Wednesday, September 22, 2010

I really want to be your friend forever.


It must be pretty video week. A smart filmmaker by the name of Ryan McGinley posted a video today of Smith Westerns and their mentors Girls.

The video has scraps from this years Pitchfork Music Festival and takes you through the performer-audience relationship that both bands harness so well. My favorite part is during Girls' Laura when the camera keeps coming back to this one kid in the audience with a red bandana who is singing along with Owens word for word. It reminds me that I need to see them in concert because that's exactly how you feel - connected by every lyric that comes out of Christopher Owens' mouth.

"Reach out/ touch me I'm right here/and I don't want to fight anymore/I really want to be your friend forever/friend until the end of it all."

McGinley talks to Girls and here's how it happened.

Monday, September 20, 2010

Shadow People.

Whether it was intentional or not, Dr. Dog's "Shadow People" video transported me to a very distinct place in my childhood: Skateland. My friends and I used to have birthday party after birthday party there and we would just skate all night. I can't say we had as fancy costumes, but boy did we skate - like the people in this video! The shadow people.

OK Go, the videographers.

OK Go just came out with a new music video for their song "White Knuckles." I can honestly say I don't listen to OK Go very often, but I always make sure I watch their videos when they come out. Their "Here it Goes Again" video first gave them YouTube stardom, then their "WTF" video followed. This time, instead of using treadmills or making screen effects, DOGS were their prop of choice. It is phenomenal.

Monday, September 13, 2010

the Taylor and Kanye episode.

Everyone remembers Kanye's night of interruption at last year's VMAs.

This year, no one really knew what to expect from Taylor or Kanye after the incident. Was Kanye going to diss her again? Was Taylor going to punch him in the face? Either way, the anticipation was building.

Neither of those things happened. Taylor Swift sang her new song "Innocent," which I thought was a really sincere look at the whole situation. She basically made the song all about Kanye, not her. Swift repeated the lyrics "You are not not what you did" were repeated throughout the song and it added a lot of character. There was some criticisim about the song because it might have been a little bit of a yawner for some, but I really liked the message. Good for you Taylor Swift.


Kanye managed to get the last slot of the show, which was epic if you ask me. He's got an ego the size of a spaceship, but he did a good job going outside of himself to find this song. As Kanye stood in the middle of a white stage while three ballerinas pranced around him, he rapped, sang and played with his soundboard all in the name of regret. It may be a stretch, but I think he was expressing some amount of remorse for last year, along with a little bit of pride? There's pride in everything Kanye does.

Saturday, September 11, 2010

free Wavves show!


















The brilliant student government at SLU somehow managed to get Nathan
Williams to come to the Billikin Club tomorrow night, so that's where I'll be.
After listening to King on the Beach this summer on repeat, it'll be nice to see
Wavves live!!

Saturday, September 4, 2010

ALL DAY DAYLIGHT

The Moring Benders, at it again. If only they weren't on tour in Europe...