Video Digest: The Bad Plus (Live on Conan), Cat Power's AOL Sessions, Modest Mouse, School of Language, Spoon

(The Bad Plus - "Thriftstore Jewelry" - Live on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" (3/14/08))

With a tip of the hat toward one April Wright, whose idea this is, MFR has put together a video digest of noteworthy new vids. Here, you'll be able to indulge your jones for both the audio and the visual in one place.

First off, we have MPLS-based trio The Bad Plus performing "Thriftstore Jewelry", from their newest release, the wholly self-financed and released Prog, on the "Late Night With Conan O'Brien" show. To see behind-the-scenes photos from their taping, head on over to More Cowbell.


(Cat Power - "Ramblin' (Wo)Man (Hank Williams cover) - Live on "AOL Sessions)

The sultry sounds of Cat Power's latest record, the mostly covers album Jukebox (the second such album that she's done), seem like they would best translate in a small club with an intimate ambience, particularly the lounge-pop arrangement that Ms. Chan Marshall gave standard "New York", or the soulful countrypolitan stylings of "Ramblin' (Wo)Man". So it should be no surprise that Cat Power dropped by the "AOL Sessions" studio to record renditions of various Jukebox selections. Check out those videos, plus a Q&A here. But before you do so, take a gander at "Ramblin (Wo)man" from the sessions, which is posted above.


(Modest Mouse - "Fly Trapped In A Jar)

The latest video from Modest Mouse's effort from last year, We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank, "Fly Trapped In A Jar" makes an immediate impression on the viewer with its psychedelic visuals and surreal plotline. This video may be more Seussian that Horton Hears A Who!.

We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank is out now.


(Spoon - "You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb")

Speaking of animation, this new clip from Spoon for "You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb" makes the most out of its "stop-motion animation of paper cutouts" which were then sequenced on the computer. Even though its the most obvious reference point, "You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb" does, at times, resemble the herky-jerky nature of Peter Gabriel's classic video for "Sledgehammer", which also made legendary use of stop-motion animation.

Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga is out now


(School of Language - "Rockist Part One")

Download: School of Language - "Rockist Part One"

Rockism is a school of thought that suggests that some genres--usually rock music from whenever the person espousing this philosophy was 12 years old--are better than others. School of Language, an offshoot of Field Music and headed by that group's David Brewis, satirizes the concept of rockism in its new video for "Rockist Part One". If there's a part two, one cannot be entirely sure that it can be effective due to the fact that Brewis and company do a pretty good job mocking most of the rock music that's come out in the past few years. Check out the video posted above, as well as a MP3 of the song which has been made available by Chicago-based indie label Thrill Jockey (hometown love!).

(Jonathan Graef)

*1000th post!