The Morning Benders are back at it again with the second video off their new record Big Echo (Plus One/Roughtrade), with the song “Promises.” This is the first music video by the band that doesn’t feature themselves, it’s also their most theatrical.
The video chronicles two young Bonnie and Clyde like characters…and by young we mean about eight to ten years old. They get into abnormal trouble for children their age and somehow get involved with drinking, smoking, triple x shows, bank robbery (under the name Morning Benders), cat throwing, gun toting, hostages, and ultimate death and suicide. It’s a bit heavy for video by The Morning Benders, but it is also hands down, their best yet. Who knew they had it in them?
Also if you’re in the New York City area, be sure to catch The Morning Benders at the end of their tour. The band will be playing tomorrow (Saturday) night at The Music Hall of Williamsburg and again this coming Wednesday to a Sold Out crowd at Mercury Lounge.
We’re starting something called ‘Secondhand Sunday’ around here. To give you a brief overview, basically we are digging back in the vaults of indie music videos from years ago. These can be as old as say, a Sloan video from 1992 or as recent as an Of Montreal video from 2005. Its all about remembering those great songs that some of us have forgotten. A blast from the past if you will.
To start off our first Secondhand Sunday, we are posting a video of Phantom Planet’s ‘California’. Lately I personally have been on a PP kick,going back listening to their older stuff as well as getting into Jason Schwartzman’s most recent project as Coconut Records. When I first saw the video for ‘California’ I remember it was right when our Cable company started giving MTV2 out for free. This is also a time when MTV2 actually played nothing but music videos. The tune was in heavy rotation at the time and I couldn’t get enough of it. It is one of the defining songs of my college years.
It has been quite sometime since we’ve heard from songstress Regina Spektor. About to release her new album titled ‘Far’ out June 23rd on Sire Records, Spektor has already reached the number 20 spot on itunes within the first day of preorder. I remember the first time I saw or even heard her play. She opened for The Strokes on their tour for ‘Room on Fire’at the theater at Madison Square Garden. Then she was just a girl with a keyboard, a snare drum and a voice. Most memorably, she performed a song called ‘Reading Time with Pickle’. It is completely amazing how much she has grown since then. ‘Far’ like all Regina Spektor albums, is worth picking up.
You can catch Regina Spektor on tour starting in NYC on June 17th. From there she is off to Europe.
‘Far’Tracklisting
01. The Calculation
02. Eet
03. Blue Lips
04. Folding Chair
05. Machine
06. Laughing With
07. Human Of The Year
08. Two Birds
09. Dance Anthem Of The 80’s
10. Genius Next Door
11. Wallet
12. One More Time With Feeling
13. Man Of A Thousand Faces
Tour Dates for Regina Spektor:
06/17 – New York City – Beacon Theatre
06/26 – UK – Glastonbury Festival
06/29 – London – Serpentine Sessions
07/01 – Paris, France – Le Batacian
07/02 – Cologne, France – Gloria
07/04 – Belgium – Werchter Festival
07/06 – Hamburg – Grunspan
07/07 – Berlin, Germany – Postbahnhof
07/09 – Sweden – Hultsfred Festival
07/11 – Ireland – Oxegen Festival
07/12 – Scotland – T in the Park Festival
07/14 – Amsterdam – Paradiso
07/15 – Milan, Italy – Villa Arconati
07/17 – UK – Latitude Festival
Watch Regina’s Video for ‘Dance Anthem of the 80’s’
The Modern Mystery Year End Lists are finally starting, and here goes the first round. We have compiled our Top 10 Music Videos of the Year to share with you.
1. The Morning Benders- Waiting for a War This video is what introduced me personally to The Morning Benders. ‘Waiting for a War’ is one of the catchiest songs of the year, with a pretty rad video to go along with it. Anyone who feels like they have a dead end boring job certainly gets this video.
2. Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin- Think I Wanna Die Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin make some of the most amusing videos we have ever seen, and ‘Think I Wanna Die’ takes the top prize. In this video our poor little SSLYBY boys are nearly killed by their soon to be ex-girlfriends. At least they seem to be having a good time while shooting it.
3. Miniature Tigers- Cannibal Queen The Miniature Tigers won our hearts this year with their super amazing debut ‘Tell it to the Volcano’but to add even more, they put out a hillarious video for ‘Cannibal Queen’. Charlie as the ‘deranged little man’, Rick as the ‘cannibal queen’. It just makes for a good laugh to a great song.
4. Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band- Souled Out!!! Its nice to see Mr. Conor Oberst not take himself so seriously for once. ‘Souled Out!!!’ is a superb video that shows off Conor and the band joking around. From riding bikes with Jason Boesel, to playing in a fake snow storm, the fun never stops for these guys. Oh, and the song is extremely good too! 5. MGMT- Electric Feel There is something about MGMT that just makes you want to dance ALL OF THE TIME. ‘Electric Feel’ is no exception. The video itself is a psychadelic dance party that doesn’t want to end. With robot-bears and flaming motorbikes, you won’t know what to watch first.
6. Tim Fite- Big Mistake We love cartoon videos and we love Tim Fite, so the combination of the two for ‘Big Mistake’ is just perfect. I’m not sure if haunting is the right word, but the video is just that. This isn’t Tim’s big mistake, its his art.
7.M83- Kim and Jesse Not only is the song so ‘1980s’ sounding, but so is the video. When Kim and Jessie are thrown out of their high school gym practice space when they are rolling skating, they head over to the skate park where apparently the feel more comfortable. Though wearing pink velvet skating suits never looks cozy, this video is pretty rad.
8. Los Campesinos- My Year In Lists Music videos don’t always have to cost a lot of money and be ‘super fancy’. Sometimes the best videos are the most simple ones that get you acquainted with the band’s music. Los Campesinos video for ‘My Year in Lists’ is just that. Closeups of the band and their instruments is beautiful on its own.
9. of Montreal- Id Engager of Montreal does it again with another artsy inspired video. Having characters sync one into another is beyond perfect for the song. You actually have no idea what the characters will turn into until it happens. Its a beautifully crafted video.
10. Vampire Weekend- Oxford Comma Vampire Weekend manages to make the video for ‘Oxford Comma’ look like a mini movie shoot. No matter where the scene in the video turns though, it doesn’t distract from the music. Also stay tuned for the right lower corner at 3:23 when some kid totally falls on his ass. Ouch!
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