After a relative period of silence, one of Brooklyn’s most active internet performing artists, David Welles, returns with the music video for ONWE’s refreshingly angular single “jk bb”. The band of self-proclaimed “☯ BUSHWICK CYBERPUNX ☯” uses all the signposts of cyber aesthetics and Brooklyn millennial failings as a way to point out how full of shit we are.
Full of schizophrenic scenes of Bushwick babes, vaporwave graphics and flashing iPhone frames juxtaposing images of a crack-addled bum with icons of the current 20-something’s zeitgeist, “jk bb” will wake you up out of some kind of stupor. The metaphysical depth of that stupor, though, is up for debate.
When Welles sings “Nothing can change. Let’s just smoke weed, sit on the couch then die” Black Flag’s “TV Party” actually comes to mind. Both Welles and Rollins make their cultural critiques heard through rubbing people wrong, Welles just takes a more delicately curated approach to abrasion. The visual mode of his message dresses a pretty old school punk attitude in woman’s clothing—a signature stage look for Welles.
Even if you aren’t moved to join an anti-capitalist, anti-technology movement, the video will give you three minutes of intellectual entertainment to think about when you need a little pick me up out of your (assumed) over-indulgent ennui.
Stream the two-track jk bb EP, off Welles’ punny DIY label Capitalist Records, or download (for an intentionally absurd price) on Bandcamp.
