Videodrone is a weekly(ish) feature looking at music videos from the last half century.
Letter from an Occupant (2000)
What happens when you write a perfect pop song and nobody hears it? Did it actually happen? Well, in the case of "Letter from an Occupant" by the New Pornographers, yes, it did happen and we are all better for it.
Of course, I'm being hyperbolic to say nobody heard it. The song was on the band's debut album, Mass Romantic, which was released on Mint Records in Canada in November 2000. The album got good notices (indeed, the NPs won a Juno for Alternative Album of the Year for it), but it didn't chart and "Letter from Occupant," which was released as a single in April 2002, didn't make much of a splash on radio or MTV. (Although I just discovered it was included on the soundtrack to the movie Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back in 2001.)
But dammit, it sure deserved to. The group was referred to as a Canadian indie rock supergroup, more as a joke than anything else since none of its members had any real success prior to joining. Head songwriter Carl Newman was previously in Zumpano, Dan Bejar was in Destroyer, John Collins was in the Evaporators, Kurt Dahle came from Limblifter and Blaine Thurier later became a filmmaker. Honorary Canuck Neko Case was already an alt-country solo artist, but her career didn't take off until later.
Case sang lead on "Letter from an Occupant," which was an upbeat power pop gem that was very different from Case's usual repertoire. There was a lot going on in the song, Newman told Pitchfork: "I remember 'Letter from an Occupant' was a pretty belabored song. It ended up being almost minimal, but I remember there's so much shit we put on it. There's a psychedelic 12-string guitar solo, a backwards guitar, there's a really cool synth that's in there but buried. At some point, you have to choose. That was the hardest part about mixing the thing: just making that judgment call. I only feel at peace with the record now because people seem to like it."
Newman's lyrics are also excellent. "The time that your enemy gives you/Good times are not the ones you want/I've cried five rivers on the way here/Which one will you skate away on?/The tune you'll be humming forever/All the words are replaced and wrong/With a shower of 'yeahs' and 'whatevers'/You traded me away long gone."
The video was directed by Michael Dowse, who went on to direct feature films including the beloved cult comedy FUBAR, the hockey comedy Goon, and several others. The video features the NPs performing the song in different locations with a screen in the background that jumps to the next scene. It likely got plenty of play on MuchMusic in Canada; if it got any MTV airplay, it was on 120 Minutes. I certainly never saw the video until YouTube came along years later.
I never heard the NPs on the radio, but rather discovered the band the way I learned about a lot of music in the early 2000s, through MP3 blogs. It was around 2003 when the band's second album, Electric Version, came out, that some of the blogs I followed started hyping the New Pornographers. I went back and discovered the greatness of Mass Romantic.
The early '00s was a great time for Canadian indie rock: The New Pornographers, Broken Social Scene, Metric, Wolf Parade, Stars, Arcade Fire, Death from Above 1979, The Dears, Joel Plaskett Emergency, Hot Hot Heat, Black Mountain, Land of Talk and on and on.
The NPs just released their 10th album earlier this year. Newman remains the band's leader and Case continues to work with the group, even though her solo career has really blossomed. The rest of the lineup has fluctuated over the years, but the band's output remains strong. Still, Mass Romantic and "Letter from an Occupant" was a hell of a launching-off point.
Day After Day is an ambitious attempt to write about a song every day in 2024 (starting on Jan. 4).
The Laws Have Changed (2003)
Supergroups are an interesting phenomenon. In a lot of cases, they end up being disappointing because taking the best parts of other bands and putting them together in a different band doesn't always work. But there are cases where the different pieces complement each other really well. One good example is the New Pornographers, an indie rock act out of Vancouver whose members have done a lot of incredible work on their own.
Formed in 1997 by Carl (A.C.) Newman, the band has featured a revolving cast of musicians including Neko Case, Dan Bejar, Todd Fancey, Blaine Thurier and John Collins. Case and Bejar notably have gone on to have successful careers, especially Case, who has become an alt-country star. But at the start, it was just relative unknowns Newman (who had been in the band Zumpano) and Bejar (who fronted his own band Destroyer) who wrote the songs, which were decidedly power pop in nature. The band's first album, Mass Romantic, came out in 2000 in Canada and was well-received (it was re-released in 2003 on Matador).
