It's a very, very Video Vriday, with an exclusive premiere and lots more to look at!

Premiere! Here is the new video from Jarad Miles in Ancient Wave, for the song "Ooh Child"—no, not that "Ooh Child"—a brand-new track which will appear on their upcoming eponymous album. There's a lot going on storywise in this handsome, affecting video, which was directed by local director Justin Koleszar, who also directed the fine recent feature One Foot in the Gutter. Centered around a different kind of standoff, the video stars Vin Shambry, with cinematography is by Ryan Kunkleman. Koleszar tells me that they "had a goal of avoiding a Portland feel." The video will also play as part of next week's Portland Music Video Festival, which will take place Thursday, May 30 at the Hollywood Theatre. For more on that event, go here.


The Thermals continue the overarching theme of violence from their recent Desperate Ground in this terrific video for album highlight "The Sunset," which stars Kathy Foster as a boxer in training. Directed by Jeffrey Rowles along with the Thermals, the locally shot video includes a bit with a chicken that will be the best thing you see all day. Foster's dance moves pay homage to Do the Right Thing, and this video will surely do for the Eastbank Esplanade what Rocky did for the steps at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.


Portugal. The Man have a new video for a track from their new Danger Mouse-produced album Evil Friends, which comes kicking and screaming into the world on June 4. This clip, directed by David Vincent Wolf, is a little reminiscent of those Victorian death photos, as it focuses on black-and-white closeups of the band members and toys with them in slightly disturbing ways. Following Evil Friends' release, Portugal. The Man embark on a national tour, bringing them home for a show at the Crystal Ballroom on Thursday, July 18.

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Oy vey, it's Video Vriday!

Just in time for the upcoming Rose Festival, here's a new video from Scout Niblett, which must have been filmed at last year's Rose Fest. Niblett is no stranger to wearing wigs, but here she goes one step further with full Snow White regalia. She fits right in, while the slow-burning, seething undercurrents of the track "Gun" provide a bizarre and hilarious counterpoint. Scout Niblett's new album, It's Up to Emma (her first name is indeed Emma), comes out this Tuesday, May 21, on Drag City.


Here's Wampire, whose new album just came out on Tuesday. This video for "Orchards" shows the two fellows on a long drive through what looks like Eastern Oregon. Naturally, a little hot-boxing is bound to happen, but then of course shit gets weird. This same exact thing has happened to me on every single road trip I've taken. Wampire just played their record release show, but they'll play a hometown show again at Holocene on July 3.


The Parson Red Heads have a new EP coming! It's called 6, can you guess how many songs are on it? It comes out June 4, and here's the video for "Times," which was shot while the band recorded the track at Type Foundry Studios with Scott McCaughey and Adam Selzer in spring of last year. The EP is just a taster of the Red Heads' forthcoming full-length, Orb Weaver, which will come out in the fall. The group has two upcoming shows scheduled for the Doug Fir: Saturday, May 26 in which they open for Beachwood Sparks, and the EP's release show on Tuesday, June 4.

Videos from Youthbitch, Barry Brusseau, and Sara Jackson-Holman after the jump!

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Va va va voom, it's Video Vriday!

Fresh off their Arrested Development party at Holocene earlier this week, Banana Stand Media have announced their new live album—and this one's coming from And And And, who performed and recorded a show in the Banana Stand basement back in December. Here's a clip of the song "Bow Down" from that show (video by Collective-47); typically, it's great. The album will be released on Tuesday, May 21 and will include several new/unreleased songs from the band, and to celebrate, And And And is playing a show on the day of the album release at Bunk Bar with Sama Dams (click it to ticket!); meanwhile, they're about to hit the road with Sun Angle. And And And's Live from the Banana Stand is Banana Stand's first release since partnering with CD Baby, who have become an official sponsor of the live recordists—they'll manufacture and distribute this and other upcoming releases from Banana Stand.


Here's Wooden Indian Burial Ground's new video, for "Helicopter," the frenetic, hypnotic opening track from their excellent recent self-titled album. If you love ponies and lysergic, nightmarish psychedelia, this is the video for you, my friend. Wooden Indian Burial Ground just kicked off their current tour on Tuesday night with a show at the Know; right now they're somewhere in Idaho or Montana, and will cross this proud nation with nearly two months of shows before returning back to Portland for a homecoming show at the Star Theater on June 29. It has been great to witness this band—who've been around for a near half-decade or so, despite some inaccurate reports—hitting their stride in the past few months. They have been getting lots of new attention, and deserve every bit of it.


