Seeing Sounds: End-of-Summer Edition

Of the many things that don't get enough shine on this website, one of them has to be music videos, which you may have noticed continue to be made despite long-circulated reports of the art form's death. In the time of TikTok (or really, Twitch), what is a music video for, anyway? Who will sit down and watch it? When? I'm not sure. I have a suspicion that a lot of artists themselves aren't either. But across these nine recent releases — some of them just a short snippet, others full songs; some unembellished and straightforward, others over-the-top — you can see them trying to work it out in real-time. Check 'em out, listen to the songs, follow the links, go down some rabbit holes. Who knows, maybe by the time you come back up, another roundup of NC music videos will already be made.

Featuring: Dad Bodi & Tommyxboi, TiaCorine, Khalil Nasim, Yahliq, Reuben Vincent, Hollywood Nikki, MESSIAH!, VvG, Lxnny, sosocamo.

Dad Bodi & TommyxBoi - "4K Retainer"

A song this trunk-rattling deserved some clean visuals to go with it, and Dad Bodi, Tommyxboi and director Wyeth Collins (leroy, MAVI, Reuben, Gauxstman) delivered. There's nothing narratively or aesthetically earth-shattering happening here, the locales of parking garages and empty lots being pretty standard rap video fare. But it's the little things — the subtle camera moves, color grading and jittery transitions — that mark it clearly as a Wyeth/Play production, and a fitting compliment to Tommy and Bodi's latest salvo of tag-team, free associative yarn-spinning and knowledge-dropping. As I hear Bodi spit, "spend a lil' bit put the rest into savings/ so you got a little bit when it starts rainin'," I'm reminded that school is back in session. On "4K Retainer," at least, the tuition is free.

TiaCorine - "Fall In Love"

Coming off her latest high-profile feature verse (Chance The Rapper's "Gun In Yo Purse"), a music video with Lyrical Lemonade, and a feature on Hypebeast, Winston-Salem's TiaCorine celebrated this week as anyone would: with a loopy acid trip of a love story video, in which it seems nothing from the "Video Effects" panel was left on the cutting room floor. We're traveling through eyeballs, out of windows, spinning for no reason, even making use of a circular wipe transition. It seems almost certain that any time a question was asked during the making of this video, the answer was yes. From her personality, to her outfits, to the production styles she favors, Tia songs are usually maximalist affairs, and the playfully disorienting "Fall In Love" video is true to that form. Even the writing can't help but tug at the edges of reality from time to time. "Everybody in this bitch knows I put Winston on the map," she says — which, as long as you don't count the tobacco industry and 9th Wonder, is 100% true. There's a moment here for everybody, so I'll tell you mine: at the 27-second mark, when Tia and her man walk into the boutique with an aura so strong, even the Wallace and Gromit figurines on the shelf turn to look. Considering the rest of the video, it's one of the less absurd things that take place.