How To Destroy Angels Debut Video

Not for the faint of heart, the first music video the new post-NIN band How to Destroy Angels is quite disconcerting.

The problem is it’s got a vaguely familiar visual style similar to a post-90s Depeche Mode video, and then the whole burning-people-in-slow-motion concept just reminds me of that Spike Jonze Wax video. What HDTA needs here is some Mark Romanek back on the job. Or just for the sake of “angelic” irony: Peter Christopherson.


The Dandy Warhols "And Then I Dreamt of Yes"

Like some cross between a 1920s German expressionism film by Murnau or Pabst and a Corbijn-auteured Depeche Mode video, director Mark Helfrich’s (Good Luck Chuck) music video for the above-named song from the The Dandy Warhols’ 2008 LP Earth to the Dandy Warhols sticks with you a while after seeing it.

The concept is obviously simple, but it’s the production and surreal creepiness of it that make it memorable. The video premiered on IFC and there’s a pretty interesting, but brief interview with the director who notes some obvious (The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari) and some not-so obvious (Gregory Crewdson) influences.

So why a video from the sixth album and not the latest? Maybe because The Dandy Warhols Are Sound is a lo-fi re-vamp of “Welcome to the Monkey House?” I don’t know, what matters is, it’s not a waste of your time.

Oh, and The Dandy’s have also just released a single of a cover of The Beatles “Blackbird,” which you can stream on their site or purchase for your iPod. Honestly though, you should probably just purchase the original first.