Arum Rae of White Dress Performs "I Got Visions" in a Van

It seems like the only time I ever post on this blog anymore is to share some news about White Dress. It does take much to get me motivated enough to conjure up new material for the Blog From Mars. But Arum Rae's band has a special power to make me post. So here is a great clip of Arum Rae taking it solo for Jam In the Van with a new tune "I Got Visions". Great song, and as always her voice is magic.  She rocks my socks.

White Dress - "Five Feet of Road" @ Beauty Ballroom 02.22.12

Here's some footage of White Dress from their show at the new Beauty Ballroom a couple weeks ago. As always, they rocked. And thankfully I've been named an official groupie by the band. They're my favs!

The new Handsome Furs' (extremely) NSFW video could be my most favorite video EVER!

This new video from Handsome Furs continues the husband and wife duo's tradition of frequent PDA. For this clip the two up the ante by outright getting down and dirty--and nude. The video also features frolicking in the woods, car roof dancing, roadside motels, and more nudity from the super hot girl that is featured on the band's album cover. In other words, it features everything that I fully support. But most importantly the video is for the song "What About Us?" from the Handsome Furs' remarkable new album Sound Kapital, which is out now on Sup Pop Records. I love the direction that Dan Boeckner (husband) and Alexei Perry (wife) went on this album as they continue to delve more into synth and industrial music.

When you get a minute check out the video below. And remember that I warned you about the content...

Letters To Distant Cities: A New Multimedia Project Featuring Shara Worden

While the last My Brightest Diamond album A Thousand Shark's Teeth came back in 2008, Shara Worden has steadily kept delivering new music through various projects. Her highest profile work would probably be the involvement in the Decembertist folk-rock opera The Hazards of Love, where she gave voice to the fairy queen. Yet last year saw her a featured player on Clogs' The Creatures in the Garden of Lady Walton, and then collaborating with Sarah Kirkland Snyder on the brilliant Penelope song sequence. Now she is once again involved in another very artistic venture.

Letters To Distant Cities comes from New York-based indie classical label New Amsterdam Records, who also previously released the Penelope album. The project finds Worden exploring the work of Turkish-American poet Mustafa Ziyalan along side a cast that includes Clare Muldaur Manchon and composer Rob Moose. For most of the album Worden is in poetry mode as she translates Ziyalan's verse to english, but she also delivers a new My Brightest Diamond song. The video for that contribution can be found below. Letters To Distant Cities is available now on digital download and physical cd. The latter of which includes 24 photographic illustrations based on the poetry that completes the multimedia project.


I find myself becoming a bigger fan of Shara Worden with each venture. For one, her voice is unbelievably powerful. There is no wonder she keeps getting recruited for these concept albums where her vocals need to convey a particular character or comprise deep emotion. Also, it's good to see a predominate indie musician whose artistic scope goes beyond that of the typical blogger-hype band. According to Colin Meloy, she was even considered for a role in the Spider-Man musical. Worden is not your typical indie artist, and I love her for it. 

Cats: The Sequel Comes To Austin In The Boxing Lesson "Three" Video

I bet you thought that the Boxing Lesson couldn't get any stranger after the alien sexed up video "Four." To those assumptions I have two words: Cat Masks!!

The Austin space-rock duo have been pushing their mini instrumental album Fur State for the last couple months and delivering some pretty spaced out videos in the process. The latest of which is for "Three,"as in the third track on the album. The clip features the band in the guise of cats romping through the streets of the city, along with some performance footage from Mohawk and the Astoria. It's a fun vid.



For those who haven't discovered the psychedelic nugget Fur State, pop over to bandcamp. The band recently reveled through twitter that they have a good amount of new material recorded and are exploring the releasing possibilities. I'm sure I'm not the only one eagerly awaiting a follow-up.

The Great Nostalgic Returning To The Stage This Sunday @ Red 7, and Provide Us "Hustlers And Junkies"

The Great Nostalgic are set to make their return to the stage after a nearly five month absence this Sunday [03.13.11] at Red 7. Of course they spent that time recording their second album Hope We Live Like We Promised, which is set for the street date of April 5th. Leading up to its release the band has been giving us a new video every month since the new year. The month of March brings us the clip for "Hustlers and Junkies." The masquerade type theme makes me think of one of those secret rich people orgies, but that is only because I recently watched Eyes Wide Shut. This video on the other hand features no sex, just some serious rocking out. And because it is a good song, that is acceptable. See below.

It also looks like we get several chances to catch them during SXSW. Their upcoming dates are here, which includes the official vinyl release at Emo's next month. Hope We Live Like We Promised can be ordered now. For those who need to get up to speed on one of Austin's best locals, their self-titled debut can be downloaded for free from their site.

• Sun. March 13th - 8pm@ Red7 (free SXSW event)
• Tue. March 15th - 12am@ Ghost Room (free SXSW event)
• Fri. March 18th - 1pm@ 604 E. 6th st. 2nd floor (free SXSW event)
• Sat. April 2nd - 10pm@ Emos (Vinyl Release Party!)

Austin’s Great Nostalgic Offer More Album Details, Videos, and Free Download.