While that last video probably isn't too suitable for kids, this one definitely is. It's a lovely stop-motion clip from Cat Doorman, the kids'-and-parents'-music project of the Golden Bears' Julianna Bright. Bright made these illustrations based on drawings by her daughter, and she and collaborator Alexis Gideon animated this clip, which is totally magical and charming and heartwarming. Cat Doorman have several area performances scheduled, many at schools (go here to see them all), but notably there's a performance at 4 pm on Sunday afternoon (4 pm) at TaborSpace (5441 SE Belmont)—that's Mother's Day, in case you forgot, you monster.


Next up is the mysterious, moody video for Interiors' new song, "Standing on the Other Side," which appears on the forthcoming EP Real/Not Real, out on London-based label Mozart Kind. This track is in my opinion the best yet from Interiors, the electronic-art-pop project from Portland's Thomas Thorson—it uses the songwriting itself as the foundation for its slinky, involving sounds, which build upon themselves in a really rewarding way. Fittingly, the Portland-shot video is equally dramatic.


Here's a video (of sorts) for Black Prairie's new track "Dawn Departure, Jefferson County." The clip also doubles as a "book trailer" for Jon Mooallem's new book Wild Ones, which Black Prairie did the soundtrack for. A soundtrack for a book? You are thinking too hard, friend. Just go with it. The "extended EP" (yes, it is an extended EP, just let it go) comes out digitally this Tuesday on the band's own Captain Bluegrass Records, with a limited 10-inch vinyl and CD release coming in June. The book itself is about animals, and extinction, and environmentalism, and the video uses little tidbits from the book for an image-and-text based video that bests Van Halen's "Right Now" at its own game. All we need is some Crystal Pepsi.


I'll leave you today with Love Cop's new video "Hunger 4 Yr Heart." One of the many pretty ponies in the Gnar Tapes stable, Love Cop have a new tape out caled Eat Yr Heart Out (more info here), and this woozy, surely-not-at-all-influenced-by-narcotics song is given visual treatment via footage from a recent, surely-not-at-all-influenced-by-narcotics barbecue at Gnar headquarters (naturally dubbed Gnarnia). Springtime or no, it looks like we're in the middle of a full-fledged Portland summer, folks. Dig in.

Open up and say "vvvvvv," it's Video Vriday!

Nick Jaina has a video for his song "High Beams," off his great, great new album Primary Perception. This short, simple track is given effective visual treatment by director Jason Leonard, who shot the clip at his Affiche Poster Studio in Northeast Portland. As Jaina told American Songwriter, Leonard "set up two projectors in a way that someone dancing behind the screen would block one projector and the other would show through. The intended effect was that of a car parked on a bluff overlooking the city, and someone dancing in the car’s headlights.”


A few weeks back, we posted a solo track from Minden singer Casey Burge. Now here's another take of "Agent of Corruption," which was recorded live at Supernatural Sound in Oregon City, with Lia Gist and Dan Talmadge (also of Minden) and filmed by the videographers at Yours Truly.

Videos, from Divers, Dangerous Boys Club, and Johnny Marr after the jump!

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Va va va voom, it's Video Vriday!

Here's Portugal. The Man's video for "Purple Yellow Red & Blue," the new track which was recorded with members of Haim, from the Evil Friends album (out June 4). In this video, frontman John Gourley embraces his inner street person and walks around with a ratty blanket. (Or is it a technicolor dreamcoat?) A bunch of other strange stuff happens. This video is like a metaphysical version of shining the blacklight on some motel sheets to see all the jizz stains. Final assessment = ??


Aan performed a secret house show in LA for Songs from a Room (SOFAR) during which they played this stripped-down rundown of "Spiritual Provisions," the B-side of their excellent new single "Mystery Life." This is a great, gentle version of the track, proving that frontman Bud Wilson doesn't require a mic. Aan are opening for Smashing Pumpkins for a couple shows in Florida and North Carolina in the coming days.


