As someone who once had a significant portion of his junior year of college ruined by a gentleman cranking “A Country Boy Can Survive” at all hours of the day and night, I’ve never been a big fan of Hank Williams, Jr., but when you grow up in the South, you learn to accept Bocephus as part of your life whether you actually like him or not. Plus, over the years, I’ve become a fan of his father (Hank, Sr.) and of his son (Hank III), so I feel like I ought to cut the good ol’ boy a little bit of slack.
Junior’s new album, 127 Rose Avenue, is due for release on June 16th, and although the first single - “Red, White, and Pink-Slip Blues” - is tailor-made for the old-school country audiences, you have to admit that it does indeed speak to the current economic climate, not just of the South but of the entire United States. Of course, given that this comes from a man who turned up at Republican rallies in Virginia Beach, VA, and crooned an excruciating little ditty called “McCain Palin Tradition,” you can imagine that most of the comments over on YouTube for this video involve assurances that the events discussed the song are all the fault of Barack Obama.
Whatever. All I know is that I like the dark twang of this track. Maybe you will, too.
We were admittedly late to the Metric party, but after hearing the band’s fantastic new album Fantasies, we are officially smitten. And how cool is this: they just made a video for “Sick Muse,” the song we’ve been putting on mix discs since the album’s release.
The clip itself is simple one: the camera stays still while the band members play, or dance, or sing, or whatever they feel like doing. And if Emily Haines doesn’t have the cutest dance ever, we don’t know who does. Swoon. And as a bonus, this player - which defaults to auto-play, grrrr - contains videos for “Gimme Sympathy” and “Help I’m Alive” as well, along with audio streams of the entire Fantasies album. Sweeeeeeet.
Ladies and gentlemen, the line for Single of the Year starts here.
I’m frankly shocked that these guys are from New York. American bands, particularly young ones, don’t write songs like this anymore, and they certainly don’t use arrangements like this. I had these guys pegged for a UK act all the way, with the Adam & the Ants-style percussion, hand claps and old-fashioned piano. Maybe the arrangement was producer Britt Daniel’s idea, who knows. His band Spoon isn’t exactly playing the American game, either. No matter who’s responsible for putting it together, it’s damn good, and had me racing for the band’s MySpace page. How about that, the other tunes are good, too. Time to hit up the publicist for a review copy. (The band’s album, It’s Frightening, comes out May 19.)
So the tune is definitely a keeper. Now about about the video? Tastefully simple, a rarity these days. The camera spins around - and sometimes above - a circular display of white lights that surrounds the band. That’s it. I bet they shot it in an afternoon, then hit the pub, while the director popped a couple Dramamines and went to bed. Nicely done, lads.
We proles can’t possibly fathom the kind of pressure that Green Day must have felt when they were putting the finishing touches on 21st Century Breakdown, their first album since the multi-platinum - and game-changing - American Idiot. Perhaps that is why they played around with side projects like the Foxboro Hot Tubs (which was a damn good record, by the way), because it enabled them to get their yeah yeahs out without having to worry about commercial expectations.
Ah, but they could only put the world on hold for so long, and at last, they give us “Know Your Enemy,” the debut single from Breakdown. Does it raise the stakes of American Idiot? No, but that appears to be the point. There was no sense in even trying, so instead, they deliver something more akin to their “unplugged” album Warning, which is one of my favorites of theirs. Big choruses, hand clap-ready snare drums, and a no-nonsense performance video to promote it. It’s as if they’re asking us to forget that American Idiot ever happened, and while that makes sense, it’s just not gonna happen. Still, this definitely has me excited to hear the rest of the album. Only a couple more weeks…
We’ll be honest: we’re not posting the clip for “Beyond Therapy,” the debut single from Los Angeles song bird Courtenay Green, because it’s a knockout song. The song is cute enough - though it doesn’t bear even a passing resemblance to the Hollies or New Pornographers, two bands to whom she’s compared in her press release - and Green is quite the fetching lass. Nope, we’re posting the clip for “Beyond Therapy” because the video is awesome, a throwback of sorts to early ’80s clips.