The march toward the release of the Great Nostalgic’s next album is gaining momentum. The band is solidifying a new lineup, gearing up for SXSW shows, and of course prepping the album for a March/April release. In a recent email, frontman Abram Shook gave me some details on the themes of Hope We Live Like We Promised…

“The album does indeed still maintain a bit of a concept, though not quite as much of a story arc as the first record.  This one is set up more as a series of vignettes about ordinary life in a neighborhood.  Sometimes the stories intersect, and sometimes they spin off in their own directions, kinda like the movies Short-Cuts, or Smoke.  It’s definitely poppier and lighter than our first record, but still keeps a 70's psychedelia feel throughout, and reveals more with multiple listens.”

According to Shook Hope We Live Like We Promised is sequenced for vinyl-style listening, songs heard in groups of sides. So if you want to get the full effect, picking up the vinyl album would be a good idea. The pre-order is a great deal and is up on their site.

Also on the site they have made the download of their spectacular debut available for free/donation. So if you’re unfamiliar with the Great Nostalgic this is a great way to catch-up. Especially for any non-Austinite that may be reading this, so you can hear the quality music our local Austin scene offers.

The band is also releasing a new video every month leading up to Hope We Live. The first two are already available.

January’s offering was “The Great Unknown.”




And the latest for February is "Spirit World"




p.s. I have heard the album (yes, be jealous) and can attest to Shook’s statements above. It’s poppy, it’s fun, and another solid offering from the band. I’ll most likely post a short review/write-up closer to the album’s official release.

OMG... Hipster Superheroes

Why is hipster humor so funny? I've always rejected any notion that I maybe a hipster. Mostly for the fact that I'm really not that "hip." Yet when I see stuff like hipster dinosaurs or this hipster superheroes video, I start to question if my strong opinions on music paints me as a hipster. Maybe it's being over opinionated combined with the skinny jeans? But I still don't think the word "hip" really describes me.

A label to do fully admit to is comic book geek, so I find this video from College Humor hilarious.

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Merry X-Mas Everybody

Nothing says "Birth of Baby Jesus" like a super-goreous freckled british girl singing Christmas songs. So here is one of my favorite artists of this past year Kate Nash doing a rendition of "Merry X-Mas Everybody," originally by Slade. It's taken from A.V. Undercover's series of holiday performances.

Kate Nash covers "Merry X-Mas Everybody"

Nights Are Warm And The Days Are Young

Here's another David Bowie find that came to my attention after reading Marc Spitz's biography. Soul Train is always very awkward for any performer. For one, the artist always has to lip-synch, usually very badly. Watching the video below you will probably think that the audio is off synch. It's not; that's just classic drugged up rock star forgetting his lines. Also, I'm guessing the audience is told to completely ignore the person who's performing because when they're up there it always seems like the dancers couldn't care any less. Then again, maybe that's just 70's cool. Either way, here is Bowie's performance of "Golden Years" from 1975. As Spitz puts it, "Pete Doherty and Amy Winehouse have never looked this wasted."

I Never Lost Control

I recently finished Marc Spitz's Bowie biography, which takes a good look at David Bowie's life and career up through his current period of artistic silence. While Bowie diehards like myself patiently await for the man to drop another nugget of pure brilliance on the world, books like this can bring up some moments that may have gone unnoticed by the younger generation.

David Bowie's 1979 Saturday Night Live performance was one of those aspects that I was previously unaware of. I quickly had to see for myself after Spitz spent a couple pages describing it. (What did we do without the internet to provide us with instant gratification at times like this?) So take a look for yourself. This is really something that needs to be seen. Think about the wave of WTF's this probably caused: from the pizza slice shaped digs on "The Man Who Sold the World," to the crazy puppet effects on "Boys Keep Swinging." Also notice German-born vocalist/New York socialite Klaus Nomi providing backing for the three performances (he's the one in black).

Happy Halloween!

In celebration of holiday, I give you the wonderful creepy video from Katy (Kickball) Goodman of the Vivian Girls. "Never Come Around" is the debut single from her solo project La Sera, and it's kinda awesome. So revel in the bloody horror...

Sarah Blasko - As Day Follows Night

A while ago I reviewed Sarah Blasko's latest album. Which as usual, was exciting being that I was a huge fan of her previous releases. As I state in the review, Blasko is quit the hidden gem. Plus she's Australian, and chicks with Australian accents are hot. But getting back to the music, here is an excerpt of the review:

... we stand in front of Sarah Blasko’s latest. As Day Follows Night is Blasko’s most fulfilling release to date. The tracks are more constructed at all levels, giving a bigger sound to Blasko’s performance as she continues to navigate each song seamlessly with her vocal pirouettes.

So click the link below to read the full review.

[SSv Review: As Day Follows Night]

Blasko has also released a crop of cool videos off this album as well. Check out the duo below.

