Ryan Gosling notwithstanding, sensitive guys have not been riding high in pop culture this year. Lena Dunham‘s supposedly moment-defining HBO series Girls has Dunham’s character Hannah unable to resist the charms of her unapologetically noncommittal acquaintance-with-benefits, Adam, while her roommate Marnie cruelly abuses a love-wracked boyfriend. The show has been widely criticized for its lack of diversity — but as if on cue, in rolls the convertible convoy of Houston rapper Kirko Bangz, who gives Adam a virtual high-five. Whatever the extent to which Girls does or does not speak to the contemporary African-American experience, a good ol’ no-strings-attached shag knows no color.

It may be going too far to read “Drank In My Cup” as an anti-drinking song (would Kirko be “hard as a rock” if that drank hadn’t stayed in his cup?), but it’s certainly fair to call the eponymous drank a red herring: the song is basically about saying fuck you (figuratively) to those insecure wimps who want actual relationships while also saying fuck you (literally) to the exasperated objects of their adoration.

Really, “Drank In My Cup” is about empowering women. Specifically, it’s about empowering them to drag the not-unwilling Kirko up their palatial staircases and to relieve him of his pants — which, given how tenaciously the pants cling to the playboy’s legs at mid-thigh for the entire ascent to the boudoir, might require a crowbar. Fortunately, Kirko has a crowbar, if you know what I’m saying!

“I don’t want a boyfriend,” Hannah explains in one episode of Girls. “I just want someone who hangs out with me all the time and thinks I’m the best person in the world and doesn’t have sex with anyone else.” Enter Kirko Bangz, drank in his cup, to be exactly what Hannah needs — for exactly three minutes and 39 seconds.

Words by Jay Gabler, a co-founder and co-editor of The Tangential.

[Gif via royalflushspade.tumblr.com]

A long time ago, music videos were promotional tools for songs, tacked on as an afterthought to capture lucrative airtime. Obviously, times have changed. There are entire channels dedicated to these clips, and directors who specialize in them. The Internet awaits Lady Gaga video releases like Hollywood premieres, and sites like Portable.tv devote an entire section to the artform.

Music videos are no longer an ad for a product as much as they are part of the product, a complementary part of an aesthetic ‘world’ contained but not constrained within the music. My favourite example of this is the video for the Usher/R. Kelly duet, “Same Girl“ (bear with me for a second here). The lyrics are a conversation between the apparent best friends, as they slowly work out that they are dating the same girl — same tattoo, same license plate, same love for Waffle House. The video, however, adds a punchline absent from the song. When the guys turn up to a date together to catch this cheating jezebel in the act, we see that it’s not the same girl but identical twins (which raises further questions but try and suspend your disbelief). This is a sigfnificant addition to the song’s ‘narrative’, not found in the song itself, that casts it in a whole new light. For a more recent example, try the subversive twist at the end of Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe“ clip.

It’s big leap from Usher and Kellz to avant-garde Australian musician Kirin J Callinan, but not an entirely inappropriate one. “W II W” is the lead single from Callinan’s forthcoming debut solo album, and like “Same Girl”, the accompanying video is an essential part of the overall aesthetic package (although that’s probably the only similarity between the two songs). Directed by Kris Moyes, the video uses the gothic blues of “W II W” as a soundtrack to a series of creepy looped images, a nightmare version of a GIF Guide. The song is oddly harrowing in itself, but becomes something else with the video accompaniment — like the strings in Psycho became so much more dramatic when they were underscoring Janet Leigh being stabbed in the shower.

Describing the clip in words makes it sound silly. There’s nothing explicit or NSFW, nothing even particularly logical. Just a series of images, hinting at ideas of unforgiving nature and a primitive physicality, looping in shuddering rhythm, monochrome occassionally rupturing with a burst of colour. It does what every contemporary music video should do — complement the song’s aesthetic in a striking and inventive way. You may not see anything more fucked up this year.

