MGMT: Andreas Nilsson vs. HP Lovecraft

Andreas Nilsson's positively Lovecraftian music video for MGMT's "Flash Delirium," from their new record Congratulations. (Thanks, Rodney Ascher!)

Previously:

David Pescovitz is Boing Boing's co-editor/managing partner. He's also a research director at Institute for the Future. On Instagram, he's @pesco.

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thekinginyellow

where’s the lovecraft? this video is too busy and incoherent to be lovecraft.
- Sceadugenga
  
  I agree – this was a nice imaginative video, but I prefer films with shots that last more than 800 milliseconds on average. The cuts synced up a bit too much with the music cues for my taste too. Thanks wood29 for the youtube link – I could enjoy it even though it’s blocked here (Japan) too. Curse you, Vevo, whoever you are.
i_prefer_yeti

no nod to black hole for neck mouth?
Anonymous

ah the video is gone
absinthetic

A “tentacle” does not make a story/video/painting “Lovecraft” any more than gluing a watch gear to something makes it “steampunk”. Now, if the whole FAMILY had also revealed that they had throat-mouths, then yeah, hints of H.P. Lovecraft and the Deep Ones and Innsmouth and all that…but one hipster with an eel in his throat does not make a Lovecraft video.
PolishQ

Perhaps “Cronenbergian” is the proper descriptor. But I liked it!
- FnordX
  
  Exactly the term I was trying to find. Maybe with a little bit of Lynch thrown in as well.
kimnbri

The music is very reminiscent of The Boomtown Rats. It put me in the mood for some “fine art of surfacing”.
Anonymous

This consumer was previously unaware of “Vevo”, but has now added it to his blacklist of brands from whom he will never purchase products/services.
Anonymous

Try this link to watch the video:

http://www.furlinedpresentations.com/flashdelirium/qt.htm
Blue

“This video contains content from Vevo, who has blocked it in your country on copyright grounds.”

from http://www.whoismgmt.com :

“Hey everybody, the album leaked, and we wanted you to be able to hear it from us. We wanted to offer it as a free download but that didn’t make sense to anyone but us.”

So, the album leaked, the band wanted to release it for free (according to them) and now their label (presumably) is copyright region-locking the PROMOTIONAL video!

In the UK we have ther Digital Economy Bill designed to prop up these bat-ass-insane copyright cartels at the expense of everyone else.

Madness.

Greed will ruin everything, because it doesn’t care about the consequences, only that it posesses and accumulates and grows obese in pursuit of its ever-elusive satisfaction.(!)

ps. this album reminds me of the Pixies’ Bossanova/Trompe le Monde era.
lashni

I’d recommend anyone with an interest in Lovecraft and anime check out a strange little series of comedic shorts called Haiyoru! Nyaru-Ani.

Cthulhu and Nyarlothotep as you’ve never seen them before.

http://anidb.net/perl-bin/animedb.pl?show=anime&aid=7316
OP_TIMUS

That was absolutely awful. Like, really bad. Hella-lame.
Nawel

You Tube (viewed from Chile at least) sez the user has suppressed the video… Â¿?
I saw it @ the MGMT site and it made me think of Naked Lunch and David Lynch… About the music, that kind of bands are not my cup of tea these days… tho is not bad.
Anonymous

the video is in quick time (high quality) on andreas nilsson’s website: http://www.nixonnoxin.com/

the youtube video was removed.
JesseH

“This video contains content from Vevo, who has blocked it from display on this website.”

This time the country I’m in isn’t the problem (Canada). It appears Vevo doesn’t like Boing Boing.
ultranaut

The video was weird enough to be engaging and was sort of vaguely Lovecraftian. I think Lynchian or Cronenbergesque would of been more accurate descriptors.
I was only vaguely aware of MGMT, their song Kids is unavoidable to anyone who has been inside a hipster bar within the past few years. This song/video inspired me to seek out more from them, I’ve found they have a few other quirky videos…
scifijazznik

That looked expensive. And the throat eel and iron lung sphincter were positively Cronenbergian. Not so sure about the Boomtown Rats comparison, but I do know that as I tired as I am of bands pillaging the ’80s for inspiration, it’s way better than the inevitable wave of bands that look to the ’90s for their sound.

