Pitchfork

The history of politics and music as bedfellows is a long one, from "Tippecanoe and Tyler Too" to, uh, "Vote or Die!", to the current spate of politically motivated benefit shows. But getting swept up in all of this, it's easy to forget that musicians are people too, and they have thoughts and ideas and concerns about the upcoming U.S. election just like the rest of us.

With that in mind, filmmaker Brendan Toller-- whom you may recall as the director of record store documentary I Need That Record!-- and Thurston Moore's Ecstatic Peace imprint have inaugurated "Election 2008: Artists Speak Out". The ongoing series of videos, as its title suggests, features musicians, comedians, artists, and the like waxing thoughtful on the upcoming election and what it means to them.

As one might expect, the opinions expressed in the first batch of "Artists Speak Out" videos run the gamut from pro-Obama enthusiasm to bemused apathy to down-and-out pessimism.

Thurston Moore bandmate (and former Come and Codeine member) Chris Brokaw, comedian Eugene Mirman, and Tall Firs member Aaron Mullan, all interviewed during the recent ATP New York, each express generally positive, hopeful, Obama-friendly sentiments, though none exactly sounds gung-ho.

Flying the flag for apathy and evasiveness are MV & EE, who aren't convinced the current situation really has an effect on them, and Burning Star Core's C. Spencer Yeh, who makes some comments on real estate which may in fact be a subversive critique of the status quo. We're not quite sure.

For a more grim and strikingly negative view of the matters in question, try Built to Spill's Brett Netson, who expresses his disappointment with Obama (alluding to his ties with corporate lobbyist Moses Mercado) and notes that, as usual, nobody's listening to Ralph Nader. Or try Polvo's Ash Bowie, who predicts "the Republicans will steal the election." Well, at least he thinks Sarah Palin "sucks."

And then...there's Meat Puppets man Curt Kirkwood (pictured). Joined by filmmaker Dave Markey, he begins by showing off his "one-of-a-kind Sarah Palin towel," which he apparently uses "to wipe the blood off after I sharpen my fingers." Things just get weirder from there, with the chat eventually devolving into a discussion of "elephant vagina[s]" and "dildo-headed unicorns." The man can certainly entertain, even if his disinterest ("You couldn't pay me to [vote].") is disheartening.

"This is really the heart of America," Kirkwood at one point deadpans in reference to his surroundings at ATP New York. "George Washington threw a submarine across the Potomac here in 1952." As a summary of political confusion in the Information Age, it would seem Kirkwood has, however inadvertently, hit the mark.