilling and even morally questionable video for Cults’ Go Outside puts the band within a sequence of true events – involving one of the most notorious cults of all – that led to tragedy. The video which digitally embeds the band within James Jones’s Peoples Temple comes from director Isaiah Seret, who gained access to hours of home videos of the Peoples Temple in Jonestown and on completion, showed the video to survivors of the Jonestown Massacre who, he says, expressed their appreciation at the focus of the lives of the cult members rather than exploiting graphic images of the final, terrible outcome. Judge for yourself...

OK Go – All Is Not Lost

Collaboration with prestigious American dance company Pilobulous and regular director / choreographer Trish Sie, with ingenious choreography cleverly shot through a clear floor.

Crystal Antlers – Two Way Mirror

A group of kids make a nail biting trip through the fabric of time and space (it’s director Matt Layzell's attempt to get to grips with quantum physics, complete with an appearance of Schrödinger’s Cat) in a lo-fi psychedelic style entirely in keeping with the music.

Mazes – Most Days

Matt Layzell joined forces with his brother Paul to make the video for Mazes’ Most Days – a lo-res cartoon version of a homemade skater video that’s delightfully scurrilous.

Battles – My Machines

Long-time BUG favourites Battles, sees a remarkable feat of stunt work that cleverly plays on a widely- held but not widely expressed fear – of moving escalators. Directed by the Daniels.