By JOHN DALY
The Rentals supergroup has released “Conspiracy,” one of the most unusual concepts in music so far this year.
It’s the latest single from The Rentals’ new double album Q36, a futuristic record that features synthesizer sounds, drum loops and guitar work of Nick Zinner of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. The band is Dave Fridmann of Flaming Lips and MGMT, Zinner, The Gentle Assassins, Ronnie Vannucci and lead singer Matt Sharp who used anything around his house to create the video.
Sharp created the video in classic quarantine style — with only a $150 camcorder and a large black bedsheet. It’s a one-take filming that runs through images of conspiracy theories from Reddit and other notorious sites. No groups or topics — including Bigfoot and Lizard People — are off-limits here as The Rentals seem to say that during the quarantine people could be more prone to taking up some unusual research.
The track is a tribute to the late Art Bell, host of “Coast To Coast” on AM radio.
“After almost every show, sometime around midnight driving down the open, barren highways, this comforting voice would keep me company through paper-thin frequencies of the intermittent, AM radio transmissions,” Sharp said. “Art Bell would stay with me all the way into the wee hours of the morning keeping me awake talking about global superstorms and ghost stories, while occasionally trying to sell me a HAM Radio or an end of the world survival kit.”
The Rentals have a trippy and super cool approach to music. Check out the previous single “Forgotten Astronaut.”
Matt Sharp (The Rentals) vocals, synths + acoustic guitars
Nick Zinner (Yeah Yeah Yeahs) electric guitars
Ronnie Vannucci (The Killers) drums and percussion
THE GENTLE ASSASSINS (11 Guest Vocalists) choir
Dave Fridmann (Flaming Lips, Tame Impala) mixing engineer
Ryan Smith (Sterling Sound) mastering engineer
