Video Vacuum - The Black Keys, Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeroes, The Hickey Underground, School Knights

Man, I hate being ill. But I hate being stuck with nothing to do. Can't go out, can't watch or read anything due to headaches, cant lie still because of a fever that just won't quit...why do hypochondriacs do this to themselves? Anyway, I've dragged myself out of bed despite all of this to at least alleviate the pains of working life. Let's watch some vids together and stave off this cabin fever.

Actually, this may not be the best way to start. The Black Keys have released a second video for their single 'Gold On The Ceiling', directed by none other than Harmony Korine. It looks shoddy and scratch as if re-recorded on a burnt out VHS tape - very Korine - yet it is the willing participation by band members Pat Carney and Dan Auerbach that really sells this slightly disturbing twins-as-memes construction. Pretty awesome.



Those wilfully eclectic paisley warriors Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros are launching their next album, Here, and this is the new video for opening track 'Man On Fire'. Directed by Brady Corbett (the actor of Martha Marcy May Marlene, Melancholia, Funny Games (US) and most notably Mysterious Skin fame), it is a great real-life look at achievers, starring the New York City Ballet, NY Cheer Allstars, National Double Dutch League, and Soul Steps & Brooklyn Divas, as well as choreographers, coaches, and relatives of the various performers.



I had never heard of Belgian band The Hickey Underground before they sent me the video for 'The Frog', the first track to come off their second record I'm Under The House, I'm Dying (out in September) which has been mixed by Dave Sardy (LCD Soundsystem, Black Mountain's In The Future) of all people. This song is pretty good. The video on the other hand is off the wall. I can't claim to know what it means, but I do like it a hell of a lot.



Finally we have School Knights, who regular readers of Sonic Masala will be well versed on. They have just released a somewhat unsettling video for latest track release 'Powerslut'. Not disturbing like The Hickey Underground or Harmony Korine, though - no, it's just that these dudes do not scrub up well in drag. At all. you have been warned...



NOW GET BACK TO WORK (cough cough)

Perms And No Trimming On Mount Carmel

Holy shit. I'm not sure I can pin down exactly why I love Ohio band Mount Carmel's new offering, Real Women, because in some weird way I should probably hate it. It is so deliberately steeped in 70s raucous blues rock nostalgia that will either be seen as brilliant homage or flagrant stealing. I really can't find a reason to budge from the former though. They nail it so well, yet the production is warm and fuzzy, there is enough of the modern (production that sounds like a cross between The Black Keys and Pontiak the most likely arbiter to this feeling) to anchor it in the here and now...yet, seriously, this is who should have played Stillwater in Almost Famous. And probably been The Black Crowes. At least if Mount Carmel frontman Chris Rickerhauser had married Kate Hudson, she would probably be making movies that don't produce an involuntary gag reflex. Or if they were War, they would have beaten the fuck out of Korn before they went anywhere near 'Low Rider'. Just sayin'.

Fuck I have a hard-on for Dazed & Confused right about now...


Grab Real Women here (weirdly put out by Siltbreeze. It doesn't fit. AT ALL. But then again, that's why I love those guys - they put out what they like). Seriously, who has a J? I'm ready to get baked.

Mount Carmel - Swaggs
Mount Carmel - Hear Me Now

The Old Origins of A Young Tennis

Those lovely retro kids that make up Denver band Tennis are set to release their hugely anticipated sophomore effort Young and Old on Valentine's Day next year, again through Fat Possum Records. For their forthcoming album guitarist Patrick Riley, vocalist Aliana Moore and drummer James Barone headed to Nashville to work with The Black Keys’ Patrick Carney. These sessions were very successful, with Carney coming out gushing about the band. Yet today we can make up our own minds with first taste 'Origins' streaming below! It will be available on a clear blue 7" through Forest Family Records on December 6. Once again, I cant quite finger the exact ingredient that lifts these guys above most of their contemporaries - but 'Origins' hits the target, and makes Young and Old an early contender for best album of 2012...

Origins by tennisinc