Directed by Aleia Murawski and Samuel Copeland. From Losing, out now on Sub Pop.
On the weekends
I’ve been taking it easy
No, I swear it’s my choice
“Guess There” is a grungy breakup song, but the video is about a happy little snail going about its business, shooting some hoops, playing with its hamster, and enjoying some videogames. That is, at least until the snail starts imagining what life would be like with a snail partner and snail baby.
Well, I guess there could be something I’m missing
And after that the snail is just sad and lonely and depressed. No happy ending for you, bubba.
Directed by Anthony Cole. From Gate 13, out now on IOT Records.
Del the Funky Homosapien was hurt pretty bad earlier this month when he fell off the stage while performing with the Gorillaz in Denmark. He posted a message to Twitter on July 12 saying he was getting better and then released a video for the second single from Gate 13, his collaboration with producer Amp Live.
“Help” features a chorus sung by Adult Karate and opera vocals by Andrea Blunt.
“More than any other song on the album, Help was the song that we wanted to make sure had the biggest impact in terms of message. So its visual interpretation was important. The Help video represents the struggle that many people are having right now with differentiating between an act and reality. A young Del in 2018 quickly grows into his present self and we are seeing the journey he has to take in discovering who he is. The final destination is his big awakening.”
And yet the video omits the second verse of the song. What’s up with that? The second verse is good as the first with the intricate and unconventional rhyming that Del is known for.
They get the foot in the door, I’ma slam it shut
Tryin’ to break their ankle, thank you, don’t try to cut
You stay in line, you wait in line
Take a number, be patient, don’t blame the line
Don’t blame the game, ain’t nothin’ wrong with the game
That’s right, people. The rules have changed in 2018: Don’t hate the game, anymore. Hate the player.
And watch out for the edge of the stage! That first step is a doozy.
Directed by Gilbert Trejo. From Starcrawler, out now on Rough Trade Records.
The kids in Starcrawler still seem like a bunch of delinquent teenagers, and therein lies their charm. Who knows what they’re like in real life, but they clearly get a kick out of dabbling in the macabre.
Arrow de Wilde told Vulture that “Chicken Woman” is about “a Chinatown fixture who pushes her poultry in a shopping cart to the nearby slaughterhouse.”
The video, however, is a fun little homage to Charles Manson and how to have a good time on a desert ranch. Tar, feathers, chains, cages, dolls, and knives all play important roles.
Be careful out there when you’re picking up hitchhikers, gang!
The reports of the existence of the “last” Blockbuster store in Bend, Oregon, is treated as though here is something that is completely quaint and old-timey: “Yes, son, way back when we used to go to a store and rent movies on discs. And sometimes we actually bought them!”
And on the subject of buying discs, while Best Buy, which had been the #1 music retailer, had announced that it was going to stop selling CDs, it has modified that. It will continue to but with a greatly minimized selection; there will probably be more selection of Keurig coffees.
In this era of downloading and streaming, the notion of buying physical artifacts like discs is becoming increasingly unthinkable.
While vinyl discs are making something of a comeback, you rarely hear any arguments about the fidelity of the sound as being a reason for this occurrence. Perhaps that has something to do with the fact that many of the purchasers of vinyl probably have some crappy Crosley record player upon which the latest novelty is played. Sure, there are audiophiles who have never given up the grooves, but they’re becoming like philatelists in the age of email, which has then given way to texting.
But a question that seems to go unasked is who benefits from this? And I would argue that it is the purveyors of the digitally based music (or video) products.
Directed by Nate Pommer. From Seekers & Finders, out now on Cooking Vinyl.
Eugene Hütz and Regina Spektor are two of the most charismatic performers working today. If you’ve seen them in concert you know you can’t take your eyes off them. And now they’ve made a video for the song they recorded together.
Director Nate Pommer says, “The live footage was shot at The Fonda Theater on March 5th, 2018; an especially epic bonanza-tronic show featuring the transcendent Regina Spektor. Footage of the performance was combined with a series of curated images related to Alchemy, Hermeticism, and esoteric knowledge. The message is open to interpretation, but we can agree that understanding ‘The Ultimate Truth’ requires a set of tools more powerful than reason or intellect.”
I don’t know anything about the ultimate truth, but I know I would’ve like to have been at the Fonda Theater on March 5!
News: Apple on Capitol; Stones Studio Fire; Jazz Guitarist Wes Montgomery Dies; Beatles To Do Three LP-Set?; Clapton Acquitted on Dope Charges; Stones Do Film with Goddard; Beatle George Visits Los Angeles.
