This is kind of old, but so god damn awful it bares repeating. If you’ve ever wondered why the record industry hasn’t tapped into dissonant outsider punk and folk, excreting thin attractive Daniel and Calvin Johnston clones to mime angst free pop noize, you haven’t been looking hard enough. The prosecution presents item 1. ‘Black Out Band’ ’s 2007 flop ‘Video Games’, combines everything you tolerate and come to enjoy in say Jandek - the inability to sing, compose, record and or indeed perform, with the crass commercialism of a mid 90’s Sega of America Marketing Video.

For once, the liner notes really say it all.

“This comic ballad mocks the stereotype of today’s youngsters as spoiled rotten video game addicts. It’s all clearly tongue-in-cheek and these hard working boys appear anything but spoiled. Most surprisingly, Hunter Watson’s performance is Mick Jagger cool despite a refreshing absence of explicit lyrics. But what really makes the song stay on replay in the listener’s mind is the catchy pop-style melody, with it’s wry references to a diverse group of artists, from Dylan and the Monkees to the Black-Eyed Peas.”

Indeed.

Gareth Stack is the webmaster of Analogue. He is currently co-writing a novel, Jackdaw Fool.
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