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New Pornographers, 'Your Hands (Together)' -- Video Premiere

New Pornographers
When the New Pornographers' A.C. Newman and Blaine Thurier were looking at ideas for the video for their new single, 'Your Hands (Together),' the singer and multi-instrumentalist and keyboard player looked no further than the careening rock song's power-packed opening riff.

"Carl just thought that the guitar riff had that karate punch-kick feel," Thurier tells Spinner. "It was his idea and we gathered some of the many talented people here in Vancouver and found some great locations. It was simple really," says Thurier, a filmmaker in his own right with three features under his belt, albeit ones that he says "haven't made it past the film festival circuit."

Those talented people include dancers karate kicking through choreographed moves in a studio and stunning outdoor scenes, which feature members of Vancouver's Hybrid Movement group dressed as ninjas. "It's 100 percent real," insists Thurier. "There's no camera trickery. They are doing Capoeira. It's this Brazilian mix of martial arts and dance. It was developed by slaves and because they had their hands shackled, they could only kick and use their legs."

That connection gives the song's title a new twist. Serendipity also provided the video's closing scene of an old lady wandering into a park and a child on a bicycle scooting past her. After the frenetic action, it's almost a metaphor for life -- youth and old age with this great chunk of activity that speeds by in between. Yet, the final scene was purely accidental as these two bystanders wandered on set. "They just came into the frame at the end of the ninja sequence. I'm glad it can be interpreted that way. It was perfect -- you can't script something like that. Sometimes you have to be open to happy accidents."

'Your Hands (Together)' is culled from the band's new album, 'Together,' which is released May 4 on Matador Records. Check out the video below.



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rwwbi

Seriously people?
Its artistic movement choreographed to a great new song. It isn't the greatest video I've seen but it's entertaining.
Don't take offense at it. Enjoy that your sport is glorified.

January 28 2011 at 12:55 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
tony ring

quite simply, the dialectic of motion choreography par excellence!

bravo and bravo

to all involved

i wouldn't try those moves at home though

good job and thanks!

your fan,

tony ring

September 06 2010 at 6:49 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
angela

I've done Taekwondo for years and I quite enjoyed it. the video goes perfectly with this genius song. why is everyone getting offended??? accept the simplicity of it. come on, fellow martial artists--take it with a grain of salt and laugh--it's quite entertaining.

(what I want to know is who/what were those women doing on the drums? Taiko drumming??? needless to say they are gorgeous!)

May 12 2010 at 3:50 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
kathi

Totally understand your comments. I too am trained in several martial art forms and have studied a great deal of dance. My ability to defend myself came in particularly handy when I was jumped and assaulted last summer.
I'm sure this videos intent was not to insult the seriousness of any of the above mentioned disciplines.
I think it was meant to be fun and at least pleasureable to watch. I for one felt it did that.
Instructional videos and classes can be found elsewhere.
This is a music video from a supremely talanted band! It's a great song with, as you say, some great eye candy and circus like performances. Let's just have a group hug and enjoy it for what it is?
It doesn't have to be insulting unless you make it so. Trisha, that's great you daughter and yourself are taking Karate. It has saved my life more than once.

May 07 2010 at 12:44 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
2 replies to kathi's comment
dubidanbadu

Well, you didn't achieve your objective because the 4 minutes that video lasted, didn't entertain me at all.

May 07 2010 at 4:51 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
kathi

Poor "dubidanbadu'. I remained convinced that if the Dalai Lama came up and spit on your head, you would still find it a yawn. Keep numbing the mind with your gin drinks and continue playing 'Dungeons and Dragons' with your male friends in your basement. It's obviously really working for you! xo

May 09 2010 at 4:27 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Trisha

I put my daughter into Karate to enrich her life and teach her self-dicipline and to be able to protact herself.Then she inspired me to take classes as well. This is no more than eye-candy, great for the vid (I guess) but utterly insulting to those who study martial arts.

May 07 2010 at 11:27 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
kathi

Love your use of 'imho'. Seems you missed the point my friend. Love your insightful comments, however unbased, they were. Post some of your directorial masterpeices. Would be very interseted in having a look. In the meantime, take it down Ebert. Learn to laugh. We had many while filming. We were making a vid for a very cool song and group. Set dec? Authentic. Let me know when you learn how to do a triple back flip. xo

May 07 2010 at 4:00 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to kathi's comment
Mak

As a 'real' martial artist that teaches people to survive actual life and death situations, these acrobatic aerial ballets are very insulting. I'm tired of the 'wow' factor extreme so-called martial artists.

I like the song, but I've studied the 'art' my entire life, and hate to see it watered down to a high flying circus act.

May 07 2010 at 10:21 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
biglawson13

that video was terrible... quite a shite job imho. just a bunch of wide tracking shots while people do kong fu. The second bit outside was used for a second then i was like wait... tell me more about that, its actually visually interesting unlike the other part, then they just cut back to more of the EXTEAMLY plain dojo. Could have done a little bit of a better job set dressing to make it look interesting don't you think? Or maybe used a more visually appealing location. I was really excited about this video as TNP usually has great music videos but this one was just lacking.

May 06 2010 at 12:25 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to biglawson13's comment
roscoe

Not to mention the fact that "real" ninjas wouldn't wear Chuck Taylor All Stars.

May 10 2010 at 3:45 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Rob Wilms

Awesome. Thanks.

May 04 2010 at 9:18 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply