Tag Archives: videos

Shorties

New Andrew Bird video: Sisyphus

Leave a comment

Video: Andrew Bird – “Sisyphus”

Directed by Matthew Daniel Siskin. From My Finest Work Yet, out March 22 on Loma Vista.

You know the story of Sisyphus: the Greek king condemned to to roll a big boulder up a mountain for eternity. As soon as he gets close to the top, it rolls back down.

Sound familiar? Sounds a lot like the whole goddamn world in 2019, doesn’t it? Feels like we’re all doomed to repeat the same mindless bullshit over and over, and the moment it seems like things might be getting better, we gotta start all over again.

Hopeful people say that the arc of the moral universe is long, and it bends toward justice.

Whatever gets you through the night, but it’s getting harder and harder to believe it.

History forgets the moderates
For those who sit
Recalcitrant and taciturn
You know I’d rather turn and burn than scale this edifice

Bird says the song “is about being addicted to your own suffering and the moral consequences of letting the rock roll.”

Keep pushing, people. It’s all we can do I guess.

Andrew Bird: web, twitter, amazon, apple, spotify, wiki.

Shorties

New Ex Hex video: Tough Enough

Leave a comment

Video: Ex Hex – “Tough Enough”

Directed by Brandon Herman. From It’s Real, out March 22 on Merge.

Mary Timony, Betsy Wright, and Laura Harris prove they will still be rocking out long after the rest of have been obliterated by a nuclear apocalypse.

Won’t you meet me out downtown?
We’ll watch the moon spin around
Looking for trouble everywhere
Gonna pull it out of the air.

The band says the song is “all about three-dimensional power chords interplaying with whammy dive bombs. It’s a song about turning on your tough switch and forging ahead through whatever storms are happening around you ’cause you have no choice.”

In recording the album, Mary Timony broke out her Rockman amp: “It’s only about the size of a Walkman and takes eight AA batteries, but it sounds massive. We read that parts of [Def Leppard’s] Hysteria were tracked through it, and when we finally plugged it in, it blew our minds!”

The Rockman was developed by Tom Scholz as a portable amplifier that can achieve the “Boston guitar sound” and has been used by rock luminaries such as Rush, the Go-Go’s, ZZ Top, Megadeth, and the Meat Puppets.

Mary Timony knows how to get a gnarly sound out of a guitar.

Ex Hex: web, twitter, amazon, apple, spotify, wiki.

Shorties

New Better Oblivion Community Center video: Dylan Thomas

Leave a comment

Video: Better Oblivion Community Center – “Dylan Thomas”

Directed by Michelle Zauner. From Better Oblivion Community Center, out now on Dead Oceans.

This is so good! And when’s the last time Conor Oberst has looked this happy? Phoebe Bridgers clearly brings out the best in him.

This whole album is great. Which shouldn’t surprise anybody. Their collaboration on Bridgers’ “Would You Rather” from 2017’s Stranger In The Alps was awesome. At the time we called it “a self-contained short story” in the guise of “a simple, pretty, acoustic duet.”

This new one’s more rockin’ and it suits them both. Their voices blend remarkably well. It’s funny that Oberst is as good of a harmonizer as he is, considering the fact that he doesn’t have what anybody would consider a traditionally “strong” voice. But hey, that’s rock and roll. One half science, the other half soul.

* * *

In other news, Bridgers was a named source in a recent high-profile article about a notoriously creepy douchebag who promised young women help with their music careers only to perv out on them and then get emotionally abusive after they got away. Bridgers wrote a great song about her ordeal (“I hate you for what you did… I faked it every time but that’s alright… Why do you sing with an English accent?”).

Others, unfortunately, stopped making music altogether.

Better Oblivion Community Center: web, twitter, amazon, apple, spotify, wiki.

Shorties

New St. Vincent video: Masseduction

Leave a comment

Video: St. Vincent – “Masseduction”

From MASSEDUCTION, out now on Loma Vista.

St. Vincent just won the Best Rock Song Grammy for “Masseduction” and now she released a video for it. She was up against songs by Greta Van Fleet and Ghost so you know this is a very good rock song. But you knew that already.

At the Grammys she performed a smokin’ mashup with Dua Lipa’s “One Kiss.”

St. Vincent: web, twitter, amazon, apple, spotify, wiki.

Continue reading New St. Vincent video: Masseduction →

Shorties

New Ben Kweller video: Heart Attack Kid

Leave a comment

Video: Ben Kweller – “Heart Attack Kid”

Directed by Robert Strange and Ben Kweller. From Circuit Boredom, due sometime soon on the Noise Company.

I dig Ben Kweller’s grungy Southern rocker look. It suits him.

If you’ve noticed that Kweller has been pretty quiet lately, there’s a very good explanation for that. He and his entire immediate family were all almost killed in a carbon monoxide accident.

“We were in this sweet little cabin and in the middle of the night, Lizzy woke up and said, ‘Ben, get up! Something’s wrong–I feel horrible,'” Kweller says. “I immediately jumped out of bed and collapsed to the ground. We instinctively crawled to the front door and opened it. Fresh air rushed in the cabin. I called 911. We grabbed the boys out of bed, trying to shake them awake, and managed to get everyone outside in the snow. The boys were crying and falling in and out of consciousness–it was like something out of a horror film. When the ambulances arrived, they tested our blood and said our CO levels were so high, we were 15 minutes away from not waking up. Fifteen minutes! We spent the next day in the hospital on pure oxygen and days after that feeling lethargic and mush-brained. When we got back home, I was an incapacitated zombie.”

