Video Encounter: Hoodie Allen's "Leap Year" Teaser

CER brought you Hoodie Allen back in March, days before his first ever show in LA at the Key Club, where he left everyone happy and wanting more. Here's a teaser of "more." Hoodie's releasing his next mixtape in two weeks and I can't wait.



You're welcome.

Family of the Year: SXSW and Video for "Psyche or Like Scope"

Back in January, CER Favorites Family of the Year premiered their video for "Psyche or Like Scope." Being negligent in my duties, I did not post the video. Allow me to correct myself:



But that's not all. After a string of successful, sold-out shows in Europe, the band will be playing two shows at SXSW. Their official showcase on Saturday night, March 19, at Emo's Jr. has a very strong lineup. FOTY is on at 9pm and you should then stick around for the rest of the night to see Jonquil (10pm), Givers (11pm), FM Belfast (midnight), and Lesands (1am). It's an incredible way to close out SXSW, and I hope to be there.

Video Encounter: Foster The People's "Pumped Up Kicks"

Foster The People have finally released a video for Pumped Up Kicks, featuring performance, rehearsal, recording, and hanging out footage. Is it summer yet?

Happy Fitz & The Tantrums Record Release Day! Album Stream, New Video, Free Download!

CER Favorites Fitz & The Tantrums' meteoric rise hits another milestone today with the release of their new album, Pickin' Up The Pieces, on Dangerbird Records. The band celebrates with an in-store performance at Amoeba at 7pm. Attendance is mandatory. FATT also play in LA on Saturday night at Milk Studios. [For you New Yorkers, FATT hits the Mercury Lounge on September 25]

Stream the new album right here:

And here's FATT's new video for "Moneygrabber:"



Finally, you can download the MP3 of "Moneygrabber" here:

Let the celebration begin!

Video Encounter: Steel Train on David Letterman!!!

So so so so proud of these guys. Big congrats to Evan and Dan.

Video Encounter: Abraham Linkin's "I Got It At Ross"

Hip-hop for our troubled times. So timely and so enjoyable. Thanks to Molly for the tip.

Video Encounter: Local Natives XBOX Commercial

And that's why some bands sign to Universal Music Publishing.

And that's why some bands don't.

Video Encounter: Local Natives' "World News"

CER All-Time Favorites (it's highly unlikely that this blog would even exist if not for them) Local Natives released their video today for "World News." I'm not sure if the video is supposed to be understood, but if it is I clearly don't get it. Nonetheless, it will surely hold your attention for four and a half minutes.

Video Encounter: Best Coast's "When I'm With You"

Fun. Fantastic. Best Coast. I like to describe them as surf-punk-love-fuzz, regardless of whether that's a completely accurate description.

Video Encounter: Walking Sleep's "As a Volunteer (acoustic)"

Lots of videos this week. Here's one from Walking Sleep, proud owners of the Echo's April residency. This one particular song reminds me a lot of The Original Brothers and Sisters of Love, a band from Ann Arbor who disbanded in 2003 (and who, it turns out, got a 7.3 from Pitchfork for their album H.O.M.E.S. back in 2001). Many of the members of TOBASOL are now in the Great Lakes Myth Society, who rarely tour, but who I was very happy to catch at SXSW last year.

The video was filmed at the Red Lion Tavern in Silverlake on a rainy Sunday morning.

Walking Sleep - "As a Volunteer" from elliot glass on Vimeo.

Walking Sleep's next show is on Monday at the Echo for night two of their residency. As always, admission is free.

Video Encounter: Family of the Year at SXSW 2010

CER Favorites Family of the Year are back in Los Angeles after their recent tour, which took them all over the country, including to Niagara Falls and SXSW. The band has posted a video documenting their tour, set to the song "Chugjug" off their recently released (and great) EP, which you can stream and purchase here.



FOTY are also offering a free download of their unreleased track "chrissy."

I highly recommend that you catch FOTY live at the Bootleg Theatre this Friday. They take the stage at 10:30pm.

