VIDEO: John Maus - Secret Performance 02/11/11

Do Your Best
Surely by now you have witnessed the Brooklyn uproar over John Maus' recent hiatus from his infamously reclusive life as a hermit in god-knows-where. Some mp3's were leaked, some album details were released, and he played a few shows in BK last weekend. Sweet, right?

Last Friday, February 11th, I went to shoot the super secret John Maus show. Halfway through the night I found myself having a semi-religious experience and ended up giving my camera to Boots from Weird Magic to take video for the night. I guess cos he's tiny and adorable like that. Anyhow, I watched as he scampered off into the crowd, crawled under and through the legs of adoring front-row Mausers, and positioned himself up there in the thick of it. On Monday they posted a sweet AfterEffects-heavy vid of "Pure Rockets", so I thought I'd throw up the rest of what I got from that evening, for y'all to see what this experience was like.*

Let's start off with everyone's favorite -- the always beautiful, always heart-breaking "Do Your Best":




Next we get to witness the moment directly after someone leaned on Maus' sampler, which he was using to basically sing karaoke over his recordings for the entire set. The song cuts out abruptly and begins the next one, so you can imagine how shocking this was to the flow of the performance, as well as to the performer himself. Hear him shouting "mother fucker" and various other choice obscenities at the beginning of this next vid before diving into "Rights for Gays." Amazing:




Hopefully by now you have a sense of what a shit show this whole thing was. Although it was not really captured on video, here is PIXELHORSE's ultimate fave Happy Maus tune "My Whole World's Coming Apart" which segues into the Gatorade-fueled, ever sunny "Time to Die":



* Please excuse the camera shake. (We can't all shoot rock-steady like me, right??) I heavily filtered some of this to make it a little easier on the eyes... then at a certain point I had to give up.


Here are some fucking photos:





Who does that fucking asswad in the background think he is...

Ray Concepcion?? LOOK at this guy!!


Mmmm GATORADE.





This hurt him more than it hurt you, you shithead you.




Was truly a weird and magical evening.

VIDEO: Star Slinger - "Mornin'"

Smoke Bomb Facemask

Star Slinger's new video directed by Alan Jensen is making us drool a little.

VIDEO: Tyler, the Creator - "Yonkers"

Fuckin' Walkin' Paradox
We'd like to further reiterate yesterday's sentiment with the latest video from Odd Future:



Definitely on it.

VIDEO: Vivian Girls - "I Heard You Say"

I'm So ColdSpeaking as someone whose day job (let's face it, "career") is in the commercial post-production industry, I can't help but notice how much CRAP there is being flung at me in the form of indie music videos. There have been so, so many music videos being churned out lately that are complete shit. Really unoriginal, low-grade, boring, redundant works made with little to no creative effort or technological skill set. It's sort of exhausting. Furthermore, for an editor, a music video is one of the easiest types of video to output - just cut to the music.

I say all that to emphasize the point that "I Heard You Say" is a fantastic music video. Granted, not every band out there has the budget and resources of such a super popular band as the Viv Girls, but they have never failed to uphold a certain stylistic standard of excellence. They are never lazy or under-produced. Take even the video for "Never Come Around" from Katy Goodman's side project La Sera. Amazing! And the song is arguably mediocre. Point being, even if one dislikes the Vivian Girls' music or taste, it is still possible to appreciate their aesthetic values, which are unflinching:


Vivian Girls - "I Heard You Say"

VIDEO: Melted Toys - "Come On" Live

Live at Silent Barn

Melted Toys played Silent Barn this past Friday (February 4, 2011) along with Eola, Punks on Mars, Speculator, and Wet Dream. Oh yes, this was a fucking night to remember. Catch this video we shot of Melted Toys performing "Come On":

The audio has some weird phasing and patches of general digital roughness, thanks to our sound recorder. But this song is gorrrgeous. So here:

Melted Toys - "Come On"

Don't forget to grab their upcoming EP Washed & Dried, due out February 22. Pre-order right now from Underwater Peoples.

VIDEO: Tape Deck Mountain - "It Goes Down"

Tweaking Lights

It's no secret that we love Lefse Records' Tape Deck Mountain. And now frontman Travis Trevisan, whose name just rolls off your tongue in tricks and trolls, has released a video for our favorite song off their EP, Secret Serf. Watch below:

[via]

MP3: James Ferraro - "Tabloid 2"

What's Up Doc?

James Ferraro - "Tabloid 2"

Can not... get... enough... of this.

MP3: Behavior - "Fields of Gold"

"Feel Her Body Rise"Our beloved Brooklyn brethren Behavior have just released a new song. It's a cover (for lack of a better word) of Sting's "Fields of Gold," and it's brilliant:

Behavior - "Fields of Gold"

Definitely digging hard on this new take on the early 90's hit. It begins with an industrial spelunking "Love Cats" intro, sidles over a synthesizer footpath, and into a shimmering dark, wide open space. Can we take a quick second to recall how fucking magnificent the compositing in the original Sting video was? We loved it so much we hadda make our own version with Behavior's song:



Not that familiar with @behaviorband yet? Really?? Well firstly of all, shame on you. Behavior is a three-piece band that lives and plays in New York City. Its members include: Ian Campbell on bass, Bryce Hackford with guitar, synths, electronic wizardry goodness, and the lovely Khira Jordan who drums like a beautiful creature machine. They "draw from diverse musical and artistic interests that intersect pop music, performance art, hip-hop, and rock & roll, resulting in a diverse and distinctly New York sound." (more)

Secondly, and finally, you are blessed enough to have the chance to catch their rapidly approaching next show in NYC. Hopefully one of many, many more to come, for your sake as much as mine:

Friday, February 11th, 8:00pm @ The Gutter (200 N. 14th, Greenpoint/N Williamsburg, NY)
BEHAVIOR with LIVING DAYS and HARD NIPS
Guaranteed to contain "so much pop it'll feel like a Dr Pepper in Detroit." (via)

Can not wait for that one. In the mean time, check out their previously released album, Lands End (2010), for free. See you at the Gutter, punks!

VIDEO: Lord Huron - "The Stranger"

"I Can't Trust Anyone or Anything These Days"The new Lord Huron music video for "The Stranger" is pure Patrick Daughters meets Cold Mountain. It gives us a funny feeling deep inside! Maybe it's the revolutionary-era cutie hipsters in their E.Williamsburg-era glasses.

Maybe it's the song itself. Lord Huron's jams hark to the hauntingest of Jim James (Yim Yames? Jim James? Whatever...), with splashes of tribal drumming fun and reverbed vocal harmonies. This song hits us hardest with the Paul Simon melancholy of the lines,

I can't trust anyone or anything these days but I know what you want and why / Of all the strangers you're the strangest that I've seen / I'm not afraid to die.

In 2010, we didn't stop playing his epic jam "Mighty" for months. Wholeheartedly, I still recommend this song if you ever need to jump around your room for 3 minutes and feel better about life.

Lord Huron - "Mighty"

And apparently Lord Huron cares that you feel better about life too, as they offer the song for free to listeners. Just don't forget to get the rest of the self-released record, aptly entitled Mighty EP, here.

You think you can have it? / Then come and get it!