Austin, TX punk unit Riverboat Gamblers have a new music video from director José Jones. The sand paper punk the group have recently honed on the road with Rise Against and Rancid are on full display here. Single, “Victory Lap” is the focal point, as the footage shows rousing live shows and behind the scenes tomfoolery. “Victory Lap” is off the fivesome’s latest album, Underneath the Owl (Volcom Entertainment). The group is heading overseas for a Euro tour, including dates at Reading and Leeds Festivals.
Former Seventh-day Adventist pastor’s kid, Diane Birch has a soulful debut album out that’s coyly titled Bible Belt. On it she blends enough rock, blue-eyed soul, gospel, and pop to make the heads of Adele and Duffy spin. Belt actually hit the Top 10 album chart on iTunes and #7 on Amazon. Much of that sucess is due to Birch’s runaway radio hit / Aretha Franklin-esque first single “Nothing But A Miracle.” The clip flies through “The 5 Stages of Grief”: Birch denies her plight over morning coffee, bargains with an unpictured man, angrily cuts up her former lover’s favorite shirt, pounds out depressive chords on her piano, and finally accepts her fate on a twilighted street. The remarkable singer’s first TV performance on The Late Late Show With Craig Fergusonre-airs this week. Appearances at Late Show With David Letterman on July 22 and Jimmy Kimmel Live on July 31, will follow. Birch has already hit up Last Call With Carson Daly, so Conan O’Brien looks to be the next late-night comedy show in her sights.
Alan Cohen Experience
“Your Mother Should Know” (The Beatles cover, feat. Sarah Silverman) Video
This funnySeth Kroll and Alan Cohen-produced video for the Alan Cohen Experience cover of The Beatles’ “Your Mother Should Know” will appear on Beatles Complete on Ukulele July 21st. The brainchild of producer Roger Greenawalt (Ben Kweller, Nils Lofgren, The Pierces) and David Barratt (Jimmy Page, David Bowie),they pulled a Record Club and set to re-imagine every Beatles song every week. An essay is also accompanied with each new track. Get all of them here. The interpretation of the song “Your Mother Should Know” conflates the mythological story of Oedipus Rex with The Magical Mystery Tour cut. The video also includes a special guest spot from comedian Sarah Silverman. Alan Cohen Experiencecollaborated with Greenawalt on his upcoming Southern rock EP, Eat the Peace, due out November 3.
Here’s the narration in the clip:
Behold the tragedy of Oedipus the King. So says the Oracle. Oedipus of Thebes, heed this warning well. It is your destiny to murder your father and marry your mother. It is your fate to become a great King. All that you love and hold dear will be laid waste by your own hand.
No man is considered fortunate until he is dead. No man is considered fortunate until he is dead.
Death Cab for Cutie
“Little Bribes” Video
Jul 02, 2009
This fan video for Death Cab For Cutie‘s “Little Bribes” is surprisingly good. Check it out at the link below. Unemployed director/cinematographer Ross Ching mentions he’s unemployed on his website but we hear Atlantic Records has already pegged him for another music video project based on his excellent time-captured clip. Though the clip meticulously represents all 211 lyrics of The Open Door EP‘s best track, Ching notes that, “if you don’t count the camera equipment that I already had” it cost him around $75, most of that measly budget going to gas. Ching shot it in the LA area (and at his parents’ house in San Jose). The video premiered on Stereogum, and you can download a copy of it at his website. Also, if you didn’t already read it, we interviewed Ben Gibbard last month.
Mega-moody indie-folkies The Black Heart Procession are releasing their sixth album (and first in over three years) on October 6th. The appropriately titled Six is in line with Procession’s other numerical LPs (see: 1, 2,Three) andis also the San Diego group’s first longplayer for Temporary Residence Limited. Fourth track, “Rats,” is a spooky preview of what’s to come. Six‘s formats are as follows: CD, 2XLP, and Limited Edition USB. The pre-order begins August 1st.
Antony and the Johnsons
“Crazy In Love” (Beyoncé cover with the Metropole Orchestra)
For those poptimists out there, this YouTube clip of Antony and the Johnsons performing Beyoncé‘s “Crazy In Love” in Amsterdam will make them beam with pride. This particular live rendition was with the Metropole Orchestra and features plenty of woodwinds, brass, strings, and harps. You know, an orchestra!
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
“Heads Will Roll (Passion Pit Remix)” MP3 Stream
Jul 01, 2009
The original “Heads Will Roll” is an all-out synth dancefloor destroyer and is one of the many hallmarks on the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ It’s Blitz! LP. That lycanthrope from YYY’s badass, Thriller-esque music video returns on the cover of the single (pictured above). After enlisting Animal Collective for a tepid “Zero” remix, the YYYs would get Passion Pit to rework “Heads Will Roll” for a British single. You can stream the whole thing over at Hype Machine. Nothing out of the ordinary here. Some ping-pong-y Casio tones and a bass heavy club beat subvert the original’s intentions. The single is available right now on CD and 7-inch picture disc on the U.K. website Recordstore. The first 500 buyers get a free poster and 10 of those posters will be signed by the band.
On the music vid for Harlem Shake‘s “Strictly Game,” the Brooklyn quintet had their buddies at Supermarche contort the ususally crappy slideshow fan clip trope into something quite memorable. The video’s pretty engaging, as stop motion photos of the group slowly animate. Vocalist Lexy Benaim still reminds me of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah frontman, Alec Ounsworth. Technicolor Health is out now on Gigantic Music and the band is embarking on a mini tour of the U.K. after their sold-out performance at The Bowery Ballroom with fellow Kings County denizens Motel Motel. If you want to hear more about Harlem Shakes, we featured the meteoric band in the Pleased to Meet You section of the Spring ‘09 issue.
