Analyzing A Song

The Wombats: Let's Dance To Joy Division

What Does It Mean?

The song is very happy and upbeat, with obvious lyrics that are repeated like 'happy' and 'celebrate'. The main theme of the song is to celebrate the fact that although things are going badly, 'we're so happy'. My first though when I heard this song was that the context was way off for such a happy song: you could never dance to Joy Division feeling 'so happy' dispite everything being bad because the entire persona of the 70's punk band was one of mysterious darkness and depression, culminating in the suicide of the lead singer, Ian Curtis. The Wombats sing about this 'irony', but either are completely missing the point of Joy Division or are genuinely turning round the idea of the previous band to produce something that is upbeat and sellable. I do not think that the song itself is ironic, and that they are actually in tune with the depressing tone of Joy Division and the 'so happy' part is exaggerated to emphasis how they are so not. Overall, I think the Wombats are trying to take a positive inspiration from Joy Division and the irony that they sing about is the fact that they're doing this - that they're being positive. With millions of indie bands (who must listen wistfully to Joy Division amongst many others) struggling to get a break and write music, a song like this would be very appealing and captures the feeling of happy failure, or failing with style.

The Treatment for the Music Video

If I were directing this music video, I would focus mainly on the realistic, measured tone of the song: "everything is going wrong but we're so happy". This makes me think of a a relaxed, down-to-earth, matey environment like a small local bar with a stage, packed with friends laughing and having a good night. We had the idea in class to shoot the video in a point-of-view angle of one of the fans, perhaps travelling on his way to the gig and meeting up with friends as he goes. At around the last chorus of the song, we could open up to the brightly-lit stage with the band playing energetically to a happy crowd - a scene we might have previously had flashes of on the journey. Although this is a simple idea I think it expresses the views of the song well.

Breaking Genre Boundaries

Kosheen: Guilty (Plastician remix)

This track has elements of tecnho, house, trance and all with a dubstep framework. I think the lyrics and the voice especially bring a really interesting quality to the music. This track has sparked ideas about how I would shoot the music video...


These images roughly represent my inital ideas as to the way I would imagine the video... the mise-en-scene would be low key lighting, dingy, compact like a club. I can imagine a lot of disorientating shots, hand held, and flashing lights of all colours to give that feeling of another world: escapism. I'd like to do a video that was slightly unconventional and including things like point-of-view shots, and blurred camera, to give a sense of the fast-paced music.



Calvin Harris: I'm Not Alone (Doorly Remix)....La Roux: In For The Kill (Foamo's Skream Remix Bootleg).....Timberlee: Gunny Gunny (Schlachthofbronx Remix)

Genre Focus: Dance Music

How does dance music break down?
Dance is a huge genre that has evolved dramatically over the years. It is defined as any music that one can dance to, but there are specific sub-genres that we can break it down into from the past 50 or so years:

• 1950s: Rock & Roll
• 1960s
• 1970s: Disco (& Funk)
• 1980s: New Wave, Funk, Acid House,
• 1990s: Eurodance, Progressive House, Techno, Hip
• 2000s: Electropop

I consider dance music to live more in the underground scene, and these genres to be more poppy. Some of the most popular upbeat genres at the moment includes Drum & Basss, Junglee, Hardcoree, Trance, UK Garage, and Electro.

Underworld: Born Slippy .NUXX

This is a very famous example of 90's techno-trance...

Many sub-genres of electronic dance music have evolved. Speed Garage, Bassline, Grime and the Reggae-inspired Dubstep (ska) are all sub-genres of UK Garage, a genre I'm very interested in as it is strong in North London.

Brandy & Monica: The Boy Is Mine (garage remix)


Recently, electro dance music from artists such as Lady Gaga, Dizzie Rascal and La Roux has dominated the charts. I really like the drum and bass remixes of electro tracks at the moment, making them more dancefloor-suitable and less poppy. Here are two examples of successful (in clubs) tracks that are remixes of La Roux's latest hits:

La Roux: Bullet Proof (DJ Zinc remix)


La Roux: In For The Kill (Skream remix)

The remixes of the songs including deeper basslines give the songs a certain depth that make them perfect for clubs, and less of a sing-a-long song. I think tracks like these two would be really interesting to do as a music video, as they have a distinct darkness about them which acts as a starting block for a video's overall feel: the story could build on this threatening, adrenalin-like feeling.

Modern-Style Music Videos

I've noticed that a particular style of music video that appeals to me tends to be a futuristic, robotic kind, and I think this is because I like the way it parodies how music is ever changing and getting more and more electronic. Plus, I like synths and electronic bass in music. Here are some music videos that use the futuristic theme and are successful...

Bjork: All Is Full Of Love


In this video, the focus is the slow-movement of the machinery and its connection with the subject of the music: love. But is this human love? There is a sense of entrapment and prevention as if the 'love' it trapped inside of the robots. I like the slow pace especially and the way it prevents the machine from looking threatening: it is innocent. This is not a conventional portrayal of love.

Daft Punk: Around The World


This video is interesting because it makes reference to a lot of time poeriods and even music periods: The girls in 50's swimsuits, the very 70's skeleton-suit dancers, the robots... IT seems to be looking to the past in order to make a statement about moving music and the stage we're at now. The disco-like setting is futuristic and robotic.

Iconic Music Imagery

Certain artists, bands, albums, songs and music videos stick out in my mind for their unique style and iconic design. Here is some of my favourite musical iconography with some notes to get the ball rolling...


The Beatles "Yellow Submarine" LP

The Yellow Submarine album had a very clear, psychaedelic, 60's look, which reflects the groovy time period in which it was written (1966). The elements of surreal colour and shape a reminiscent of drug experience and therefore relate to the LSD-era that The Beatles lived in..."Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds".... This album is legend and helped to give The Bealtles their timeless, psychaedelic image that has carried them through to today.

Prince's "Purple Rain" Album
Prince, (still going strong at 51 today) has maintained an identity as an 80's explosion of shoulderpads and bouffant hair, as he came into his own in the 80's and the "Purple Rain" album showed clearly his style. We see him in purple suits riding around on a motorbike, making the song "Purple Rain" as much about the way Prince looks as it is about the music.


Chase & Status ft. Plan B - "Pieces" video
Chase and Status, being DJ's, depict themselves in the "Pieces" video to be surrounded by their equipment, silent and intense. In contrast, Plan B, a rapper, gets very violent and talkative in the video and comes across as more interactive than the other two. Characters in music videos help to bring out the artist's personalities.

Hola

This glorious day marks the opening of yet another blog, v. excited about this one!

H x