Once indie rock darlings (1997-2003), Death Cab For Cutie hit the mainstream hard with their last independent record to date, Transatlanticism as the 00s went in full swing, scoring hit singles with The Sound Of Settling and Title And Registration, but it wasn't until 2005's Plans (on Atlantic Records) that they went off into the stratosphere with peak-of-songwriting gems like Crooked Teeth, Soul Meets Body and I Will Follow You Into The Dark.
This week, Ben Gibbard's main band released Gold Rush, their best song in over a decade (listen to it twice, it takes a minute to sink in...) and lead-off single off of Thank You For Today, which should come out in August:
The video was directed by Alex Southam, a London-based filmmaker responsible for Kwabs' Fight For Love, Mumford & Sons' Ditmas, Atl J's Tessellate (Clean), Laura Mvula & Nile Rogers' Overcome, Rae Morris' Under The Shadows and Labyrinth Ear's Amber, among others.
Showing posts with label alternative. Show all posts
Showing posts with label alternative. Show all posts
Friday, June 15, 2018
Sunday, April 2, 2017
Video Of The Week: Cake
Cake.
With Soul Coughing, they're my favourite band that I always forget exists.
I wanted to add a few of their songs to my phone playlist this week - namely Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps, Never There, Sheep Go To Heaven, Cool Blue Reason, their cover of Black Sabbath's War Pigs, Satan Is My Motor, She'll Come Back To Me, Open Book and, of course, The Distance:
The 1990s were great about introducing us to acts that didn't all resemble each other, what with the boom in indie labels and the traveling festivals. All bands didn't have to be big at the same level, either; Cake had one extremely successful album - 1996's Fashion Nugget, with their cover of I Will Survive - but also enjoyed moderate success with 1994's Motorcade Of Generosity and 1998's Prolonging The Magic, building a fanbase that would remain loyal to them to this day. Like Pearl Jam, but on a much smaller scale.
In many ways, Cake was similar to Soul Coughing, both containing elements of deadpan-delivery spoken word, rock, humour, poetry, irony, sarcasm; the main difference was the flavouring: Cake was based on country (particularly clearer after the departure of guitarist Greg Brown and his distinctive tone) whereas Soul Coughing's love of jazz was the underlying essence behind the composition.
With Soul Coughing, they're my favourite band that I always forget exists.
I wanted to add a few of their songs to my phone playlist this week - namely Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps, Never There, Sheep Go To Heaven, Cool Blue Reason, their cover of Black Sabbath's War Pigs, Satan Is My Motor, She'll Come Back To Me, Open Book and, of course, The Distance:
The 1990s were great about introducing us to acts that didn't all resemble each other, what with the boom in indie labels and the traveling festivals. All bands didn't have to be big at the same level, either; Cake had one extremely successful album - 1996's Fashion Nugget, with their cover of I Will Survive - but also enjoyed moderate success with 1994's Motorcade Of Generosity and 1998's Prolonging The Magic, building a fanbase that would remain loyal to them to this day. Like Pearl Jam, but on a much smaller scale.
In many ways, Cake was similar to Soul Coughing, both containing elements of deadpan-delivery spoken word, rock, humour, poetry, irony, sarcasm; the main difference was the flavouring: Cake was based on country (particularly clearer after the departure of guitarist Greg Brown and his distinctive tone) whereas Soul Coughing's love of jazz was the underlying essence behind the composition.
Saturday, January 30, 2016
Video Of The Week: Liz Phair
Ah, the 1990s. It was a time where there was an equality of sorts in so-called "alternative rock", which I now realize is regular rock with an open mind, considering women and people of colour seem to have to somehow defend themselves for being musicians nowadays.
None of that makes sense to those of us who grew up in the 1980s and were teens in the 1990s, when people were just people and they could be judged by their character or quality of output. There were signs that women were attending universities at a higher rate then men, so it was believed the one place where gender inequality still prevailed - the workplace - would see a reversal come the New Millennium...
Oh well, so much for that, eh?
These thoughts are in my mind, constantly. And these days, Liz Phair is often in my headphones. So I figured why not add 2+2 and get her "biggest hit" on here to close off January, from 1994's Whip-Smart album, Supernova:
She directed the video herself, and the imagery is somewhat akin to that of The Breeders' Cannonball, which was directed by Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon and acclaimed director Spike Jonze, proving Phair had enough talent in more than one artistic endeavour.
She still tours, to this day, and there are rumours that she will soon embark on a tour headlining for a half-original Smashing Pumpkins acoustic tour (featuring main songwriter Billy Corgan and drummer Jimmy Chamberlin, but missing guitarist James Iha and bassist D'Arcy Wretzky).
