We’ve been meaning to post this one for a while, and we really have no excuse for only getting around to it now, but better late than never, I guess, right? This song actually comes from Sisters, Tungs‘ split LP with Heavy Midgets, which at this point has been out for nearly a year.
We’ve been meaning to post this one for a while, and we really have no excuse for only getting around to it now, but better late than never, I guess, right? This song actually comes from Sisters, Tungs‘ split LP with Heavy Midgets, which at this point has been out for nearly a year. However, the recording of the video is a recent development, clearly intended to give a second wind to promotion for the split LP (which made multiple lists of our favorite local albums released in 2012–so if you haven’t bought it yet, you definitely should).
While the song was recorded by Tungs when they were still a quartet, the video was filmed since singer/guitarist Alex Criqui quit the band and moved to Baltimore. This factors into the fictional plot of the video, in which remaining members Paul Himmelman, Ben Miller, and Matthew Thiem play harassed office workers dealing with a pompous boss who swigs alcohol on the job and behaves inappropriately with attractive female coworkers. Said pompous boss, played by Ian McQuary of Heavy Midgets, also taunts his employees with a picture of Alex Criqui that’s labeled “Employee Of The Month”–apparently Alex’s departure from the band was amicable enough that they can all joke about it, which is good at least.
“Tapestry,” the previous Tungs song released as a video from Sisters, is a much more straightforwardly catchy tune than “Bosses.” This track is basically a psychedelic wall of noise in which the group repeats the same riff over and over, indicating the division between verses and choruses through volume and intensity of performance. It’s reminiscent of the sort of noise jam that showed up on some of the weirder records released in the early 90s as part of the whole grunge phenomenon–it isn’t too far from something that Steel Pole Bath Tub, Godheadsilo, or even Monster Magnet would do. And of course, I’ve compared Tungs’s strangely melodic wall of guitar noise to New Zealand’s Bailter Space before, a comparison that remains apt here. The best part about the way this song pairs up with this video, though, is the way the final noisy crescendo arrives at the same moment that Paul, Ben, and Matthew decide they’ve had enough of their stupid jobs and proceed to trash every piece of computer equipment in the room, Office Space style. Who hasn’t wanted to do that at least once? Considering that May Day was earlier this week, this is definitely an appropriate video to check out while you contemplate throwing off the shackles of wage slavery once and for all.
Tungs will be heading out on a tour of the Southeastern United States later this month, so if you’re reading this from North Carolina, Tennessee, or somewhere else down in that area, keep an eye out for our boys over the next couple of weeks. And RVA locals, have no fear, because later this month, Tungs will be rocking The Yerb, along with Brother Bill and Toxic Moxie, as part of the release celebration for The Yerb’s forthcoming CD compilation of music by local bands–which will be given out for free at the show! Get the details about that event by clicking HERE.
