Jordan Venn and the Slizneys

Sometimes, slogging through the inbox is exasperating business. Spam from PR mailing lists who are bombing the blog with every person who’s ever recorded a demo and posted it unpolished on Soundcloud; artists who claim to have read the blog but submit music we don’t ever review; general spam. Sad faces abound.

And then, you get a band like Jordan Venn and The Slizneys who say, “Hey, what’s up? We made a video that’s stop-motion with Lego.” The heart rejoices.

“Time Machine” is what I imagine Ben Folds Five would have created with Lego and stop motion, had Ben paused and thought of it first. Sonically, Folds is what first comes to mind: keys-heavy, the tale of heartbroken and the desire for an icepick lobotomy to rid oneself of the past, Eternal Sunshine style has all of the sardonic wit of Folds and his ilk. There’s a more earthy alt-rock vibe to the tune though, a grounded, raw indie feel that shuns uber-produced polish in favour of letting the instruments be their organic selves. This is no accident; after all, the album is called Certified Organic.

And the video itself? Triptastic whimsy that feels like digging out your childhood storage boxes and eating several special brownies. Or perhaps a chaotic journey to that Lego amusement park with said brownies? Either way, I’m grooving to the song and jealous of their collective Lego assets.

Check out the video for Jordan Venn and The Slizneys’ “Time Machine” and hit them up at their official site. - Open 'Til Midnight