None of that makes sense to those of us who grew up in the 1980s and were teens in the 1990s, when people were just people and they could be judged by their character or quality of output. There were signs that women were attending universities at a higher rate then men, so it was believed the one place where gender inequality still prevailed - the workplace - would see a reversal come the New Millennium...
Oh well, so much for that, eh?
These thoughts are in my mind, constantly. And these days, Liz Phair is often in my headphones. So I figured why not add 2+2 and get her "biggest hit" on here to close off January, from 1994's Whip-Smart album, Supernova:
She directed the video herself, and the imagery is somewhat akin to that of The Breeders' Cannonball, which was directed by Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon and acclaimed director Spike Jonze, proving Phair had enough talent in more than one artistic endeavour.
She still tours, to this day, and there are rumours that she will soon embark on a tour headlining for a half-original Smashing Pumpkins acoustic tour (featuring main songwriter Billy Corgan and drummer Jimmy Chamberlin, but missing guitarist James Iha and bassist D'Arcy Wretzky).
Saturday, January 23, 2016
Video Of The Week: The Cure
There are a few bands I want to go see live this year, including Pearl Jam and The Cure, whom I have seen before. I've talked a lot about PJ on this here blog, but somehow I'd never featured The Cure, who very well may rank in my top-5 favourite bands of all time (and definitely are alwys in my top-10).
I've covered them many a time (Lovesong being a staple from 1998-2009, Wrong Number in 2005 and 2007), and decided I should feature one of their best songs and biggest hits this week in a video directed by Tim Pope, who later directed the feature film The Crow: City Of Angels:
It consists mainly of lead singer and main Cure figurehead Robert Smith in a cave where The Fraggles (a.k.a. Fraggle Rock) wouldn't have felt out of place. Great song, though.
I've covered them many a time (Lovesong being a staple from 1998-2009, Wrong Number in 2005 and 2007), and decided I should feature one of their best songs and biggest hits this week in a video directed by Tim Pope, who later directed the feature film The Crow: City Of Angels:
It consists mainly of lead singer and main Cure figurehead Robert Smith in a cave where The Fraggles (a.k.a. Fraggle Rock) wouldn't have felt out of place. Great song, though.
Saturday, November 7, 2015
Video Of The Week: Rush
When I shared Chops playing over Rush's Tom Sawyer earlier this week, I kind of made my bed as to what band I'd be featuring later, though I opted for the title track from their 1991 album Roll The Bones, the first song of theirs that I was truly acquainted with:
It has a lot of what made the 1990s cheesy, from the fast rock intro-slow chorus mix to the ''rap'' near the end, but done early enough in the decade that it still comes off as genuine and experimental. Kind of.
It has a lot of what made the 1990s cheesy, from the fast rock intro-slow chorus mix to the ''rap'' near the end, but done early enough in the decade that it still comes off as genuine and experimental. Kind of.
Saturday, August 16, 2014
Video Of The Week: The Postal Service
It's been more than a decade since their debut and lone album came out, and it remains among the top-10 independent releases of the past 30 years, probably in the top-5. Funny how a side project from Death Cab For Cutie's Ben Gibbard and Dntel's Jimmy Tamborello with help from Rilo Kiley's Jenny Lewis turned into the biggest hype-making machine since Nirvana...
And yet, when I get out of my circle of musician friends and the vinyl buyers, I still encounter people my age, in my city, that have never heard of The Postal Service. And while their electronics-induced soft folk-rock may not be as fresh as when it came out in 2003, songs like Such Great Heights, We Will Become Silhouettes and, of course, The District Sleeps Alone Tonight still pack a hell of a punch.
The video for The District (...), directed by Cobra Kai, was nominated for many awards, including ''Best Video Made For Under $10K''. To me, it's by far the best track on the record; the music is just a notch above the other ones, but the lyrics ring so true, which happens when they are: Gibbons was chronicling his girlfriend leaving him in Seattle and moving to Washington, D.C. (known locally as ''The District'', since it belongs to no state).
And yet, when I get out of my circle of musician friends and the vinyl buyers, I still encounter people my age, in my city, that have never heard of The Postal Service. And while their electronics-induced soft folk-rock may not be as fresh as when it came out in 2003, songs like Such Great Heights, We Will Become Silhouettes and, of course, The District Sleeps Alone Tonight still pack a hell of a punch.
