When I started university there was a call for programing at the brand new campus television station. I approached my long time friend and partner in crime to pitch a show and just like that the debauchery known as Rockasoo Owen Television was born. The origins of the name will be saved for another entry. It seemed every idea I pitched was widely well received and for the first time in my life things I said had a small but genuine impact. Highlights included the 30 Hour Binge that accidentally (honestly!) took place at the EXACT same time as the 30 Hour Famine held next door. We called up our local Molson brewery and told them that we wanted them to sponsor a drinking telethon that would be broadcast on campus. To my great surprise they were all like, hell yeah, where do we sign up and promptly delivered cratefuls of beer. The peak of imperfection had to be when the pizza we ordered was delivered to the room next door, yes, our sacrilegious pizza was delivered to the 30 Hour Famine. I'm going to hell for that one, that I'm sure but to this day I still drink the Molson. I owe them a life debt. But it wasn't all drinking telethons on ROTV, we had some serious segments too. Take this unaired bit of cinematic juiciness - a music review program that involved dancing marionettes where the better the song the more intensely they danced. The marionettes were mostly paper towel ghosts and a couple of He-man figures that toppled around the floor to lame techno music. Realizing that this was neither hardcore or drug-inspired enough this activity quickly turned into the destruction of glass where me and my partner in crime proceeded to break quite literally a thousand beer bottles and florescent tubes. This was all done INSIDE (as in indoors) the university in the name of art. In retrospect I can't remember where or how we got all that glass, how we didn't kill ourselves or how we managed to clean it up. Come to think about it there are a lot of plotholes from my university days. Which brings us to today's music video.
My apparent inability to spell nausea correctly made finding today's video more than a two click venture, but eventually after that third click, the amazingness that follows was revealed. I'm talking about 'Nausea', the song off Beck's brand new album 'The Information'. The second album to be released from Beck in as many years. I always liked Beck as a university student and while his latest albums haven't exactly been receiving the critical acclaim they used to there are always a few stand-out tracks. It seems gone are the days when a new Beck release would completely change the way you perceive music, blame it on age - blame it on Scientology, but pretty packed likkle bits of video remain. He seems to have gotten into the habit of releasing a thousand versions of each single that comes out and I'd say we're all luckier for it. In an interview Beck talks about how the internet is the best way to show off his videos and plans on passing on the 'MTV that makes him wanna smoke crack'. Well said, my good man.
This video features marionettes that are much cooler than ours were at ROTV but the same silliness is there. It made me pang for the days of my youth. A time when fucking with hungry people was a sponsor worthy event.
I have always been a fan of Beck's. I guess I got on the bandwagon about the same time everyone else did with Loser and the Mellow Gold album. But Beck has always managed to impress me with his ability to subvert expectations and create a unique sound with every new release.
I felt that this wasn't so much the case for Beck's latest offering, Guerro. The envelope wasn't pushed quite as far as it had been in the past. I won't go on too much as this is an old album already and you already feel the way you feel about it. I just was hoping for a little more Kenny G and little less Odelay. Yeah, I was hoping for Kenny G.
That is not to say I dislike this album, it's alright... The stylish cover art was done by Marcel Dzama a graduate from my university and the most successful U of M Fine Arts alumni in recent history. Tho I think the crown still has to go out to the members of General Idea (I digress).
Today's video offering is Hell Yes (One Shot Version). It's worth noting that there are at least three different official videos to this song. The first video features a lo-fi 8-bit remix and animation to complinent, which is cool but not groundbreaking for Beck. The second video gets it closer by featuring Sony's now discontinued QRIO robots. I love these little robots and would say that this is easily the best of the two videos but the final video uses the QRIO element in a much more interesting way. It's very minimal (one static shot thruout) and really focuses on the way these guys move. Beck manages to join them for a guitar solo and a verse which really plays with the perspective and scale of the scene. And they are REAL ROBOTS! The video isn't full of flashy CGI sequences, it's full of actual robots that really are doing what you're seeing them do. took programmers three weeks to program their choreography. I dunno how you feel but I never thought I'd see that in my lifetime. I'm totally sure that this is the least popular of the three videos but it's my favorite an' I ain't no MTV so suck on it.
There is nothing in life I enjoy more
than music. Like Tower Records says,
No Music No Life. This blog is dedicated
to the music that makes me smile.
I hope you’ll like it too!
The picture of me is by my awesome
sister, Kelly! It makes me smile a lot!
When I started university there was a call for programing at the brand new campus television station. I approached my long time friend and partner in crime to pitch a show and just like that the debauchery known as Rockasoo Owen Television was born. The origins of the name will be saved for another entry. It seemed every idea I pitched was widely well received and for the first time in my life things I said had a small but genuine impact. Highlights included the 30 Hour Binge that accidentally (honestly!) took place at the EXACT same time as the 30 Hour Famine held next door. We called up our local Molson brewery and told them that we wanted them to sponsor a drinking telethon that would be broadcast on campus. To my great surprise they were all like, hell yeah, where do we sign up and promptly delivered cratefuls of beer. The peak of imperfection had to be when the pizza we ordered was delivered to the room next door, yes, our sacrilegious pizza was delivered to the 30 Hour Famine. I'm going to hell for that one, that I'm sure but to this day I still drink the Molson. I owe them a life debt. But it wasn't all drinking telethons on ROTV, we had some serious segments too. Take this unaired bit of cinematic juiciness - a music review program that involved dancing marionettes where the better the song the more intensely they danced. The marionettes were mostly paper towel ghosts and a couple of He-man figures that toppled around the floor to lame techno music. Realizing that this was neither hardcore or drug-inspired enough this activity quickly turned into the destruction of glass where me and my partner in crime proceeded to break quite literally a thousand beer bottles and florescent tubes. This was all done INSIDE (as in indoors) the university in the name of art. In retrospect I can't remember where or how we got all that glass, how we didn't kill ourselves or how we managed to clean it up. Come to think about it there are a lot of plotholes from my university days. Which brings us to today's music video. 
My apparent inability to spell nausea correctly made finding today's video more than a two click venture, but eventually after that third click, the amazingness that follows was revealed. I'm talking about 'Nausea', the song off Beck's brand new album 'The Information'. The second album to be released from Beck in as many years. I always liked Beck as a university student and while his latest albums haven't exactly been receiving the critical acclaim they used to there are always a few stand-out tracks. It seems gone are the days when a new Beck release would completely change the way you perceive music, blame it on age - blame it on Scientology, but pretty packed likkle bits of video remain. He seems to have gotten into the habit of releasing a thousand versions of each single that comes out and I'd say we're all luckier for it. In an interview Beck talks about how the internet is the best way to show off his videos and plans on passing on the 'MTV that makes him wanna smoke crack'. Well said, my good man. 
This video features marionettes that are much cooler than ours were at ROTV but the same silliness is there. It made me pang for the days of my youth. A time when fucking with hungry people was a sponsor worthy event.
