Video Of The Week: Pixies

The Pixies released a new video today, directed by current bassist Paz Lenchantin, of their best song in years, Classic Masher:


You can tell Lenchantin had a lot in common with former Zwan bandmate Billy Corgan, as both have a fascination with old-time almost-stop-motion films and over-the-top makeup, frail women and stuttering videos.

Video Of The Week: Pixies

Since Paz Lenchantin has announced she is now the Pixies' full-time bassist and violinist, what better time to feature Another Toe In the Ocean from 2013's EP1 and 2014's Indie Cindy compilation of all three of the band's recent EPs:


The animated video was written, directed and animated by Liviu Boar, with an entire team of artisans helping out: Barbu Harsan (art direction, post-production, compositing, animation), Cami Cuibus (line art, color), Vlad Botos (background art), Atilla Nagy (background art, 3D modeling and animation), Vlad Harsan (3D modeling), Hunor Illyes (background art), Melinda Raduly (background art), Andrei Zaitiu (post-production, compositing, animation), and Laszlo Demeter (post-production, animation).

I'm curious to hear what the new record will sound like, after the last few releases were good yet underwhelming.

Video Of The Week: Pixies

Let's get this one out of the way right off the bat: The Pixies' recent songs sound nothing like they did in the late 1980s - and that's fine. There is no need for albums consisting of 8 versions of Wave Of Mutilation and six Where Is My Mind? rehashes.

The thing that matters is if the songs are any good, and my first three listens of Magdalena all point towards 'yes', and you can judge by yourselves with this video by Judy Jacob (though I feel the song would have deserved a better video, not that it's bad, just that it doesn't go anywhere):



Sure, the band's had a hectic history, from splitting up before they would have made it big when grunge hit, to the way Frank Black announced to the band it was over (via fax machine!), to reuniting for the money, to Kim Deal departing in 2012, to her being replaced by Kim Shattuck, to Shattuck's own firing at the end of a show.

These days, the bass duties are handled by Paz Lenchantin (A Perfect Circle, Zwan), whom I really like. I wonder how she'll get the news when the time comes...

Most bands have a revolving door of drummers, not bass players. At least Pixies don't have the Van Halen problem of having to change the face and voice of the band every 5 years...