Here's video number three in the Tender Loving Empire/Fort George collaborative series meant to celebrate the brewery's new Tender Loving Empire Northwest Pale Ale. (Videos one and two.) Shot by Into the Woods, this captures Radiation City performing near the Astoria-Megler Bridge at the mouth of the Columbia River. They perform "Foreign Bodies" from their upcoming album Animals in the Median and if you know anything about Radiation City, you know that this is a magnificent sounding performance, even as the band looks a little battered by those northern Pacific winds. Radiation City plays a release show for the new album on June 28 at the Wonder; meanwhile, the TLE beer gets its own release show, too: Sunday, May 5 at Bunk Bar with music from Heavy Handles, the Family Crest, Holiday Friends, and Jared Mees.


Another clip from the We Shared Milk's show at the Banana Stand last year is up, so take a look. "Blake" was a song the group wrote for their very first show at the Banana Stand in '08, and it stood the test of time to be played again four years later. Video by Collective-47.


We posted a video from Portland duo Dresses a couple months back, and now here's their new one. It's called "Sun Shy" and it's deliriously poppy, cuddly, and catchy. The video here's pretty straightforward, as Jared Ryan Maldonado and Timothy Heller—that's the girl, her name is indeed Timothy—join a house party where everyone is drinking... tea? Not sure what they're drinking, but it's in mugs. Dresses play the Doug Fir on May 9 opening for Laura Stevenson, and then hit the road for a few dates with Kate Nash.


The Vandies are a local all-female rock group who recently released their self-titled EP. Here's the video for one of those tracks, an upbeat party-ready track called "Chinatown." Not sure if this refers to the Old Town neighborhood of Portland, now characterized by fratty dance clubs more than its Chinese restaurants, but even if not, there's a late-night, party-crazy vibe to this one. The Vandies recently played the Slabtown Grrrl Front Fest and are going to play Backspace on Wednesday, May 1.


Last up! This is Donnie Blossoms' video for a track called "Who Am I Too" from his Gnar tape High-Chew/Windows, and it celebrates the magical transformative powers of weed (the video was reportedly shot on 4/20). With Blossoms' hazy electronic musical backing, there's all kinds of fun pot-fueled shenanigans (personal favorite moment: when a copy of the WW turns into Street Roots.) This is all pretty dumb and druggy, but it's over in two minutes and is amusing, to say the least. You need to lighten up anyway, bra.

Vroom vroom, it's Video Vriday!

Here's the first ever video from 1939 Ensemble, the percussion duo that recently released their debut album Howl and Bite on Jealous Butcher. Directed by Jeff Rowles, this video for "Sabotage" shows the duo of Jose Medeles and David Coniglio getting ready to play, which, in the world of this video, includes putting on ski masks. But instead of robbing convenience stores, 1939 Ensemble instead robs our hearts, as they break into a secret performance space, dodge some lasers, and get to work.


Here's footage of Old Light recording the rhythm tracks for "Transformation," the closing track on their new cassette Time. This video was shot by Inger Klekacz as the band was recording it—that's the finished version of "Transformation" you're hearing with the image. Old Light headline the Doug Fir tomorrow night for Time's release, and you can read more about the new tape here, and check it out here.


This is a great video of Wild Ones at Supernatural Studios in Oregon City, performing "Paia," a new song which will be on their upcoming album. Into the Woods shot this one, and it's a pretty straightforward clip, but it's rare to get up this close to a band in the studio where they are recording their album, although I don't know if this is actually the take that will end up on the album—I'm guessing they'd already finished tracking it by the time Into the Woods went in for the shoot, and this is a live take done for the cameras.

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It wouldn't be Vriday without some vrideos!

First up is a video for the opening track of Novosti's excellent new record Love & Lashes, which will see its release tomorrow night at the Doug Fir, when the band opens for Just People and Violet Isle as part of the Soul'd Out Music Festival. You can read a little bit more about Novosti in this week's paper, but this clip for "Drown" was assembled from 8mm footage that family friends of Jov Novosti compiled over several years. The footage captures a family on their assorted vacations, and it walks a nostalgic, affecting balance between the mundane and the exotically surreal.

