Video Clip of the Week: PWR BTTM “1994”

For avid BDWPS Podcast listeners, I want to let you know that this month’s episode was recorded last night, but I ran into some technical issues afterward. Today, those issues continue, and it may not be another week until I’m able to publish the episode. To help fill the void until I’m able to resolve this issue, I decided to post my favorite song of the moment, PWR BTTM’s “1994.” Musically, the song hearkens back to the sounds of my youth (the 90s), and the video is just as nostalgic in its imagery. The only issue that I have with this garage-pop gem is that it’s over way too soon. I’m sure you’ll find yourself hitting the replay button just as much as me.

Podcast returns later next week.

Protomartyr “The Age Intellect”

Protomartyr

The Agent Intellect

Hardly Art; 2015

Rating: 8

In the past few years the once crumbling city of Detroit has seen a resurgence. In the wake of the automotive industry’s near collapse, companies like Quicken Loans and Shinola have made the corpse of the motor city their home. In 2010, Detroit became the fastest growing region for technology jobs with names like Google, IBM, and ProQuest seeing the bedraggled city as a great place to make their mark (tax breaks don’t hurt, either). As a result of this resurgence, many in the area fear that this gentrification of the city is wiping away the remnants of the city’s rugged history.

Protomartyr, a band of Detroit natives, execute this narrative perfectly in their latest release, The Agent Intellect. On the surface, Agent Intellect explores frontman Joe Casey’s struggle with the recent death of his father, but this discussion of mortality also doubles as an omen for the state of the band’s hometown. This isn’t Dan Gilbert’s squeaky clean, renovated Detroit; this is the seedy underbelly, filled with songs of arson, auto theft, drug abuse, and violence.