Local Cut » Random Video Tuesday

Random Video Tuesday: Brent Knopf Shows You How to Make a Ramona Falls Song

Michael Mannheimer — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 21:30:20 +0000

Have you ever listened to a song and wondered how the artist wrote it? What comes first, the lyrics or the chords? For a lot of songwriters it’s a chicken or the egg type of thing; it’s hard to distill the essence of a piece of art down to scenario in which it was created. So that makes this video, where Brent Knopf shows you just how he pieces together the Ramona Falls song “Going Once, Going Twice,” that much cooler.

Very few songwriters have an ear for melody and composition like Knopf does, and whether he’s recording for Menomena or his new band/almost solo project Ramona Falls he often writes using many loops and the much discussed Deeler looping program he built before Menomena’s first record. In this clip, Knopf is joined by Mr. Toad for an instructional video that shows the process behind his work. It’s cool stuff.

Ramona Falls’ album Intuit is out now on Barsuk, and it’s one of our favorite releases of the year. If you have any money leftover after buying the remastered Beatles box consider picking it up.

Links:
Ramona FallSpace

Screen capture taken from the video

Ramona Falls’ (Brent Knopf of Menomena) Album Art Totally Rules You’
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Random Video Tuesday: This Kid From Beaverton Might Be the New Smashing Pumpkins Drummer

Michael Mannheimer — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 19:52:04 +0000

Sometimes you read something on the Internet and think it’s obviously a hoax. But when it comes to Smashing Pumpkins dictator/whiny aging rock star Billy Corgan, there’s really nothing at this point that I wouldn’t believe. So, as you’ve probably heard at some point today, it appears that Corgan’s worldwide search for a new drummer has ended. And the winner is a 19-year-old kid from Beaverton named Mike Bryne.

It’s still speculation at this point, but Smashing Pumpkins blog Hipsters United is reporting that Bryne—a freshman at the Berklee College of Music and drummer for local band Moses, Smell the Roses—is the replacement to longtime Pumpkins drummer Jimmy Chamberlin. According to his drum teacher Justin Matz, Bryne was selected over 11 other drummers after he sent in a video of his winning solo at the 2008 Beaverton Guitar Center Drum-off. Now, if this isn’t a good candidate for Random Video Tuesday, then I give up:

Dude’s got some chops! Of course, as Hipsters United pointed out, Bryne would also help the Pumpkins (if you can even call them that considering Corgan is the only original member left. Miss you, James Iha!) lower their average age to something in the twenties. Which is impressive considering that Corgan is 42 and the current youngest member is 29-year-old bassist Ginger Pooley. Remember that Bryne was just three years old when Simease Dream made Corgan and his Zero shirt famous. Whatcha wanna bet that he’s listening to “Today” right now?

Today is
Today is
Today is
The greatest day
That I have ever known

And in case you were wondering, Moses, Smell the Roses first influence on MySpace is Starfucker. Do I smell a Josh Hodges remix of “1979″ in the future?

Links:
Moses, Smell the RoseSpace
Hipsters United

Photo courtesy of Moses, Smell the Roses

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Not-So-Random Video Tuesday: Iame and the Decemberists

Casey Jarman — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 22:41:46 +0000

Random video Tuesday seemed like a great conceit: We can post weird shit that’s only marginally related to the Portland music scene in a matter of minutes. That way you get fresh shiny content and we get a break to work on Willamette Week instead of this gigantic time-suck of a black hole of a disaster of a website (kidding! love you!).

But today I wound up with two videos that actually had something to do with our mission statement. So here they are:

First up is the first video from Iame’s forthcoming I Am My Enemy, “Show’s Over Now.” This special Sandperson finds himself rejected as a door-to-door salesman, but because the hustle is strong with this one, I don’t forsee any long-term effects.

You know, I hope he don’t think it’s real weird when I say Iame’s got a great face. It’s just a cool-looking face. There’s some grizzled wisdom behind those glazed-over eyes. I think he could be an actual actor. He doesn’t even need to say anything, just closeups of him looking vaguely disappointed would be pretty compelling.

Look for and handful of cameos from such local luminaries as Tope from Living Proof and Gold and Ethic de Sandpeople (the latter is the tall guy sucking on the inhaler).

If you like the song you can download it here!

The second video of the day comes via the Decemberists (and the folks over at Stereogum…nice catch!). It’s the Decemberists doing “Crazy on You,” and it’s not as awkward as it sounds. It’s actually really, really cool despite the shaky handy-cam.

Gonna have that stuck in my head for sure. Maybe I should try singing something else. Hmmm. “You’re so vain/ I bet you think this song is about you (you’re so vaii-aiin)/ You’re so vain!/ I bet you think this song is about you/ Don’t you? Don’t you? Don’t youuuuu?”

Links:
IameSpace
DecemberistSpace

oh, fuck it, let’s all sing! RANDOM VIDEO TUESDAY LIVES!!!

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Random Video Tuesday: Musee Mecanique Score a Max Fleischer Cartoon!

Michael Mannheimer — Wed, 06 May 2009 00:43:57 +0000

Wow, this totally works! Set to the Max Fleischer’s “Somewhere in Dreamland,” color animated short film, Musee Mecanique’s “Our Changing Skins” almost perfectly captures the grainy, magical beauty of the cartoon classic. I was a bit dubious before I clicked on the link, but this is actually one of the better unofficial videos floating around on YouTube. You know the kind: a kid in his bedroom takes a favorite song and puts it over some random footage, trying to apply meaning to something that was never there. When it works, though, you have to tip your hat to the creator—and Musee Mecanique’s kind of spooky, old-timey-instruments-meets-weird-synthesizer sound does marvels to the 1936 classic. Now that I’ve watched this a few times, I’ll never be able to listen to the band again without thinking of these cute kewpie kids dreaming of leaving poverty for a night and escaping to a fantasy Candyland.

Links:
Musee MecaniqueSpace

Photo courtesy of Google

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Random Video Tuesday: The Old Believers Cover T.I.!

Michael Mannheimer — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 01:16:01 +0000

Yeah, I know. This is a day late. One week after I vowed to post my favorite local music clip of the day every Tuesday because, well, I can. But, I do have a pretty good excuse: I left Oregon for the first time in over a year (that’s commitment to my job, folks) to see My Bloody Valentine torture my eardrums at the ill-named WaMu theater. So let’s straighten things out by. Here’s my choice for Random Video Wednesday, a little gem that you’ve probably heard on Z100 100 times by now. It’s a dirty little song about doing things the way you want to. Cuz baby, you could have whatever you like.

No, we’re not frontin’—that’s the Old Believers and friends from ~~Eskimo & Sons~~ Congratulations, Horse Feathers and Doubledutch covering T.I.’s “Whatever You Like.” The cover is totally sincere and honest and just incredibly fun, a bunch of kids taking their favorite party jam and turning it into a giant sing-along complete with a horn section, cello and and lots of antsy percussion. So great! Did I mention that the Old Believers are playing this SUNDAY, MAY 3 at the next installment of our Portland Makes Music Series with Congratulations? And they’ll probably play this!

It ain’t trickin’ if you got it, girl.

Links:
Old BelieverSpace

Photo doctored by me.

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