Friday Night Video

Ah, Neko. One of these days you’ll realize we were meant to be together. Until then I’ll just have to occupy myself with videos like this, where you perform “Red Tide” on Fallon. It’s a great song, one of the best on Middle Cyclone, and this is a really good performance. But I have to ask, what’s up with the bass player’s beard? It’s either ridiculous or sublime.

Once again this week we’re presenting three videos for the price of one. We’ve got a bunch of naked people on bikes, being pulled from a giant vagina, dancing, and carrying around a naked Wayne Coyne, courtesy of The Flaming Lips. We’ve got a live performance from Lambchop. Plus we’ve got something hard to describe from newcomers Pick a Piper. Enjoy!

Flaming Lips – “Watching the Planets” (NSFW)

Lambchop – “Give It”, live at XX Merge

Pick a Piper – “Rooms”

For some reason I’ve been in a big Felice Brothers mood recently. Something about their country-flavored rock seems to fit the colder weather for me. Consequently I’ve listened to their latest album Yonder is the Clock about 10 times this week. When I started searching for their stuff on YouTube I stumbled across this little gem. It’s from a series called Black Cab Sessions. They get bands into the back of a London cab and have them play a song. I remember watching a few of these a while back, and in general they’re very good. But this one with The Felice Brothers is great. They play “Ruby May”, a true story of a cabaret singer who gets murdered and buried in Times Square. And the cramped quarters make for an intimate performance.

Frightened Rabbit pretty much has a guaranteed spot on Pop Culture Will Eat Itself anytime they do anything. Why?

1. They’re Scottish
2. Their album Midnight Organ Fight was my favorite album of 2008
3. They’re Scottish

So here’s the video for their new single, “Swim Until You Can’t See Land”:

Camera Obscura – “The Sweetest Thing”

Modest Mouse – “The Whale Song”

The Dead Weather – “It Cuts Like a Buffalo”

Last time I wrote about The Tom Fun Orchestra I had to apologize for ignoring them for so long. This time I almost feel the need to apologize for writing about them too much. But I’m going to do it anyway.

Here’s the very cool, yet creepy, animated video for their song “Bottom of the River”:

Think back to 1990 for a second, if you’re able to remember it. If you’re too young, you should probably just go text someone, put Hannah Montana on your iPod, and get the hell off my lawn. Where were we? Right, 1990. On March 1st the music world received a gift in the form of a song so funky it could make angels shake their booties. When historians write of that day they will note the golden beam of light that came from Boston, brightening a dark musical scene with its glimmering rays of pure, glistening New Jack Swing. The gift was provided by the three most talented musicians ever to assemble, a power trio of unparalleled skill and vision. Ricky Bell, Michael Bivens, and Ronnie DeVoe bestowed “Poison” onto an unsuspecting musical landscape, forever changing the way music was perceived. Let’s partake in their divine work, reveling in the masterful interplay of words, beats, and melodies:

The Flaming Lips are preparing to release their latest album Embryonic on October 13th. They’ve released the video for “I Can Be a Frog”, and it’s a good match of a simple song with a simple video.

Annie Clark, aka St. Vincent, is out on tour with Andrew Bird promoting her most recent album Actor. Her latest video is for “Marrow”, a song that juxtaposes sparse verses with noisy choruses. The video reflects this this pretty well, and manages to look really good in the process.

If you don’t think this is the greatest song ever, I will fight you.

I’m watching Anchorman for about the 47th time, and the scene where they sing “Afternoon Delight” still cracks me up. Here’s the official music video for the news team’s rendition of the song, as seen on the bonus materials of the DVD. Awesome.

I have to admit, even though I’ve lived in Baltimore for almost 10 years now I’ve never really embraced the local music scene. This is despite the fact that AirTran’s in-flight magazine proclaimed Baltimore’s music scene to be one of the nation’s best. With such high praise I figure it’s time to give the locals a chance. So this week’s video is from Wye Oak, a local duo named after Maryland’s state tree. From their latest album, The Knot, here’s “Sight, Flight”: