Pitchfork

At the start of the video for "Audience in the Room", from their about-to-sting Like Bees EP, Dirty on Purpose appear guilty of having cleaned up on purpose-- ties, guys?-- and the rest of the time, it looks like they're having fun intentionally, too. Guess the noisily buzzing Brooklyn rockers figure people can gaze at their own goddamn shoes. Director Brendan Colthurst plays with effects that make the band members wobble like the guitars, although much of the video for "Audience in the Room" simply shows the band playing, to an audience, in a bare-walled, smallish room.

Dirty on Purpose drummer Doug Marvin, who wrote and sings on the track, has said it's about that unique and terrifying feeling of being onstage in front of people. Those black-and-white shots of someone letting go and jumping into a pool might be a decent metaphor, although once you're on stage you can't rewind the way Colthurst does here. At least Marvin and the band aren't alone-- look out for Oliver Ackermann of A Place to Bury Strangers and Marvin's wife, Annie Hart of Au Revoir Simone, both of whom make cameos. "Audience in the Room" has something of Ackermann's band's roiling guitar distortion, driven home by tomahawking drum fills, though such brute force is complemented with acoustic guitar and Marvin's honeyed, understated vocal. As for shoegazing, enjoy the sight of two Chuck Taylors tapping. After beginning indoors, the clip ends in a car under a blue sky, trading the pressure of the stage for the freedom of the open road.

[from Like Bees; due 01/15/08 on North Street]