Chances are you’ve seen this video all over the net in the past week, but it’s too cool for us not to share. Wilco collaborated with King Features for the video for The Whole Love‘s upbeat groover “Dawned On me.” The result is the first original, hand-drawn Popeye cartoon in over 30 years. And yep, the gangs all here: Olive Oyl, Wimpy, Swee’Pea, Nels Cline, John Stirratt…you get the picture. Anyway, watch the fun, Wilco-soundtracked nostalgia trip below:
Narrow Sparrow has easily established itself as a band that cares as much about its visuals as it does about its soundscapes. For the Chicago group’s new video “Spooky Head,” Narrow Sparrow couples ghoulish Disney-style 1920s animation with buzzy atmospherics that come off as an electro-pop version of doo wop that could be ideal for the slow dance at a prom. You know, if your prom committee includes Crispin Glover and Edward Scissorhands. Narrow Sparrow’s Synthworks EP is available for free download on its Bandcamp page.
Dreamy Brit pop-esque rockers Blah Blah Blah have returned with a new video for their single “As Soon As I Get Home Tonight,” from their album Thank You Thank You. The video is light-hearted enough to match the upbeat mood of the song. It features keyboardist Phill Ferguson going for a stroll around Chicago, proving that bartering is alive and well as he trades harmonicas for wigs and cat lamps for nunchucks. I would have kept that lamp, bro. “As Soon As I Get Home Tonight” is available for free download via the band’s website.
“Take Five” focuses on Chicago’s ever-growing music scene by giving you insight to the city’s best local acts via the best source possible: the artists themselves. Here is the latest installment featuring Dastardly.
From their raucous live performances to their elaborate music videos, it doesn’t take much media consumption to figure out that the members of Dastardly are pretty cool customers. The Americana outfit craft soulful harmonies around rich, heartfelt storytelling and playful rhythms. The group’s debut EP May You Never… was somewhere between Elliott Smith and light-hearted bluegrass. Since then, the band has moved into a house together, pulled off a musical variety hour at The Hideout that absolutely slayed and recorded a follow-up that sounds grown-up, but still knows how to amuse.
If 2011 was busy, expect 2012 to be jam-packed for the band. Dastardly releases Bury Me in the Country on January 31, but the band celebrates the album’s release tonight at Lincoln Hall with friends Brighton, Ma, and Santah.
Loud Loop Press caught up with Dastardly’s frontman Gabe Liebowitz to steal his storytelling secrets and to discover what brand of bourbon he consumes most often.
Americana outfit Dastardly have released a video for its new single “Fever,” off their brand new record Bury Me in the Country. The video is all about movement from the passing trains to the rotating video footage. It’s enough to make you pack a bag, hop on a greyhound and see some historical sites. Dastardly celebrate the release of its new album this Thursday, January 19, at Lincoln Hall. Bury Me in the Country officially drops on January 31.
Chicago electro-poppers Moon Furies‘ new video for “Mercury 13″ rehashes that same classic story: Boy lives with girl; girl breaks up with boy and moves to New York; boy chases after girl and has a dance party in a vacant lot. I just don’t know when bands are going to get some original ideas already. For bonus fun: see if you can spot the Chicago neighborhoods featured in the video:
Do you ever get nostalgic for those music videos where a band chronicles hard-living and loving on the road? Well, snappy pop rockers Pet Lions don’t go all “Every Rose Has its Thorn” on us, but they do take us on a fun romp across various hotel rooms, desolate highway views with endless bales of hay and – oh yeah – some rock and roll, on its latest single “Trinidad.” It makes you want to pack a bag, cram yourself and some friends into a tiny vehicle and somehow take a trip back into summer. You can catch Pet Lions here in town at The Metro with The Hudson Branch and Tiger Bones on Friday, January 6. Tickets are $8, but entry is free before 9 p.m. with this printed flier.
