Fridays Music Clip: Hey Champ "Neverest"

Sometimes you see a music video that makes you go wow, and then other times you seen one that just makes you very very confused.
This is one of those videos.
It is just so odd that it is cool, and forced me into a situation where I wanted to know more about this band I had never heard of.

Soon I found myself at their website (copy & paste people) where I managed to score a free download of a couple of their tracks. Sweet.

Hey Champ are a new band on the scene of retro inspired 80's electronic synth type music. Along the same lines of MGMT and Empire of the Sun, 'bands' which made it big last year with a distinctive sound that has got flow backs to a different time and place. This genre of music on a whole has got a really upbeat and happy vibe. It feels nice to be listening too it for a change of pace.

So what have Hey Champ done to make their mark? Well making a weirdo video like this one is a great place. I have seen the link in a couple of places now so it is getting exposure just due to it's oddity, and the buzz factor that bloggers get from posting something controversial and different.

The fuss? Take a look for yourself.

The dolphins are weird right?
Will these guys make it big? Rap superstar and new artists producer Lupe Fiasco seems to think so.
He just signed them to his label.

From a wiki page about the band (too lazy to rewrite this so will do some sneaky copy and paster:

Rockford, Illinois... not exactly a hotbed of talent, although it has produced rock legends Cheap Trick, and (allegedly) the older brother from the TV hit "Blossom." Two boys, Saam, age 16 and Jonathan, 13, become heavily influenced by both Blossom and Cheap Trick. Naturally, they form a band.

Eight years later the two reform in Chicago under the Hey Champ moniker. Much smarter and poorer, they begin a musical journey that ended up on the intersection of Gainsbourg Avenue and Jarre Lane. Needing some additional help on the keys, Jonathan calls up his old Princeton chum Pete. The two met as outsiders at one of those tea and crumpet parties where everyone wears blazers and laughs through clenched teeth. His car packed with synthesizers and a prayer, Pete left the creature comforts of the Northeast and drove straight into the musical wilderness of the Midwest.

The trio soon becomes well known around Chicago for their pop savvy and production expertise. During the summer of 2008, they received a phone call from a Mr. Lupe Fiasco, who had seen a video for their song “Cold Dust Girl” on the Internet. Within a month Hey Champ was on a nationwide tour opening for Lupe and starting to record their first album under his FNF imprint. By early 2009, “Cold Dust Girl” had been spun in clubs on every continent (conceding Antarctica) and the band had gained stature in the rock and dance communities by sharing the stage with international sensations like Justice, Sebastian Tellier, The Sounds, Midnight Juggernauts, Kid Sister, Datarock, and The Bloody Beetroots just to name a few. With a schedule including some of the biggest festivals and tours of the year, international acclaim for their hit “Cold Dust Girl,” and a soon to be released debut album, Hey Champ is poised to become...the third greatest thing to come out of Rockford.

Check out the video for Gold Dust Girl. It looks like at this stage of the game they already had some seriousmoney behind them to make a video like this. That or soe really generous friends with great gear.

and here is a quick behind the scenes of the making of "neverest"

To get all indulgent here are some of the videos from this genre that I would like to file onto a page for future easy viewing when the mood strikes:

MGMT Kids:

Empire of the Sun: Walking on a Dream

Hot Chip: "I feel better" not the same genre but still a great video.

This was originally for Friday's Music Clip of the week, but got a little distracted writing about earthquakes and the such, so it is now posted on a Monday, but how many people will pay attention to the date posted anyway.....