Next is the newest video from Tender Loving Empire and Ft. George Brewing, to celebrate the release of TLE Northwest Pale Ale. This is the second video in the series and comes from Y La Bamba (the first was from Typhoon; see it here), who performed the title track from their brand-new EP Oh February at the confluence of where the Willamette and the Columbia Rivers meet. Perhaps appropriately for a beer, the band seems to be getting pretty wet during this one (watch how quickly they pull their hoods back on when the song is done). Still, from the warm and dry comfort of the computer screen, this video, courtesy of the Into the Woods folks, looks beautiful and very Northwest-y.

Speaking of Into the Woods, here's another one from the prolific videographers—the third installment in their excellent series with Parenthetical Girls, in which band and crew went around to odd or offbeat places in the Portland area to perform. (Previous installments: here and a href="http://www.portlandmercury.com/endhits/archives/2013/03/01/its-video-vriday-scrimshander-natasha-kmeto-and-more">here.) For this one, they went to the Oaks Park for a ride on the carousel (which is named the "Herschell-Spillman Carousel," in case you were wondering; doesn't "Spillman" seem an unfortunate name for a carousel?) after being inspired by Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train. I'm not entirely sure how they pulled this off from a cable/cord perspective without any serious tangles, but I will say that I have never seen anyone more in his element than the way frontman Zac Pennington looks, as he weaves in and out of the painted animals on the speedily moving merry-go-round.

Here's another video from Myke Bogan, for the track "Kush" from his new mixtape Monkeys on the Beach. You can download that over here, but take a look at the clip above, which was directed by Tim Slusarczyk. It's a pretty straightforward clip, with Bogan addressing the camera and some visuals sprinkled here and there. The song's title "Kush" refers to those rubber-string balls that were super easy to catch for slow and/or untalented children. Remember? They were popular back in the '80s? Hang on... I'm being told that "Kush" means something very, very different.

Last up: This live performance video from Morning Ritual, the new slo-jam band from prolific local keyboardist Ben Darwish. The Shook Twins take the lead on this one, letting their linen-like folk harmonies cut the way for an organ-drenched ballad, finding something in between folk and R&B and almost funeral-like church music. This track appears on Morning Ritual's first song-cycle, The Clear Blue Pearl, which'll be out next month; the ensemble plays a release show at the Doug Fir on May 16.

It wouldn't be Vriday without some vrideos! Let's get this done quicklike.

Here's the Hound of Love, covering "If Not for You." The Bob Dylan chestnut (also covered by George Harrison, Olivia Newton-John, and ten zillion other people) has been given sugar-rush glowy synth-pop clothes and has never sounded better. Who's the Hound of Love, you ask? It's Andrew Bassett from the Mean Jeans, playing cheese-tastic '80s pop, and if you can resist his magically addictive synths you are a stronger person than I. This wonderful one-take video was actually shot all the way back in 2010, but "If Not for You" appears on the Hound of Love's brand new tape Careful Houndy, which was just released this week on Burger Records/Gnar Tapes. Go listen to the whole thing, it is amazing. Meanwhile, I'll be watching this awesome video over and over.


Here's a video from the Woolen Men, those practitioners of lovely, rumbly pop with lots of rough corners. This video for "Hold It Up" is not recommended for the seizure-prone, but it is pretty rad, a black-and-white animated clip of primitive but eye-catching animation. It's something in between an early '80s computer game and one of those psychedelic, funky cartoons from old episodes of Sesame Street.


Lastly, since today is all about Unknown Mortal Orchestra, here is the video that Into the Woods shot a couple weekends ago at Boise's Treefort Music Fest. Shot at the El Korah Shriner's Hall, this is a sweet live take on "No Need for a Leader," from the excellent II album. UMO tonight at the Aladdin! See you there.

How vantastic, it's Video Vriday! This week we've got some videos and some non-videos. I'll explain.

Here's a video that's sort of a non-video, by which I mean it's a visual accompaniment to the Minus 5's new song, a nine-minute epic about Michael Nesmith. Wait, the same Michael Nesmith who appeared in the paper this week? Who was a member of the Monkees and has a long and illustrious solo career, only part of which involved music? The same Michael Nesmith who produced Repo Man and inherited the Liquid Paper fortune? The very same. The Minus 5's Scott McCaughey turned a lengthy poem about Nesmith into this song, which treats Papa Nez as the somewhat mythical character he is, imbuing him with everyman humanity, imagining what it might have been like to have been risen to the ridiculous heights of fame that the Monkees reached, and how you sort your life out after something like that. Michael Nesmith performs TONIGHT at the Aladdin Theater; I don't know if Portland will get another chance to see him.

