The Best Music Videos from August 2013
August was a video-heavy month for sure. Here's a little of what we at RSL watched and some sounds you should be looking at..
Sure the guys in THE NATIONAL might make cool, mind-numbing and melancholy-invoking music, but they like to play in the pool just like everyone else. You have to love a band that can have a little fun and poke fun at their own art. "Graceless" comes from their latest album Trouble Will Find Me which we are positive will be at or near the top of many best-of lists this years. The video was directed by Sophia Peer and produced by Michelle Cameron.
All-Star sit down jam! Two contemporary movers and shakers in the Boston music scene: RUBY ROSE FOX and ENDATION's Anthony Conley got together to perform Dolly Parton's "Jolene" in studio. Thankfully Roger Metcalf was there to capture it. You will be hearing from both acts right here on RSL soon. Definitely two names to know!
This is probably my favorite video of the new lot this month. Meet Mississippi songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer DENT MAY. "Born Too Late" is a song from May's third record, Warm Blanket - an effort that combines the elements of pop songwriting, funk and soul into a really unique telling. Put that into a carnival setting and well - what you have is pretty marvelous.. Keep an eye on Dent May!
"Set Out To Discover" is the new song from the RUE ROYALE duo from Remedies Ahead, their new record out at the end of September. The video features the pair wandering through a strange house as lights flash through the windows, giving the video a haunting atmosphere, which works perfectly with the music. Named after a road running through the Chicago Suburbs, Rue Royale developed from member Ruth and Brookln’s transatlantic relationship. With Ruth being brought up on brit-pop and northern soul and Brookln on American folk and southern gospel the pair cite influences as Mark Kozelek, Radiohead, Fleetwood Mac, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Wilco and Air creating a contrasting array of threads in which Rue Royale can form their distinct tapestry. It's an atmospheric song and and atmospheric video - both of which I like.
Love these guys... MUY CANSADO give us a much-needed taste of unplugged attic pop here on "Acquaintances." The new record from the Boston band, definitely worth checking out, is Let It Go.
Directed by Tyler Kalberg and bassist Garrett Parker, the film noir-inspired clip for PICKWICK's new video, "Hacienda Motel" is a single from their latest album Can't Talk Medicine. The Seattle band is white hot and is on tour right now with Neko Case and Black Joe Lewis.
A David Lynch-like treatment here in the new BEAR LANGUAGE music video. The Boston upstarts have made a name for themselves by doing the unexpected in the live setting and leaving jaws on floors. A new band on the rise, it would not surprise me to see them go very far. This is their first music video. The new album is Rememory.
Rarely is a video and a song more accurate to its description. DREAMLAND's "Land & Sea" is a song filled with ethereal - a sunny day personified. The video, which we are being told is unofficial, depicts a girl using sign language to communicate the words to the song before a backdrop of stopped motorists. It's a beautiful juxtaposition..
RIVERBOAT GAMBLERS have been one of the best punk rock bands in America for years now. Today we share the Justin Wilson-directed video for "Heart Conditions" from the band's latest album, The Wolf You Feed record. The band is in the process of wrapping a West Coast tour. This latest effort is, in many ways, their best to date. Check out this record and watch for new tour dates this winter!
TONY MEMMEL's "Lucky Fin Song" is the most inspired video on our list this month. Memmel is a gifted and creative musician with only one hand. He's a sweetheart of a guy and - as you see here, he has a gift with working with others. The music helps these kids (as it does with all of us) find purpose and happiness. I am pretty sure watching this video every month could help make us better people
I love videos like this. Filmed by just two cameras in San Francisco over a couple of days, fusion artist TREE covers "Karma Police" by Radiohead. The Thom Yorke approved version of the song appears on the rapper-poet's debut EP, Demons, which was released by Apollo Records last month. The song was a year in the making and Tree even traveled from Santa Cruz to London to record some of the parts in the studio. He created the cover with a huge group of talented musicians including a string quartet. Tree is 20 years old.
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