So I love songs where lots of people sing vaguely life-affirming sentiments in unison.
This makes me want to climb something and ring the bell I find up there. There’ll be a bell, right? Who’s with me?
music
Stealing Sheep – Apparition
Love this video. Excellent morrising!
Wha-Wha-Wha-Wha-What the Fuck?
I don’t know what any of this means but I think it’s important. Must… decode… the message…
Cult Boyfriend
Jeffrey Lewis is just very good, isn’t he?
I’m not a cult boyfriend, by the way. I’m probably more of a cheesy mainstream boyfriend best enjoyed ironically or drunk.
Sword & Sorcery EP
Isn’t this trailer gorgeous and intriguing? I’m not 100% sure what it’s selling, but if it’s a game I’ll play it, and if it’s biscuits I’ll eat ’em.
The trailer, by Superbrothers, features the music of Jim Guthrie, music created using MTV Music Generator on the PlayStation. Here’s a previous collaboration between Guthrie and Superbrothers, The Children of the Clone. I LIKE it. There’s a nice interview about the collaboration here: ifc.com
Weapons For War
This is jolly. The album, Confetti, is jolly all the way through, too. It has an Annuals/Animal Collective sunny day woozy psychedelia thing going on. It hums like a drowsy bumble bee, which is nice on a cold night like tonight.
Concrete Schoolyard
Well this takes me back to my time in the L.A. hip hop underground. Ah, those were the days. MCing like a river rocking lyrical flow and experimenting with harmonic convergence, dynamic vocal inflections, and fly b-boy bravado. Basically kicking it old-school with that classic rap shit. And in many ways Jurassic 5 did the same.
Sacred Animals
Awful video. Terrible sound quality. Sublime song.
More Sacred Animals, including the downloadable 4-track EP Welcome Home here. So bloody good!
Heaven Can Wait
There’s certainly a lot to look at in this video, isn’t there? Although maybe the most disconcerting part is realising that Beck’s head is starting to resemble a gingery lightbulb. It’s directed by Keith Schofield, and you can see more of his work on his website here: http://keithschofield.com/. I’d say his stuff has a glossy oddness to it. It’s healthy, clean-cut and safe California-style surrealism, but very pretty for all that.
His site also contains treatments for the videos, which are fascinating. For this one, he says:
Each scene will have a clear purpose. It’s just that no scene will connect to any other one. They won’t connect to anything. And I want nearly every shot to be a “WOW!” moment – a big set piece that any other video would spend 3 minutes on.
Which I’d say is pretty much what he delivers.
Shark Ridden Waters
Sharks frighten me, with their grumpy faces and cold, dead eyes, like David Mitchell’s eyes, but this song is not about grumpy sharks, it’s about splitting up with a French girl. The French frighten me, with their grumpy faces etc etc…
What a gorgeous song! Blissed-out pop with lush harmonies and a dude with a beard playing a plinky-plonky solo on a toy phone. Nice work, bearded dude. From the bearded dude’s forthcoming solo album Hotel Shampoo.
Ramshackle Charm 