Finally, the band makes a clip for our favorite song from their (awesome) 2010 album Night Work. And it’s weird, even by Scissor Sisters standards. We’re not sure what it’s about, really, but there’s some strange, psycho-sexual mind trip going on, one littered with religious symbolism and quite possibly traveling through time. Just try not to drool when you see the girl in the riding breeches. Hot damn.
All videos should be this low-tech. The leadoff single from their upcoming Butch Vig-produced record Wasting Light (the first time Vig and head Foo Dave Grohl have worked together since Nevermind) is a hilarious throwback to the early days of music video, with a simple story and simple edits. Even better, it has Lemmy, drinking and driving and scoring some weed. Then, out of nowhere and for no reason, a beautiful babe appears. The nonstop screaming in the vocals is a bit much, but everything else about this video is awesome.
Ah, dream pop. It’s such lovely stuff, yet no one makes any money performing it. Do it right, though, and you’ll live forever (ask the Cocteau Twins), and if the latest album from Candi and the Strangers (10th of Always, good stuff) is any indication, the Austin quintet has a good shot at immortality. In the meantime, the band made their own video for this cover of the Cars’ “Moving in Stereo,” where the band discover they’re trapped in a time loop and see a vision of themselves playing the song, something they’ve, gasp, never done before (dunt dunt duuuuuunh!). Fun stuff.
How this band escaped my notice for as long as they did is a bit surprising. They’re Scottish, and I’m an Anglophile. They’re even from Kilmarnock, hometown of my beloved Trashcan Sinatras. They’re a ferocious power trio that has elements of Muse and System of a Down in their sound. I love Muse, and well, that “Chop Suey” song. Where have these guys been hiding? Not sure, but when I interview their drummer later this afternoon, I plan on asking him that very question.
Muse fans are going to dig this, one of the most epic four-minute songs you’re likely to hear. There’s even a bit before the big prog-off at the back half where the drummer’s doing a military thing while the bassist (who’s the drummer’s twin brother) strikes a single note that will bring “Butterflies and Hurricanes” quickly to mind. The band is doing their first headlining tour of the States, and they’re playing small clubs. See ’em now, so you can say you knew them when.
When this piece goes live, we will be in the Ceres Cafe, housed in the Chicago Board of Trade, sharing drinks with coworkers from our previous life as white collar stiffs, in anticipation of seeing something we never thought we’d see in our lifetime: the definitive lineup of the Jayhawks, reunited and touring. It sickens us that these guys weren’t bigger, though at the same time, we’re selfishly glad to have them to ourselves…and a few thousand other equally devoted fans.
The band’s first two major label albums, Hollywood Town Hall and Tomorrow the Green Grass, just received the deluxe reissue treatment from Legacy, the kings of the reissue. Last night, they played Hollywood Town Hall in its entirety. Tonight, it’s Green Grass, bar none our favorite Jayhawks record and one of our favorite albums EVER. Sadly, they will probably not be playing the song that’s in this week’s Friday Video, as it was released after Tomorrow the Green Grass, and Jayhawks singer/guitarist Gary Louris told us that they would likely focus on the material that he and founder Mark Olson – who left the band shortly after they finished touring behind Green Grass – recorded together. But we couldn’t help but pick this video because it depicts the world in which we should be living. These guys should have been huge.
Then again, they have a new record on the horizon, one that’s supposed to be the logical follow-up to Tomorrow the Green Grass, so maybe this is the year. You hear that, people? This is their year. (*waves timepiece back and forth*) You will buy Jayhawks records, you will buy Jayhawks records…