Columns: Jon Landau on what’s wrong with Rock “Art” (“Most rock and roll musicians are banal, amateurish and insipidly stupid when they try to express their philosophy of life in the context of popular music.”); Perspectives by Ralph J. Gleason (“San Francisco and the Stars”); the John J. Rock column was guest-written by Arthur Hoppe (“Sir Walter Raleigh’s Historic Mistake”).
We rarely–like…never–just copy and paste shit from a press release. I mean, what would the point be? A press release is background info; just something to start the story and maybe provide a quote. But this passage we just got from Bonnie “Prince” Billy’s camp is just too good to not share:
Bonny Billy and Lady Billy were living on the rim of the active volcano Kilauea (way back in January, when Halema’uma’u was still a lava lake). They woke one morning to the news that a ballistic missile attack was underway, coupled with the advisory that they should “take immediate shelter” (?!). Thirty minutes later, the warning was rescinded, but not before some serious synapse paths were re-mapped. What could they do with such a soul-jostling? Fortunately, they had friends. Friends who had supplied them with THC-laced chocolate covered blueberries. Bonny sat down and scribbled out a paean to these blueberries, to all blueberries, then closed his notebook and that was that. A couple of weeks later, a call came from Chris Garcia, of the legal weed boutique Hi Fidelity in Berkeley. He wanted to open his shop in style, and thought that maybe a collab with the ‘Prince’ would help. Bonny re-opened the notebook and cranked out a jammer, a fruit-filled jammer to end all fruit-filled endeavors. He brought the song to Nashville where, under the guidance of dear friend and colleague David “Fergie” Ferguson, the song was brought to mouth-watering life. Also on hand to make dreams into reality were guitarist Matt Sweeney and drummer Pete Townsend. Back in Kentucky, Tim Morton conceived and executed the video clip that makes us, all of us, smile.
It would be easy to laugh this off as a gag…a lark. That’s what happens with absurdism. But just as Tina Fey told us to eat more sheet cake, there’s a logic and a purpose in acknowledging that we’re living in madness…with madness. Also, blueberries fucking rule.
Where country meets disco. It’s not the first time, of course, but it’s been a while. And the song is super catchy and fun.
The video, on the other hand, is an anachronistic mess. Are the office scenes supposed to be set in the disco era? If so, the hair and makeup is all wrong. If you’re going to pay attention to the details (like having the clock on the wall be set to 4:20, ha ha) then you need to get the haircuts correct.
Is the karaoke dream sequence supposed to be set in the future? America’s first karaoke bar didn’t open until 1982 and karaoke wasn’t big here until the 90s.
But maybe I’m just being uptight. There’s an image of a bearded Trump-like figure on the tv after all. So who knows?
‘Cause everyone knows someone who kills the buzz
Every time they open up their mouth
Directed by Alexandra Cabral. From The Lost Record, out September 7 on Merge.
Ian Svenonius is prolific. It was only November when he introduced the world to his new project, Escape-ism. And now there’s a second album coming due in September. “Nothing Personal” continues with Introduction‘s minimalist soul.
The video features Svenonius scowling and snarling and flanked by Los Angeles artist Ariana Papademetropoulos and Black Lips saxophonist Zumi Rosow.
Only ten months after he provided us with an Introduction to Escape-ism, mythic rock ’n’ roll provocateur / theorist / revolutionary Ian Svenonius is back as Escape-ism with The Lost Record, a classic destined to bewitch the minds, hearts, and dancing shoes of any rock ’n’ roll fan who happens to discover it, for as long as such creatures exist. Without the high-octane hype machine of the mind-control minstrels who hypnotize the hapless through the mass media, The Lost Record is bound for inevitable obscurity, but—with its timeless tunes, poignant message, and innovative sound—rediscovery and immortal status is equally assured! The Lost Record, being what it is, has enormous selling potential. Music enthusiasts will be thrilled to be the ones clever and kind enough to have rescued this platter from oblivion.
Recorded in four different studios—Gaucho in Los Angeles, Flat Black in Iowa, Tonal Park in Takoma Park, MD, and at Club Blasé in DC—the record is the culmination of humanity’s attempt at something poignant, perverse, and poetically imperfect.
When I was in college we brought a kids pool to campus. We named it Tony and filled it up on the quad next to the chapel. Shortly after we got it all set up, somebody was having a wedding and asked us to move our pool. I was outraged and indignant at the time, but now I can see that it was a fairly reasonable request. You don’t want a bunch of obnoxious, half-naked lunatics photo-bombing all your wedding pics.
T-Rextasy has a kids pool in their new video. They named theirs the “T-Rextasy Pool-O’-Luv” which is a pretty good name too.
Why don’t you come over and we’ll hang out?
Oh just give me a time and place
Be my friend, girl
Be my girlfriend
I don’t know how I want this to end
I like the call and response vocals and the crunchy guitars. “Fun rock,” indeed.
