-Music Videos on my Mind- Georgia Ruth’s “Week of Pines”

The best thing about music blogging is that you get to share stuff you like with others who may also respond to it. Then there’s stuff you don’t particularly feel a connection to but flag up because other people you respect really like it. In this case, Steve Lamacq, a British music critic some of us grew up listening to on the radio and very much admire, described Georgia Ruth’s Week of Pines as like ‘running through a forest made entirely of gorgeous ribbons.’

That is just too good an image to discard, and, even though the song seems rather soft, the music video is a seriously marvellous piece of editing where the graphic continuity from one still image to the next is excellently juxtaposed. This kind of montage seems deceptively simple, but it must be so complex to pull off.

In conclusion, this music video is easy on the ears and pleasing to the eyes―it just has no kick.

-Music Videos on my Mind- Smith Westerns’ “Varsity”

The UK news channels reported on a devastating tornado that hit the US heartland last week, however, one gets the impression that had the tables turned then American audiences may not be as concerned about our welfare unless it affected the Royal Family and cast of Downton Abbey.

But there is another kind of American Anglophile that seriously loves British culture in ways that are fascinating. They are the ones that eschew predictably popular aspects of Britain and home in on cool elements like our fashion and music.

Smith Westerns is a Chicago indie rock band that claims ‘90s Britpop as one of its chief music influences, along with a load of other notable British artists. This is bizarre when we consider how little impact Britpop made internationally. Britpop was the antithesis of what Americans traditionally respond to because it often revolved around middle-class art school graduates pretending to be working-class lads that posed for the press with a lager in one hand and their other arm around a Page 3 girl, all the while feigning a love for football not classic literature.

Nonetheless, Britpop produced some very good songs and this American effort is enjoyable too. Remember: true Brits choose democracy, not monarchy.

-Music Videos on my Mind- Wolf Alice’s “Bros”

Pandas are dying. Despite their venerated status and relative lack of natural predators, pandas remain endangered. The panda's reluctance to adapt means that there are fewer than 1,600 pandas left in the wild. The apathetic idleness of the panda means that we may witness the end of this much loved species before the century is complete.

Indie white guys with guitars are dying. This once staple animal of the British music scene had immense popularity and generated great affection. A complete lack of imagination and vibrancy has resulted in milquetoast music videos that further vitiate a severely compromised genre that may die out before the decade is complete.

Some will argue that our effort to save pandas is a losing battle but one we cannot afford to lose. Some will argue that indie white guys with guitars are their own worst enemy and we should just give up because no one will miss them when they’re gone.

Wolf Alice is a new British indie guitar band.

-Music Videos on my Mind- Savages “Husbands”

After nearly a year in the making, Savages debut album Silence Yourself dropped this month, and it pretty much lived up to the hype.

Rock ‘n’ roll’s best bands have a style that justifies the sound, but this group looks so incredibly cool you want to be a part of them, or at least buy into them. It’s been a while since we’ve had a British female rock group that reminds us how fantastically timeless the post-punk sound remains.

Savages will never be about music videos; always channelling live performance at the core of its sonic identity. With that in mind, this clip they recorded for the BBC earlier this year perfectly captures why there is genuine hope these girls may become a classic Great British rock export .

- Music Videos on my Mind- The Pastels’ “Check my Heart”

The Pastels have done the right thing in choosing not to feature prominently in their new music video, instead, hiring cool British kids to smile and dance while their song plays over it. You see, if these middle-aged Scottish indie pop stars were to have sold the song by using their own real identities then it would never get onto music television. (Ageist, I know.)

And it is very important that the youth market likes songs of this nature because that way they may want to buy some guitars and try replicating it; once again making alternative indie pop a thing to be loved and hugged, not discarded as a anachronistic thing people older than Eminem (who is old!) are into.

The Pastels have been going since 1982, and if they can keep writing songs this good then they’re more than welcome to hang around longer. Gorgeous, it is.