The second New Pornos album was 2003's Electric Version and it came out at the perfect time for an indie power pop act. It was the beginning of the MP3 blog era, where tastemakers were posting indie rock songs on their blogs for fellow music lovers to download and enjoy. It was a great way to learn about new bands that weren't getting much love on radio or MTV and it was where I first found out about the New Pornographers (as well as bands like The Hold Steady).
The band's stock in trade is super-catchy, hooks galore power pop, which Newman can write in his sleep. "The Laws Have Changed" is the standout among standouts, with Newman and Case trading lead vocals as they sing about...ancient Egypt?
"It was a crime at the time/But the laws, we changed 'em/Though the hero for hire's/Forever the same one/Introducing for the first time/Pharoah on the microphone/Sing 'All Hail'/What'll be revealed today/When we peer into the great unknown/From the line to the throne?"
Honestly, it doesn't really matter what the song's about when it's so damn catchy.
"Awakened to cheers/After years on the faultline/We are shocked to be here/In the face of the meantime/Pharoah, all you methods have taught me/Is to separate my blood from bone/It will all fail/Feel what I feel today/When we peer into the great unknown/From the line to the throne."
Electric Version wasn't a huge commercial success (although it sold over 113,000 copies as of 2009) but definitely was a critical one, placing on numerous critics polls, including #7 on The Village Voice's Pazz & Jop poll of 2003. The band has released seven more albums in the last 20 years and toured regularly. Meanwhile, Case has released four relatively successful solo albums, Bejar has made eight Destroyer albums and Newman has made three of his own. Bejar has been an occasional contributor to the New Pornographers because of his Destroyer commitments.
The laws may have changed, but what has remained consistent is the quality of the band's output, the most recent of which was 2023's Continue as a Guest.
Editor's note: Check out my podcast discussion with Jay Breitling about our favorite music of the year on CompCon (here's parts 1, 2 and 3).
There are certain things you can count on of late. Disheartening political scene. Bleak outlook for the planet. And lots of excellent new music to enjoy. Only one of those things is enjoyable, and that is what I'll discuss here. So let's get into it.
15. Kim Gordon - No Home Record
It's kind of amazing that after 38 years in the biz, Kim Gordon released her first solo album in 2019. Not that she hasn't been busy since the breakup of Sonic Youth in 2011, releasing three records with the band Body/Head that weren't too dissimilar from SY. But with No Home Record, Gordon dives into a totally different in-your-face sound: Slamming bass, rattling drums, atonal noise, all topped off by her non-traditional vocals. She's never really been a singer so much as a yeller/whisperer, but it works. No Home Record is loud and unrelentingly modern, while still retaining Gordon's post-punk coolness. (Recommended: "Air Bnb," "Murdered Out," "Sketch Artist.")
14. Desert Sessions - Vols. 11 and 12
Josh Homme is not one to sit around idly. He's always working on something, and this year, it's the revival of his Desert Sessions project, which involves Homme improvising with a star-studded variety of performers. Ten volumes were released between 1997 and 2003, but since then, Homme turned his focus to Queens of the Stone Age, Eagles of Death Metal and Them Crooked Vultures. But 2019 marked the return of the sessions, with guest appearances from Billy Gibbons, Les Claypool, Jake Shears of Scissor Sisters, Matt Sweeney of Chavez, Mike Kerr of Royal Blood and Stella Mozgawa of Warpaint, among others. Dubbed "Arrivederci Despair" and "Tightwads & Nitwits & Critics & Heels," the two volumes just eight songs, but they're eight really good songs. Album opener "Move Together" features Homme-esque vocals from Gibbons and starts slowly before lurching to loud life in QOTSA fashion. There are some varied sounds depending on the singer ("If You Run" is a folky jam featuring newcomer Libby Grace, Homme sings two songs and there's a little comic relief on "Chic Tweetz"). A fun listen while we wait for the next Queens album. (Recommended: "Move Together," "Noses in Roses Forever," "Something You Can't See").