Last week we learned some pretty poignant lessons from the videos of Xtina, and this week we’re looking to Sisqó for some wisdom. So take your shirt off, hug your dragon, and get ready to learn with Sisqó (and Dru Hill and Will Smith and Lil Kim and Maya and DMX).

P.S. Dude can fly. Moreover, he can fly dance (that’s dancing while flying). Just a stray observation; seems to be his party trick in most videos.

Everyone’s favourite surf-pop-queen cum cat-loving-gal-pal cum hipster-Urban Outfitters-designer and mega-babe, Bethany Cosentino and wingman Bobb Bruno, or as you may know them better, Cali cool kids, Best Coast, are back with their follow up to 2010′s diary like debut, Crazy For You which featured that really catchy song that you couldn’t decide whether to cry to, light up a joint to or dance to; “Boyfriend.”

While their sophomore, The Only Place, released today, comes from a more ‘mature’ place (Cosentino’s not smoking so much weed anymore), Best Coast are still talking about that crazy little thing called love. Let’s face it, we all know what it feels like to crush on someone hard, and it is probably the best and worst feeling in the world. It makes you make weird mix tapes with super freaky lyrics that always seem to fit your situation perfectly. From classic rock to a Y2K pop princess and more recently an up and coming Australian dance group and the biggest act in the world, here are some songs that we like to cry, get high and dance to simultaneously. Here’s to hoping, and wishing and praying… (After the jump).

After a long battle with cancer, Donna Summer tragically passed away today at 63 years of age. In a tribute to the disco legend, we’ve compiled some of the best interviews, music videos, and rare extras we could find so we can mourn the passing and celebrate the life of the iconic Donna Summer and her inimitable voice and style…

Dear Nicki Minaj,

This is a huge can of worms I hoped we wouldn’t have to continuously persist in opening, or better yet, one which I hoped we could at least open and put to good use, using the worms to bait hooks. On both fronts, it appears, we’re having no such luck.

Nicki, girl, why’d you have to go make a song/video with Chris Brown? Why’d you have to do that?

You have enough money. You have enough fame. You don’t need Chris Brown to make your music better, your fan base bigger or your bank account fatter. You can do that alone, or with your one of your good pals, someone like, I dunno, say, Rihanna?

I don’t mean to level this criticism at you and you alone, because the whole music industry is culpable, as are your fans and supporters. But I would have thought of you, Nicki — as someone with her fingers wiggling in the pies of so many socially progressive movements, including the fight against AIDS in the Third World — to have enough mettle to reject a collaboration with such a man as Chris Brown.

This morning when I saw your new video for “Right By My Side” featuring that awful brute, I was more than disappointed. I was anxious; my chest tightened, I couldn’t find a comfortable way to cross my legs in my chair, and I’m going to be honest, I turned the video off half way through. I felt too nauseous to watch the entire thing.

Chris Brown is a man that beat a woman senseless in a fit of unapologetic, gratuitous rage. This is a FACT. There are NOT two sides to this story, it does NOT take two to tango and we CANNOT excuse his behavior because “What goes on between a couple is private.” This man in your song, your video, this man that you are endorsing, took his fist to a woman’s face and repeatedly assaulted her until her face was so cut up and swollen her eyes fused shut. Nicki… I mean… What?

This violent offender has yet to complete his sentence, which I believe means it’s far too soon to talk about rehabilitation and reentry to decent society. And yet here we are with him, glorified in all the airbrushed beauty of pop stardom, singing by the side of one of the most respected, prolific and influential women in pop music right now. Shame on you Nicki Minaj. Shame on you for not being bold enough to be an independently thoughtful woman, to believe in women, and to stand with women. You are, ostensibly, completely inconsiderate of the implications of your collaboration with this monster.

Nicki, I’m not you, and you’re not me. But I would never stand by the side of a man who viciously beat a woman, who has not yet even paid his due for that crime, wrap my arm around his waist and dance with him to make an extra dollar. I would not do those things for a million dollars. I suppose it’s your prerogative to be as ignorant or as willfully blind as you please, but you’ve made me feel sick, like I could throw up all over my keyboard, and I sincerely hope that there are other women out there who feel the same.