Carrying the non-video theme for one more song, here is the brand-new "lyric video" for Portland thrash metal band Toxic Holocaust. Now, a lyric video is often a cheap ploy to get a band's new song on YouTube without actually having to film an expensive video. But this one looks pretty legit to me, a full cinematic (and spooky) accompaniment to "Agony of the Damned," with some lyrics so you can sing along karaoke-style. This track comes from Toxic Holocaust's forthcoming rarities anthology, From the Ashes of Nuclear Destruction, which comes out Tuesday on Relapse Records. An earlier version of "Agony of the Damned" appeared on TH's Conjure and Command, which was your mother's favorite album of 2011.

Here's a more conventional video-video, shot to honor Fort George's new Tender Loving Empire Northwest Pale Ale—named after the local label/boutique that's become a stronghold of Portland music. The Astoria brewery made a beer for TLE, and now Typhoon have made a video for the beer! (And now I'm making a blog post for the video. If someone would like to make me something, that would be nice.) This lovely clip sees Typhoon performing on the banks of the Willamette at night, performing the oldie "Sea Shanty II," which originally appeared on their 2007 EP Dearborn Sessions. The omnipresent Into the Woods folks are responsible for this one, and more music videos from Radiation City, Y la Bamba, and Brainstorm, made for Tender Loving Empire Northwest Pale Ale are on the way. Which doesn't change the fact that there is none of this beer in my mouth right now. A problem. It shall be rectified soon. (ALSO! Tender Loving Empire just made you a new mixtape. Go and listen.) (ALSO ALSO! The beer gets a local launch party, or release show, or something, at Bunk Bar on May 4.)

Last week Black Prairie appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and it took a few days, but now the video is up for viewing so you don't have to scroll through the whole episode on NBC's site just to see these goods. It's a fine take on "Nowhere, Massachusetts," including Jon Moen on drums, and a solo from Chris Funk on what I think—I'm no expert—is some sort of hammered dulcimer set up with a keyboard rig. It's either that or an ocarina. I know nothing about music!

Lastly, here's one from the Portland based Rare Monk, for the song Underground off their new album Sleep/Attack. This is a striking clip about what looks like a virtual reality experiment gone horridly wrong. OR maybe one of those sensory deprivation tanks? There are worms, and bodies rising from the earth, and an animated bird, and floating nude men, and if I told you I knew what was happening here, I would be a big ol' liar. Still, pretty! The clip was directed by Dylan Wilbur, and is a fine visual accompaniment to the band's dramatic, unusual indie-rock sound.

Oh, what vun, it's Video Vriday!

We kick off this week with the exclusive premiere of the new Minden video from Banana Stand Media and Collective-47. It's a raucous live take of "Monolith," and you'll notice that the Portland glam-soul band is dressed even more ridiculously than usual. That's because this was shot at Banana Stand's Halloween party, in their secret lair during the taping of a show that is about to come out as the next Banana Stand release. Minden's Live at the Banana Stand—check out the preview page for it here—will be ushered into the world, in all its glitzy, tawdry CD-format glory, at a benefit show for the Bark environmental nonprofit that's taking place April 20 at Kelly's Olympian (Genders and Sama Dams are also on the bill). A digital release follows April 23.


The Thermals unleashed the new video for "Born to Kill," the lead track off their upcoming album Desperate Ground. Directed by Jeffrey Rowles and the Thermals, this darling clip depicts a charming, sun-dappled stroll through a marshmallow park, as members of our gang feed ducklings and tickle babies. Oh wait. No. This video is totally different. Hope you like blood and social commentary, delivered with sly biting wit. And blood. The Thermals also play April 20, at the album's all-ages record release show at Branx.


Into the Woods also have made available the new video in their "Favorite Places" series, this one featuring WL performing at the Portland Harbor Superfund site. This one originally premiered at ITW's third anniversary party at Holocene. Band member Michael Yun has a long and thoughtful piece on why they chose to perform at that site over on Intothewoods.tv. Social commentary aside (and not as much blood as the Thermals vid!), this is a great performance, well recorded and photographed. WL perform Friday, March 29 at Kenton Club.


