by Nick Hanover
Ovrld’s semi-regular attempt to showcase the videos local acts are releasing, from the good to the bad to the ugly and everything in between.
Big Bill- “Weird Walk”
I wouldn’t say that I have been eagerly awaiting the moment Austin would get its very own A Trip to the Moon but goddamn if T.W. Bond hasn’t turned Big Bill’s “Weird Walk” video into his own 21st century update on the Georges Méliès classic. Granted, there is a lot more going on here than just a simple extraterrestrial excursion. Big Bill appear to be an archaeological crew, flown in from an alternate dimension where we all live in ’50s sci-fi films, seeking out a mythological obelisk. They send Eric Bill out to investigate an Earth-like planet, prompting the titular weird walk, some ray gun battles and an epic boxing match. Bond and Big Bill have quite the symbiotic relationship going, pushing each other further and further into weirdo art nouveau, making this one of the most visually inventive videos to come out of Austin this year.
Big Bill play Cheer Up Charlie’s this Saturday, November 21st, as part of a Beat Happening tribute with XETAS and more.
Milezo- “Close Yr Eyes”
It’s a fact of life that puppets improve everything. Argue all you want, but look at this Milezo video for their new track “Close Yr Eyes” to see what I mean. Everyone hates music videos that are just performance clips, right? They’re horrible and boring and deserve to be erased from cultural history altogether. But what about a performance clip that has all the humans subbed out for puppets? GENIUS. Especially if the puppets look like some Sifl & Olly leftovers. So let’s take a moment to applaud director Erik Gatling’s ingenuity and skill at making a previously unwatchable subgenre of music video refreshing.
Milezo plays Mohawk this Saturday, November 21st with The Migrant, a “Danish psychfolk” band.
Blind Pets- “Everybodies”
Slightly higher on the totem pole of music video subgenres is the tour montage, which I normally hate but is honestly kind of endearing in Blind Pets’ “Everybodies” clip. It might be because the swamp rock track itself is aces, spooky and fun in equal measure. The aimlessness and goofiness of the video is also a pretty realistic depiction of road life, even though the band admits the footage gathered is the “cream filling” of their tour experiences. Still, I’d love to see the band return to the inventiveness of their Heavy Petting videos, like the stop motion extravaganza of “TV Baby” or even the gender bending simplicity of “He Said She Said.”
Blind Pets play Swan Dive this Friday, November 20th, as part of a combo Ovrld/Loser City music and comedy event, also featuring recent Conan O’Brien guest Maggie Maye.
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