By Jed
1) The consensus at October's Iceland Airwaves festival was that L.A's Active Child was one of the highlights. His expert harp-ing, and "choirboy"-like (hat tip: all other reviews on the internet -- I prefer to compare his vocals to that of Jimmy Sommerville of the Bronski Beat) make him both a critics' favorite, as well as a compelling live performer. The new video for "Hanging On" (the second sing from Active Child's debut album You Are All I See) casts away such comparison, by depicting the misadventures of a flyfisherman in an unidentified "naturey" location (i.e. a river). It's a compelling song, which transcends the accusation of gimmickry.
Stone Darling - Baby Come Home from Tony and Gabe on Vimeo.
3) The new video from L.A.'s American Royalty (self described as "psychedelic blues-rock and an unexpected cross between The Black Keys and Boys Noize" is for a song called "Matchstick". It is entirely animated, quite good, and I just watched it twice.
American Royalty - Matchstick from American Royalty on Vimeo.
4) Friend Needs Help is a comedy webseries that lives well within the confines of the L.A. local music scene -- it is directed by local director/photographer Simon Cardoza stars local musicians Christian Biel (Bright Beast), Nicholas Celgio (George Glass) and Randolph Williams (One Trick Pony), as well as Josh Hoover, Christina Ulloa, and is scored by Silverlake/L.A. bands such as Manhattan Murder Mystery (who provide the program's theme song: "Smoky Mountain"), The Happy Hollows, Transmissions, Anchors For Architects, Rademacher, The Movies, Pisces, George Glass, Death To Anders, One Trick Pony and The Soft Hands. The series is about 3 males roommates, and the first episode appears to revolve around one crafty roommate manipulating the other two in order to maintain the status quo. It is called "Today Is Your Lucky Day!"
Friend Needs Help - Today Is Your Lucky Day! from Simon Cardoza on Vimeo.
5) While Richard Dawkins borders on insufferable when he pontificates re The New Atheism (full disclosure: I agree with almost everything he says), he is remarkably more charming when autotuned. For the newest installment in the Symphony of Science (a youtube series that turns science lectures/interviews into song/poems about grand themes) for "Evolution" (which is, in fact, the "Greatest Show on Earth").
6) I wish I understood more than snippets of the new video from Iceland's Prinspóló - "Föstudagsmessa" ("Friday's Mass"). I love the fact that this guy seems to wear his paper crown everywhere, whether in music video or in live performance. He explains the song (which is sung entirely in Icelandic) as follows: "Yes, the song is about the place you don't want to be at. For example a dark and dirty nightclub where everybody is pretending to have fun and everything is great. The video brings that idea, to pretend everything is great when it isn't, to another level and tries to make it fit to an idea of a focal point and surroundings. Like when traveling and you have your picture taken in front of a historical building, which is the focal point, you or the building?"
7) The new video for "Delusional" from Icelandic duo Human Woman relies on a hula-hooping girl and kaleidoscopic effects for visuals, but the track is a solid dance track that vaguely resembles "Fools Gold" from the Stone Roses.
What did you think of last night's State of the Union address? Email me at RFSLJed at gmail dot com and speak your mind. Or send me a link to your band's latest and greatest music video.
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