The iPod effect

Artist: Silversun Pickups
Song: “Well Thought Out Twinkles”
Rating: C-

I had the unexpected pleasure of seeing the Silversun Pickups take the stage at the gorgeous Red Rocks Amphitheatre this Saturday, in between Vampire Weekend and DeVotchKa. It was a gorgeous concert, but then again, every show you see at Red Rocks tends to be a chunk of splendor. Lead singer Brian Aubert, between songs: “This is probably the prettiest venue we’ve ever played.”


I loved the Pickups live; they thrashed to the beat and each performer seemed to have character (the crazy drummer, the shy bassist, the cool slick-haired guitarist/vocalist) but it is rather unfortunate that they couldn’t bring the same aesthetic to this video. I do realize it came out in 2006, so maybe they were just playing to the visual style of the time: washed-out figures rocking out to raw music, a style undoubtedly born of those quickly tiresome iPod commercials.

I watch this video, and that’s all I can think of- iPod commercials. C’mon guys, this is a pretty badass song. I suppose I’m glad they could’ve done worse; it’s scarily easy to picture the guy-chase-girl story that permeates some of the videos of some of the better songs out there. But this isn’t much better.