Them guys are hott….them guys are hott. Seems like just yesterday when we were just youngsters laughing it out with our respective ‘buds’ to the musings of one Clell Tickle, those wacky indie music pranksters or even…ah…Shutterbugs when it was just a blossoming viral video. Well, not anymore son, not anymore. Now if you go to YouTube, Viacom has scorched the earth of much of all that remains. This past weekend saw a 24 hour marathon in which Human Giant took over the MTV studios and pretty much just had their way with the place* and I watched the entire thing**.

Were some good hardy laughs had? I imagine so, but that’s not what’s important now – what’s important is the music. To be honest, outside of the obvious Ted Leo & Tapes ‘n Tapes inclusions I really don’t understand the choices: Albert Hammond Jr. and The National with Mastodon closing the show? It was all good but Mastodon’s performance was most inconducive to the environment…I imagine that the experience was similar to that of Tapes ‘n Tapes who began playing slightly past 10am. Not only were the band’s faced with the obvious handicap of playing in the studio, but Mastodon must have felt slightly out of place being the only non-indie rock.***

Human Giant – MTV Site

The National “Mistaken For Strangers”
The National “Apartment Story”
The National – Official Site
The National – MySpace Site

Tapes ‘n Tapes “Cowbell”
Tapes ‘n Tapes “Insistor”
Tapes ‘n Tapes – Official Site
Tapes ‘n Tapes – MySpace Site

Ted Leo “Colleen”
Ted Leo “Me and Mia”
Ted Leo – Official Site
Ted Leo – MySpace Site

Albert Hammond Jr. “Everyone Gets A Star”
Albert Hammond Jr. “In Transit”
Albert Hammond Jr. – MySpace Site

Mastodon “Sleeping Giant”
Mastodon – Official Site
Mastodon – MySpace Site

Ted Leo’s improvisation under crisis in “Colleen” is fantastic (and I suggest watching the video of it) but other the man’s solo performance nothing really impressed too much. Again though, how can you really blow people away in such a setting?

* Not to be confused with the 24 hour ‘marathong’ which also occurred this past weekend on the widely popular FX network.
** I did not.
*** Though many would say that Morningwood’s appearance wasn’t so much indie rock as it was trash…I wouldn’t be one of those people, just sayin’…