Whatever Happened to Suzi Quatro? Nothing – She is Still Rocking!

It’s so great to share the new song by Suzi Quatro with you.  Yes, you read that correctly. She may have been “off scene” for a while, but the video for here new track, Freedom, shows that she still has rock and roll in her blood.  It’s seared so deeply into her DNA that as the song lyrics at one point suggest – the girl can’t help it.

Suzi Q has been defying stereotypes since the 1970s when she burst onto the music scene as a striking presence - a rare combination of superb beats, great vocals and a fantastic stage act.  So, it is also great to see a nod to her past in the video, with the help of a little artificial intelligence (and this isn’t AI slop when its used to such nostalgic effect).  The song itself is in the vein of her best tunes – lyrically straightforward, non-stop energetic and bursting with  uncompromising joie de vivre.  This is a singer-songwriter who is sublimely comfortable in her own skin and knows exactly what she wants to do and exactly how to do it.  Her performance here seems effortless; it’s simply Suzi Q being Suzi Q for three and a half fabulous minutes.

Released to help build anticipation for her 2026 gigs (she will  be starting off in Scotland in April, making her way through the UK and then over to Germany where the tour will conclude in Wetzlar on 31 October), Freedom feels very much like a celebration of both past and present.  As one of comments on YouTube says: “After all these decades Suzie Quatro still totally rocks and she's 100% unstoppable.”

Watch Suzi Quatro perform Freedom below.

Gorillaz Climb Higher: The Mountain, The Moon Cave and The Sad God

Eight minutes. That’s all it takes for Gorillaz to remind the world why they remain one of the most inventive acts of the 21st century. The Mountain, The Moon Cave and The Sad God is not just a music video - it’s a miniature animated epic that feels like a long-lost feature film distilled into a single, breathless sitting.  

You only need to read the comments below the video on YouTube. So many people had the same reaction: how did eight minutes pass so quickly?  I am pretty sure that many people will watch this three-pronged tail more than just once.

If “On Melancholy Hill” once captured a certain wistful magic, this feels like its older, wiser sibling. Fans have joked that we’ve graduated from a melancholy hill to a melancholy mountain – and that description is pretty accurate.  The scale is grander, the tone more reflective, The emotional stakes higher (oh boy, are they higher). Plus Murdoc gets to have an off-screen love affair - you can't really beat that kiss goodbye, can you?

The story unfolds with deceptive simplicity. The band members live separate lives before converging at the mountain. From there, they journey back towards the lake. Some fans interpret the structure as cyclical - a reincarnation loop where endings are beginnings and loss is folded into renewal. Whether intentional or not, the symbolism feels deliberate. Water, mountains, caves - these are ancient metaphors, and Gorillaz wield them with quiet confidence.

One moment, in particular, left me (and audiences) reeling. For most of the short, not a word is spoken. Then Noodle mouths three simple words: I love you. No sound. No fanfare. Just a fleeting movement of lips before she jumps.

Stylistically, the short is a triumph. The hand-drawn 2D animation has been widely praised as a love letter to traditional craft. In an era of hyper-polished digital gloss, there’s something refreshing perhaps even rebellious about visible linework and painterly texture.  A huge thank you to all involved in the creation of this superlative piece of art.

A mountain, a lake, three unspoken words, and suddenly eight minutes feels like magic.

The Kowloons - Roll Up - A Proper Slice of Britpop Pie

The Kowloons. I hadn’t heard of them till yesterday but they have been around a few years – and this is their new single, Roll Up.  Maybe it should have been called Roll Back, because this is very, very Britpop (and that’s not a criticism as far as I am concerned).  As far as boxes go, there are a few ticks.  They are from Merseyside, which is always a good sign for a poptastic four piece.  Tick.

Then, half of the band is made up of a set of twins, Stephen Ng (vocals) and Anthony Ng (drums) – I mean, that has to be another tick, right?  Then there is a certain mystery without a tour - I have no idea, for example, whether the band name (from the area in Hong Kong) and the last name of the twins (a common name in China) is anything more than coincidence! Yeah, tick. Completing the lineup are Mason Jones (guitar) and Bobby Griffiths (bass). And two Welsh surnames had to be yet another tick…

You probably know already that I like the song, because why else would I be reviewing it? It’s lyrically spare, but the essentials come across really well. In a nutshell, the song seems to be about going through emotional turmoil or intense feelings, but trying to cope and escape through the night, whether that’s partying, staying up, or just “rolling with it” until things feel okay again.  In other words, have some fun and you’ll be OK.  This is a proper slice of Britpop pie.  I will definitely discover some more of their songs before the sun comes out again.

