Tag: Billy Idol Eyes Without a Face

musings by William Ruben Helms

https://pitchfork.com/news/love-as-laughter-sam-jayne-is-missing/?fbclid=IwAR3ruQGVWvQIRuwOZpVjvX1XL7HRj3D7T0e3Nhg_vQjC4DSPZPFbTeK1H_0

For a couple of years, Sam Jayne was one of my bartenders at Clem’s, my home away from home. I can’t and won’t say that I knew him better than his bandmates, family and closest friends. When I first met him, I found the man to be extremely annoying but he grew on me. He still had some awful taste inn movies. He once made us all watch the Piranha trilogy and JAWS 3D in the same night. Bradley Cooper wants all of us to forget Piranha — and so does Jerry O’Connell. (By the way, Piranha 3 is arguably one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen.)

Mutual friends and acquaintances have shared pictures online and it makes me miss his mischievous eyes and laugh.

The last time I spoke to him was for Clem’s (virtual) Video Request Night the week before he disappeared and we bullshitted about music, as we often did. He regularly played Billy Idol’s “Eyes Without a Face,” which led to an ongoing joke between the both of us about how the video was false advertising. I miss that the most.

He also loved this abomination of a video below. He played it so much at one point that I begged him to stop. I fucking miss that too.

People die, it’s what they do at some point. But often it’s the details of their deaths that shake you. Knowing that poor Sam was dead in his car for days breaks my heart. For someone, who was such a vivid character, it feels unjust and unfair.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Rising Montreal Psych Rockers Population II Releases a Trippy Visual for Brooding Freak Out “Ce n’est rêve”

Population II is a rising Montreal-based psych rock trio that has developed and honed an improvised songwriting approach that meshes elements of rock ‘n’ roll, free jazz and linear rhythms to create an incredibly nuanced yet trippy sound.

The rising French Canadian act’s Emmanuel Ethier-produced full-length debut, À la Ô Terre was released last month through Castle Face Records, and the album has received attention across Quebec and elsewhere for featuring material that’s a mind-melting mesh of hard psych with a punk sentiment — while featuring some exploratory free jazz-inspired moments.

Clocking in at a 7:38 À la Ô Terre’s latest single, “Ce n’est rêve” is an atmospheric Doors meets Thee Oh Sees-like number centered around alternating quiet verses and loud choruses held together by a sinuous bass line and propulsive jazz-like drumming. featuring shimmering keys, slashing guitars and ethereal falsetto crooning before closing out with an explosive and noisy freak out. In Montreal’s scene, they’re one of the most buzz-worthy acts out there — and this track will further cement that growing reputation.

Directed by Ëmémôr and Tristan Lacombe and featuring typography and animation by Laurence Martin, the recently released video for “Ce n’est rêve” is a trippy and murky visual that seems to nod at Billy Idol’s “Eyes Without a Face:” we see the band members faces superimposed over kaleidoscopic colored projections and the other band members’ faces, as well footage of mysterious figures playing the various instruments in the song.