13. Mark Lanegan Band - Somebody's Knocking
Don't look now, but Mark Lanegan has been quietly banging out excellent albums for what seems like forever. His latest release continues his shift toward electro-goth sounds combined with his classic devilish baritone vocals. Produced by Alain Johannes (Eleven, Them Crooked Vultures, a zillion Josh Homme-related projects), Somebody's Knocking features a steady dose of early Joy Division/New Order/Depeche Mode mixed with the razor's edge of bands like the Gun Club. It's a heady mix and one that fits perfectly with Lanegan's smoky, time-worn voice. Lanegan's sung on a ton of different styles of music, from grunge to blues to screaming hard rock to folk, with a ton of different artists (Queens of the Stone Age, Screaming Trees, Greg Dulli, Isobel Campbell, Soulsavers, Neko Case) but he seems really in his element here. (Recommended: "Stitch It Up," "Night Flight to Kabul," "Disbelief Suspension.")
12. Pile - Green and Gray
Pile has been one of the most consistently interesting and underrated bands of the last several years. The Nashville-via-Boston noise-rock act has been churning out excellent albums and playing a ton of shows (and when they're not playing, frontman Rick Maguire is doing solo gigs) year after year. With Green and Gray, the band retains its serrated edge with songs that aren't remotely catchy or anthemic. And it doesn't matter, because Pile kicks ass. Whether raging about a racist government flunky or musing about a panic attack or quieting things down with a meditation on loneliness, Pile manages to keep things interesting and unpredictable. (Recommended: "The Soft Hands of Stephen Miller," "Bruxist Grin," "Hair"). 11. Hallelujah the Hills - I'm You
It was an interesting decade for this Boston band. They started it off by working with Titus Andronicus on that band's breakthrough album The Monitor and then self-released three studio albums and a rarities comp to critical acclaim and commercial crickets. They collaborated with David Berman's Silver Jews. Bandleader Ryan Walsh wrote the terrific and expansive book "Astral Weeks: A Secret History of 1968," which uses the Boston recording of the classic Van Morrison album as a jumping off point to examine...actually, there's so much in this book that you just have to read it. And yet, they're virtually unknown, and it's a damn shame. On I'm You, Walsh explores how rock music affects us with epic, occasionally shambolic and cathartic songs. His always clever and literate lyrics make every listen rewarding. Had this album not come out in mid-November, it undoubtedly would be higher on my list. As it is, I'm still digging into it and realizing that Hallelujah the Hills is one of the great unsung bands of our time. (Recommended: "I'm You," "Folk Music Is Insane," "Running Hot With Fate").
10. Ride - This Is Not a Safe Place
The shoegaze pioneers reunited in 2016 after taking two decades off and with their second post-reunion release (after 2016's Weather Diaries), they're sounding vital and refreshed. A little more relaxed than the previous album, This Is Not a Safe Place finds Ride reaching back to their classic '90s guitar landscapes, but also exploring some different sounds, mixing in some dream-pop, post-punk and some bright jangle-rock. It's an exhilarating mix from a band that still has something to give. Live, the band has been bringing their A-game as well. (Recommended: "Future Love," "Repetition," "Clouds of Saint Marie").
9. DIIV - Deceiver
Speaking of shoegaze, there's something about a genre that caught fire in the early '90s that remains timeless. DIIV's third album Deceiver builds on their particular brand of shoegaze with a more muscular guitar sound. Head DIIVster Zachary Cole Smith delves into his experiences with substance abuse on the album, which balances his dark lyrics with soaring waves of guitar reminiscent of Sonic Youth and early Smashing Pumpkins. The band's previous effort, 2016's Is The Is Are, covered similar lyrical ground, but Smith admitted he wasn't quite in sobriety when he worked on that record. Not the case this time around, as Smith spent time in rehab prior to recording it. The results are unsettling and captivating. (Recommended: "Skin Game," "Horsehead," "Like Before You Were Born").
