So one of the things that brought on this "Music Video Week" was the fact that it wasn't that long ago that the music video seemed like a completely dead artform. With MTV languishing in vapid, reality television hell and VH1 dealing with washed up drug addicts rather than adult contemporary and pop musicians, it seemed like the music video was going to go the way of the 8 track. Video may have killed the radio star but the internet and cheap-to-produce television killed the video star about two decades later.
Viral phenoms like those Midwestern scamps OK Go have revived music videos, and oft-viewed videos (Something that seemed five years back like it would become simply reserved for the priciest of pop stars) are now being made for dang near free by indie musicians in the artist's own backyard. Literally, sometimes.
This year it's more apparent than ever that the music video is alive and kicking, with unique videos being released by singular artists constantly and it's no longer simply a camera filming a fellow with his guitar, trying his darnedest to look hip. Yesterday, I blogged about Josh Ritter's more-perfect-than-perfect "The Curse" and it's successor is a fellow named Mayer Hawthorne with a video that plays out like an innocent, 1950's version of Lars and The Real Girl.
Additionally, you may have noted that Mayer Hawthorne is from the very same area I am from, the Detroit-Metro-Ann-Arbor-Ypsi conglomerate. Chances are, Mister Hawthorne, you have a google alert for your name so you may or may not be reading this. If you are, let's go grab coffee next time you're in town so you can charm my pants off in person.
Hitting on musicians via her blog? Yep, there goes my integrity...
