Mr. Kevin Bronson sent me this video a little while ago. I don’t know anything about Gasoline Silver except that they’re from Minneapolis. I’m only posting this because the song is called Indianapolis, which you well know, is the city of my origin. And I like bouncy garage stuff.
Casxio is one of the hardest-working, tightest, audience-minded bands in Los Angeles. They are also the funkiest band you’re liable to find. Continue reading…
Here’s the first video of the first single from Smokers in Love, a new band in LA. SiL is fronted by Seamus Simpson, a poker buddy of mine who played all those iconic guitar lines in Radars to the Sky for a number of years. Continue reading…
Needs no introduction, really. Directed by Benjamin Gauvain Hoste. (Who, once upon a time, took photos for CGT!)
The Henry Clay People – “Your Famous Friends” from Benjamin Gauvain Hoste on Vimeo.
Needs no introduction:
Manhattan Murder Mystery – Parking Lot from Simon Cardoza on Vimeo.
The new We Are the World video is out. There’s a lot to unpack in this thing.
I’m just going to splat my thoughts and feelings on the wall.
On the upside, this is precisely the kind of thing Michael Jackson sincerely believed in and his “involvement” has been preserved. Janet’s duet with Michael in the new one was at the request of their mother. So that’s a nice sentiment.
I was four days shy of four years old when the original was released. I can’t really comment on the context of that one, though I have a very faint memory of it. Perhaps some of my thoughts on this video could be said of the original, too. I don’t know.
Quincy Jones was going to do a 25 year anniversary re-recording anyway. This video wasn’t inspired by the tragedy so much as it was conveniently timed. (Though surely the participants would have been different.)
And while the original recording carries a message about the power of music to heal, to bring people together, this recording and arrangement is, rather, disdainful towards the art of song. It’s terribly awkward. The singers’ voices can barely be distinguished from each other. Perhaps the perceived fellowship in the original was acted, but here it is acted much more poorly. The autotune, the effects, the cute rap breakdown… it all lacks the human essence that makes a charity single so powerful.
My first reaction after watching the new video was, frankly, disgust. I don’t doubt the sincerity of any given individual who appears in the video, but the collective effort seems more like a celebration of celebrity than a compassionate plea for help.
Oh, and what celebrity we have to see. An internet meme (Justin Bieber), a “pussy cat doll” (Nicole Sherzinger), corporate child super stars (Miley Cyrus, Jonas Brothers), a game show winner (Jennifer Hudson), a host of criminals (too many to name), and Barbara Streisand, whose beach front mansion was the subject of internet controversy. I don’t think there are too many mansions like that in Haiti. Mary J. Blidge and Tonny Bennet notwithstanding, this collection of disposable “talents” are a far cry from the original “Stevie Wonder / Bob Dylan / Michael Jackson / etc.” (And where the fuck is Bono?)
I am not surprised that a charity single became a celebration of celebrity. The conventional wisdom is that it’s good when a celebrity uses the power of their personality to raise money for a noble cause. But I can’t ignore the elephant in the room, that the grotesque industries created to cater to these very kinds of people largely contribute to the social and political climates that allow for poor folks in Haiti to die in earthquakes by the thousands.
Hey, I’m no better. My dream is to make hundreds of thousands of dollars writing junk entertainment. But if I ever taste success, it is my expectation for myself that I’ll never mistake that success for importance. I never want to confuse the very valuable act of telling a story or creating an emotional response in a person with the immeasurable value of a comfortable existence in the American bubble, where how I grew-up and who is in my monkeysphere 75% determines what happens in my life.
Forgive me if I feel like “We Are the World” is akin to graciously gifting a prosthetic to a man whose arm you’ve just amputated, and then calling the newspaper to tell them about your heroic act. As a society, our tastes are responsible for the culture that rises to the top. The tragic irony of this charity single belongs to all of us.
(You know what I would have done? Had Quincy Jones and Wyclef Jean produce an album featuring Mary J. Blidge, Celine Dion, Toni Braxton, Streisand, and the other real talents. Have celebs donate for the production and marketing costs, and donate 100% proceeds to earthquake infrastructure in other poor, at-risk nations)
When I was in high school in the late 90′s, The Mudkids were the local hip-hop group. Ya’ll might think “hip-hop group from Indiana” is some kind of joke, but The Mudkids put on some searing local shows and released at least three pretty terrific albums. (Check some out on Lala) Rusty Redenbacher was like the poet laureate for the Indianapolis urban youth. I think Russ will grip that the mic to his grave, whether or not he ever gets his proper due.
During the last Colts’ Super Bowl run, The Mudkids released a great pep single. And they’ve done it again:
GO HORSE!
(And props to Russ for rocking the Marvin Harrison [my cat's namesake] jersey in the video, too.)
We here at CGT have been behind Seasons for a good while now. I still think that if they just had a little label and publicist support that they’d easily be a small success story. All they do is write great songs and play energetic shows, after all.
Thrillhouse Productions has made a video for their song “The Weight,” and its a good step forward for the band. Peep it here:
Seasons – “The Weight” Music Video from Thrillhouse Productions on Vimeo.
Seasons plays at Echo Curio this Saturday, November 7th.
CGT favorite Manhattan Murder Mystery just released the music video for “Your Mother’s Neck,” the stand-out track on their recently minted Skull EP. (The entirety of which, by the way, you can stream at Web In Front.) This sharp looking video was directed by Benjamin Gauvain Hoste, a friend to this site. (And a skilled photog as well as director.)
The video reminds of of 90′s alternative rock music videos. Peep this rad shnit!
Jacob Safari, drummer for The Mae Shi, just released this sick new video under his BARK BARK BARK project.
I’m Needy (Milk:Blood RMX) from Jacob Safari on Vimeo.
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