8. Mike Krol - Power Chords
Mike Krol is known for frenzied blasts of garage rock and his fourth release Power Chords is no different. But even though he delivers punchy and quick rockers, the lyrics tell a different story. You get a hint of the album's intent by its terrific cover, which finds Krol playing guitar in his bedroom like the prototypical disaffected teen, but he's got a black eye and bloody nose. While he's no longer a teen, the 35-year-old Krol is still working through some shit on this record, whether it's career self-doubt or broken relationships. But Krol's therapy involves cranking up the distortion and rocking the eff out. It's more fun than a black eye has any right to be. (Recommended: "What's the Rhythm," "An Ambulance," "Nothing to Yell About"). 7. Ex Hex - It's Real
Back when Mary Timony first burst onto the indie scene with the bands Autoclave and Helium, big riffs and hot solos were nowhere to be found in her music, which was angular and subtle. But her role in the 2011 supergroup Wild Flag (featuring Carrie Brownstein and Janet Weiss of Sleater-Kinney) seemed to have reawakened the rock god inside. Timony's power trio Ex Hex has built two albums now around the power of hard rock, with meaty, good-time rockers. Timony, bassist Betsy Wright and drummer Laura Harris have coalesced into a thrilling live act. While the band's 2014 debut Rips had more of a '70s power pop feel, It's Real has moved on to '80s arena rock glory with longer songs that pay off with catchy choruses and killer riffs. It's fun but unlike a lot of '80s big-haired rock, it's not dumb. ("Tough Enough," "Diamond Drive," "Rainbow Shiner"). 6. Purple Mountains - Purple Mountains
It was a great comeback story. After 10 years of radio silence, indie rock poet David Berman returned with a new project called Purple Mountains. His work as Silver Jews with erstwhile bandmates including Stephen Malkmus, Bob Nastakovich and Will Oldham was well-received and classic, but he seemingly was done with the limelight. So his return was welcome, especially given the quality of Purple Mountains. Backed by the band Woods, the new release is startlingly direct and earnest, inspired by his mother's death (as evidenced by "I Loved Being My Mother's Son"). A tour was announced, but before it could begin, Berman committed suicide in August. The album is certainly influenced by his separation from his wife Cassie and depression is a common undertone, but it's also wickedly clever and literate, as the well-read Berman was known to be. While it's sad that we lost an indie genius too soon, Purple Mountains serves as a fitting epitaph. (Recommended: "Darkness and Cold," "Margaritas at the Mall," "Nights That Won't Happen"). 5. Bob Mould - Sunshine Rock
Bob Mould is proof positive that getting older doesn't mean you have to
slow down. At 59, Mould could easily rest on his laurels as a punk
godfather with nearly 40 years of amazing accomplishments (see Husker
Du, Sugar and his solo catalog). But much of this past decade has been
spent reconnecting with his rock past. Since joining forces in 2012 with
rhythm section Jason Narducy and Jon Wurster, Mould has made four
pummeling albums that rival his glory days. But on Sunshine Rock, he
leavens that heaviness with a more optimistic outlook than in the past.
It's an interesting turn for a still-vital artist.(Recommended: "What Do You Want Me to Do," "Thirty Dozen Roses," "Sin King").
4. Sharon Van Etten - Remind Me Tomorrow
I fully admit to not being overly familiar with Van Etten's previous
work, but her fifth album grabbed my attention with its synth-driven and
sweeping looks at life as a teenager and the various pitfalls she (or
her protagonist) encountered. Van Etten revisits those teenage decisions
with the wisdom of hindsight, but the excitement of being in the
moment. (Recommended: "Seventeen," "Comeback Kid," "No One's Easy to Love").
