Hey y’all! And thanks to all the new people who have been subscribing, I really appreciate your readership!
I thought I’d share these three new analog, 1980s-inspired music videos with you. It’s new music too. It’s crazy how the the ’80s VHS look is so hot right now. But I think it’s cool in our super-digital-clarity world. Thanks to my peoples over at PIAS and BBGUN Press and for the heads up!
Hi Readers,
I’m ramping up for a big week of music (I’m covering at least one, maybe two big concerts). So I thought I’d post these two new tracks for you. I found out about them from my music colleague Lucius Yeo. Hope you enjoy!
I just heard this new track thanks to LuciusYeo.co.uk. It’s an excitingly epic electronic/trance song called “Still Breathing But Already Dead” by the Catalan duo The Suicide of Western Culture. See what you think – looks like it’s brand-spanking new:
I met Bob of Cherry S/T and Keep Me Conscious while directing my music video for their song “Greatest Disaster” (below) which went on to premiere at the Coney Island Film Festival. From there it went to television for several months playing on Music Choice’s video on demand:
I just listened to Meanwhile (aka multi-instrumentalist/singer Tom Andrews) on The Guardian. I gotta say, although he sounds a lot like Prince, I’m digging his music! It’s upbeat, which is imperative as the days grow shorter in NYC.
I just found out that M83, Com Truise, College and the soundtrack to 2011’s movie Drive, isn’t the only dreamy retro 80s sythpop around! There’s a whole new genre out that’s sprung up! This relatively new genre of music is called, as far as I can tell, “80s New Wave Revival” or “80s SynthPop” or “80s Revival”. I just made the realization about this musical movement whilst exploring youtube (or course!) and ended up discovering NewRetroWave. It’s a youtube channel that hosts all these “Retro New Wave” bands.
I heard this electro band BIG DATA this past week and dig them. I’m guessing the band’s name is a nod to gigantic data sets (Big Data). Cool. There are four tracks on their debut EP and the vocals are fun, sung with relish by Daniel Armbruster (JOYWAVE) on the track “Dangerous”. “Dangerous” sounds like a bass slapping convergence of Peter Gabriel, MGMT, and Discovery. By the way, I dig the fact that BIG DATA is from Brooklyn (where I live). And from what I understand, the band is the brainchild of producer Alan Wilkis.
The track “Big Dater” adds MUSE’s sound and a touch of 90s boyband aesthetic. Dig that old school modem near the middle. Nice touch.
Next, in “The Stroke of Return” the MUSE influence is present as well as GIORGIO MORODER’s sound – an interesting combination. It’s like the Neverending Story soundtrack meets MUSE!?! And the lyrics explore how we’re all giving our personal data up willy nilly to the cloud. And that is not good. Pretty relevant paranoia!
Shoot, they just played last night at the Brooklyn Bowl! Looks like this band is starting to get big, check out their debut EP ‘1.0’ released by Wilcassettes LLC on 19 August 2013.
Big Data – “Dangerous (feat. Joywave):
Big Data – “Big Dater”
Big Data – “The Stroke of Return”
The BIG DATA Facebook page
While I was waiting for a FedEx package that never arrived, I started watching music videos. And I suddenly realized “I have to make a list of some of the funniest.” So here we go, this is by no means complete, or the end of the effort. Enjoy!
Aqua – Barbie Girl
Electric Six – Dance Commander
Yo La Tengo – Sugarcube
Electric Six is a rockingly cool and funny band. When my pal Andy introduced me to their music about three years ago, I became a fan. For those of you wondering, they’re best known for their hit “Danger! High Voltage” featuring Jack White. However, they have other really funny songs too. And singer Dick Valentine is incredible! He is intelligent, witty and completely silly and absurd.
Today, I’m going to share the video for their song “Synthesizer”:
This music video is awesome in so many ways, from the great retro aesthetic (thanks to Director Chris Chambless), to the absurdly funny lyrics. And of course, the incredible performance by lead actor Guy Perry. So weird, odd and funny. I had to leave a comment. And I can’t believe that he wrote me back. What a nice guy:
Long live Electric Six and Guy Perry!
– The Wandering Humorist