In fact, it’s rather fitting that she made a throwback clip for the song, because the song itself is a the kind of song that would have stood a much better chance of climbing the charts in 1981 than it will today. Green has good pitch, and she’s not flashy (thank God for that, as we have more than enough of those kinds of singers as it is), but her voice sounds wafer-thin compared to the girls currently dominating the charts. Not her fault, of course, but it’s definitely going to pose problems for her, which is why she was very smart to make a clip that will endear her to Gen X music lovers. We see Green singing the song in one of those karaoke bars where the songs have their own videos - not sure if anyone does these anymore, but they were all the rage in the early ’90s - and the video within this video is dead perfect. Star wipe, diamond wipe, heart wipe…yes.
Props to Green for playing to her strengths. Who knows, maybe we’ll eat the words above about her commercial prospects. Wouldn’t be the first time, and we would have no problem getting this one wrong.
Let us guess: your reaction was the same as ours when you saw the above headline. “Neil Young still makes videos?” Yes he does and, knowing the commercial prospects that a Neil Young video would have in today’s market, he made sure to keep things simple. No sense in throwing good money after bad on an elaborate video that the video channels will never play anyway, right?
Young actually shot two videos for “Johnny Magic,” the first single from his upcoming album Fork in the Road, both of which feature Young lip syncing the song in one take while driving his car. We’ve chosen the “Magic Sun” version, where Young brings his dog along for the ride. It’s a bit harder to watch since the sun literally washes out all images on the screen on more than one occasion, but come on, it has a dog. Gotta use the video with the dog.
Why, yes, they are still around…although to be fair, they hadn’t been around for a very long time until recently.
The Blow Monkeys are generally remembered for their 1986 single, “Digging Your Scene,” which was their lone entry into the Billboard Top 100. That it was a one-off was a little surprising, given that it made it into the top 20, but Americans just weren’t buying what the Blow Monkeys were selling. Their ‘86 album, Animal Magic, made it into the top 40, but the follow-up, 1987’s She Was Only A Grocer’s Daughter, only made it into the Top 140 (at #134), and by the time Whoops! There Goes The Neighbourhood emerged in 1989, the band no longer had a record deal in the States. After one final release (1990’s Springtime for the World), they gave up the ghost, and the band’s lead singer, Doctor Robert, dived headlong into a very enjoyable - if not necessarily all that commercially successful - solo career. (Seriously, you should check out his stuff. Just start with his debut, Realms of Gold, and if you like that one, you can’t go wrong with any of the subsequent releases.)
In November of 2007, however, it was announced that the band would be getting back together…and, in an interesting move, declared that they would record and release a new album if the fans were willing to purchase copies in advance to pay for the cost; in turn, they would not only get an autographed copy of the album but, indeed, a thank-you in the liner notes. I admit: I signed up immediately, and I reaped the benefits, just as the Blow Monkeys promised. And the album, Devil’s Tavern, finds the band offering up a more mature version of their old sound, with the good Doctor still in fine voice…as you can clearly hear when you watch the video for “Travelin’ Soul,” which is one of the album’s eleven tracks.
These guys are apparently huge in their homeland of Israel. I’ll be honest, the tune doesn’t do much for me, but this is one of the coolest videos I’ve seen in a long time. Check ch-check check check, check it out.
