We took it easy over the holidays, perhaps a little too easy. I’ll be perfectly honest, I still have pure egg nog slowly pumping through my aorta. So, since it’s already Friday, and I’m still playing catch-up, here are a few items that we definitely should mention before we get to the heightened onslaught of next week. Various shakeups and transitions in local music over the last part of 2011 kept things interesting, and point to even more tumult in the months to come. I look forward to fine-tooth combing the mess with you soon. I hope you’ll join us. Here are three items in brief:

1. The following is the Nervous Curtains new music video for the track, “Moody Photos.” I’m starting, pausing, and starting again, in order to live-blog the results:

(Paused at 31 seconds in): Right off the bat, what is first conveyed is that (Sean) Kirkpatrick is such an absolute serious guy. “Moody Photos,” indeed. Though I think there is a bit of humor at play here. There would have to be. But in the  already moody band in which he used to play, (The Paperchase) he was the especially moody one. Like a lot of keyboardists, he has that certain inconsolable expression, one that is amplified by having to play an instrument that obviously requires more concentration than drum-banging and guitar-strumming. His backing band is obviously crack, and something tells me that the knob-tweaking is where a lot of the Nervous Curtains’ charm is hidden. Here the group’s singer comes off like a post-punk Richard Wright.

(Video Continues)

Paused at 53 seconds in: Wait, he owns a Prophet? Had no idea. Those are expensive, Sean. Perhaps, next time go for the ubiquitous Micro-Korg and spend the rest of the cash on party favors? Excellent percussive tweaking on those synth notes. There’s the guy from Berliner Eins and Klearlight Studio. Hmm, this looks like a sad party from Denton 2005 or so. I know he’s a transplanted Dallas-ite, so that remark might draw some resentment. Denton ex-pats never like talking about it. Oh, and here he is: “PARALYZED!,” he exclaims.

(Video Continues)

Paused at 1:19: Oh, this does not look like the best party, I must admit. Nothing against the patrons, but this crowd looks well-read and well-behaved. That’s a dinner party, not an actual party. Seeing the drummer actually go to certain cymbals on certain synth hits is a nice touch. I love to see visual representations of the drummer’s process in music videos. They are so often ignored and relegated to background status as inglorious human cephalopods.

(Video Continues)

Paused at 2:10: This crowd is actually reading at the party. I know that it’s supposed to demonstrate a rather unsuccessful event, but this is just over-the-top. It looks more like a wake or an uncomfortable mix of in-laws sitting in an ICU waiting room at this point. Maybe that’s mission accomplished. Now I keep rewinding to see what record is being played. Big-time music videos would have to blur that out.

2:17: Elvis Costello poster in the background. No wonder they’re all so miserable. Kirkpatrick is no mumbler. He clearly enunciates everything. “Inadequacy” is a mouthful for a heightened musical moment, however.

2:32: Okay, the Saint Vitus record cover is so visible as to be explicit. Almost makes up for the Costello poster. Now I see a Fall print in the background. And finally, some actual dancing. And it’s every bit as gloomy and grad school goth as you would imagine. But it’s not bad.

3:15: An actual breakdown just took place. The lack of guitar takes away the “bite” of your average dark rock breakdown, but in its place is something much more interesting. And the still image I’m staring at now is someone consuming drugs while wearing an argyle sweater.

3:51: Things are starting to wrap up. Everyone’s shuffling out, seemingly upset about some unrevealed offense. The singer is descending comfortably into his final refrain, one that could easily summarize the mood of much of his music:

I’m busy taking moody photos of my insides…

End: Ah, I love clear drum sets. In fact, I just read in this month’s D Home that lucite is a fantastic way to open up small spaces, and this event isn’t exactly in a castle. So, all of us mini-dwellers should keep that in mind when the video commences. There appears to suddenly be an inserted clip of a black-and-white film, that is simply a closeup of a pen easily flowing into a signature. It makes no sense, but it doesn’t matter. With such an unapologetic portrayal of this band’s less memorable social moments, they don’t have to explain.

2. Also releasing a brand new video this week, is Shiny Around The Edges, who have pulled an aesthetic 180 since the last time we showcased one of their audio/visual pieces. That was “Socially Awkward,” which appeared last March, and that video had a look and sound that took the group’s intensely subdued side to new murky lows. But “good” lows, of course. This time around, Shiny is thudding with much more vigor, against a visually grabbing backdrop, that looks like one of the curiously colorful pieces from a late 80′s Husker Dü record. Usually, I’d run from such a reference, but I know this academically-inclined crew will easily catch it. The video is interesting in that it was completed in only one take with two cameras, but what is even more noteworthy is the way group-member Jenny Seman can make a couple of dinky toms sound like a full drum-kit. Directed by Secret Cakes’ Chuck Crosswhite:

Quicklime by Shiny Around the Edges from Chuck Crosswhite on Vimeo.

3. Finally, we unjustifiably snoozed right through this day-after-Christmas news regarding 35D’s newly announced list of hip hop performers, including the always wonderful Devin the Dude, along with Detroit’s critically acclaimed Danny Brown, Athens, Alabama’s G-Side, and Oakland’s Main Attrakionz, who flat out bill themselves as “the best duo ever.” Now, that’s confidence.

Not to merely reiterate for obvious reasons, but you should really spend a few minutes on this beautifully written summary from 35D itself, which further explains the prominence and talent behind the three lesser-known acts that will be performing. In other words, everyone besides Devin. It’s straight-forwardly entitled Get acquainted with some of our freshly released hip hop artists, and it reads better than a lot of area articles on similar subject matter, and certainly better than one would expect from promotional festival literature. It just sounds like this person not only understands the acts, but that he or she also gives a damn. Always a nice surprise.