The Best Music Videos of 2006: CSS - Alala

Because we are nearing the end of the year, I thought it would be appropriate to post a few entries about notable and perhaps relatively little seen videos and other media from the past year. And when I thought of music videos from 2006, there was one video that stuck out in my mind in particular.

Alala by CSS (Cansei De Ser Sexy, a Brazilian sextet) is a catchy electro song, but the official Subpop video is what was really memorable.

Now, there are three videos for this song, though only two "official" versions. One is a high energy daytime shoot in Brazil with a man-eating cardboard box, and if that was the only video, it would be memorable, but seemingly not as polished as it could be. I have only seen this version on Youtube, so part of me thinks that it is the version for the band's Brazilian fans.



But the one that I am speaking of was a little more sinister than that. It is the "Night Fight" version of the video directed by Cat Solen which involves a fight at what I assumed was a wedding reception, shown in reverse. Sounds like a simple concept I know, but the thing that set this apart in my recent memory was the way that the progression of the band members injuries are dealt with. Because it is a fight in reverse, well, each member is shown in time lapse in reverse going from bloody beaten and disheveled messes(and the female lead singer was extremely battered) into clean, well-coifed partygoers by the end. There is gore, food, broken furniture, violence and a surprising origin for the fight. All in all, it is a high quality music video.

While not the technical marvel that say, Michel Gondry's video for Cibo Matto's Sugar Water is, it is still a pretty good video for the year 2006.

Tags: alala, css, cansei de ser sexy, cat solen, night fight, man eating box, brazil, cibo matto, sugar water, best videos, 2006, wedding reception, makeup, reverse