Straight to Computer by Teenanger
Toronto self-described ‘soft-punk’ band Teenanger is back with a new music video for their song “Straight to Computer” starring none-other than Angelina Jolie, and Johnny Lee Miller – the guy who played Sherlock Holmes on CBS up until last year. The new video consists entirely of video clips from the 1995 cult-classic movie Hackers, which starred Jolie and Miller. Watch it below.
Teenanger is a pretty cool band and is the corner-stone act on Telephone Explosion Records. The band has been around the scene for a while now tearing things up in one way or another, and they always keep things punk, calling attention to things like climate change and human’s growing dependence on technology. Like many of their namesakes, Teenanger the band isn’t afraid to tell you what’s up.
The Toronto band has released a new video from their new album and LP Good Time, this time for the song “Straight to Computer”, the latest single from the album. The video’s entirely composed of footage ripped from the 1995 tech-thriller Hackers. So yes, it’s brilliant. Hackers is a movie that was visually neat for its time, while still holding the title as the worst movie ever made on the subject of computer hackers.
This is hands-down one of the best and weirdest music videos I’ve seen this year. The editing is probably better than the original movie, the soundtrack is most definitely better than that of the original flick. Straight to Computer is a comment on humanity’s addiction to technology. This is not the first track written by the band on this subject or similar subjects. Teenangers are a great example of modern punk in my opinion because they are closer to what punk classically stands for than some of the more mall-punk bands of the last twenty years, in that they stand for something that you can point to and say ‘I believe in this and will stand by it’.
I think this is true to a lot of independent artists, which is probably why I’m drawn to independent music, it means more – to me at least – when music is honest, unabashed, and comes from the heart. So while I’m still addicted to Reddit, I did stop and think about it a bit today while I was doom scrolling. I stopped, left my phone at home, and went for a walk. It was alright.
Good Time is Teenanger’s sixth full-length album. The album was recorded at Studio Z in Toronto with the celebrated post-rock artist Sandro Perri producing. Together for more than a decade, the band still boasts their original lineup of drummer Steve Sidoli, bassist Melissa Bell, guitarist Jon Schouten, and vocalist Chris Swimmings. Listen to the album below.
