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February 10, 2009

New Chairlift Video - "Evident Utensil"

thumbnail icon: New Chairlift Video - "Evident Utensil"

A great song deserves a great video. Chairlift's Knife-inspired dance cut "Evident Utensil" satisfies its end of the equation, and director Ray Tintori's visual mind-fuckery here more than does its part: The Brooklyn-via-Denver trio walk through fields and paint-splattered sets, the film freezes and swirls, and the band re-emerges with facial features built from those previously paused pixels. I know that description doesn't make any sense. Yet. Less complaining more watching:


(via P4K.tv)

Yes.

Chairlift - "Evident Utensil" (MP3)

Does You Inspire You is out.

Posted at 1:52 PM by amrit in ,
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25 Comments

AMAZING video. Ok song.

Posted by: Trees at 02/10/09 2:12 PM  | Reply
Score = 4 Vote up Vote down

wow. totally fucking incredible.

Posted by: winter at 02/10/09 2:36 PM  | Reply
Score = 1 Vote up Vote down

AMAZING song. Ok video.

Posted by: tiger at 02/10/09 2:42 PM  | Reply
Score = -2 Vote up Vote down

That chorus is not strong/catchy enough to warrant such pounding repetition. Seems like they would be a decent opening band.

Cool video though.

Posted by: j at 02/10/09 3:45 PM  | Reply
Score = 0 Vote up Vote down

argh! this song is fucking awful. who even cares about the video?? goddamn. we should be demanding more, people... i think i wrote this song in the 4th grade and then threw it away.

Posted by: wassoreal at 02/10/09 5:55 PM  | Reply
Score = -9 Vote up Vote down

argh! shut up!

Posted by: glass  in reply to wassoreal's comment at 02/10/09 7:04 PM  | Reply
Score = 4 Vote up Vote down

this video gave me the chills.

Posted by: tomagraphy at 02/10/09 6:26 PM  | Reply
Score = 3 Vote up Vote down

As a fan of motion design, those transitions are spectacular. Plus there's bonus "meta" points in using a pixelation style for a web-viewing medium.

Posted by: Versh profile link at 02/10/09 7:53 PM  | Reply
Score = 10 Vote up Vote down

Ray Tintori rules. So does Chairlift.

Posted by: waves at 02/10/09 9:55 PM  | Reply
Score = 4 Vote up Vote down

Personally, I'm on the fence with this video. The song itself leaves little inspiration for a good visual narrative. Ray definitely made this whole scenario work. What kills me though is how he took this amazing breakthrough in mashing, and used it for this project. Its a waste of an opportunity. Not to say the outcome isn't noteworthy, but its not like you get another chance to make this statement. The raw footage is relatively weak with the band strangely thrown into to organic nature scenes, then abstract interiors. Why not shoot this thing completely inside and really think the approach out and choreograph some portions? In a year, this technique will be a standard plug-in on every video software package. High School kids will be able to do this with ease ala' the Ken Burns effects we all see in photo slide show programs. So why not take the time and make the actual visuals that are morphing more engaging and coherent. Again, I give Ray all the credit he deserves in working with this medium. He is a pioneer in that effort, but its a waste to do it on this song with that footage. In that respect, I think its disappointing. It would be like if Michael Jackson had made a low budget Zombie video for a track on "off the wall." We would have never known of the brilliance that was/is Thriller. Just my two cents.

Posted by: Jonze at 02/11/09 3:12 AM  | Reply
Score = 5 Vote up Vote down

Jonze, what a load of pretentious crap - not even worth 2 cents!

A wasted opportunity? Strange organic scenes? Should have been shot inside and choreographed?

And the icing on the cake - "We would never know the brilliance that was 'Thriller'!!

That last statement clearly shows why you cannot understand the nuances within this clip and its primal naive energy.

You are tacky and bland, your tastes are commercial and you think excellence is achieved by technical perfection.

You like Michael Jackson ....

that says it all!

Posted by: Steve  in reply to Jonze's comment at 06/03/09 7:29 AM  | Reply
Score = -1 Vote up Vote down

extraordinary video! lovely song.

Posted by: vig profile link at 02/11/09 6:07 AM  | Reply
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so MGMT

Posted by: anders profile link at 02/11/09 7:15 AM  | Reply
Score = -5 Vote up Vote down

yes, i think very similar to MGMT. but i don't agree that MGMT own this style.

Posted by: vig profile link  in reply to anders's comment at 02/11/09 7:42 AM  | Reply
Score = 2 Vote up Vote down

Amrit wins understatement of the year for "Chairlift's Knife-inspired dance cut "

It's pretty pathetic how much they're copying the boy/girl vocal of The Knife. Nobody owns the cheapo synth sound but still. Arse!

btw - The dude repeating the silly chorus takes the crown for dumbest vocal away from that guy in Sugercubes. Yes I am old.

Posted by: pcbowen profile link at 02/11/09 8:38 AM  | Reply
Score = -2 Vote up Vote down

Good point, they should have cut that dude's vocals from the song. It's really irritating.

Posted by: j  in reply to pcbowen's comment at 02/11/09 12:52 PM  | Reply
Score = 1 Vote up Vote down

hahaha, all the hate is funny because the truth is people like this band and nobody cares about you.

Posted by: what? at 02/11/09 9:26 AM  | Reply
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This is what an MPEG looks like when it's missing keyframes. I wonder if all they had to do was delete the keyframes and let the MPEG algorithm do the rest, or if it was more sophisticated than that?

Posted by: John at 02/11/09 9:37 AM  | Reply
Score = 3 Vote up Vote down

MGMT remixed "Evident Utencil" a few months back and didn't do a very good job with it either. The original is better. Also, I remember that cheapo synth sound being called New Wave back when the members of The Knife were still in diapers. Cool video.

Posted by: ecocentrik at 02/11/09 10:08 AM  | Reply
Score = 3 Vote up Vote down

Holy crap my brain hurts. But that was awesome.

Posted by: me at 02/12/09 10:04 AM  | Reply
Score = 0 Vote up Vote down

I just experienced the effects of LSD without having to take any.

Posted by: Woah. at 02/12/09 8:12 PM  | Reply
Score = 1 Vote up Vote down

whoa - watering down takeshi murata to be mtv-playable, that's a concept. jeez.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVdpiq4lS0o

Posted by: fucko at 02/17/09 7:20 PM  | Reply
Score = 0 Vote up Vote down

Wow, I feel like an asshole. I've always wondered if it's possible to do the "Shittily compressed video" effect intentionally, and apparently it is. I wish I would have known it was a profitable idea.

Posted by: Jesse at 02/18/09 10:31 PM  | Reply
Score = -1 Vote up Vote down

That was the stupidest thing I've seen and heard in my entire life.

Posted by: Elvis vs. Shark profile link at 02/19/09 2:08 PM  | Reply
Score = -2 Vote up Vote down

I can't quit figure out what was going on with that video.. but I think something cool happened. XD

Posted by: Julius at 03/06/09 11:51 AM  | Reply
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