Last week, we posted a few reader pics of The Hard Quartet, a new supergroup with local ties, filming a video (from earlier in July) on St. Mark's and First Avenue, including inside the International.
As we noted, group members Emmett Kelly, Stephen Malkmus, Matt Sweeney and Jim White were apparently paying homage to the 1981 Rolling Stones video "Waiting on a Friend," a classic clip with Mick Jagger and Keith Richards meeting up on St. Mark's Place.
The band released the video today for "Rio's Song," which does its best to follow in the footsteps of "Waiting" some 43 years later ... and featuring Sweeney and Malkmus in the lead roles.
Director Jared Sherbert told Pitchfork, "It's a DIY neighborhood production, and it wouldn't have been possible without our friends and neighbors who came together and took time out of their day to help it happen."
The new music video from local band Midnight Machines has a timely Olympics connection: the clip for "Burning Me Down" features two professional fencers and members of Team USA, Kasia Nixon and Jess Savner. Savner will compete this week in the Paris Games in the Pentathlon event.
Krikor Daglian (who has contributed photos to EVG) and Krisana Soponpong are Midnight Machines, who find inspiration from a range of artists, including LCD Soundsystem, CHVRCHES, The Rapture, Phoenix, Christine and the Queens, Bloc Party and Daft Punk.
"The song is about the complex theme of desire and whether it's better to stay safe in a situation you've known or 'burn it all down' by chasing after something new and exciting," said director Charlie Gillette. "While the lyrics explore the intricate emotions of longing and passion, I wanted to transform the abstract notion of desire into a tangible and exhilarating narrative, portraying a compelling duel between two master fencers."
You can check out the video, which was filmed in April, right here...
The local band Homade released its first music video this past week... check out the punky twang of "Blue Fish" above... and follow @homade.nyc for updates about live shows, etc.
This week, Cocteau Twins launched a new YouTube channel (and online store!) featuring high-res versions of all of their official music videos for the first time... such as "Love's Easy Tears" above from their 1986 EP of the same name.
I don't remember when I first heard The Shacks, but I recall buying the NYC trio's debut LP at Academy Records on 12th Street in 2018. Someone said, "If you like Mazzy Star and Broadcast, then..."
"Streetwise," the new six-track EP from Pretty Sick (aka Sabrina Fuentes) dropped this week.
As Alternative Pressnoted, "The result is wholly different than anything she’s released, riding glitchy textures and a thwacking beat while laying down mercilessly cool lines about running around NYC ('Everyone's a gossip, everyone's trash/But I don't mind the company when I'm just blowing cash')."
Earlier this month, local musician-artist Ruby Trademark (aka Ruby Aldridge) released a new single and video... "Please Don't Be a Memory" is a giddy, bare-knuckled 107-second rush of sound.
You can catch the band tomorrow (Saturday night) at Webster Hall on 11th Street between Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue ... with a great opening act — Lol Tolhurst x Budgie (the drummers of the Cure and Siouxsie and the Banshees).
And tonight, the Hammerstein Ballroom hosts The Damned's Black Strawberry Ball, which reunites the UK band's iconic 1980s lineup for the first time since 1989.
