Weekly Music Roundup: Cosmic Rihanna and Fly Fishing Atmosphere

This week, bad behavior by puppets and thespians leads to good music and fun videos; and proof that the universe belongs to Rihanna.

VIDEO PREMIERE: Wildfires Offer A Puppets-Eye View Of The Perils Of Fame

“I never want to be famous… just universally known.” So begins the song “Undead Fun,” by the Austin, TX band Wildfires. Their second EP, Aguas Frescas (Part II), is full of shimmery guitars that evoke the dream-pop of 90s bands like Luna. The EP doesn’t come out until August 26th, but today we’re premiering the band’s new video for this track. Featuring the quartet itself and their Muppet-like alter egos (close enough to actual Muppets in appearance to be legally actionable?), the video suggests that, yeah, we all know fame is a bitch and a burden, but that doesn’t stop people from grasping at it. It’s a familiar story, but told here with wit and a bit of style: until you’ve seen a puppet snorting lines of crushed Saltines®, you don’t really know the true price of fame. 

Rap Duo Atmosphere Puts Up “Gone Fishing” Sign – It Doesn’t Mean What You Think

It’s been over 20 years, but the Minneapolis duo known as Atmosphere isn’t done yet. So if producer Ant and lyricist/rapper Slug post the proverbial “gone fishing” sign, they may actually be doing some fishing. Their forthcoming release, Fishing Blues, is due on August 12 and they’re backing it up with their “Freshwater Fly Fishermen Tour” this summer. The album’s first single is out; it’s called “Ringo” and it complements the “Undead Fun” video nicely. It too is all about the juicy intersection of fame, bad behavior, and schadenfreude that is meat and potatoes to our crowded, contentious media landscape. I know, I know - that sounds way too serious. Like Wildfires, though, Atmosphere manages to get its points across with a light touch, riding on a charming, tinkling music bed. The fun (and bad behavior) drives this equally charming video.

Pakistani Rocker Salman Ahmad and Peter Gabriel Collaborate On Benefit Single

After two songs that take a dim view of fame, here’s one that uses its musicians’ celebrity for a good cause. Salman Ahmad first gained fame as the leader of the Pakistani rock band Junoon, and has gone on to a notable solo career in addition to publishing his memoir, Rock and Roll Jihad. Peter Gabriel has been a major player on the rock and world music scenes since the late 60s. Both have devoted themselves to humanitarian efforts, and have collaborated on a song called “Open Your Eyes” for the HBO Documentary film of that name. The film tells the story of poor farmers in Nepal who’ve lost their vision to cataracts because they don’t have access to medical help, and the Seva Foundation which brings that help to them. So the song, which seems like it might be a metaphor (you know, “open your eyes and see the world as it really is”), is in fact quite literal: the film follows two farmers whose vision was restored by the Foundation. Gabriel sings in English, and Ahmad, who wrote the song and plays the guitar, sings in Urdu. A version of this song with electric guitar has been floating around for a while, but this largely acoustic version is the official one. The film Open Your Eyes premieres on HBO on July 18 and has an opening screening at the Rubin Museum of Art here in NY on July 13; the song will be available on iTunes and will benefit both Seva and the Earthquake relief fund.

Singer Kelela and Producer Clams Casino Collaborate On Baffling Single

Kelela is not an easy singer to pin down – she incorporates elements of hip hop and house music, but is usually identified as a kind of alternative R&B singer. (Like another gifted R&B singer, The Weeknd, she has Ethiopian parents.) That makes her a good fit for the producer Clams Casino, whose ghostly, drifting soundscapes make for a dramatic alternative to what we usually expect from a modern electronic producer. We included one of his instrumental tracks on an earlier edition of the roundup; now we get to hear him collaborating with Kelela on another excerpt from his forthcoming album, 32 Levels (out July 15). “A Breath Away” begins with a minute-long intro which may be the most Clams Casino-ish part of the song – eerie, unsettled wisps and blips and glitches of electronic sound. But Kelela eventually wrestles the song into something that requires a beat, and the producer obliges, while somehow managing to stay true to his own eccentric sound world.

And Finally, Rihanna. Because She’s There.

Between Rihanna’s legions of fans and Star Trek’s generations of devotees, it’s no surprise that Rihanna’s new video for the song “Sledgehammer,” written for the forthcoming Star Trek Beyond, attracted over 3 million views in its 24 hours online. “Sledgehammer,” not to be confused with the 1986 Peter Gabriel hit of the same name, was written by Sia, whose enormous voice would have been perfect for the song’s soaring chorus. But she apparently wrote it with Rihanna in mind, which seems a little odd since Rihanna’s voice – while perfect for pop gems like “Umbrella” or “Pon De Replay” – hardly approaches the scope and the range of Sia’s. But in the studio, voices can be manipulated and enlarged, and in Rihanna we have a global musical superstar who can actually play on Star Trek’s turf and not feel dwarfed by it. So in this video we see an alien Rihanna (the makeup artist seems to have been thinking of Darth Maul, perhaps confusing Star Trek with Star Wars) standing imperiously on a faraway planet and belting out the anthemic line “but I hit a wall, I hit a wall” while a flock of flying creatures wheel around her. And in the final shot, the starship Enterprise comes face to face with a galactic cloud whose form closely resembles someone. You’ll never guess who…