Video Free Silver Lake: Young Hunting, Burial at Sea, Army Navy, Skyline Drive, Hello Echo, Sin Fang, Washed Up, Snorri Helgason

By Jed

1) Even though I've known Ilya, one of two lead singers and guitarist from Young Hunting, for years, I've only seen them play once, and only after years of him encouraging me to come to one of his shows. This experience, as one might predict, filled me with regret, as I could not help but remark on what a talented band I had on so many occasions missed.  Here's a neat live recording/video they shot "at dusk on a hillside" in Lincoln Heights (an area I've known from past experience to be the source of good music video). The song is called "Ride On".  They have a digital single out called Rust, and if plans are kept, Ilya will be guest hosting VFSL in about a month. My expectations are already raised:

Young Hunting, "Ride On", Live at the Landslide, Lincoln Heights from zachary rockwood on Vimeo.

2) Burial at Sea's video for the jangly "Who's Gonna Love You?" takes place throughout eastern L.A., the song name drops several locations in L.A., has the band driving around in cars, rehearsing in a poorly lit venue, and looking rather jolly when shouting out the melacholy title of the song in the chorus.  Lead singer wears a sweet leather jacket and sunglases through most of the video. He and his buddies/bandmates also spend a pleasant portion of the video riding in the backseat of a car, and a small amount of the time they walk past handwritten signs posted around the city with the name of the song on them. The go on tour this fall (today is the first  day of fall!) and have a debut LP out.  Fact  you'll learn from the video: the band likes the Gang of Four and the Replacements!

Burial at Sea "Who's Gonna Love You" from Brainbow on Vimeo.

3) Army Navy's new video for "Ode to Janice Melt" begins with a couple affectionately kissing each other goodbye, as the female half of the couple leaves for a trip. The male half of the couple then proceeds to make out with his hand, which also turns out to be the lead singer of a band. It kind of acts like a hand puppet, without the puppet part! Things get awkward when the girlfriend returns. The video is directed by by Jeremy Konner (of "Drunk History", one of my favorite all time web series') and stars Jason Ritter.

4) Skyline Drive is an alt-country band from L.A. (Venice actually...) who have just recorded a new live HD video for their song "The Switch" in a studio (or web series?) called Jam in the Van (which I promise has nothing to do with pornography, really). It's a nice song, got some slide guitar as you might expect. Reminds of say...Townes Van Zandt?

Skyline Drive - The Switch from Jam in the Van on Vimeo.

5) Hello Echo is a three-piece from L.A. with a new video: "Birdbeat" from their recent full length debut Hello. Is it me or are more and more of the videos I'm posting filmed outdoors on hills, or driving around in cars around the streets of L.A.? According to the press release, this was filmed during Memorial Day weekend, the weekend most often confused with Labor Day weekend. I don't want to sound like I'm complaining though -- the video is unusually joyous, and the drummer is wearing a pair of sunglasses with green frames, which reminds me...where are my sunglasses?

Birdbeat - Hello Echo Official Music Video from Hello Echo on Vimeo.

6) Bear with me this week, because I'm getting so excited about going to the sold out Iceland Airwaves Festival (October 11-16, in Reykjavík -- HEY, ANYONE WANT TO LEND ME A CAMERA TO BRING?????) that I'm going to post THREE Iceland related videos this week. First is a live performance by Sin Fang (side project of SeaBear) in Paris.  Sin Fang's Sindri Már Sigfússon is one of the bigger non-Sigur Ros names coming out of Iceland these days so watch out for him.

Sin Fang Concert Privé from Air d'Islande on Vimeo.

7) What a jerk I am! I've somehow managed to ignore the hype about Washed Out, so much so as to have had absolutely no idea what it sounded like, even though "everyone" seems to like them, and even though it seemed to me like they came out of nowhere, I've already heard other bands describe themselves as sounding like "Washed Out." But listen, they discovered my weak spot, and like a lot of other bands lately, decided to film a music video in Iceland.  I particularly like this one in that not only does it cover the obligatory shots of mountains and the sea, and the striking landcapes, it also captures a gas station (I've affectionately named these "Pissa Og Pylsas", because typically you stop for either a hot dog and/or an opportunity to pee), a party, a campfire, a bus stop, and what I'm pretty sure is Askja (a caldera located about 100 kilometers of gravel road into the interior, and one the most exciting places I visited in the country). All and all a fairly accurate depiction of a someone having a fabulous trip. Oh, and Washed Out apparently are great sounding.  The song is called "Amor Fati".  And dude, I'm not the only one who thinks the star of the video (Luke Rathborne -- not Washed Out's Ernest Greene) looks a lot like Elijah Wood.

Washed Out: Amor Fati from Yoonha Park on Vimeo.

8) Finally, a new video from Iceland's folk music hero Snorri Helgason (he seems to take a lot of queues from Paul Simon, maybe Neil Young, Dylan possibly?) It's taken me a while to get into it, but I think I'm sold. Here's another video showcasing Icelandic landscapes, but tends to focus on one particular mountainside and cave. The song is called "River".

Tell me, tell me, tell me what you want me to post next week. I'll be around. At RFSL Jed at gmail dot com.

Comments

[Jam Van]

Skyline Drive is actually from Topanga Canyon... You can check them and a whole lot more out at www.jaminthevan.com and www.facebook.com/jaminthevan... thanks for posting our video. If it's not too much trouble could you link it back to www.jaminthevan.com? Thanks.