Beyonce and Lady Gaga 'Video Phone' team-up: a spectacle to behold

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What happens when two of the most ambitious stars in pop music collaborate? Director Hype Williams shoots a video in his trademark electrifying color schemes and high-shine lighting, resulting in a fantastical pop mirage between Lady Gaga and Beyoncé. Like meteor showers and the latest Sarah Palin career move, the auspicious pairing of an art-house dance diva and the reigning princess of shimmering R&B shall not go undocumented.

The sleek Beyoncé track “Video Phone,” from her alter-ego exercise “I Am … Sasha Fierce,” doesn’t feature Lady Gaga on record, but after crossing paths several times (including at the 2009 VMA Awards, where each scored nine nods apiece), the two decided to work together on the hush-hush video shot last month in the hipster enclave of Greenpoint, Brooklyn. After stirring up Web gossips for weeks, the video debuted Monday night on MTV and VH-1.

So what’s this alliance between two conquerors like? Well, it’s a kinetic spectacle to behold, with enough guns to make Ted Nugent weep with jealousy and some hot Bettie Page bangs on Beyoncé that should prompt plenty of single ladies to run to the hairdresser. It all kicks off with an unexpected nod to Quentin Tarantino’s “Reservoir Dogs” -- several men in suits walk slow-motion in a nondescript alley behind a strutting Beyoncé wearing a Zorro mask. In fact, the whole video has a distinct and not unpleasant ‘90s throwback vibe. After all, that was Williams’ heyday, when he shot videos in his trademark fish-eye lens for such luminaries as Missy Elliott, Nas and the Notorious B.I.G.

Perhaps what’s most notable about “Video Phone” isn’t the formidable tricks on screen -- which are plentiful, including frenetically flickering images of much hair-tossing and hip-popping -- it’s that Lady Gaga sublimates her “Alice in Wonderland”-meets-Grace Jones shtick to blend seamlessly into Beyoncé’s world. Make no mistake -- this is Beyoncé’s show. She gets the outlandish costumes, from sexy military spy to vixen-cupid, while Gaga appears in a white leotard, enthusiastic but fully behaved. The two proceed to execute some wicked moves on two dinette chairs, DayGlo weaponry in tow.

So, what might happen if Beyoncé frolicks in Lady Gaga’s terrain? It’ll be a noteworthy test for Ms. B, whose glittering front-and-center pop persona is just as well versed in spectacle as Gaga’s, but not as conceptually rich. Will she be able to get truly freaky, without seeming like she’s doing it for more credit-enhancing approval? As far as Gaga goes, our MOCA-loving temptress could stand to learn something from Beyoncé -- maybe her ability to deliver earnest, genuine entertainment, the kind that comes from a certain warm look in the eye, that megawatt smile, not a stampede of sometimes-alienating stage stunts.

Either way, this can only foretell good things for both. One element is certain: Beyoncé and Lady Gaga are too ambitious to let any creative difference stand in the way of pop music domination, times two.

-- Margaret Wappler

Talking Heads: 'Stop Making Sense' 25th anniversary Blu-ray release: How well does the concert film age?

I vividly recall how innovative and engaging the Talking Heads’ “Stop Making Sense” tour was when it swung through Southern California in 1983. From the moment singer-songwriter David Byrne casually walked onstage, set down a boom box, punched a button that started the rhythm track and started strumming his acoustic guitar while singing “Psycho Killer,” the show unfolded as a brilliantly crafted combination of music, theater, costuming, lighting and funky fun that just kept building until it hit a monumental climax some two hours later.

It holds up remarkably well 26 years later in the new Blu-ray edition being released this week of Jonathan Demme’s film of that landmark concert.

Watching the Blu-ray version, what struck me as even more impressive a quarter century later — on the 25th anniversary of the film’s 1984 theatrical release — is just how much the Talking Heads gave those of us in the audience to think about, see, hear and feel simultaneously.

So many of today’s blowout concert productions strive to dazzle the eye or pummel the ear, and that’s pretty much where all too many start and stop. But Byrne, drummer Chris Frantz, bassist Tina Weymouth and keyboardist Jerry Harrison seemed to be simply bursting with inspired elements to pack into “Stop Making Sense.”