3. Titus Andronicus - An Obelisk
Patrick Stickles and his rotating cast of rockers have made a decade's
worth of big statements on long, grandiose albums. The band's previous
release, 2018's A Productive Cough, was more of an acoustic affair that
garnered mixed reviews. This time around, the band hunkered down with
Bob Mould at Steve Albini's Electrical Audio studio and cranked out a
tight, 38-minute collection of punk ragers that harks back to the late
'70s/early '80s sound of bands like the Clash. It's refreshing, loud and
altogether exhilarating. (Recommended: "Troubleman Unlimited," "(I Blame) Society," "Tumult Around the World"). 2. PUP - Morbid Stuff
On their third album, the Toronto pop-punk act continues to excel with
an angry, angsty collection of bangers that shout at the many devils of
everyday life: Depression, anxiety, failure, broken relationships. But
they counteract the bummed-out lyrics with uptempo songs. It's a
37-minute whirlwind of angry awesomeness. (Recommended: "Morbid Stuff," "See You at Your Funeral," "Scorpion Hill"). 1. The New Pornographers - In the Morse Code of Brake Lights
I've also spent recent weeks going through the best albums of the 2010s,
and the New Pornos consistently pop up with excellent releases every
other year or so. This year was no different, with A.C. Newman and Neko
Case leading the charge with a new set of perfectly crafted pop gems. It's easy to take such fine work for granted after a while, but make no mistake, this is a band operating on all cylinders. (Recommended: "Falling Down the Stairs of Your Smile," "Colossus of Rhodes," "Opening Ceremony").
Honorable mention: Black Mountain - Destroyer; Sebadoh - Act Surprised; Fontaines DC - Dogrel; Telekinesis - Effluxion; Mikal Cronin - Seeker; Mini Mansions - Guy Walks Into a Bar...; Plague Vendor - By Night; Goon - Heaven is Humming; Oh Sees - Face Stabber; Redd Kross - Beyond the Door; Sleater-Kinney - The Center Won't Hold; The Hold Steady - Thrashing Through the Passion; Trinary System - Lights in the Center of Your Head; Ty Segall - First Taste; Pixies - Beneath the Eyrie; Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Ghosteen; Palehound - Black Friday; Guided By Voices - Sweating the Plague; Wilco - Ode to Joy; Jeff Tweedy - WARM; Raconteurs - Help Us Stranger.
It's an oft-repeated, and not incorrect, refrain among older music fans these days that MTV doesn't play videos anymore.
Those of us who were young music fans in the '80s spent countless hours watching artists mouth the words to their biggest hits in rock videos. Then MTV hit on the idea of original programming: Game shows, talk shows and eventually reality shows like "The Real World" and "Road Rules" gradually took over the airwaves on MTV and its sister station VH1. Starting in the 2000s, you had to tune in overnight or during odd hours to catch a video.
For artists, it was no longer imperative to make videos. Much like radio airplay, unless you're an established and popular artist, your videos would never get played. Then something funny happened: high-speed Internet access made it possible to watch videos on demand whenever you wanted and on a phone, laptop or tablet. Thanks to YouTube, you can watch just about any video ever made as well as live clips of your favorite band on their current tour.
Enter indie rock acts like Stephen Malkmus, Ted Leo and the New Pornographers, who are revered among their small niche of hipster fans but relatively unknown to the pop world at large. Radio airplay even on so-called alternative stations is scarce, so these acts are getting more creative to get the word out about new releases: Using social media platforms to build up buzz, but also teaming up with folks from the alternative comedy world to make videos. The latest example is Malkmus' new video "Senator," directed by Scott Jacobson of The Daily Show and starring Jack Black as a coke-snorting, cattle prod-wielding senator and Gary Cole as his hype man:
Malkmus and his band the Jicks are featured briefly, but the attention is on the antics of Black and his cohorts. The clip mainly goes for laughs but features a fairly shocking last scene.