The video for The District (...), directed by Cobra Kai, was nominated for many awards, including ''Best Video Made For Under $10K''. To me, it's by far the best track on the record; the music is just a notch above the other ones, but the lyrics ring so true, which happens when they are: Gibbons was chronicling his girlfriend leaving him in Seattle and moving to Washington, D.C. (known locally as ''The District'', since it belongs to no state).
Friday, March 1, 2013
Video Of The Week: Suicidal Tendencies
Many people judge Suicidal Tendencies on the basis of their name, which used to scare parents and entice teenagers; others see them classified as ''crossover thrash'' (a term used to define when hardcore punk meets speed metal with thrash) and decide to move on.
Big mistake.
Throughout their career - which started in 1981 - they've evolved and experimented a lot, and it just accelerated when Robert Trujillo (now of Metallica) joined the band in the late 80s, incorporating funk in the mix - which would lead to brother band/side project Infectious Grooves running a parallel career for nearly a decade.
Their most acclaimed effort may have been Lights... Camera... Revolution!, but I feel 1992's The Art Of Rebellion (released on Sony's own Epic Records, a label that also distributed Michael Jackson, Pearl Jam, Ozzy Osbourne, Rage Against The Machine and Alice Cooper - all artists with clear visions) went even further, incorporating psychedelia, ballads and spoken word poetry in the mix. It even had thrash metal songs with the rhythm played on... acoustic guitar.
That's where this video comes in: it's two songs merged into one, with I Wasn't Meant To Feel This feeling a tad like a Syd Barrett piece, and Asleep At The Wheel as the pièce de résistance, catchy, smart, but with an undertone of subdued anger that warrants a second listen. And a third. Then gets incrusted in your brain.
Big mistake.
Throughout their career - which started in 1981 - they've evolved and experimented a lot, and it just accelerated when Robert Trujillo (now of Metallica) joined the band in the late 80s, incorporating funk in the mix - which would lead to brother band/side project Infectious Grooves running a parallel career for nearly a decade.
Their most acclaimed effort may have been Lights... Camera... Revolution!, but I feel 1992's The Art Of Rebellion (released on Sony's own Epic Records, a label that also distributed Michael Jackson, Pearl Jam, Ozzy Osbourne, Rage Against The Machine and Alice Cooper - all artists with clear visions) went even further, incorporating psychedelia, ballads and spoken word poetry in the mix. It even had thrash metal songs with the rhythm played on... acoustic guitar.
That's where this video comes in: it's two songs merged into one, with I Wasn't Meant To Feel This feeling a tad like a Syd Barrett piece, and Asleep At The Wheel as the pièce de résistance, catchy, smart, but with an undertone of subdued anger that warrants a second listen. And a third. Then gets incrusted in your brain.
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Video Of The Week: Images In Vogue
Canadian New Wave? Yep, Images In Vogue have that niche market covered.
Equal parts Corey Hart, The Cure, Depeche Mode and Culture Club, but as jocks wearing glasses and leather jackets. Among their band members, though, liedormant cEvin Key (founder of Skinny Puppy) and Don Gordon (founder of Numb, who has since quit the music industry and moved to Vietnam), proving that going cheese-pop once doesn't mean you'll stick with it forever. Those two do not play on this recording however - they'd both left two years prior to the release of this 1985 track, for cause of ''too poppy''.
Equal parts Corey Hart, The Cure, Depeche Mode and Culture Club, but as jocks wearing glasses and leather jackets. Among their band members, though, lie
Friday, November 17, 2006
Video Of The Week: The Polyphonic Spree
Christian Bovine wanted to become a filmmaker and instead became an expert in new media. You win some, you win some.
One of his school projects at NYU was making a video for The Polyphonic Spree's cover of the Nirvana classic Lithium using sock puppets, which was so good the band let it become its de facto official video:
Of course, the Spree is Tim DeLaughter's post-Tripping Daisy project, one that was shut down after the overdose death of guitarist Wes Berggren. I wasn't a fan of TD - particularly its fucking-annoying I Got A Girl mega-hit - but I can see now that DeLaughter actually has a decent artistic vision and some level of skill.
One of his school projects at NYU was making a video for The Polyphonic Spree's cover of the Nirvana classic Lithium using sock puppets, which was so good the band let it become its de facto official video:
Of course, the Spree is Tim DeLaughter's post-Tripping Daisy project, one that was shut down after the overdose death of guitarist Wes Berggren. I wasn't a fan of TD - particularly its fucking-annoying I Got A Girl mega-hit - but I can see now that DeLaughter actually has a decent artistic vision and some level of skill.
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