Published on August 5th, 2011 | Jonny Abrams
NewTube: The Stepkids, We Were Evergreen, Mathieu Santos, Bill Wells & Aidan Moffat, Dirty Beaches, Louise Burns
It’s that time of week again, so settle down and tape your eyelids to your face in anticipation of Rocksucker’s latest batch of freshly-baked music videos. Yessiree Bob, it’s NewTube!
The Stepkids – “Wonderfox”
(See above for video)
This latest video from Connecticut’s psychedelic soul sensations matches the nocturnal yet technicolour feel of its song. Rocksucker witnessed these guys positively owning London’s Cargo venue on Wednesday night and we absolutely cannot wait for their self-titled debut album, which sees the light of day on September 27th on Stonesthrow Records, home to – amongst many others – Madlib, Madvillain and the late, great J Dilla.
Click here to read our in-depth interview with The Stepkids.
For more information, please visit thestepkidsband.com
We Were Evergreen – “Vintage Cars”
The French newcomers have been on our shores of late charming audiences’ collective pants off with their joyously sweet, sunny and nostalgic ditties, some of which they performed on the London Eye last week with Rocksucker amongst their very exclusive audience. This Dominique Rocher-directed, yak-starring promo video is as breezy and playful as the band’s music, which they whittle out of a variety of small instruments including ukulele, toy piano and various percussive objects.
Click here to read our in-depth interview with We Were Evergreen.
For more information, please visit wewereevergreen.com
Mathieu Santos – “I Can Hear the Trains Coming”
Bassist of New York chamberpop lovelies Ra Ra Riot, Santos this week unleashed his debut solo album Massachusetts 2010. This, the first single to be taken from the record, comes across rather like Chad VanGaalen on helium crossed with Yoshimi-era Flaming Lips; indeed, its Albert Birney-directed video even revolves around a giant, brightly-coloured yet destructive robot. It’s beatsy, sun-kissed and a whole heap of fun. On this evidence, Rocksucker looks forward to tucking into the LP.
You can buy Massachusetts 2010 at barsuk.com
Arab Strap cult hero Moffat and former Kevin Ayers and The Pastels collaborator Bill Wells came together to record the well-received Everything’s Getting Older album, on which the former’s grizzled, embittered poetry and the latter’s virtuoso multi-instrumentalism combine to oddly beautiful effect. “Cages” is one of its standout moments and, along with this video which Moffat spliced together out of footage from old educational films, it’s likely to be the only track this year that mentions nasal hair, fungal nail infections and Citalopram that could still bring a smile to your face.
For more information and a list of October tour dates, please visit aidanmoffat.co.uk
Dirty Beaches – “Lord Knows Best”
Alex Zhang Hungtai, a Taiwan-born Canadian immigrant who goes by the musical alias of Dirty Beaches, received rave reviews earlier this year for his debut album Badlands. This latest single to be taken from it sounds not entirely unlike “We Have All the Time in the World” re-imagined by Mogwai and fed through a distortion filter, making it sound – as with the rest of the album – like it comes from another time and place entirely, an aesthetic matched by the sombre, grainy footage of the video (directed by Zoe Kirk-Gushowaty). Mysterious, intriguing stuff indeed.
For more information, please visit myspace.com/dirtybeaches
Louise Burns – “What Do You Wanna Do”
Formerly of Canadian teen girl rockers Lillix, Burns’ debut album Mellow Drama was longlisted for the 2011 Polaris Music Prize. “What Do You Wanna Do” may be an exercise in cliché – call it ‘pastiche’, if you will – but it’s an enjoyable throwback nonetheless, a Buddy Holly-esque singalong which sits well amidst the sultry, smoky shoegazing that also populates her album. Burns? Excellent!
For more information, please visit louiseburnsmusic.com