Menhir Get the Man on the Run in Video for “Mt. Aloha”
My cynical side wins out more often than not when it comes to social issues, and by “wins out,” I mean both in terms of my overall perspective and in terms of how events actually unfold. Expect the worst, don’t be surprised when even something worse than what you thought of happens. And if the NSA is reading this, then fuck you too. Go listen to Kyuss and chill the fuck out on tapping world leaders’ phones.
So when it comes to a clip like that which Dutch trio Menhir — not to be confused with the long-running German pagan metal act of the same name — have put together for the endearingly riffed “Mt. Aloha,” my consideration is not for the promise the future seems to hold in the Jacque Fresco sample that serves as the only vocals throughout, but in the irony of the fact that when he was talking about this social revolution that was coming in 10 or 15 years, it was 1974. I guess the rollback of personal and civil liberties that Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan brought to the 1980s was an extra bummer for Mr. Fresco.
Forty years on from when he was saying it, the idea of harnessing geothermal energy and creating a one-world system based on mutual meeting of needs is a nice thought, but I doubt we’re any closer than we were four decades ago. The shots of the old white guy — who actually seems to be in pretty good shape as he runs away from the colorfully dressed youth — make their point clearly enough, and while I’m not sure what the footage of smiling, skinny, good-looking young people drinking at a barbecue has to do with futurist utopia, if that’s to be the revolution, at least it seems to be a fun time.
Menhir will release their second EP, Uberlith II, on Dec. 13. Whatever my cynicism on the hopelessness of enacting meaningful social change and the likelihood of overthrowing the dominant cultural forces specifically designed not to be overthrown that are ingrained into us from birth, “Mt. Aloha” is a cool song and the Frederik Noordhuis video does the rocking atmosphere justice.
Know justice, know peace:
You can now stream, download and purchase Uberlith II over at http://menhirband.com/