I’ve long pondered the apparent symbiosis of music and drugs. And I don’t mean weed or mushrooms or LSD. I mean the drugs that are name-dropped so frequently in so-called “popular” music. The drugs with official prescriptions. The encapsulated drugs that contribute to pharmaceuticals being a trillion-dollar industry globally. The liquid drugs that come packaged in a pretty bottle and are handed to you by a pretty woman. Sometimes, it can feel like “popular” music is just another vehicle for pharmaceutical and alcohol industry PR, kind of like the “advertorials” you see on the “news.”
Why is the majority of the population constantly being pressured to turn off their minds and disconnect from their bodies? That’s what I’m thinking about while I watch the new video from SMIRK for their track “Minuscule Amounts.” Their frenzied, addictive punk has me thinking about the steady drip, drip, drip of entertainment that goes hand in hand with exiting from your reality by whatever means available. And the amazing animated video for it from motion artist Draeger Gillespie is making the whole experience that much more enjoyable and discombobulating. It’s a track off their new record E.P. that comes out in September via Total Punk Records — pre-order it here. Right now, get sober and watch our premiere of “Minuscule Amounts.”
‘Miniscule Amounts’ is an abstract walk through recreational drug use, close encounters, and the decline of civilization. The video mixes 2D and 3D animation into a journey through vices, that highlight the comedy of jam band consumerism, and our place in the universe.
