Out of Focus: Blastfamous USA, KNDRX and More

by Nick Hanover

Out of Focus

There are a lot of videos coming out of Austin these days, so we’ve decided to make life easier for you by compiling some of the most notable into a recurring feature called Out of Focus

KNDRX “Pain”

The artists Chino Chase creates videos for usually view themselves as stars in the making, so his eye for grandiosity and splendor is tasked with bringing their dreams of luxury to life. But on a song like “Pain” with an artist like Cory Kendrix— particularly Kendrix as KNDRX, tortured R&B auteur– the grandiosity and splendor are used to highlight how lost and adrift the artist feels. Moving through a rugged landscape, Chase uses roaming overhead shots to frame Kendrix as a tiny figure trying to find his way, looking for answers and hope in nature. Aiding him are two mystical women of the woods, beckoning him towards a plateau, but even before the fade out hits, it seems clear even they won’t be able to help him find the peace he’s searching for.

Blastfamous USA “Pull Up (ft. Blackillac)”

Hip hop noise troopers Blastfamous USA take on the gig economy in their new HD Stone directed video “Pull Up.” Featuring Zeale and guest Phranchyze as entrepreneurs providing car services for Austin’s wealthy white suburbanites, “Pull Up” is a tour through the grind and hustle of a city on the precipice of start up take over. But the twist is that Zeale and Phranchyze have found a way to succeed without putting in sweat equity of their own, charging the ski mask clad twosome NGHT HCKLRS with doing all the real work while they enjoy the brief luxury of their customers’ vehicles. It’s as fun as it is rage inducing.

Blastfamous USA play Empire Control Room this Saturday, July 7th with BLXPLTN, Mobley and Fort Never for their release party.

Trouble Boys “Keepin’ the Streets Alive”

Meanwhile, in Andy Ray Lemon’s video for Trouble Boys’ “Keepin’ the Streets Alive,” a very different vision of Austin is sustained. In this one, the sleazy glory days of Austin’s ’70s rock gods never faded. With their layers of hair spray, popped leather collars and faded denim, Trouble Boys look like relics even before Lemon gives them the authentic VHS treatment. Still, who can blame them for wanting to live in the terror filled present day?

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Nick Hanover got his degree from Disneyland, but he’s the last of the secret agents and he’s your man. Which is to say you can find his particular style of espionage here at Ovrld as well as Loser City, where he mostly writes about comics. You can also flip through his archives at  Comics Bulletin, which he is formerly the Co-Managing Editor of, and Spectrum Culture, where he contributed literally hundreds of pieces for a few years. Or if you feel particularly adventurous, you can always witness his odd .gif battles with his friends and enemies on twitter: @Nick_Hanover