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MAYBE WE ARE COOL?


Posted by Hartley On Apr 16, 2010


 
HOLY SHIT @ THE ARSENIO HALL/MC HAMMER DANCE MOVES. 
 
We at Bank Robber have never prided ourselves on being, for lack of a better word, "cool." Most of the music we work is of the acoustic sad sack mope rock variety that sits uncomfortably close the cliche of exactly what you would think sad sack "indie rock" sounds like. Our office looks like we are perennially stuck in the Reality Bites mode of dress - band t-shirts, open button-downs, ripped jeans, and facial hair abound. We all have boners for The Replacements, Elliott Smith, and Brian Eno respectively. Clueless - era Alicia Silverstone would've certainly made fun of us. Fine.
 
Bob Dylan said the "time they are a-changing" and then millions of liberal arts douchebags went and quoted him in their highschool yearbooks thinking that that made them in touch with "the real." No matter, even Mr. Zimmerman himself couldn't have predicted that in 2010 the company that has been basically allergic to synth sounds like two-years are allergic to bed-time, now works the 3 absolute best "happy/dance/electronic/club" jams of 2010 thus far. Yes friends, perhaps the Bank Robber has gotten "cooler" in our old age. Perhaps the whole beardy folk thing was so 5 years ago. Perhaps we have "moved on." And now we work bands who play crystal instruments. Yes, you read that right. Yeasayer's video for "O.N.E." sees the band playing actual crystal instruments. FUCK ME. So awesome.
 
"O.N.E." has to be the single of 2010. The song, off the mostly incredible Odd Blood (Secretly Canadian), is a massive polyglot of Caribbean-flavored synth-pop featuring the kind of unabashedly earnest vocals that 80's staples like Depeche Mode and New Order dominated Billboard charts with when I was actually fat. Somehow the video lives up to the songs peripatetic nature referencing everything from Terminator 2 and Tron to Mc Hammer balloon pants. Somewhere C & C Music Factory is smiling (Ed. Note: Beth you stole my C&C cassette on the bus in like 6th grade ....DON'T THINK I FORGOT THIS. Lame.) Yes, there is a lot of neon. Yes, there is a faux hawk. Yes, we fucking love it.
 
 
 
This video scares the shit out of me. I need a hug.
 
We also love Caribou. My girlfriend once said to me, "Hartley, lightning usually doesn't strike twice." To which I ingeniously replied, sticking with the overt weather references, "Girlfriend, when it rains, it pours." And it is pouring dope electronic music at Bank Robber. "Odessa" off Caribou's new one Swim (Merge) has to be tied with "O.NE." as one of the best single's of 2010. It's like the ghost of Arthur Russell on an updated track that somehow manages at sounding creepy as hell AND the perfect jam to play at your next roller-disco party. And much like Yeasayer's "O.N.E," the video is every bit as great as the song. "Odessa" looks like something Memento/Dark Knight director, Christopher Nolan, would've cooked up if dude actually slummed it in the music video directing ghetto. Under a woozy unsaturated taupe haze (ed. note: yes I did just cite the color "taupe"), a disoriented damsel stumbles through a bleak forest, howling with wolves, and hunting her hunters. We never "get" the whole story - why is she hurt? why is she being hunted? how did she end up in this forest? will she get caught? will she triumph over her captors? - and the unknowing just makes the video all the more compelling and creepy. Naturally. Enjoy.
 
Last but certainly not least comes Phantogram's "Mouthful of Diamonds"...
 
 
Fan videos are the future of music videos. DISCUSS.
 
You have no idea who Phantogram are. That's cool. They are a guy-girl duo from Saratoga (shout to Skidmore!)  who are a million times better than Matt and Kim. Their debut, Eyelid Movies (Barsuk), is the kind of shit I would play in my hotel lobby if I was Ian Schraeger or Andres Balazs and owned a bunch of sexy hotel lobbies to play hot music in. "Mouthful of Diamonds" is unfortunately the first track on Eyelid...so the duo basically give listeners their finest moment right at the beginning of the album - BUT WHAT A MOMENT?!?!?! Built on a jumbled electro-loop that may or may not have been sampled from a Chemical Bros. record of yore, "Mouthful..." builds into a steady groove equal parts Portishead and Beach House (check that arpeggiated guitar!). By the time Phantogram hit you with the track's pretty catchy chorus, a hook will seem all but unnecessary. This fan video...not bad either. 
 
You know what all this means right? Next week, Lyle will be wearing neon, and I will be making custom BRM glow-sticks as our new promotional item of choice. 
 
*Yeasayer is currently playing Coachella if the volcano hasn't prevented Coachella from being Coachella. 
 
*Caribou are on tour...sorta. 
 
*Phantogram are on-tour not-sorta and hit NYC on May 18th and 19th @ Maxwell's and Bowery Ballroom respectively 
 
 

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