I Eat Music

Yes, it’s one of CMU’s very favourite festivals this coming weekend, the early Summer little brother of the mighty Bestival. The three-day Camp Bestival is well and truly one for all the family – think village fete meets music festival. In a castle. Music wise, Bestival-chief Rob da Bank has once again got together an eclectic array of top quality bands and artists for your enjoyment. Here Team CMU picks ten of its favourites to offer you at home a Camp Bestival CMU-Tube selection.

01: Baddies – Battleships
Let’s kick things off with a solid rock track, shall we? This track shows off everything we love about the still buzzy Baddies: it’s loud, slightly odd and a little bit poppy. The video also matches this description. Plus, it might give you motion sickness, which is a great way to start things off, I think you’ll agree.

02: Dan Black – Yours
I’ve always said that the problem with most music videos these days is that they don’t have enough people with massive guns for heads in them. Thankfully, this one goes some way to rectifying that. “I don’t wanna be yours no more”, says Dan. And nothing says “It’s over” like having a massive gun for a head.

03: Florence And The Machine – Dog Days Are Over
We love Florence And The Machine, and we don’t care who knows it. That lady has quite a voice on her. She also knows how to have a weird party in the woods, as this video proves.

04: Laura Marling – Ghosts
Laura Marling also has a good voice, but she keeps it quieter that Florence. By which I mean she’s sings quietly, not badly. This video features a nice combination of Fuzzy Felt and digital animation. And Fuzzy Felt is another thing too often lacking in music videos these days.

05: Micachu And The Shapes – Lips
The thing about Micachu And The Shapes is that they sound like they’ve just stumbled across some instruments and decided to have a go at playing them. In a good way. Possibly. I’ve still not made my mind up, to be honest. All the more reason to check them out at Camp Bestival.

06: Phoenix – If I Ever Feel Better
This song came out nearly ten years ago, and in that time has carved itself a special little place in my internal jukebox. There’s something comforting about its chorus that means I don’t mind when it revolves endlessly around my head. It’s nicer when the whole song is played properly all the way through, though.

07: PJ Harvey – C’mon Billy
Do I need to say anything about this? It’s Peej. She is good. This song is obviously quite old now, and I probably should have picked something a little newer. But, hey, it’s a good song and she’ll almost certainly play it at Camp Bestival.

08: Roots Manuva – Witness 1 Hope
How have I never seen this video before? It is a work of genius. Still reeling from the fact that he came last in every event he entered at his school sports day when he was aged nine, Roots decides to get in shape and have another crack at proving his sporting prowess. I won’t spoil it by saying any more.

09: Tinchy Stryder – Number 1
When this single was released it went straight to number one in the singles chart. We feared that if it stopped being in that position it could bring about the end of the universe. It didn’t though. Everything was fine.

10: Will Young – Leave Right Now
This is going to do little for my hyper cool image, but this is one of my favourite music videos ever. Pop acts don’t tend to make good videos (I refer you to the previous Tinchy Stryder video), but this is a major exception. All filmed in one shot, the visuals and lyrics combine to tell a story. I like stories.

Now you’ve read the blurbs, find out what we’re banging on about by actually watching the videos, here:

For more CMU-Tube stuff, go to www.theCMUwebsite.com/tube. And to check out all things Camp Bestival at www.campbestival.net.