Malkmus' Matador Records labelmate Ted Leo and the Pharmacists had a similarly funny effort produced for Leo's "Bottled In Cork," directed by WFMU's Tom Sharpling and featuring comic Paul F. Tompkins as a Broadway producer who talks Leo into writing a Broadway musical. A clear parody of Green Day's "American Idiot" show, the video also features John Hodgman as a theater critic:
Sharpling has become a go-to director for funny indie rock videos. He also directed this clip of The New Pornographers' "Moves" that starred The Daily Show's Hodgman and Wyatt Cenac, Paul Rudd, Bill Hader of SNL, Horatio Sanz and Donald Glover, among others:
And he directed Titus Andronicus' "No Future Part Three: Escape from No Future":
Sharpling's latest videos include a clip for The Ettes' "Excuse," starring Patton Oswalt, and The Stepkids' "Legend in My Own Mind" with Cenac.
As much as I've always enjoyed straightahead performance videos, these funny mini-movies are a lot of fun. And they bring back fond memories of DaveTV:
The podcast's back with special guest Ric Dube, who joins me to discuss the underlying themes behind pop culture trends. Click here to listen to the show in streaming audio or download it directly here (right click and "save as").
The show notes...
Topics:
- 'Twas a dark and stormy night
- Ric's dropping some science
- Wardrobe malfunctions at the Super Bowl (Janet Jackson, Pete Townshend)
- Super Bowl has older halftime acts every year
- All movies use fish-out-of-water premise
- On TV shows, star always has a wacky neighbor
- Dube's Principle of Ballistic Karma: 'splosions only get the bad guy
- Slow motion is a key indicator
- "Dolls should never be seen outdoors"
- Kumar: A-Team Principle of Ammo Dispersement
- That background noise is rain pounding on the windows
- '80s action shows always have bad guy's car flying off a ramp
- Dube's Principle of Unadvanced Technology
- Glasses are always a prop
- Ric's 5th grade teacher was disgusting
- Computers in TV shows or movies are totally unrealistic
- Things Ric wants to do someday: Guess someone's password from trivial fact about person
- Kumar: The Principle of Hard Rock Album Progression
- Artists always say the new album is way better than the previous one
- Every celeb thinks he or she can write a children's book
- Bonehead of the Week
Music:
- The New Pornographers - Your Hands (Together)
- Broken Social Scene - World Sick
- Black Rebel Motorcyle Club - Conscience Killer
Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!
The Broken Social Scene song is on the forthcoming album Forgiveness Rock Record on Arts and Crafts Records. Find out more and download the track for free here.
The Black Rebel Motorcycle Club song is on the album Beat the Devil's Tattoo on Vagrant Records. Find out more at . The song is courtesy of RCRDLBL, where you can download it for free.
The show is sponsored by Budget, the country's premier car rental service with 900 locations. Visit Budget.com/CompCon and save 10% off any reservation or $30 off a weekly rental.
The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blogs Clicky Clicky and Keeping Some Dark Secrets. Additional music used in the show is by Me and Boris the Bull, which is the brainchild of the mighty Mark Campbell. Thanks to Bob Durling for the album art; find out more about his photography at his blog.
Completely Conspicuous is a Tan God Production. Word.
Harking back to the days when I used to do the podcast every week, I cranked out the latest ep of CompCon a mere eight days after the last one. I wanted to get a second July show done and finish it before we headed away on vacation, which we're doing tomorrow. Download it directly here (right click and "save as").
The show notes...
Topics: - The resurgence of vinyl albums - The fattening of America - Pinhead of the Week
Music: - Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - Where Have All the Rude Boys Gone? - The Oxford Collapse - The Birthday Wars - Broken Social Scene Presents: Brendan Canning - Hit the Wall - The New Pornographers - Myriad Harbor
Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes and Podcast Pickle podcast directories. Subscribe and write a review!
The Ted Leo and the Pharmacists song is on the album Hearts of Oak; find out more at . The song is on Lookout Records, where you can find out more and download the track.
The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog. Additional music used in the show is by Me and Boris the Bull, which is the brainchild of the mighty Mark Campbell.
Completely Conspicuous is a Tan God Production. Word.
"Hit The Wall"
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