Officially disgusted (not that it will make much of a difference to your life), this is one fan that’s bowing out. Sorry Nicki, I’m done. I sincerely hope this Chris Brown centred circle jerk ends soon, lest I doom myself to constantly throwing up on my keyboard.

Best of luck in the future,

Kat George

Some bands just make it big, and make it big frustratingly quickly, don’t they? Consider this: British five piece Zulu Winter release their first single in November 2011 as relatively unknown, indie-Brit dudes; By May the following year they’re supporting Keane on a UK tour, they were the first announced headliner for Australia’s beloved Splendour in The Grass, and now they’ve got an impeccably shiny, totally beguiling and extremely cinematic clip to accompany their latest single, “Silver Tongue”. Those lucky bastards. And although the thought of “Silver Tongue” instinctively triggers Lisa Simpson and Hans Sprungfeld, what filmic artistry/magicianary director Alex Turvey has spun over this clip is nothing short of ravishing (yep we just called a video clip ravishing: ravishing LIKE A BEAUTIFUL LADY, OK?).

Apart from making excellent music videos, Turvey also spends his time making fashion videos, short films, commercials and art, i.e. he’s basically a manic artiste that we’re all jealous of (The Independent called him one of the “15 Creatives Who Will Define The Future of British Arts”, and his incredible website full of beautiful things is pure, jealousy-soaked torture for any budding filmmaker.

We’re not sure what floored us most about this clip; was it that car and those outfits, or was it the overwhelming feeling of being able to understand what pain has gone through those scarred characters? Was it the piercing reality — the full footed, whole bodied reality of it — from glazed over eyes and desperate stares, or was it just that glorious red and blue? Or was it simply the feeling of dissatisfaction at its end, because we felt as though we knew just a bit too much about that couple and that we deserve to, need to, know more? Whatever it was: a flawless clip makes for a floored audience.

We picked the brains of Alex Turvey mostly because we were dying to know, “How do you make such beautiful things?!?!!?” Alas, he was a little more eloquent, a little less hysterical, than we managed to be:

Portable: Had you always wanted to create a clip like “Silver Tongue” and had the idea before, or did the project come up and then Zulu Winter/”Silver Tongue” spark the idea?

Alex Turvey: I have been looking to create a cinematic music video for quite some time so there are a couple of ideas in the film that I had been waiting to bring to life with the right track, but 90% of what you see on screen was written specifically for “Silver Tongue” as a response to the music.

P: The art direction is amazing in your clip, how closely did you work with the art department/how important is that element in bringing a music video together?

Alex Turvey: Thank you! Closer than close is the answer to that one. Every single frame you see on screen I have obsessively illustrated by hand storyboarded and designed before the shoot.

When I first started working in film I would play every single role in production, even down to the effects (I actually did 95% of the effects and compositing on “Silver Tongue”, which hurt immensely!). I still design all of the sets, costumes and effects in my work, but the bigger the project the more crew you need.

I worked very closely with my good friend Art Director / Artist Christopher Jarratt to bring “Silver Tongue” to life. He has a good understanding of how I work and tolerates my absurd requests.

P: The clip has some really cinematic moments. What films and directors did you feed off (inspirationally) for the clip?

Alex Turvey: Although I didn’t directly reference him there’s a slight Lynchian vibe shining through unintentionally, as well as the more blatant tip of the cap to Hitch.

P: Have you developed the story and characters in the clip deeper than what the video reveals? Who is this couple? What are their scars?

Alex Turvey: I’m completely OCD when it comes to film preparation, so I ended up developing an unessercarily epic story behind each character considering how minimal the performance actually is.

I wanted to make sure both the amazing Anna Walton and Charlie Cattrall had enough background to bring life to their character and interpret the story in their own unique way.

