Video Picks
Powered by CircleSquareLA
Wednesday, 18 February 2015

iPunx - "Loser Walks (With Troubles)" feat. Kanye West, Beyonce, Taylor Swift, & Beck

Yo Reader! I’m really happy that you get to see this – and I’mma let you finish – but this audiovisual mashup of Beck, Beyonce, T-Swift, & Yeezus is the best audiovisual mashup of Beck, Beyonce, T-Swift, & Yeezus of ALL TIME!!!

Ok, so there’s not a particularly large sample size to go off, but nonetheless, this is pretty damn impressive. Released earlier today by veteran internet mashup artist iPunx, “Loser Walks (With Troubles)” combines a recent country/pop hit, a proto-hipster experiment, a girl-power dance anthem, and the definitive turn of the century hip-hop gospel into a piece of true multimedia that pleases popular and non-conformist sensibilities with equal gusto. Though it isn’t at the level of The Grey Album, and most certainly won't have the staying power of Danger Mouse's 2004 epic Jay-Z/Beatles mashup, iPunx has created something that ever-so-briefly transcends the sum of its parts, and while he makes it seem easy, the differences between the music and musicians he’s working with cannot be understated.

Imagine if Beck, Bey, Swift, & West were physically combined into a singular mythical creature of popular culture, a musical Sphinx if you will, and that such a creature assumed a naturally beautiful form, and the difficulty of engineering such an ambitious vision makes itself clear. Four divergent sounds that span three decades should not mix with the seamless alacrity of a musical Magic Eye puzzle, yet they do, and quite well.

(Sidenote: Beck, Bey, Swift, & West sounds like a law firm you do not want to mess with)

Which begs the question: are these four musicians, these artists with seemingly polarizing disparities, so different after all? On the surface: absolutely. From the lyrics they sing to the clothes that they wear to the manner in which they walk onto stage, these four bastions of pop-culture present vibrations of differing frequencies, yet from tempo to melody to arrangement, it’s very difficult to deny that they’ve drawn from eerily similar wells of creativity in their individual songwriting efforts.

Perhaps this is by design – they and the people who’ve influenced their artistic decision making are deeply rooted in an industry notorious for smoke and mirrors. After all, the members of Milli Vanilli weren’t the ones who decided that lip-synching would be a fortuitous career choice (Artisa, the duo’s former label, maintained that they had nothing to do with the group’s career ruining scandal), and while nobody is accusing anybody of fraud here, it’s ludicrous to earnestly believe that the multi-million dollar enterprises of Beck, Bey, Swift, & West make business decisions without anything that resembles cold-blooded pragmatism.

Even so, it’s equally unfair to accuse them of discovering the Rosetta Stone of pop song form as it is to blame them of profiting from its exploitation. Far more likely is that these four artists of different ages, cultures, and backgrounds have tapped into a creative force that resonates regardless of delivery. Or as Kanye would say: pure genius.

Written by  Hunnypot
Last modified on Friday, 20 March 2015
  • MYSTICAL JOYRIDE feat. SEAN THE STAR EMPEROR - "GODDESS"
    MYSTICAL JOYRIDE feat. SEAN THE STAR EMPEROR -  "GODDESS" Hunnypot has been long time fans of Mystical Joyride and Sean the Star Emperor, both having met as a part of the line up for our Hunnypot Live Showcase. The two have collaborated on many occasions since, culminating with this feminine anthem "GODDESS". L.A. psychedelic and genre-fluid duo Mystical Joyride,… Read more
    Posted Monday, 25 November 2024
  • PETER MURPHY, LET THE FLOWERS GROW (FEAT. BOY GEORGE)
    When the name Peter Murphy is mentioned, immediately images of bats, spirits and the blackest of gloom comes to mind, but in the most fascinating way. The Goth Godfather of the youth who didn’t confirm, who made them feel right at home in their long black skirts, army jacket, black… Read more
    Posted Tuesday, 19 November 2024
  • MILLY - "Bittersweet Mary"
    MILLY - "Bittersweet Mary" “I think about death all the time.” Almost ironic for someone called Brendan Dyer. Principal songwriter and singer of the indie rock, shoegaze band MILLY, Dyer lays his hushed vocals over a bed of heavy guitar riffs while singing about both love and death. In their freshly released third LP… Read more
    Posted Tuesday, 15 October 2024
  • DREAM THEATER, NIGHT TERROR
    DREAM THEATER, NIGHT TERROR When the video for "Night Terror" was released, I did myself the injustice of reading a ton of related social media posts prior to listening to the track out right. I saw everything from 'Best Song Ever' to 'Total Disappointment' and everything in between. Who would have thought a new… Read more
    Posted Sunday, 13 October 2024
  • THE HU, THE TROOPER
    The Hu's music video for their cover of Iron Maiden's "The Trooper" is a captivating fusion of cultures and sounds, marrying the raw power of heavy metal with the profound depth of traditional Mongolian music. From the onset, the band sets the tone with Gala's signature throat singing and the… Read more
    Posted Friday, 04 October 2024