Day 5 in Austin was March 21, 2009. The morning began with a ride to the northern part of the eastern town, where five members of Balmorhea, an instrumental six-piece from Austin, were waiting to play a few songs for our video series, Secret Garden.
Day 4 in Austin was March 20, 2009. We rolled into downtown by Mohawk, which was one of the places where the much talked-about Hot Freaks party was happening. There was a huge line outside.
I generally find it difficult to wholeheartedly love music videos: in the given format, the number of things you can do is ultimately quite limited, and there is an overwhelming tendency to do the same things over and over again, out of which some that I’m wary of are: linear stories, a literal interpretation of the lyrics, a typical ending where something explosive happens and we revel in the band’s performance, dream-like fluidity where random otherworldly things happen, and an overemphasis on tricks and effects. These tendencies aren’t always bad by nature, but they do seem to make awesomeness especially hard in music videos.
