Caustic Casanova Post “Memory King” Video
Posted in Bootleg Theater on September 7th, 2021 by JJ KoczanCapitol City heavy rockers Caustic Casanova released God How I Envy the Deaf (review here) the better part of two years ago. If you were wondering — or, I guess, if you weren’t — it’s still awesome. The underrated D.C. outfit would have probably informed you of that in-person while playing on any number of tours throughout the last year and a half supporting the LP, but, well, you know. I’m pretty sure you were aware of what was happening during that time, what continues to be happening, and what will apparently be happening for the foreseeable future. To be honest, I’d like to take the rest of this post off from thinking or writing about it.
Perhaps in that regard, Caustic Casanova‘s new clip for “Memory King” can serve as a somewhat ironic accompaniment to a few minutes of willful forgetting. I’ve been trying to write about it for the last few days and have been caught up in other whatnot that doesn’t need detailing here, so the initial drifting guitar line, underlying rhythmic solidity and the overarching groove that emerges therefrom are only welcome presences in my brain, escapism or not. And if you’re feeling bad from taking a couple minutes off from fretting unproductively about the state of the world, don’t. The clip has a relevant censorship message, if transposed onto pigeons. And fair enough.
You ever see Caustic Casanova? It’s kind of hard to convey how much their material manages to be theirs while ultimately staying in familiar terrain. As a group, they have a presence that’s not quite like anybody else making heavy rock, and they’ve done it well enough and long enough at this point that they just get on stage, deliver, and are done. In a way, it’s no-frills, almost punk rock, and then they might sludge out and embarrass any number of surrounding acts stacking speaker cabinets for a showcase of tone-worship. I’ve been fortunate enough to catch them a couple times now. All they do is impress. They put out a live EP this year. It’s not quite the same, of course, but it ain’t nothing. And they made fridge magnets, which is aces in my book.
Okay, back to the slog I go. You enjoy this:
Caustic Casanova, “Memory King” official video
CAUSTIC CASANOVA comment: “Jase Harper, with whom we’ve collaborated for well over a decade, and I worked on the concept and story for this video for months and months, before his work schedule and the pandemic nearly put an end to the whole project”, states singer and bass player Francis Beringer. “We pressed on, thankfully, and Jase’s tireless work finally paid off. We now present the complete, beautiful, insane music video for “Memory King”, off our 2019 album God How I Envy The Deaf. Within the dystopian bird universe depicted in that album’s art, the story revolves around a pigeon drummer who has her livelihood taken away because she will not agree to produce only government approved music. She signs up for an extremely dangerous space mission, one of the few available jobs for former artists who refuse to comply with the regime’s orders. In her cosmic journey, within her own mind and out in deep space, she encounters characters from throughout the Caustic Casanova artistic universe, including the legendary space squid and the banana cow. As for the thrilling conclusion of self-sacrifice, well, you’ll just have to watch the video.”
Taken from the album ‘God How I Envy the Deaf’ (2019)
http://lnk.spkr.media/caustic-casanova-god-how
Video/animation by Jase Harper
Directed by Jase Harper and Caustic Casanova
Line-up
Francis Beringer – vocals, bass
Stefanie Zænker – vocals, drums, percussion
Andrew Yonki – guitar
Jake Kimberley – guitar