Am I the only one here who thinks Lovecraft was an awful writer?
wylkyn

HP Lovecraft may not have liked this song, but I think he would have gotten a kick out of the neck mouth, the eel parasite, and how it held the obviously insane family in thrall. If you don’t think so, that’s your opinion. But I’ve read a lot of his stories, as well as much from the genre of Lovecraftian horror, and it’s not that much of a stretch to include this video under that label. It’s all in how you choose to interpret it. I assumed that the eel parasite was just some sort of spawn of a greater being whose intention remains unknown. The song is boring, and the video is a bit frenetic for my taste, but Lovecraftian? Sure, why not?
Anonymous

Lame. Nilsson is Swedish, and we can’t even view it in his own country. When will distributors learn?!
IWood

“Positively” Lovecraftian? So everyone goes tentacularly mad and does a little happy jig? Are there COOKIES? WHAT DOES THAT MEAN.
- Felton
  
  Mmmmm, Lovecraftian cookies. Lovingly crafted by the Great Old Ones.
halfvenus

Reminded me of “Naked Lunch” more than Lovecraft.
Anonymous

Eels up inside ya, finding an entrance where they can
EELS!
AceJohnny

“This video contains content from Vevo, who has blocked it in your country on copyright grounds.”. I’m in Europe/France.

I, for one, welcome our new copyright… Aaah fuck it.
- Anonymous
  
  @AceJohnny: the spread of restrictive copyright, overzealous censorship and mindless DRM is horrible to see, but I’m happy it’s not keeping pace with the web’s prodigious growth.
  This might be the Cronenberg-ish video you’re looking for:
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xschn-sSAj8
- Zhiva
  
  This video contains content from Vevo, who has blocked it in your country on copyright grounds.
  
  - Europe, Ukraine
- sequential
  
  If you’re in the UK, you can view the video on http://www.whoismgmt.com. Agreed. Another prime example of how music publishers need to wake up and smell the silicon.
tmccartney

Interesting video, but I should have watched it with the sound turned off. What a tuneless mess that song is.

Also: Dude with boobs!
kimnbri

The music is very reminiscent of The Boomtown Rats. It put me in the mood for some “fine art of surfacing”.
Anonymous

It’s just a jump to the left,

and then a step to the right!
oasisob1

Terrible song and video. It has one shot at redemption — literal video. Someone please.
Anonymous

What a bunch of whiners! Jeez… it’s a music video, get over it.
Anonymous

@AceJohnny

“This video contains content from Vevo, who has blocked it in your country on copyright grounds.”

I can’t watch it either, Europe, The Netherlands. Very Frustrating!
Anonymous

“This video is not available on this website.” Very zen.

I am approaching the point where I simply won’t even click on youtube videos anymore, because the odds they’ll actually play are so slim.
Anonymous

Oooh… music videos relevant to the IO Psychic TV project! http://idealorder.org/ :)
Anonymous

The new neck-mouth is also directly reminiscent of Burns’s Black Hole.
Anonymous

Great job copyright-walling your own music promos, Vevo.
Anonymous

I agree with cronenbergian, disagree with lovecraftian. The story could be lovecraftian, but the feel of it isn’t.
EvilTerran

“This video contains content from Vevo, who has blocked it in your country on copyright grounds.”

United Kingdom, here.

Surely there’s enough wonderful things on the internet that your readership can, y’know, actually *see*.
Anonymous

Too good for Canada as well.

(Et tu, Youtube?)
wood29

Here is a version that you can view from France :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_5Gm8MWwlw
godfathersoul

the cuts synced too much with the music cues? it’s a frickin music video. it’s supposed to do that.

i mean – as music, i was a tad disappointed with their new album because, haters be damned, i really liked Oracular… but the new album had less electric edge too it and a bit more.. sixties/70′s harmonies…

o yeah, i liked the video too.