Video Encounter: Letting Up Despite Great Faults' "Our Younger Noise"

CER Favorites Letting Up Despite Great Faults released their video for "Our Younger Noise" today. It's lovely, and features the first recorded paper airplane fight I've ever seen.

Letting Up Despite Great Faults: "Our Younger Noise" from Christopher j Ewing on Vimeo.

Now if they would just turn up the vocals when they perform, nothing could stop them.

Video Encounter: The Happy Hollows "Death to Vivek Kemp"

The music video for The Happy Hollows "Death to Vivek Kemp" was released today. It was directed by Ben Hoste, who also directed The Voyeurs' video for "The Night I Died," which is somewhere on this blog if you look for it.

From Ben:

"I was super excited to direct a music video for The Happy Hollows’ song “Death to Vivek Kemp”. It was released today and premiered on The Daily Swarm where they said some nice things about it (which is appreciated), so head over there and check it out. It was a pleasure working with Sarah, Charlie, and Chris, they are some of the friendliest and most talented musicians I know, and at this point I feel as though I know them intimately having spent hundreds of hours drawing each one of them over and over and over and over. Hope you enjoy it and buy their record! It’s fantastic."

Video Encounter: Kittens Ablaze "This Machine is Dying"

Kittens Ablaze's set at SXSW was one of the Top 5 I witnessed. That's saying something, considering I saw bands play for 6-8 hours a day for four straight days. One of the highlights of KA's set: Michelle, the cellist, smashing her instrument at the end of the second to last song. Completely unexpected; I didn't even realize what she was doing for a couple seconds. And then she whipped out another cello for the final tune. Here's video of some of the smashing. Unfortunately it misses the first swing, which hit one of her band mates in the arm.



My immediate thoughts during and after their set was "this is Ra Ra Riot with balls." It's not the most apt description, but it gets the point across.

Anyway, the Brooklyn-based band just released a video for "This Machine is Dying." One thing to note is that their drummer is the lead vocalist. This explains some of the live shots, which feature vocals without anyone appearing to sing them.

Video Encounter: Happy Hollows "We Will Find You" (Acoustic)

The Happy Hollows play every Monday night this month for free at Spaceland. Don't miss it. Here's an acoustic performance recorded when they were in New York for CMJ last month.


Watch the full concert at baeblemusic.com

Video Encounter: Casxio's "Seventeen"

CER Favorites Casxio have a new video, this time for their fan favorite "Seventeen." Featuring Lucas in drag and lots of neon. Check it out:



And mark your calendars: Casxio's "Seventeen" EP release party is Sunday night at Cinespace. It's their last show before they head over to New York for this year's CMJ Music Marathon.

Video Encounter: Fitz & The Tantrums "Winds of Change"

Here's the new video from Fitz & The Tantrums. The band is about to hit the road for a West Coast tour with Celtic punk band Flogging Molly and ska legends Hepcat. I can't imagine seeing Flogging Molly while sitting at The Greek Theatre (way too tame), but that's their LA date.



I was never a fan of Beavis & Butthead, but I'm reminded of their saying "If I wanted to read, I'd go to school."

Video Encounter: Castledoor's cover of "It's a Man's Man's Man's World"

Can't wait to finally make it to their residency next week.

Video Encounter: Henry Clay People Covers

In anticipation of next week's Henry Clay People residency show, which will be all covers, here's some videos of HCP playing covers

Neil Young's Rockin' in the Free World (performing as The Ronald Reagan People)



Airborne Toxic Event's Sometime Around Midnight (with marriage proposal at the end)

[Deleted the embedded video because it's widescreen and jutted into the next column. Here's the link]

Rolling Stones' Honky Tonk Women

Video Encounter: Olin & The Moon

Olin & The Moon have a new album coming out on May 1 called "Terrible Town." Here's a teaser video containing SXSW footage.



They also posted five new songs on their Myspace page, including the title track. Check it out.