Various Artists - Triple J's Hottest 100 Volume 16 (DVD)
In 2008 Triple J’s Hottest 100 turned a very sweet sixteen and this one will be remembered as the race between two jilted lovers known as Kings Of Leon and MGMT. Like every countdown, there were a few surprises as 809,765 votes were received from 101,000 Triple J fans who this year turned their sights predominantly on the hip hop and electro pop fields. It was also a strong year for Australian music as almost half of the entries were from homegrown acts.
The DVD combines fourty-three songs and many have commonalities such as the overuse of coloured balls or lights; expected artist(s) miming; cute animation in acoustic songs; and some occasional arty, black and white shots. The irony is that the directors were probably going for a unique and imaginative treatment for their work, but the result is that many seem quite clichéd, contrived and completely unimaginative.
The menu for the DVD adopts the adage that plenty is certainly more, as lots of graphics clutter what essentially links to: the complete countdown list; the ability to play all the songs or specific ones; or to compile and watch your very own playlist. On volume 16 the highlights from the broadcast and footage of Triple J personalities are an obvious omission.
Things officially kick off with Kings Of Leon’s Sex On Fire- a track that seemed to be “everywhere” last year so it was perhaps no surprise it topped the list. Personally, this clip does very little for me because it is simply singer, Caleb Followill, yelping on a bed in a dark room (and while some people may like that sort of thing, I reckon there’ll be little sex and mostly masturbation transpiring). And to add insult, Followill is then dragged off like a mental patient. Now, granted that this song has some excellent guitar work in the music, I still can’t seem to fathom what made it so popular!
Next up is MGMT’s Electric Feel which is staged in an environment that is one-part jungle and one-part Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory. The moonlight dancing and colour really solidify how much fun this eccentric bunch seem to be having. This description is also relevant to Empire Of The Suns’ Walking On A Dream, but for the fact the pair received confused looks from locals while filming the video in China.
The Presets offer Talk Like That with a beautiful young chick playing along to the music in what can simply be described as one step above singing into a hairbrush and serenading your posters. The Ting Tings bring some utterly clichéd (not to mention annoying) pop, as the blonde peacock struts her stuff up the front while the drummer sits in the back and is obscured by splashes of colour. Enough already!
Thank God for the Kaiser Chiefs- one of the few rock acts on here. With their faux-news report, the clip featured various tribes of English kids running around while being chased by a bobby before settling their differences with a dance-off (the finale making me think of Run-D.M.C’s It’s Like That video.)
In Jimmy Recard by Drapht, a cast of (seemingly) thousands is assembled (however, they’re actually photos and the art direction looks a little like NOFX’s Franco Un-American clip.) It is an interesting song, which boasts an instrument that is under-utilised in the hip-hop world, a flute.
Some tributes are paid to elder statesmen in other clips. Cut Copy evokes the spirit (at least, what’s left) of Michael Jackson because the Lights and Music video borrows from the Rock With You clip. Meanwhile, Lily Allen does her best Madonna impersonation in The Fear, as she oscillates between living in the material world and being a big Veruca Salt.
Then there’s Calvin Harris who is positioned behind the bar in Dance Wiv Me. It ultimately seems to work (because at least it prevents him singing too much,) while Dizzee Rascal and Chrome gyrate with fellow night clubbers (read: lush, young ladies.) And Nick Cave’s performance is reminiscent of Iggy Pop (were it not for the suit) as he sings of Larry/Lazarus returning to the not-so-fun house.
The Living End’s White Noise clip is like their previous five videos, as they push a political cause while performing a fiery mime. Yes boys, modern life is rubbish and Sydney is the hometown of the greedy bastard. So you almost had me until it became very obvious the clip was full of product placement (i.e. the megaphones adorning the cover of your latest album.)
Some cute shadow puppets offer a welcome diversion in a very busy clip by Josh Pyke. The Lighthouse Song offers kaleidoscopes of water paraphernalia and hippie designs, the latter of which is repeated in Ladyhawke’s My Delirium. Ladyhawke is drawn with volumes of painted colour in a pseudo-acid trip back to the desert and journey through the doors of perception to the other side. Laura Marling follows the lead of the other two by giving us paper puppets in Ghosts and the animation also continues into Cog’s Bird Of Feather, where things of beauty are juxtaposed with really ugly lyrics about death.
The Dave Grohl award for multiple appearances in the countdown for work in different projects goes to Nick Littlemore (for his work with Pnau and Empire of the Sun) and Laura Marling (for her solo work and collaboration with the Mystery Jets). In Embrace, Pnau offer us a relatively simple, live clip and successfully transport me back to Homebake 2008 and the main stage where the thousands-strong crowd danced along and became slaves to the beat. Meanwhile, Ms Marling gives us Young Love with four English lads. The video is not suitable for motion sickness sufferers as the group float up and down, over and around on trolleys before eventually forming a perfect, five-point star.
British India offers an excellent song with I Said I’m Sorry but lose points for an unremarkable clip. Meanwhile, Ida Maria blatantly ripped off their tune from elsewhere but manage to at least partially redeem themselves with some cool, indie zine designs.
Little Red sing some throwaway bubblegum pop about Coca Cola in a nostalgic throwback to the inoffensive period known as the early sixties. However, another act known as Pez evokes the latter part of the decade that culminated with the Summer of Love and Woodstock with his track, The Festival Song. This Aussie boy raps his little heart out while tent hopping and meeting new playmates.
Ash Grunwald actually looks like an authentic hippie and has an axe to grind in Breakout. He attempts to mime while driving; swilling coffee; and playing cool sixties blues and slide guitar. A nice homage to Jimi Hendrix, it is the musical equivalent of rounding up your only two guitars into a knapsack and leaving home.
Tame Impala continue where Grunwald left off and also add a reference to Cream with their peace offering of a psychedelic trip through some absolutely, purdy colours. The poor lyrics in this song are redeemed by the stunning visuals and all we need is the Hammond organ to really take us back. In short, this trio manages to evoke more power and volume from their instruments than your stock standard quartet/quintet of “stadium” rockers.
In all, Triple J’s Hottest 100 draws together many of the expected big hits from 2008 with a few surprises to keep things interesting for the viewer. It may not always get things right (but what did you expect from the musical equivalent of 101,000 individual mixtapes whittled down to a neat hundred?) At the very least, it is an eclectic grouping of genres and visuals that will no doubt sate the appetites of those who await either the 2009 countdown or the opportunity to vote for the best song of all time (as the idea behind the original polls will be repeated later this year.)