John Legend & The Roots do Arcade Fire

Last week John Legend and The Roots dropped their much anticipated, much hyped collaboration album Wake Up!, a collection of covers that takes its name from the well-known Arcade Fire song. Oddly, their cover of "Wake Up" didn't make the final cut of the album and what was left fell short of spectacular. Where the idea of hearing hip-hop/soul renditions of songs from different genres sounds exciting, what we actually got were hip-hop/soul renditions of older soul songs. And that is not so exciting. I hate to say it, but this is the first time that I've been let down by a Roots' project. Seeing this live video of Legend and Philadelphia's finest doing a monstrous version of "Wake Up" makes me dream of what could have of been.

?uestlove, if you can hear me, get Legend back in the studio and give us a proper album that demonstrates how you're both powerhouses in the game. Maybe I'm a little let down because The Roots are coming off of what could be their finest album to date, How I Got Over. Maybe I'm over reacting because, as a Philly native, being a Roots fan is in my DNA. Maybe I just want a proper studio version of this "Wake Up" cover.

So how about it. B-side, please.

Get Twee! Allo Darlin' to Finally Get U.S. Release

For me, brit band Allo Darlin' was a one of those random SXSW bands that you happen to catch and then become completely enamored. Of course their super cutie lead vocalist Elizabeth Morris had something to do with that, but they also had some catchy twee pop tunes. Anytime you can seriously kick some ukulele on a track, I'm down. I soon discovered that they already had a handful of singles available, which I quickly gobbled up with delight. Their fantastic self-title debut album will finally hit this side of the big pond on October 5th.

They are in the same vein as She & Him or Camera Obscura, so fans of those bands should definitely give them a try. Take my word... Allo Darlin' is quality. Check out the Breakfast Club inspired video for "The Polaroid Song."

Here are some shots of Elizabeth from this past SXSW.

Again, Allo Darlin' will hit the U.S on October 5th. Get you some!

Twin Shadow's Videos are as Retro as His Music

A couple weeks ago I downloaded Twin Shadow's album Forget when he was offering it on his website for $1. I figured with Chris Taylor of Grizzly Bear producing, it couldn't hurt to give the album a try. And now I stand thankful that I did. Forget is an awesome throwback to Depeche Mode-eque synth pop and definitely one of the best debut releases of the year.

Below is the video for my favorite song off Forget, "Castles In The Snow." The clip is an odd homage to the 80's New York scene. I keep waiting from some breakdancing to spontaneously happen, but alas it doesn't.

The video for "Slow" actually features the man behind Twin Shadow, George Lewis, who looks like Fez from That '70s Show if he grew up to be a high school gym teacher. This is a funny take on those Calvin Klein ads from a couple years ago.

Unfortunately, Forget is no longer available for the super saver price of a buck. But it will be available on CD and LP via Terrible Records on September 28th.

For those in Austin, we will have the chance to see Twin Shadow when he hits Antone's on September 24th.

Sleepy Sun - Fever

A couple weeks ago I wrote a review of Sleepy Sun's latest album Fever for Stereo Subversion. It was pretty much a random pick that paid off. There's some good stuff on here.

Here is a snippet... The video for Sleepy Sun’s “Open Eyes” is a psychotropic blend of horror and confusion. Its opening sequence of astrological imagery gives way to four participants (one male, three female) coming together for what seems to be one hell of a supernatural séance. They sit around a circular table with tarot-like cards spread out before them. By the end of the clip the four have had their essence extracted though their mouths, each spiraling to the center of the circle in a white tornado that revels pagan representations within (think goat head with horns). The song itself starts off with muffled vocals, which sound like they were sung underwater. As it progresses the words become clearer. By the time the guitars kick it up a notch in time for that spiritual departure, we get a distinct declaration of “open your eyes.” The video takes a couple of views in order to grasp all the elements.

And here is the full review...

[SSv Review: Fever]

And here is the video for "Open Eyes" which I reference...

Paul Helps Ringo Celebrate His Birthday..

How cool is this...

Answer: Very Cool, indeed.

Kate Nash - 'Do Wah Doo' Video

I dig Kate Nash... Much more than Lily Allen, who she is often compared to and most hipsters prefer. But I think Nash is a better songwriter and creates better tunes. I even love her over-the-top English accent. Plus, girls with freckles are so ubbercute!

Given that, I'm very much anticipating her second album My Best Friend is You, which looks like it will hit our shore on April 20th. So imagine my excitement when I came across her new video today. Yes, there was excitement. The clip is for the song "Do Wah Doo" and though it may be short, I dig the old school doo-wop sound she's going for on this one.

and here is 'Exhibit A' in the whole cute with freckles thing...

Tegan and Sara - 'Alligator' Video

Well it has been a while since I've posted anything on this bloggity-thingy, so I figure why not take the opportunity to get back in the game by blurbing about one of, if not my favorite band. The latest video from Tegan and Sara premiered over the weekend. The song "Alligator" comes off their spectacular sixth album Sainthood, which received a great distinction from me. And as with any T&S vid, I must warn that watching my result in an overdose of cuteness. Seriously there are eskimos and dancing involved. Take a look...

Coincidentally, Tegan and Sara will be in Austin this Friday (02.26.10) for a show at Bass Concert Hall. Should be a great show. I've seen them live several times in the past and each time has made me love them more. I promise you, more cuteness will ensue.