You may have noticed a relative lack of posts on my part over the past month or so. I finally have replaced my computer and am ready to get back to sharing great music. I want to start off with some cool videos I've seen from Brooklyn acts.
Sigur Rós has consistently been one of the most outside of the box bands of their generation. I was first introduced to the band via their 2002 album ambiguously titled ( ). The title is a place holder because the idea behind this project was that the band wanted only to suggest musical ideas to the listener and let that person project in their own ideas of title or content. This concept of open to interpretation seemed so appealing to me at the time and I embraced it whole heartedly. In 2012 Sigur Rós furhtered this trend with an unprecedented project the called The Valtari Mystery Film Experiment.
Their explanation of the project is as follows:
sigur rós have given a dozen film makers the same modest budget and asked them to create whatever comes into their head when they listen to songs from the band's new album valtari. the idea is to bypass the usual artistic approval process and allow people utmost creative freedom. among the filmmakers are ramin bahrani, alma har'el and john cameron mitchell.
"we never meant our music to come with a pre-programmed emotional response. we don’t want to tell anyone how to feel and what to take from it. with the films, we have literally no idea what the directors are going to come back with. none of them know what the others are doing, so hopefully it will be interesting." – sigur rós, may 2012
Read on for information regarding the projects release, as well as credits for the contributing film makers whose wonderful work is posted below.
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It looks as though friend of the Dig Jonny Fritz has decided to dig up some of archived VHS performance footage of his Nashville cohorts and publish it on a YouTube video blog he is calling VHSessions. This decidedly lo-fi venture comes with a heavy does of sentimentality and candor, but does not lack in musical quality. To my eye, this footage looks less like a marketing strategy and more like a time capsule which has recently been opened only to discover that there was and is worth still on that tape.
The first installment of the series features Andrew Combs in a recording of Part Time Lovers (Full Time Fools). It was recorded by Jonny Fritz in 1989 in Nashville, TN and the song was written by Andrew Combs with Jabe Beyer. I love the easy country phrasing Combs shapes his melodies with and his lyrical ability to deal in platitudes without loosing a feeling of first hand experience or authenticity. This is a beautiful song beautifully performed, and I have to laugh when I imagine Jonny perched on the other side of the presumably massive camera.
Give it a listen and then hop on over to the VHSessions channel for more. Weird Thought Thinker from Joshua Hedley is a wonderful follow up and is not to be missed. You dig?
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Big Deal released a great album in 2012 and they are already gearing up for more in 2013. Check out their latest video, "Teradactol."
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Dave and I went on vacation last week and it turned out to also be a little vacation from the blog. There is plenty of good stuff coming in 2013, but for the last day of 2012, check out some cool videos from recently featured artists The Zolas and Rachel Brooke.
It's hard to imagine that our favorite late night, whiskey drinking, head banging, top of your voice singing, patron saints of Baltimore rock and roll would even know what 10 AM looks like, but that's when J Roddy Walston and the Business performed their flagship song, Don't Break the Needle, on VH1's Morning Buzz this week. The hosts way too caffeinated faux-banter also included mentions of the band's previous tour van, as well as Billy's impeccable v-neck t-shirt. Given the hour, I guess they call it the Morning Buzz for both ends of the chemically altered spectrum. Either way, dig in and enjoy some Business.
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We first shared some music from Brooklyn's Earthy Babes a few weeks ago with the song "Old Machine." Now check out the video for that track.
A little while back Baltimore's own Flock of Dimes released their video for (This Is Why) I Can't Wear White. The video is a compilation of 78 different aquatic scenes assembled by another Baltimore artist Ben O'Brien. For those who just can't wait, you can find the chronological listing of every movie used here.
The song is a perfect introduction to Flock Of Dimes if you are unfamiliar with the group for this reason. It is an ethereal combination of reverb, dissonant textures, and Jenn Wasner's immaculate voice. Like the band, it is bound to grow on you and embed it's way into the fabric of your every day life. I also love how rewarding the vocal pay off at the chorus feels after meandering through the first verse.
As for the video, I am fascinated by Ben O'Brien's ability to not only catalog all of these water scenes, but also to sequence them by similarity of action to create a false sense of a linear dialog. Finally, I love the wide variety of films used and enjoy the idea that the movies actual quality does not determine it eligibility here – all the films from Deep Blue Sea to Anaconda are on an equal playing field here.
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Two new videos for songs recently featured on the Dig have come out and I wanted to give them soem attention, because they're both awesome. "Little Metal Baby Fist" from The Dirty Nil and "Karmageddon" by Abbe May are just a click away!