Fortunately, everybody’s okay, but it took him a few years to be “start the machine back up again” and get back into the recording studio.

Glad he did. I’ve been following Kweller since I first heard “Family Tree” on college radio in 2002. He was just a kid then, but Sha Sha is still one of my favorite albums of that era. And he’s produced tons of great stuff since then as well.

“Heart Attack Kid” is a clear sign of good things to come.

And friends: make sure you have a working carbon monoxide detector in your home. It could save your life!

Ben Kweller: web, twitter, amazon, apple, spotify, wiki.

Shorties

New Kacey Musgraves video: Rainbow

Leave a comment

Video: Kacey Musgraves – “Rainbow”

From Golden Hour, out now on MCA Nashville.

Fresh off scoring the #1 album on the Village Voice Pazz & Jop poll and sweeping the Grammys (Country Song, Country Album, Country Solo Performance, and Album of the Year) Kacey Musgraves releases another single from Golden Hour. This is an optimistic piano ballad co-written years ago with Shane McAnally and Natalie Hemby.

The sky has finally opened
The rain and wind stopped blowin’
But you’re stuck out in the same ol’ storm again
You hold tight to your umbrella

It can be heard as a different take on the same metaphor as “Silver Lining” from 2013’s Same Trailer Different Park, maybe even a prequel.

I’m happy that everybody has finally caught up to Kacey Musgraves. She’s been subverting the country establishment for years now. And she’s been on a cosmic trajectory that has achieved a critical consensus that’s pretty uncommon these days. The only thing left for her to tackle is country radio.

Kacey Musgraves: web, twitter, amazon, apple, spotify, wiki.

Continue reading New Kacey Musgraves video: Rainbow →

Shorties

New King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard video: Cyboogie

Leave a comment

Video: King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – “Cyboogie”

Video by Jason Galea. Single out now on Flightless.

Jake and I often talk about the lack of fun in indie rock. I mean…just look around at all the beard stroking and head nodding going on and you can just tell these folks can’t dance.

Our friends in King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard cannot be accused of taking themselves too seriously. No, these kids have decided to don motorcycle helmets and climb into a synth patch board to crank out nearly seven minutes of old school electro fuzz. It may not be a meat helmet, but Goddamnit, they’re having fun!

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard: web, twitter, amazon, apple, spotify, wiki.

Shorties

New Mekons video: Lawrence of California

Leave a comment

Video: Mekons – “Lawrence of California”

From Deserted, out on Bloodshot/Sin Records.

If I’m being honest–and really, there’s no other point in doing this–this song and video are boring. That’s hard for me to say because I love that Mekons are still doing their thing, but this just isn’t…my thing.

Mekons: web, twitter, amazon, apple, spotify, wiki.

Shorties

New Strand of Oaks video: Weird Ways

1 Comment

Video: Strand of Oaks – “Weird Ways”

From Eraserland, out March 22 on Dead Oceans.

I’ve spent a fair amount of time in recording studios over the years. Some professional, some home studios and some just comprised of a 4-track and some SM57 microphones. I’ve spent even more time in rehearsal studios, all of which makes me an amateur but enthusiastic gearhead. I love seeing what gear other bands use and how they mic their kits or where they position their amps in a live room. I’ve spent way too much of my life tracking down studio footage and snap shots of The Beatles recording. It’s kinda my thing.

So the new video from Strand of Oaks is totally my thing. Here we see the band working up the melodic, guitar-crashing sound machine of their latest single in what looks like every recording studio in Portland, Oregon. It made me feel creative and also a little homesick, which is why I listen to music in the first place.

Strand of Oaks: web, twitter, amazon, apple, spotify, wiki.

Shorties

New Automne video: Pendant Que Les Champs Brulent

1 Comment

Video: Automne – “Pendant Que Les Champs Brûlent”

Single out now on ATPD Records.

Niagara’s “Pendant Que Les Champs Brûlent” was a big single in France in 1990. The duo were offered an American deal, but they refused to record English-language versions of their songs so they never got signed over here. (Note: This is not the same Niagara who sang with Detroit’s Destroy All Monsters.)

Automne’s cover is more upbeat and seems to bring out a bit of playful sixties yé-yé that’s missing from the moodier synthpop original. Can’t you imagine girls in mini dresses frugging to this?

While the fields burn
I am waiting for my tears to come,
And when the field dances
May nothing ever reach me.

The video was shot on an island in the Marne River, southeast of Paris, where the band rehearses. Guitarist Perry Leopard tells me, “The island has no bridges, so we have to take a row boat any time we’re packing up gear to play out of town!”

If you’re curious about that little push-button synth contraption, it’s a Pocket Piano built by Critter and Guitari but no longer available. This is the company that designed the Septavox synthesizer specifically for Third Man Records.

Automne: web, facebook, youtube, amazon, apple, spotify, wiki.

Continue reading New Automne video: Pendant Que Les Champs Brulent →