The opening scene relies entirely on the subtleties and body language between the couple, I needed the tension between them to be real so we purposefully kept them apart on set to help create the awkwardness.

There are clues in the video as to why we are witnessing Charlie’s internal unraveling but I wouldn’t want to give it up, I like that the viewer can come to their own conclusion.

P: You’ve done music videos before, what do you find so special about the medium? How are the challenges different from, say, making a short film, or a fashion film?

Alex Turvey: The process of bringing any idea to life for me is an incredibly rewarding one. Its an amazing feeling when, on the actual shoot day you realise that you are stood inside a physical representation of an idea that only existed in your head a few weeks ago.

If, like the rest of us, you’ve fallen a bit head over heels with Turvey’s work, why not hop on over to London and check out his solo show? Guaranteed to be amazing.

All (above) film production stills by Richard Johnson.

Tributes to the Beastie Boys’ late Adam Yauch keep rolling out, and we think we may have uncovered a new favorite. The Beastie Boys’ famous Spike Jonze directed video for “Sabotage” (1994) has been remade — with kids reenacting the action. The video, created by Portland filmmaker James Winters, sees Winters’ own children and nephew in the roles of the Beastie Boys as the cops-and-robbers action-packed story unfolds. We’re not going to lie; it’s pretty damn adorable. You can watch the original below, or check out our archival ode to Adam Yauch, through the Beastie Boys in rare video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

[via Pitchfork]

Lil Mama, come back! The world needs you now, just as much as Avril needed you in 2007.

In its original incarnation, “Girlfriend” was a perfectly adequate pop song, with Lavigne stomping and chanting in “sassy” mode. But chanting isn’t rapping, and cowriter/producer Dr. Luke had the supremely good sense to remix the song with Lavigne’s verses swapped out for rapid-fire spitting by the hip-hop artist who had redefined “sassy” with her tauntingly minimalist brag about slick lips. Lil Mama finally released a complete album, the uneven VYP (Voice of the Young People), the following year, but she’s never been better than she was as Avril’s “Girlfriend” foil.

The video, directed by R. Malcolm Jones, has the odd couple cruising around in a convertible and even cuter modes of transport (scooters, etc). Lavigne rocks her signature emo-schoolgirl look and generally hangs out looking Canadian while Lil Mama rocks out in high Brooklyn style with hoop earrings, chains, off-the-shoulder sweats, and unmistakable hand gestures. “When you see me in the drop-top shades in the summertime blazin’, you wanna be my boyfriend.” Sorry, Avril, looks like you’re second in line again.

Of course, that hypothetical guy choosing between leaving his girl for Avril or for Lil Mama might have had a suspicion that there would be more drama involved in a relationship with Lil Mama than with Avril, “Why’d you have to go and make things so complicated?!” Lavigne — and he would probably have been right. Since 2007, Lavigne went on to end her marriage with bad boy Deryck Whibley and released an album that, despite (or perhaps because of) being a stripped-down effort called Goodbye Lullaby, vaulted into platinum status. Meanwhile, Lil Mama’s album was a critical and commercial disappointment; in recent years she’s been best known for crashing Jay-Z’s set during the 2009 VMAs and for weeping with emotion when a Brooklyn team performed on America’s Best Dance Crew.

Pull it together, Lil Mama! We want you back.

Words by Jay Gabler, a co-founder and co-editor of The Tangential.

James Aviaz is the guy to go to for new music. And we’re not talking about your run-of-the-mill Top 40s or Pitchfork “Next Big Things”; we’re talking lesser known, genuinely talented artists that are sure to explode from general obscurity into Top 40 and Pitchfork “Next Big Thing” status. As the Editor of Records Abroad, James’ speciality is “Highlighting amazing new music from outside the US and England.” If you need more proof, look no further than his International Playlist for Portable, a delightful mix of music you probably don’t even know of yet from all over the world. Stay one step ahead of the crowd, and be damn sure to impress people at parties when you subscribe now via Spotify.

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