Watch the video below.

Cruz Beckham (and don’t forget The Breakers!) – For Your Love

Spare a thought for The Breakers.  I don’t know if they are just Cruz Beckham’s band (in a Cliff Richard and The Shadows kind of way) or just hired musicians who have come in for this single. Yet they don’t even get a name check until part way through the video and even then, they don’t get one on the YouTube title for this video.  Regardless, I’m happy to remain blissfully unaware of their true connections with the third child of David and Victoria Beckham (who I think made their money selling used cars, or on Love Island or, well, something like that).

I wasn’t even going to press play, but I did, and was pleasantly surprised – so much in fact that I thought I would let you make your own minds up too.  I think if Blur and Oasis had a secret love child with Kula Shaker and Deep Purple, then the child might grow (metaphorically) to be something like Cruz Beckham (and The Breakers, don’t forget The Breakers).  This is Cruz’ third single (apparently) after Optics and the very unappealingly titled Lick the Toad (I am not curious).  It does rock in a gentle kind of rocky manner and Mr Beckham has a pretty good voice.  That sounds like I'm damning with faint praise but I genuinely did enjoy this.  But, am I the only one to think Cruz is vaguely reminiscent (looks-wise) of a youngish David Bowie?  Not sure about the moustache, though. Really not sure about the moustache.

Anyway, the video has a cute little intro and outro, which adds well to the overall effect.  But best of all is that this is a good tune, a bit of a toe tapper, a three minute poptastic popgasm. So, yes, we like it. Watch For Your Love below.

Take On Me : A-ha (Bardcore Medieval Style cover)

I have no idea how authentically medieval this is, but frankly I don’t really care.  Take three young nice looking young French fellas, throw in a beat and take on Aha’s Take on Me.  I can’t see Courseval's version being used in any movie which aims for historical accuracy but the simple joie de vivre of the trio’s performance wins the day.

If you are, like me, intrigued by the location used for this video, then have a read of our feature article, The Lucky Old Mill of Vernonand its Less Fortunate Bridges.  Situated just 75 kilometres from Paris, the mill is a great survivor – unlike the bridge that originally was built there, then destroyed, then rebuilt then destroyed (and so on)!

Watch the video below...

CocóNonó

CocóNonó are a band based in Bogota, Colombia. They were formed in 2012 and it's about time the rest of the world heard about them, frankly. Lovers of rock n 'roll, country, bluegrass and jazz, among others, the band members compose songs from these influences, with lyrics in English, French and Spanish mainly.

This deliriously energetic video for their eponymous song was created by Ana Maria Angel, an animator and illustrator from Colombia, currently living in Berlin.

I speak only a few words of Spanish, mostly involving alcohol, beaches and, ahem, the wild thing - so if the lyrics to this song are completely and utterly rude and not suitable for a family audience then I really can't say I told you so.

Ned's Phone

Public transport seems to be full, these days, of people with great big headphones listening to music off tiny, tiny phones.  Now I won’t start on the cacophony they make singing along to their tunes but, let’s face it, such is their immersion in their own little world that little if anything will wake them from their musical reverie – except one thing. Created by four students from ATI (Paris VIII University), Ned’s phone nails it.

Is This The Best Falling Dominoes Video Ever?

I doubt you will be able to take your eyes off this.  As a music video, this accompanies Tuna Melt by A-Trak & Tommy Trash.  Yet I think that it is destined to be remembered as much (if not more) for the sight of thousand upon thousand of dominoes falling than the music (sorry chaps!).  The dominoes in question are not all, strictly speaking, dominoes (loved the pieces of toast in the kitchen) yet they fulfill their primary non game-playing function perfectly - the fall over really well.