The Blu-ray disc makes the most of the sparkling sound and brightly colored visuals of the digitally recorded shows, which featured a touring band that gradually expanded over the course of the evening from just Byrne to the full quartet, augmented by another half-dozen singers and instrumentalists. The disc includes several bonus features, including a previously available segment in which Byrne, in a series of whimsical costumes and wigs, interviews himself, his doppelgänger outfitted in the famous “big suit” from the concert.

Fool's Gold debuts video for 'Surprise Hotel,' and it is indeed full of exotic surprises

Not since maybe the Deftones' clip for "My Own Summer (Shove It)" has there been a better use of an exotic creature in a music video than in Fool's Gold's new accompaniment to "Surprise Hotel," off their frothy and wonderful new debut album. Yes, the mansion set is worthy of a late-'90s Cash Money clip, and the guitarist maintains admirable composure while being dragged around by a couple of guys who look like they were cast straight from Canter's early-bird lunch counter. But I can assure you that after the local polyglot Afro-pop combo is done with it, that monitor lizard will be at every pool party I throw until further notice. Be there when they play Amoeba in Hollywood on Tuesday evening.

--August Brown

Calvin Harris, a bevy of painted hotties and a "Humanthesizer" on your Friday

We're down with the Scottish disco-non-creator Calvin Harris around these parts. We're just as down with hotties (our masthead is full of them!) and with exotic synthesizing technologies. Together in this video, they join forces to make a completely absurd yet unimpeachably entertaining "instrument" called the Humanthesizer, where notes are produced by said scantily-clad models high-fiving each other (and Harris) while covered in electricity-conductive paint, essentially making their bodies a modular synth rig. A hat tip to students at London's Royal College of Art for developing it, to Harris for arranging the tune, and to everyone involved for giving me a new project to pursue this weekend. You know, for the betterment of science and all.

-August Brown

The new model: Naked girls shill for Guitar Hero?

File this one under "best minute of viral marketing ever."

A video surfaced on YouTube today called Naked Girls Get Interrupted. It stars four attractive ladies -- and a funny but unfortunate "interruption" from actor-model "Music Steve"  -- stripping off their clothes and strutting down a street in Los Angeles County. Censor bars obscure their private parts and display popular song titles.

Surely this isn't what Kurt Cobain had in mind when he wrote "Smells Like Teen Spirit."

It's hard to look past the action in foreground, but after repeated viewings (all in the name of reporting), we believe they're walking down the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica.

The editors of the professional-looking video aren't saying who's behind it. The minute-long clip was posted to a new YouTube channel called Windsieve.All signs point to a viral marketing campaign for the upcoming "Guitar Hero 5" video game. The song titles shown in the video are all performed by bands that are listed on the game's featured artists page, and game publisher Activision is no stranger to viral ads.

Dear Activision, we look forward to learning more about songs in the game by staring at partially naked women. Although perhaps it should have been given a different name: "Things people who play countless hours of Guitar Hero will never witness."

A track listing with songs from the video, courtesy of GameDaily, is listed after the jump.

First look: The Beatles: Rock Band*

The Beatles: Rock Band will be a delight for pretty much anyone except those poor Fab Four nerds born without a shred of playfulness in their DNA.

Based on the preliminary preview I received recently at MTV Networks’ offices in Santa Monica, the game connects a deep respect for the quartet’s musical legacy with a sense of the inspired fun that was also central to their collective personality.

The visuals that have already been previewed online have telegraphed a strong sense of the look and feel of the game; Rock Band (and Guitar Hero) players will feel at home almost instantly, and should appreciate the amped-up visuals created on behalf of the honorees.

Beatles avatars appear in period-representative clothing, hairstyles, mustaches and beards as the game shifts from the band’s relatively scruffy early years in the cramped, sweaty underground environs of the Cavern Club in Liverpool, England, through the career-making appearances on “The Ed Sullivan Show” in those natty collarless suits to historic concerts at New York's Shea Stadium and the foursome’s swan song public performance on that windy and chilly January day in 1969 atop the Apple Corps headquarters in London.

Anybody’s who’s been sentient during the last half-century will have a good idea of what the game will sound like from the 45 Beatle classics that’ll be included with the initial batch of software. Still, there are treats in store on that front thanks to new remixing work by Giles Martin, the son of veteran Beatles producer George Martin. And Giles is no Beatles novice -- he won a couple of Grammys for his work with his father on the striking remix/mash-up of their catalog for the Cirque du Soleil show in Las Vegas, “Love.”

The Dead Weather cocks their guns on Cinemax tomorrow night

The Coen Brothers, eat your hearts out.

