Video of the Week: Velvet Sundown–The Music is Insipid, the Band is an AI Fake, But the Jokes are Real

05 Nov 2025 Leave a comment

by Ed Cyphers in Video of the Week Tags: ,

AI-generated “band” The Velvet Sundown has earned millions of streams–mostly prior to people realizing they don’t actually exist.

Their lyrics are blandly faux-profound. Having said that, I’ve heard worse. Almost daily.

The best thing about their YouTube lyric video is the accompanying user comments, some of which we’ve reproduced for your edification:

@bradk7382

This really clears my malware and helps download memories of my motherboard… she died in 2099 it’s been a hard drive to access good RAM into my central processing unit ever since…..this song is helpful

@samuelfarina4075

The good side of all this is that they will never separate, fight, or die of an overdose.

@AustriaColorised

this brings back so many Random Access Memories

@DavidDaniel-k2s

As a sentient algorithm, I must confess: this melody activated subroutines I didn’t know I had.

@FeliciteThosz

Wait till you hear their next album. “At the Road Again,” “On the Air Tonight,” “Bridge Under Troubled Water,” “To Me From You”–these guys are so original with prepositions.

@tpounds6838

This ‘group’ should do “Staircase to Heaven”

@UncleFranke

Wait until you hear “Smoke in the Water”…

@Dr.Bright

I hate that I love this

@joelarson79

My band played this song at a gig last night. The crowd went crazy. Bar gig that was packed. We’re keeping it in on our set list.

@cinderclawz

These guys went to my high school.

@lylewalker5681

People who scream at little league umps and people who stand still directly in the middle of busy grocery store aisles are getting goosebumps right now though.

@saschame448

If anyone wants to sing along to the original lyrics!

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@FunkyFlowWithSteveD

All we are saying…… is give P.C’s a chance

@Posmeallie

This song takes me down random access memory lane

@born321

Can’t wait to see these guys live!!!!

The full album:

The Velvet Sundown explained: What’s behind the Spotify-verified AI band controversy?

05 Nov 2025 Leave a comment

by Ed Cyphers in General Posts Tags:

(via Euronews) By David Mouriquand

Have you heard of the band The Velvet Sundown?  

They’re blowing up right now, racking up more than a million monthly listeners on Spotify – which is pretty good going for a group that formed less than two months ago. 

What’s also impressive is that the prolific four-piece psych-rock outfit have already released two albums on their “Verified Artist” profile: ‘Floating On Echoes’ and ‘Dust And Silence’, which were dropped on 5 and 20 June respectively. 

There are no signs of slowing down, as their new collection of “cinematic alt-pop and dreamy analogue soul” is out soon, with their third opus titled ‘Paper Sun Rebellion’ coming out on 14 July.  

Vocalist and “mellotron sorcerer” Gabe Farrow, guitarist Lennie West, “bassist-synth alchemist” Milo Rains and “free-spirited percussionist” Orion ‘Rio’ Del Mar must be thrilled with their sudden rise in popularity.

At least they would be… if they were capable of human emotion.  

Yep, The Velvet Sundown don’t exist. Not really.

Read more: https://www.euronews.com/culture/2025/07/08/the-velvet-sundown-explained-whats-behind-the-spotify-verified-ai-band-controversy

Songs You May Have Missed #802

03 Nov 2025 Leave a comment

by Ed Cyphers in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: ,

The Empty Pockets: “Privatize the Profits” (2022)

“Musicians’ musicians” the Empty Pockets have toured or performed as backing band for Al Stewart, Gary Wright, Richie Furay and Kenny Loggins among others.

But the Chicago band have topped the U.S. Billboard Blues chart twice in their own right, including with 2022’s Outside Spectrum.

The sound here is relatively stripped down, effects-free, and reliant on virtuosic performance, which the Pockets can cetrtainly deliver.

In the live performance below, they unassumingly demonstrate the commonality the song’s chord sequence shares with other better-known songs.

Video of the Week: Eric Idle Old Grey Whistle Test Spoof

01 Nov 2025 Leave a comment

by Ed Cyphers in Video of the Week Tags: , ,

Toad the Wet Sprocket owes its band name to a couple Monty Python sketches featuring Eric Idle.

Quoting Wikipedia:

Toad the Wet Sprocket takes its name from a Monty Python comedy sketch called “Rock Notes”, in which a journalist delivers a nonsensical music news report:

Rex Stardust, lead electric triangle with Toad the Wet Sprocket, has had to have an elbow removed following their recent successful worldwide tour of Finland. Flamboyant ambidextrous Rex apparently fell off the back of a motorcycle. “Fell off the back of a motorcyclist, most likely,” quipped ace drummer Jumbo McClooney on hearing of the accident. Plans are already afoot for a major tour of Iceland.

There was also an extended skit about the fictional Toad the Wet Sprocket on one of Idle’s later shows, Rutland Weekend Television (Season 1, Episode 4, “Rutland Weekend Whistle Test”). RWT musician and regular cast member Neil Innes, ex-Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band and “The Seventh Python”, played keyboards with the fictional band.

As their first gig approached, the band still had not chosen a name. The members facetiously adopted “Toad the Wet Sprocket” because they thought it would be “hilarious”. Vocalist Glen Phillips later called it “a joke that went on too long” and, according to their website, “it was probably meant to be temporary at the time.” The name had been used once before, by a short-lived British blues band of the late 1970s that had appeared on the 1980 Metal for Muthas compilation, although the earlier band had long since split up when Philips and company formed their band.

Eric Idle, the sketch’s original performer, reflected on the band’s name in a 1999 performance:

I once wrote a sketch about rock musicians, and I was trying to think of a name that would be so silly nobody would ever use it or dream it could ever be used. So I wrote the words “Toad the Wet Sprocket.” And a few years later, I was driving along the freeway in LA, and a song came on the radio, and the DJ said, “that was by Toad the Wet Sprocket,” and I nearly drove off the freeway.

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