The dominoes were set by the Kinetic King (aka Tim Fort), the video produced by Pier Pictures and Pomp&Clout.  The whole thing was directed by Trunk Animation's Ryan Staake.  Little wonder that this is up for an MTV Video Music Award.

George the Poet - 1,2,1,2

George the Poet, aka George Mwanga hails from an estate in North West London but studied at Cambridge so he knows a thing or two about meeting all kinds of people. 1,2,1,2 directed by Abbie Stephens tells us that despite the billions of the people in the world we are all unique.  That’s not a new idea per se but George the Poet’s delivery gives it a new bloom that could make you believe it all over again!

The Sound of Flames

This is a mysterious yet beautifully elegant animated short by a group of students at Paris based animation school LISAA.

In it an old man goes in to a forest plays his stringed instrument.  The music produces fire and cleanses the forest. That is pretty much it but this is done with such aplomb that it is difficult to believe that it was created by a group of students.

Slaves of the Rave

Most people have a favorite musical genre and there is nothing quite like experiencing it live.  However, when you get different musical styles colliding strange things can sometimes happen.  Created by freelance animator and film-maker William Garratt, Slaves of the Rave gives us a stage-diving horse which demanded its inclusion on these pages for that reason alone – although the rest is hugely entertaining too.

It is 2024 and a Fugitive Musician Makes a Final Online Appearance

This short film says an awful lot about the nature of modern martyrdom. Envoi (meaning the verse or stanza which concludes a ballad) was written and directed by Jeremiah Gonda and Adrian Traurig.  A musician, opposed to the totalitarian regime under which he lives, makes a final broadcast to his fans after the execution of his band-mates. As well as being a pertinent slice of science fiction it has more than a little relevance in today’s age of web broadcast executions.

A Terminal Patient Comes to Terms with his Past Through the Redemptive Power of Music

In so many lives there is a point at which terrible news is imparted.  Then it’s coming to terms with it and trying for a positive outcome.  In terms of news about the imminent shrugging off of this mortal coil, how can death ever be healed? Here, a terminal patient comes to terms with his past and his transcendence through the infinite and redemptive power of music. Heal was directed by Fernando Leal with music and lyrics by Nick Schinder.

Indila - Dernière Danse

This is just amazing.  Indila is a French singer who released her first album at the end of last year.  This is the first single taken from the album and it’s wonderful, ethereal and enigmatic.  Lyrically it is all about her having one last dance before the pain and suffering of love overtakes her again.  Marry that to a pitch perfect video by WeKapture and you get this little slice of heaven (ok, Gallic angst but it's still fabulous because that's what it is).

Air Balloon - Lily Allen

Following the success of her cover of Somewhere Only We Know (the soundtrack to the Christmas ad for a certain department store) and her escape from the several hits of a non-musical nature ordered after a number of individuals had gone demented after seeing it for the 100th time (that day), Lily Allen is about to release her third album.

Alasdair and Jock from Trunk have created the video for Air Balloon the second single from the yet to be released album.   As per it’s full of the usual Allen pithiness and it is horribly, horribly catchy.

If this song drives you mad in the near future I can only apologize. Yet I owe Lily one too.  She may admit (in the song) to Kurt Cobain that Elvis got to first base with her before him but in terms of solo singers of the female variety, Lily, Cilla got to me way before you were born. However, it’s the lyric animation here that I really, really like (and I hope you do too!).

Nelson Mandela: A Tribute in Art

Nelson Mandela: 18 July 1918 - 5 December 2013

When I was a teenager in the early 1980s I think my first encounter with the name Nelson Mandela was probably through a badge.  Although my memory is a little fuzzy about exactly when, it was most likely 1983, the year before the Special AKA band released what is still in most Top 20 Political Songs lists – Free Nelson Mandela.  The song made it in to the top ten in the UK hit parade. The badge, though, with its typically 80s font, was ubiquitous.

