The Pope sells his prog-rock soul out already, Matt Berninger pulls his dick out of the sunlight and into the moonlight of Halloween, Weezer find a way to both bless and desecrate the sanctity of the cannoli and more, in the 44th week of the year’s best lyric vids. Happy Halloween, kids.
EL VY – ‘Silent Ivy Hotel’
This being the fourth or fifth lyric video we’ve seen from Matt Berninger and the Menomena dude’s so curious side project, none of them trump the Bottle Rocket Venice Beach persona Berninger displayed on “I’m the Man to Be,” swearing he’s only happy when his dick’s in the sunlight. But all of these consecutive vids have their charms. This one manages to all drop a behind-the-scenes Halloween vibe, thumb that twisted lover thread Berninger is so good at, and showcase the odd relationship between him and his brother, who directed it all:
Weezer – ‘Thank God for Girls’
As cryptic as Rivers Cuomo can be, this shock rocker does grow on you, especially with this subversive display of gender role reversals. Oh to sit in on the conceptual meeting for this one — the Jesus painting must have him holding a cannoli. The cannolis have got to be massive. Burrito-size. The dude getting them shoved into his mouth must have a mustache. In short, it’s beautifully appalling, and we still don’t know what the hell it means:
Justin Bieber – ‘Sorry’
Why anyone would take an apology from this kid is beyond us, but here’s another example of how much a record label will invest in whatever trash that will sell records, and the talented people that will take ass loads of cash to make it look cool. The fact is, though, it is pretty damn cool. A wee bit of a rip off of Zach King‘s surreal magic Vine touch, but these video editors make it their own with an endless stream of Belieber dying cat man-child blubber:
Pope Francis – ‘¿Por Qué Sufren los Niños?‘
Francis already sold out from his prog-rock papal unveiling. Opposite the strobing Satriani guitar flash on first single “Wake Up! Go! Go! Forward!,” this one, taken from a speech he gave at St. Thomas University in the Philippines, translates to “Why do children suffer?” Backed by a soaring vocal from Italian singer Anna Tosato, it’s certainly more congregation friendly, with orchestral flourishes and choir amen refrains. Likewise with the vid — a clean image of Francis with an ear-to-ear grin delivering his message of compassion. The medium is the message:
The Mahones – ‘Fuck You’
So here’s an endless stream of people flipping you the bird, from an Irish Canadian celtic punk band on a serious mission to settle a score. Katie “Kaboom” McConnell’s vocal is pretty damn scathing, so much so it tarnishes the fuck-off-itude a little bit. And while it’s not the greatest production in the world, with overblown cell phone shots and confusing font changes, it certainly doesn’t give a fuck what we think of it, and that’s worth plenty. Also, it’s not every week we can follow up a new single from the Pope with this:
