Video of the Week: Teeth - Shawty

This week’s video is Teeth’s strange video for his fantastic single from earlier this year, Shawty. It’s a very spare track, with a repeating vocal sample (cropped from Beyonce’s introduction to her Gaga-collab Videophone), creepy rising synths and punchy percussion, and it’s definitely one of my personal picks from all the fantastic singles released this year. Not only does Teeth deserve this accolade, but the clips of 80s romance and make-up commercials are funny and twisted, making a great and unexpected accompaniment to the track.

There’s something very sexy about Beyonce’s vocals echoing out over the barren soundscape, and this is echoed in the visuals of beautiful women from the 80s, all involved in clips about image; whether they are make-up and hair adverts, call girls or just posing for the camera. The resulting combination of the audio and video is more than a little unsettling, but it’s also got a funny side to it, and the clips generally seem to be very well precisely edited into place. It’s not a video which gives you a huge amount to say, but it works brilliantly, and is part of the growing trend of refiguring old (and more often than not quasi-sexual) video clips to new dance tracks, which has aroused quite a lot of controversy in certain circles. More than anything, it’s a great atmospheric accompaniment to a brilliant tune, and on that basis alone Shawty earns its position as Video of the Week.

Previous videos:
Shlohmo - Couch (Soosh Remix)
Balam Acab - Apart
Max Richter - On The Nature of Daylight
Shlohmo - Sink
Avalanches - Since I Left You

The Flaming Lips –Powerless

Seekae - Void