Even as a longtime Morrissey apologist, I was sorely disappointed with Mozzer’s last album, 2006’s Ringleader of the Tormentors, but when I caught him in concert while he was supporting the record, I was pleasantly surprised with how much more impressive its songs sounded in a live setting. As such, I’ve found myself hopeful for his next album ever since…though, to be fair, as a Morrissey apologist, there was never any chance that I wouldn’t be hopeful…and having heard the first single from his new record, Years of Refusal (set for release on Feb. 16 on Lost Highway), I’m more excited than ever. The song might not be as tough of a first single as, say, “Irish Blood, English Heart,” but it has a very old-school Morrissey sound to it, with a jangle that captured my heart immediately. Check out the pug-happy video below, then let me know what you think about the track:
Most fans of Adult Swim’s “Home Movies” series are probably still angry and bitter over creator Brendon Small’s decision to make his next project about a death metal band, but while the animated adventures of young Brendon, Jason, and Melissa regularly skewered the world of Hollywood, so does “Metalocalypse” poke fun at the music industry. The series focuses on Dethklok, a death metal band so popular that, indeed, by the second season of the series (:::coughing::: now out on DVD :::coughing:::), they rank as the seventh largest economy on the planet Earth; as a result, they answer to no authority but their own, lest the world’s financial solidity fall apart. If you can get past the music and the rampant violence, it’s actually an extremely funny and clever series.
Here’s the test: if you can get through the video for Dethklok’s song, “Mermaider,” and not feel repulsed in any way, then you should give “Metalocalypse” a chance…possibly starting with the Season 1 DVD set.
Be forewarned, however, that it’s very much for mature audiences only.
If you haven’t been introduced to the wild world of Hank Williams III, then now’s your chance, with “Long Hauls and Close Calls,” the first video from his new album, Damn Right Rebel Proud. (And don’t forget to check out our interview with HW3 over at Bullz-Eye!)
I’m going to be honest, and the publicist will hate me for this, but I have to do it: “Perfect Day,” the debut singer by UK pop/R&B starlet Natalia, does nothing for me. It’s a nice sentiment, but a bit moon-eyed in its optimism for my tastes (which of course makes it ideal for its intended teen audience, but that’s another discussion). The video is even sillier. Having said that, and at the risk of being labeled the perviest perv in all of Pervville, look at her. She’s flat-out gorgeous, and rocks that mock turtleneck like no other. Most of today’s popsters come with the powerful voice and the over-produced music, but are completely lacking a unique look or personality. Natalia may not have the tunes yet - one of the songs on her MySpace page uses a huge chunk of Adam and the Ants’ “Prince Charming,” which sounds cooler on paper than in execution - but hot damn, does she have the voice, and she’s got the look. What in the world can make a brown-eyed girl turn blue, etc.
Natalia was gracious enough to shoot a personalized intro for Bullz-Eye’s readers, and lets rip with a little singing to show that she’s not some auto-tune charity case. Good news indeed, but we’re curious to see what she would do if she had Mark Ronson in her corner. Just a thought when it comes time to make album number two, my dear.
Leave it to New York’s Morningwood to make another video that stands out from the pack. “Nth Degree” was an instant classic with its references to album covers past, but their latest clip, “Sugarbaby,” goes in a different direction. Three words: sex with puppets.
All right, this version doesn’t actually show any puppet sex, but there is a quick cut that suggests the guy in the limo was about to receive a happy ending, if you know what I mean. And psssst: if you go to the YouTube page this video is on, you’ll see a link to the uncensored video. Haven’t watched it yet, myself. I just ate lunch.
Can’t get enough Morningwood? You’re in luck - they’re on Letterman tonight. And they don’t even have an album to promote yet. They’re still in the studio. Hurry the hell up, guys.
Every music writer is a whore on some level, and I am a shameless, “2 Girls 1 Cup” skeezer when it comes to Muse. Look at the crowd. Who gets crowds fired up like that anymore? And the thing is, you should see them when the band plays “Knights of Cydonia.” Fucking incredible, that.
Frankly, I’m surprised no one thought of this before. The LA math rockers Bad Dudes assembled one hilarious clip for their song “Eat Drugs” from vintage rock videos from the ‘70s and ‘80s. And for whatever reason, they included Information Society’s Kurt Harland on roller skates. Some bits are more of a stretch than others, but the Devo part is uncanny. Bravo, gents. This’ll get people talking about your band.
