The Existential Threat is Drawing Near
July 3, 2020 11:16 AM Subscribe
MetaFilter favorite Cyriak (previously) is back, and teaming up with legendary band Sparks for their newest music video: "The Existential Threat".
Yet irresistibly bouncy.
posted by Greg_Ace at 11:31 AM on July 3, 2020 [4 favorites]
posted by Greg_Ace at 11:31 AM on July 3, 2020 [4 favorites]
Amazing. A music video that perfectly encapsulates what is in my head these days. Nicely done.
posted by Splunge at 11:43 AM on July 3, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by Splunge at 11:43 AM on July 3, 2020 [2 favorites]
I'm not used to Cyriak being so borderline narrative with his creations. I'm not entirely sure I'm glad I watched it, but I often feel that way about Cyriak videos.
posted by hippybear at 12:14 PM on July 3, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by hippybear at 12:14 PM on July 3, 2020 [2 favorites]
Was not expecting a polka.
posted by benzenedream at 12:31 PM on July 3, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by benzenedream at 12:31 PM on July 3, 2020 [2 favorites]
Didn't see any spidersheep. Am disappointed.
posted by Windopaene at 12:40 PM on July 3, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by Windopaene at 12:40 PM on July 3, 2020 [1 favorite]
I had never heard of Sparks! I was going to say they sounded like TMBG, but it appears that it’s the other way around.
This song effectively conveys what it’s like to have an anxiety disorder, which I appreciate.
posted by Countess Elena at 12:42 PM on July 3, 2020 [3 favorites]
This song effectively conveys what it’s like to have an anxiety disorder, which I appreciate.
posted by Countess Elena at 12:42 PM on July 3, 2020 [3 favorites]
I had never heard of Sparks!
My first encounter with Sparks was an entirely different band, and I've had a hard time reconciling the existence of them both since then.
posted by hippybear at 12:50 PM on July 3, 2020
My first encounter with Sparks was an entirely different band, and I've had a hard time reconciling the existence of them both since then.
posted by hippybear at 12:50 PM on July 3, 2020
Sparks (the Mael brothers one) has been my ultimate "I guess I don't really like this band... holy shit that song is AMAZING" band.
posted by ardgedee at 1:11 PM on July 3, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by ardgedee at 1:11 PM on July 3, 2020 [2 favorites]
If you're new to the Sparks oeuvre, I recommend their 2015 collab album with Franz Ferdinand entitled FFS, and in particular this peregrination.
posted by belarius at 1:22 PM on July 3, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by belarius at 1:22 PM on July 3, 2020 [3 favorites]
Thank you! Now I'm smiling. Why I can't quite say. But I am smiling.
posted by njohnson23 at 1:25 PM on July 3, 2020
posted by njohnson23 at 1:25 PM on July 3, 2020
The reference to Sartre and Camus is spot on.
posted by Horkus at 1:44 PM on July 3, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by Horkus at 1:44 PM on July 3, 2020 [1 favorite]
I haven't heard the latest album but Sparks' previous release, Hippopotamus, was an amazing piece of work and yielded my favourite track of the last decade.
posted by Hogshead at 2:14 PM on July 3, 2020
posted by Hogshead at 2:14 PM on July 3, 2020
Sparks are wonderful. Curiously I compared them to TMBG in a tweet today - basically both bands have continued to plough their eccentric furrows consistently for decades.
If you are new to Sparks, they've been doing this sort of thing for about fifty years, but I'd highly recommend their last one Hippopotamus, and Little Beethoven, and their early albums Kimono My House and Propaganda. But they're generally great.
Also, I thought Cyriak caught Ron's curious head movements (circa This Town Ain't Big Enough For the Both Of Us) wonderfully.
posted by Grangousier at 2:15 PM on July 3, 2020 [6 favorites]
If you are new to Sparks, they've been doing this sort of thing for about fifty years, but I'd highly recommend their last one Hippopotamus, and Little Beethoven, and their early albums Kimono My House and Propaganda. But they're generally great.
Also, I thought Cyriak caught Ron's curious head movements (circa This Town Ain't Big Enough For the Both Of Us) wonderfully.
posted by Grangousier at 2:15 PM on July 3, 2020 [6 favorites]
Don't see what the problem is... it's music I can dance to, every note's where it ought to be.
Is the protagonist Ron or might it be Rowan Atkinson's mug with Ron-like hair and expressions?
