Liz Phair – “Stratford-On-Guy (Newly Digitized HD)” [Video]

2018 marks the 25th anniversary of Liz Phair’s classic album Exile In Guyville and on May 4th, Matador Records will release Girly-Sound To Guyville: The 25th Anniversary Box Set. The upcoming release is an extensive, limited edition 7-LP or 3-CD box set to celebrate the anniversary of her classic album. The box set contains the first official restored audio of all three 1991 Girly-Sound tapes from the original cassettes. It also contains the 1993 Exile In Guyville album remastered by Emily Lazar at The Lodge. You can pick up a copy HERE.

Here is the original video for “Stratford-On-Guy,” which has been newly digitized and upscaled to HD, directed by Liz Phair herself! Liz’s first-hand account of how the “Stratford-On-Guy” video came to be:

“We were in talks with labels about the second record – Matador was being courted by Atlantic – and Danny Goldberg came backstage to meet me. I told him about my idea for the next video – ‘Stratford-On-Guy’ – explaining that we were stalled due to budget constraints. He asked ‘what do you need?’ I said, ‘a private plane to fly over downtown LA and get footage at night.’ I wanted to shoot the electric veins of the city. He just said, ‘done!’ It was one of those real rock star moments.

So my husband, his friend Michael Mees, who was the DP, and I went up in this 8 seater Lear Jet and got the greatest footage ever. We were literally flying sideways so Michael could shoot straight down over the rooftops of all the buildings. We were executing these tight turns above the skyscrapers and the G force was incredible. You could feel your internal organs dragging to the other side of your body cavity. Michael was using this really heavy camera and Jim, my husband, had to hold onto him as we shot. The lens of the camera was pressing down against the window pane and I remember Michael nervously joking – and not really in jest – that the glass beneath him better hold. It was so fun. We made two approaches into the airport so we could capture that fantastic runway lighting. Those images are etched in my memory forever. I seem to recall I somehow wedged my head up between the pilots like a dog peering over the backseat so I could see that awesome 180* cockpit view, too. Good times!”

Connections – “Love Me Still” [Video]

Check out the new video from Connections which features the Los Angeles based comedy group The Dickheads. “Love Me Still” is from the Connections forthcoming album Foreign Affairs via Trouble In Mind Records on May 11.

Ladytron – “The Animals” [Video]

Liverpool’s synth-shoegaze quartet, Ladytron are back and have released this short film for “The Animals,” their first single in seven years. Directed by Fernando Nogari, the short film is a love letter to São Paulo that follows a group of young people on a sensory, violent, and joyous trip through the megalopolis’ underworld, creating a snapshot of Brazil’s dark, contemporary moment where shifting mores regarding culture, gender, spirituality, and identity collide.

A second single will follow in the summer, followed in the fall by a new album, both available for pre-order as limited deluxe editions via Pledge Music HERE.

Snow Patrol – “Don’t Give In” [Video]

Snow Patrol has premiered “Don’t Give In,” the lead single from Wildness, their first record in seven years. Said lead singer and songwriter, Gary Lightbody about the song: “‘Don’t Give In” was originally about a friend going through a tough time but the more I wrote into it I realized it was about me and the struggle of making the album – which took 5 years and was not easy – coupled with the struggle with depression I’ve had since I was a kid, so it has become the talisman of the album. The song that became a self-fulfilling prophecy.”

Wildness is out May 25th via Republic Records. You can pre-order a copy HERE.

Failure – “Dark Speed” [Video]

Here is the first video from the EP In The Future, from the current EP and forthcoming fifth Failure album. The video features David Dastmalchian (Ant-Man, Blade Runner 2049) and was directed by Ken Andrews.
“Dark Speed” is one of the four songs from the In The Future EP, which is out now. Special offerings and bundles are available at Pledgemusic, with subscriptions for the full series of releases available via failurebandmerch.com. The EP was produced by Failure and mixed by Ken Andrews.