Image Credit Flickr User Ben Sutherland
As well as being worn to protest the on-going incarceration of the South African politician by his own government, the badge was also another way for us to show our displeasure with our own: Maggie Thatcher and her cohorts were currently smashing their way through UK industry like a wrecking ball.  The only pictures we got to see of Nelson Mandela were those taken before his trial and imprisonment – and that had been in 1962, over twenty years previously.   The man could already be representative of causes other than his own – a kind of marker of general political and personal duty: this transference from individual to universal symbol is something that few others have achieved.
Image Credit Flickr User Vilseskogen
The potency of this charisma was bound to find outlets through artistic expression both of the monumental and the personal kind. After his release and his inevitable rise to political power, Mandela’s face became (and I do not use the word without hesitation) iconographic, even in life.  He became a living, breathing symbol of the struggle for personal liberty, for freedom of speech, for universal education and suffrage – and more: I could probably leave a space here and each of you could fill in the gap with your own reason for admiring this man, surely one of the most pivotal in contemporary world history.

Complete History Of The Soviet Union, Arranged To The Melody Of Tetris

This is hugely clever, highly entertaining and extremely funny – and you don’t get that often, on or off the internet - and this one never gets old.  It is directed, animated, and edited by CHRIS LINCÉ and the music is supplied by Pig with the Face of a Boy.  In the space of just over six minutes you will get a précis of the entire history of the Soviet Union –all done to a marvelously melodic Tetris soundtrack.  What an unbeatable combination!

You will find yourself tapping your feet as the decades whiz by, from Lenin to Gorbachev and, as I did, wincing a little at the ironies of history.  Unsurprisingly, this short film has won two awards, both at the Super Shorts International Film Festival where it garnered the prizes for Best Animation and the Low Budget Award.

You may find yourself, as I did, watching it several times and catching something new on each repeated viewing.  Enjoy!

A Letter From Fred

You might need a handkerchief for this. When Illinois based Green Shoe Studio ran a song competition they expected entrants to upload their finished tunes to YouTube.  So when one person sent them a letter containing the lyrics of his song they were a little surprised.

Then they discovered that the writer was a 96 year old Peoria resident Fred Stobaugh. That no doubt made their jaws hit the floor but what really moved them was Fred’s story. He had recently lost his wife and partner of 75 years, Lorraine.

When he heard of the competition Fred felt compelled to write down his feelings about Lorraine, even though he wasn’t musical in the slightest, and send his song to Green Shoe Studio.

The lovely people at the studio decided that they would record Fred’s song with professional musicians – and this is the story of how it happened.  A Letter from Fred, directed by Oceanna Colgan, is not only a really heart-warming story of true community participation; it’s also a wonderful paean to enduring love.  And yes, you can buy the song on iTunes!

Wild Nothing - A Dancing Shell

On May 14th Wild Nothing are set to release a new EP Empty Estate via labels Captured Tracks and Bella Union. The Painter Eric Shaw has designed all the Artwork to go along with the EP and we animated his paintings for the lead track from the EP "A Dancing Shell" as the Official music video. It was animated entirely in After Effects.

The video is directed by Hayley Akins with animation by Hayley Akins and Andy Williams.

Creep - Animated Interpretation of the Radiohead Song

Jaw, meet floor. You may have heard this musical interpretation of the Radiohead song Creep if you saw The Social Network.

It is sung by the Scala & Kolacny Brothers choir which is a rather bizarre name for one which consists completely of female singers, but there you go.  The reason why it has that name is that the choir is run by two brothers, Stijn and Steven who conduct and accompany the Belgian choir.  A haunting version of the song, no doubt, but now joined with a visual element.

The choir's interpretation of the song is different, to say the least and that is probably what attracted animator Alex Heller.  This from Ms Heller herself - My name is Alex and I am trapped in the suburbs. I have absolutely nothing better to do than fantasize about other people's lives. That's a nice (possibly tongue in cheek) introduction but take her talents as an animator, a Belgian girl's choir and a Radiohead song beloved by many and you might think that you have a recipe for disaster.

Not so.  The three come together seamlessly.  I was absolutely blown away by this animation and it just goes to show (Mr Pixar) that you don't need a huge budget to produce an animation that has class, pathos and a real heart. We all want to belong but sometimes recreating ourselves to suit others will end in more rejection and hurt than if we just remain true to what we are.  This wonderful short animation is composed of 1554 pictures, shot with a Nikon D60.  Fantastic.

If you are curious to see what theBelgian Scala & Kolacny Brothers choir look like in the flesh, here they are performing the song on a Dutch TV show.