Also saw what looked like a JibJab guy in there. Check out Weird Al's/JibJab's CNR video - Cyriak's headset guy looks like CNR's heart guy. (I miss the obvious stuff and catch the weirdest details.)
posted by zaixfeep at 3:07 PM on July 3, 2020
Is the protagonist Ron or might it be Rowan Atkinson's mug with Ron-like hair and expressions?
Also saw what looked like a JibJab guy in there. Check out Weird Al's/JibJab's CNR video - Cyriak's headset guy looks like CNR's heart guy. (I miss the obvious stuff and catch the weirdest details.)
posted by zaixfeep at 3:07 PM on July 3, 2020
Thanks SansPoint for giving me a reason to post this little Ron vignette.
posted by zaixfeep at 3:12 PM on July 3, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by zaixfeep at 3:12 PM on July 3, 2020 [1 favorite]
zaixfeep: There's something so unnerving about a clean-shaven Ron Mael. Personally, this is my favorite little Ron vignette.
posted by SansPoint at 3:17 PM on July 3, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by SansPoint at 3:17 PM on July 3, 2020 [1 favorite]
The little animated shadows at the beginning were very Tim Burton
posted by emjaybee at 3:18 PM on July 3, 2020
posted by emjaybee at 3:18 PM on July 3, 2020
If like me, you like to see the lyrics: https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/sparks/theexistentialthreat.html
posted by Obscure Reference at 3:39 PM on July 3, 2020
posted by Obscure Reference at 3:39 PM on July 3, 2020
Was not expecting a polka.
Was not expecting a perfect metaphor for how I feel right now... But it cheered me up.
posted by mmoncur at 3:46 PM on July 3, 2020
Was not expecting a perfect metaphor for how I feel right now... But it cheered me up.
posted by mmoncur at 3:46 PM on July 3, 2020
If you haven't read Cyriak's book Horse Destroys the Universe, and you want to know what a Cyriak video would be like in narrative form, there's still time to avoid finding out.
But seriously folks, this book was delightful and mindbending. It is told from the perspective of said horse. Recommended.
posted by ulotrichous at 4:08 PM on July 3, 2020 [1 favorite]
But seriously folks, this book was delightful and mindbending. It is told from the perspective of said horse. Recommended.
posted by ulotrichous at 4:08 PM on July 3, 2020 [1 favorite]
Metafilter: Missing the obvious stuff and catching the weirdest details
posted by Greg_Ace at 5:07 PM on July 3, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by Greg_Ace at 5:07 PM on July 3, 2020 [2 favorites]
It's always fun when Sparks come up on Metafilter. Is this Sparks' best song about an anxiety disorder? Maybe! But their best song about a crippling ass fetish is this collaboration with Guy Maddin...
posted by demonic winged headgear at 7:43 PM on July 3, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by demonic winged headgear at 7:43 PM on July 3, 2020 [3 favorites]
This is a good application of Cyriak's powers
posted by little onion at 7:24 AM on July 4, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by little onion at 7:24 AM on July 4, 2020 [1 favorite]
That's a whole lot of white people in that video.
posted by bile and syntax at 8:34 AM on July 4, 2020
posted by bile and syntax at 8:34 AM on July 4, 2020
I wondered if they were caricatures of the people involved in the project, or maybe they used images taken from typical business/tech commercials - which, yeah, even these days are predominantly white. Not excusing Cyriak, only wondering.
posted by Greg_Ace at 12:34 PM on July 4, 2020
posted by Greg_Ace at 12:34 PM on July 4, 2020
Speaking to the Whiteness of the characters in the video - It felt like a distinctly deliberate use and criticism of the 'Stock Photography' tropes [which is currently very much not diverse], but I might be projecting as I don't know the artists true intent.
Trippy video, and I was unaware of Cyriak before and after watching this and the Cows video, they are certainty a uhm, a unique artist, and this collaboration with Sparks seems like it works, but yeah that is a thing I can never un-see.
posted by Faintdreams at 4:46 AM on July 5, 2020
Trippy video, and I was unaware of Cyriak before and after watching this and the Cows video, they are certainty a uhm, a unique artist, and this collaboration with Sparks seems like it works, but yeah that is a thing I can never un-see.
posted by Faintdreams at 4:46 AM on July 5, 2020
« Older WHOOOSH! | Toccata Spaccata Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by adzm at 11:18 AM on July 3, 2020 [5 favorites]