Photo by Chris Caulder
Hold onto your fruitcake! The latest single from Philadelphia-based experimental twee-pop band Telyscopes, “Sparky/Monkey Beating a Bucket,” won’t be released officially until January 3, 2019, but this Christmas Eve, Jack Hubbell and co. have given us an early gift: a music video to accompany the b-side.
Recorded on an iPhone and edited by Zac Chelbi, the video features Hubbell tapping out the track on a toilet-balanced toy piano while his friends thrash around the adjoining bedroom. New bandmates Pat Hamill, Mike Horvath, and Charlie Dubuc all make appearances. Other scenes show Hubbell brushing his teeth with what appears to be chocolate hazelnut spread and kneeling in a murky bathtub full of noodles and fish, laughing all the way. It could be your new Christmas tradition, if you’ve got the stomach for it.
It’s exactly the video you’d expect from the song, which Hubbell described in a recent interview as “one of the most absurd, jarring things I’ve done.” True to his word, “Monkey Beating a Bucket” is chaotic and angular, built around a delirious chant and a stiff, lurching beat–imagine a more unhinged Surfer Blood.
Start your holiday celebration in the new old-fashioned way and watch the video here:
To keep up with blog updates, follow The All Scene Eye on Twitter or Facebook
I had to check this out when I saw that piano. I used the very same piano for a song I recorded a couple years ago. My daughter was barely a toddler, and I wrote most of my songs, at that time, in her play pen.
Enjoyed the video. A lot of cool ideas, like the use of that mirror.