(Photo credit: Raymond Flotat)
After a series of performances at Austin’s South by Southwest (SXSW) festival, Massachusetts-based band Speedy Ortiz have released their new album, Foil Deer, on Carpark Records. In conjunction with the release, the band has also treated their fans to the music video of the album’s second single, “The Graduates.”
The music video for “The Graduates” opens with a shot of a door bearing a black and orange sign, which reads, “Warning Authorized Personal Only”. After this opening shot, the camera angle transitions through several jump cuts taking viewers into what appears to be a university science laboratory. The shot settles on a woman with black and white lightning stripped nails utilizing a water dropper to place a clear liquid over samples, which (at least in this video) appear to be those craft store googley-eye balls. Then, she is shown sitting at a microscope to examine the peatree dish.
Next, the bright-green eyed scientist picks up one of the crafty eyes and places it on the top of her tongue. The scene then cuts away to a medium shot of her sitting in a chair singing the opening lyrics of the song that tell the story of her years in school, and people that she and her friends encountered during their third-level education.
Then, there is another jump cut that transitions the video into the living room at someone’s house where the main scientist and her friends are playing games and placing craft eyes on their tongues. It becomes clear after a series of detail shots depicting hallucinations that the craft eyes were a stand in for a hallucinogenic drug that will dissolve in the mouth. After this is clarified the camera cuts back to the scientist, briefly, before depicting a hallucination the friends are having where they see the Easter Bunny sitting, in their living room, in a chair cross-legged.
And, once again, there’s another transition. The Easter Bunny and the blonde scientist (who has since changed clothes) proceed to sing and dance along to karaoke that is being broadcast on a television screen behind them. These two characters remain throughout the remainder of the video, and to see how it ends, you’ll just have to click “play” on the video, below.
Following a Reddit Ask Me Anything (AMA) session on April 23rd, 2015, the band kicked off their North American tour with a concert in Cambridge, Mass. And, looking ahead at the later part of their tour, it is not clearly listed in the dates that originated in a press release, but Speedy Ortiz will be performing at the Outside Lands Festival in San Francisco, Calif.’s Golden Gate Park. Check out the entire listing of currently announced spring and summer tour dates, below.
Speedy Ortiz Spring/Summer 2015 Tour Dates
[Tour Dates Key: an * indicates performances with KRILL, an & indicates appearances with Mitski, an ! indicates performances with Two Inch Astronaut, concerts with Alex G are indicated by a $, while a % indicates an appearance with Broken Water, and lastly, Speedy Ortiz concerts marked with an ^ indicate a performance with Palehound.]
Speedy Ortiz Tour Dates
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Apr. 22 Cambridge, MA – The Sinclair *&
Apr. 24 Hamden, CT – The Space *&
Apr. 25 New York, NY – Bowery Ballroom *&
Apr. 26 Philadelphia, PA – Johnny Brenda’s *&
Apr. 28 Pittsburgh, PA – Cattivo *!
Apr. 29 Cleveland Heights, OH – Grog Shop *!
Apr. 30 Chicago, IL – The Empty Bottle *!
May 01 Madison, WI – The Frequency *!
May 02 Minneapolis, MN – 7th St. Entry *!
May 03 Iowa City, IA – Gabe’s Oasis *!
May 04 Champaign, IL – Highdive *!
May 06 Washington, DC – Black Cat *!
May 07 Richmond, VA – Strange Matter *
May 08 Carrboro, NC – Cat’s Cradle Back Room *
May 09 Atlanta, GA – Shaky Knees Festival
May 11 Tampa, FL – The Crowbar *
May 13 New Orleans, LA – Gasa Gasa *
May 14 Houston, TX – Walter’s Downtown $
May 15 Austin, TX – Red 7 $
May 16 Dallas, TX – Club Dada $
May 21 Los Angeles, CA – The Echo $
May 22 Santa Ana, CA – Constellation Room $
May 23 Santa Cruz, CA – The Catalyst Atrium $
May 25 Portland, OR – Mississippi Studios $%
May 26 Vancouver, BC – The Cobalt $
May 27 Seattle, WA – Barboza $
May 29 Salt Lake City, UT – Kilby Court $^
May 30 Denver, CO – Larimer Lounge $^
May 31 Kansas City, MO – The Riot Room $^
Jun. 01 Columbia, MO – Rose Music Hall $^
Jun. 02 St. Louis, MO – Firebird $^
Jun. 04 Detroit, MI – UFO Factory $^
Jun. 05 Toronto, ON – The Legendary Horseshoe Tavern $^
Jun. 06 Montreal, QC – Bar Le “Ritz” P.D.B. $^
Jul. 17 Louisville, KY – Forecastle Festival
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