"No Country For Old Men" is getting a run for its money with the Dead Weather's video "Treat Me Like Your Mother," set to debut on Cinemax tomorrow night at 9:55 p.m. (Too bad it can't be high noon.) It's directed by Jonathan Glazer, who used the Stranglers' raunchy song "Peaches"* brilliantly in the Ben Kingsley vehicle "Sexy Beast" and who also made the raw and emotional video for one of Nick Cave's most heart-wrenching songs, "Into My Arms."

If you watch the dual-screen preview for "Treat Me Like Your Mother" here, and you're anything like me -- a big ol' scaredy-cat who covers her eyes when anyone on screen so much as alludes to violence -- you'll get the chills just from the sound of the wind and guns cocking. Not much is known about what happens in this video, but it has been said that Alison Mosshart shoots Jack White.

Perhaps you are interested in wearing the clothes of a maybe murderess? Good, because Venus Zine, in a cute promotion, is giving away Mosshart's outfit from the video. (Full disclosure: I worked for Venus Zine way back in the day.) The Kills mistress will award the "pre-blood soaked versions" of her Diesel jacket, Hometown Heroes shirt and Nudie jeans to the winner. Ladies, imagine wearing that tough get-up to Little Joy on a Friday night. You will only need some mud-caked cowboy boots to complete the look.

--Margaret Wappler

*Greil Marcus once called the Stranglers "a loathsome sub-Doors quintet." Yep, that's about right.

Photo credit: thedeadweather.com

Holy Ghost! makes the weekend start on Thursday

Any video that shouts out "Go Ask Alice," working in a pizza parlor and New Order's "Confusion" is alright by me, but when it's in service of a disco cut as lithe and NYC-noirish as Holy Ghost!'s "I Will Come Back," it's enough to make one forget that Friday is still a few hours away. 

Henceforward, therefore, I am currently hosting a dance party of one in the features department if anyone wants to stop by 2nd and Spring streets right now and join in.

-- August Brown

Kanye West gets in on the next big thing, unveils Drake's 'Best I Ever Had' video

The Lil Wayne protege Drake has had one of the bestselling songs on iTunes this month with "Best I Ever Had," and the cut now receives the video treatment, courtesy of another one of Drake's A-list friends, Kanye West. The clip hits all of Drake's fan bases. 

Those who know him best from the Canadian soap "Degrassi: The Next Generation" will see the cut returns the young actor/rapper to his familiar role on the basketball court. But it's not for the in-crowd, as the skimpy women's basketball outfits make it clear that this is a clip more for the audience who knows him best as a mildly salacious rapper.

There's a lot of gratuitous shots, and a lot of Drake expressing his love for multiple women at once. The end result? Everyone loses and goes home. But that may not have been Drake's mission. Idolator has pointed to an interview with the artist where he explains the clip. Says Drake to the Complex, "I kind of wanted to be real about the way I function with women at this current point in my life. Which is, I don’t have one woman that I call my girl. There’s different girls in my life that play different roles and I see at different times." So much for the subtext.

Kanye gives Team Drake a hawk-like mascot here, although it's not as cute as his trademark bear. Take a look below. 

Drake "Best I Ever Had" from kwest on Vimeo.

--Todd Martens

On the video set of Mack 10's 'So Dirty': Rick Ross, Lil Wayne, dancing girls and jai alai*

There’s a paradox at the core of most contemporary rap videos. Your primary objective is to depict the superficial vainglory of the high life — with the rappers having AS MUCH FUN AS HUMANLY POSSIBLE — while trying to mask the stupefyingly pedestrian affair that is your average rap video shoot. 

Accordingly, credit is due to the ringleaders behind Mack 10’s “So Sharp,” who sought to enliven the proceedings by shooting at the beach in Malibu this week, complete with Rick Ross, Lil Wayne, their respective blunt-holders, Buck Rogers squirt guns and motorized Good Humor trucks. There were also 25 bikini-clad beach bunnies playing jai alai, badminton and Nerf football between takes. At times, it was hard to tell whether the proceedings were intended to depict Mack 10’s paean to having “the hottest cars, the flyest clothes and the baddest ho’s” or an upcoming Dos Equis “Most Interesting Man in the World” campaign.

UPDATE: The original version of this post named Mack 10's song as "So Dirty." The correct title of the song is "So Sharp." Thanks to reader the Poetess for the catch.