A screen capture from Tim Kasher’s new music video for “An Answer for Everything.”

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Someone recently asked me if I saw any value in music videos as promotional tools. My initial response was no, that I prefer to hear preview tracks or receive full promotional releases, that video can be expensive and can degrade the audio quality. Most videos are poorly conceived and do nothing to further the material. Most times I launch a video and then click to something else and listen to it in background.

Still, most artists continue to create videos if only to have a presence in YouTube, which is (strangely) one of the most common ways for people to listen to music online. It’s not that I don’t like music videos, on the contrary I grew up watching them on MTV. A well-made music video can alter how we perceive a song, for better or worse. Acts from the ’80s like Robert Palmer, a-ha and Duran Duran are unfortunately more known for their videos than their music. And it’s hard for me to not think about Robert Plant’s video for “Big Log” whenever I hear the song.

Anyway…

A couple familiar faces today released music videos. Tim Kasher released the second video from his upcoming solo album No Resolution, called “An Answer for Everything.” The album comes out March 3, but if you preorder it from the 15 Passenger website you could win vinyl for life from the label. Who doesn’t want that?

Then there’s Conor Oberst’s new video for the  full band version of “Till St. Dymphna Kicks Us Out” from his upcoming album Salutations. You can pre-order that one from the Nonesuch website. The record comes out on St. Patrick’s Day.

By the way, if you hadn’t notices (as I didn’t) that March 9 Conor Oberst show at The Waiting Room with Felice Brothers is SOLD OUT.

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Read Tim McMahan’s blog daily at Lazy-i.com — an online music magazine that includes feature interviews, reviews and news. The focus is on the national indie music scene with a special emphasis on the best original bands in the Omaha area. Copyright © 2017 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.