Pop Culture Blast

Monday Morning Pick-Me-Up: Super Bowl Commercials, Father John Misty, and Dancing Sharks

Let Josh Tillman and Rocky Votolato sing your Super Bowl blues away. Plus, the Seahawks did win something.

By Seth Sommerfeld February 2, 2015

Don't be sad... DANCING SHARKS.

Watch + Listen If you haven't figured it out yet, Father John Misty (aka former Seattleite Josh Tillman) is America's finest satirist. Last week to promote his upcoming new album I Love You, Honeybear, he launched a new streaming site called SAP. On SAP, fans can stream (or download) an intentionally bad, vocal-free version of the album. In Tillman's own words, "I am pleased to introduce SAP, a new signal-to-audio process by which popular albums are 'sapped' of their performances, original vocal, atmosphere and other distracting affectations so the consumer can decide quickly and efficiently whether they like a musical composition, based strictly on its formal attributes, enough to spend money on it." The actual album comes out February 10 (and it's basically the only thing I've been listening to so far in 2015).

To up the satirical streaming stakes even further, he dropped by the Spotify office to dramatically perform karaoke versions of a couple new tunes. (Note to Sub Pop: I would totally pay to see a Father John Misty karaoke tour.)

Halftime Glory Fact: Most Super Bowl halftime shows aren't that great. That said, Katy Perry pretty much killed it last night. It was a spectacle that had few—if any—faults. (Okay, one: "Dark Horse" over "Hot N Cold"? Those songs are on different levels. Come on, Katy.) From the insane massive lion puppet she rode in on to the surprise Missy Elliott cameo, it hit all the right notes.  But there's no doubt the most pick-me-up worthy moment was those darn adorable shark dancers, especially since only one of them seemed to know the moves...

A Seahawks Win! Don't worry Seahawks fans, you didn't leave Super Bowl week entirely winless. Marshawn Lynch destroyed Rob Gronkowski in Mortal Combat X as part of Conan's "Clueless Gamer" segment. It's as funny as it is graphically violent. Which is to say, a lot. (You've been warned).

SUPER BOWL COMMERCIALS Look, we all know what you're doing Budweiser. You've been hammering this heartstring-tugging cute animal angle for years now it's not gonna work aga... OH NO THE CUTE LOST PUPPY IS IN DANGER. WHAT'S THAT RUMBLING? HORSES TO THE RESCUE! While this commercial (the best of the night) has nothing to do with the product, I'm okay with Budweiser continuing to pour money into these very well done short films.

LISTEN After going through an entire year with songwriter's block, Seattle's Rocky Votolato finally found his voice again. Last year, he headed into the studio Chris Walla (ex-Death Cab for Cutie) to record Hospital Handshakes, and now he's released a rocking first taste in the form of "The Hereafter." The album releases on March 21 via No Sleep Records.

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