I discovered the “cover song” web podcast site, Coverville, earlier today, and was musing over the way in which one band’s version of another band’s overly familiar song can chime the chords of the uncanny. But then I saw this video for Sour’s “Hibi No Neiro” — which I don’t think is a cover song — and my chords were chimed directly. The unexpected synchronicity of the choreographed shots — across so many webcams (if that’s really what they did here) is pretty remarkable. As the writer at Coverville puts it accurately: this video is very “Michel Gondry” (who, incidentally, I just learned released a second volume to his classic Works DVD exclusively on his website!). Like Gondry’s work, it made me do a double-take in one of those “I can’t believe my eyes” sort of experiences. But it’s not really scary; it’s more of a celebration of the potential for social connectedness through internet technologies. Enjoy:
SOUR / 日々の音色 (Hibi no Neiro) MV from Magico Nakamura on Vimeo.
And here is my favorite all-time Michel Gondry video, adapting the Chemical Bros. song: “Let Forever Be”.
