Tweedy — Low Key

I’m not sure how Sukierae, the new album from Jeff Tweedy (of Wilco) and his son Spencer (from their new duo, simply called Tweedy), released last September, went unnoticed. But what’s done is done.

Check out the insanely star-studded video, for the song “Low Key” directed by TV’s Ron Swanson (the everyman’s man Nick Offerman). Low key is about how exciting the song gets, so the title is apropos. The video is fun, and the song isn’t exactly off-putting, either, so I’ll happily put it up on the Bacon Review.

Watch for guest appearances by Melissa McCarthy, Conan O'Brien and Andy Richter, Mavis Staples, Steve Albini, Chance the Rapper and Wilco drummer Glenn Kotche, as well as bit parts by always-scary Michael Shannon and always-funny John Hodgman, among many many others.

The Decemberists — Make You Better

After a long break, the baroque pop outfit The Decemberists have a new album coming out January 30, 2015, called What a Terrible World, What a Beautiful World. The hype machine is in full swing, and they’ve released a video for the first single from the album, “Make You Better.” Directed by Bill Fishman, the video stars Nick Offerman as the German host of a fictional performance show (a la The Ed Sullivan Show) called “The Old Blue Rock Palace Show.”

The entire video is a study in bizarreness. I’m a big fan of The Decemberists, but this video may be pushing the “Portlandia Hipster” envelope a little too far. The song isn’t one of their best, but even their worst song is better than most. The band is also embarking on a tour in the new year. Definitely get out and see them if you can.

UPDATE: Rob Lifford, friend of the Review, provided more insight to the weirdness. Apparently the video is a direct parody of an infamous taping of the band Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show performing on the German television show Der Musikladen in 1974. Watch the whole thing. It’s a hilarious trainwreck.

FIDLAR — Cocaine

NSFW — this video is probably the most NSFW video I’ve posted on here. The song isn’t perfect, by LA punk band FIDLAR, whose debut album came out last year. But the video features one of my favorites, Nick Offerman (of Offerman’s Workshop), in a complete show of vulgarity.

And I loved it.