Lastly, here's the new video from Wolf People. They're not from Portland. They have nothing to do with Portland (they're from the UK). I just adore this band, and when you get blog privileges, you get to post this sort of thing. Wolf People's 2010 album Steeple is still one of my all-time favorite records, and they have a new one called Fain coming out next month. Wolf People will never, ever tour the States because no one knows who they are. So watch this, and become a fan, and maybe they'll come here—listen, learn, love.

It's Video Vriday! Time to shutter those blinds and huddle over the laptop screen with the latest in local music videos. It was a good week for the lost art of the music video—Beach House premiered their new one, directed by Eric Wareheim, and it has set the internets all a-flutter, although to my thinking it is mostly just goofy visuals pumped up to a ridiculous extreme—Wareheim displays his typical fondness for the gallery of the grotesque, going for humor through discomfort rather than looking for any emotional resonance. Still, pretty! And weird! I'll stop talking.

Let's start with the much less ambitious—and blessedly so—new video from Youthbitch, one of the more beloved punk bands in town. "I'm in Love with Girls" is the A-side to Youthbitch's new single, which comes out next week on Dirtnap. In the video, the band dresses up in drag, carrying on a noble rock 'n' roll tradition that goes back to the sleeve of the Rolling Stones' single "Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing in the Shadows?"

More after the jump!

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Vuck yeah, it's Video Vriday!

Let's begin with the stunning new video from Scrimshander, the Bark Hide and Horn alums who ushered their debut album into the world at a record release show last weekend at Someday Lounge. This video for "Forest Fire" features the wonderful puppetry and artwork of Belly & Bones, and also goes a long way to explaining just what on earth that dangly thing is in the duo's press photo.

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It's Video Vriday, everybody's vavorite day of the week!

First up is the weird—truly weird—video from Eat Skull, for the skittering, wrong-way-against-the-grain pop number "How Do I Know When to Say Goodnight?" I'm not entirely sure what's happening in this one, but it's shot on 82nd Avenue on a particularly grim Portland day, and totally captures that oppressive, morose feeling of a Northwest winter. There are little colored pieces of animation in there, too, so there you go. It's a little bit spooky and sad, and perhaps is meant to evoke that morning-after sense of coming down. Eat Skull play III's record release show tonight at Mississippi Studios.

More after the jump!

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We did this before! We're doing it again! Portland videos from Portland bands for Portland people.

To begin with a bang, here's a new song and video from Wild Ones. Yes, new Wild Ones! (Yes!!) If the fact that there's a new Wild Ones song weren't exciting enough on its own, the video for "Golden Twin" is completely fantastic. Directed by Calvin Waterman and shot by Wild Ones' Clayton Knapp, it's sorta a cross between a James Bond credit sequence and the cover of Hot Rocks, and manages to find the inherent sexiness in both chainsaw art and Jurassic Park videocassettes. Yes! This is a great tune from Wild Ones, a mere taster for their new album Keep It Safe, which hopefully will come out in the late spring or early summer.

Yay, new Wild Ones! Let this be your very favorite thing today.

Lots more after the jump, including videos from Gossip, Pure Bathing Culture, Butt 2 Butt, Catherine Feeny, the Ecstatics, and A Killing Dove.

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It's been a little while since we've done a roundup of local music videos, so there's a LOT to catch up on. We've got new videos from Sallie Ford and the Sound Outside, Sapient, Paradise, Y la Bamba, Adam Brock, TxE, Dresses, Kris Doty, and Paper/Upper/Cuts. (You will also no doubt have noted this column's excellent, pun-tastic new name.) Diving right in...

Sallie Ford and the Sound Outside have a new record just around the corner—Untamed Beast comes out February 19, with two release shows at the Wonder Ballroom to follow that weekend. Here's the video for "Party Kids" which erupts into a bloody bar brawl in which Ford more than holds her own. Shot by Matthew Ross of Neighborhood Films at Portland's Landmark Saloon, it's well worth a watch, even just for the sight of guitarist Jeffrey Munger guzzling bottles of vodka and Bulleitt Bourbon simultaneously.

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