Video premiere: Manhattan Murder Mystery, ‘Too Tough to Survive’
Ben McShane on
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L.A. indie underdog heroes Manhattan Murder Mystery are back in the pit with “Too Tough to Survive,” the lead-off single from the yet-to-be-dated album “DUMB” (their first full-length in five years). The track is a sort of gunky post-punkish hymnal for the neo-maxi-zoom-dweebies living in near-east Los Angeles’ runoff gutters, anchored by a soothing, repetitive synth line that plays in stark contrast to the band’s signature snaggle-toothed sound. Lyrically, frontman Matthew Teardrop ditches on-the-nose literary references for a more personal narrative in this one: He begins at the unemployment office and ends with a litany of unfortunate ways to die. Uplifting stuff, no? And yet by the end of director Mike James’ video, the same saturnalian misfits that descend on Manhattan Murder Mystery’s slobberknocker shows (bonus “social” drink if you can spot the legendary Karen Centerfold) cavort around a burning barrel, as though it’s “Too Tough to Survive” … and they just couldn’t give a damn. The single release orgy happened last week, but you can catch Manhattan Murder Mystery’s next battle royale wherever cheap beer is sold.
||| Watch: The video for “Too Tough to Survive”
||| Stream: The song here
Great band. Great song.
Matt knows how to write them and sing them in the rain