Directed by Daniel Kaufman, the video, part one in a two part series, takes place 50 years in the future, as a group of five elderly Rentals haphazardly go out in search for new, younger bodies to transfer their spirits. Or as bandleader, Matt Sharp told Noisey, “It’s a simple science fiction tale about the quest for eternal life. Imagine if Cocoon starred Gary Numan and Grimes instead of Wilford Brimley and Steve Guttenberg.”
PREVIOUSLY: The Rentals play Union Transfer tonight in support of their fuggin’ excellent new album, Lost In Alphaville. The Rentals are for all intents and purposes the creative vehicle for ex-Weezer bassist Matt Sharp and a revolving cast of supporting players. This time out that cast includes Patrick Carney from the Black Keys on drums and the lovely ladies from Lucius laying down betwitching backing vocals. A couple weeks ago we got Matt Sharp on the phone to talk 
about the band and the new album. We wound up talking at length about Bangkok, where he was born, his secret agent man dad, and how impossible it is to nail down the Black Keys drummer. MORE
PITCHFORK: Rock bands inevitably get old and start to suck, but Weezer are an exceptional case of this. It’s not as if, since resurfacing from their post-Pinkerton hiatus back in 2001, they gradually turned into a less interesting, more pedestrian version of their younger selves (a la the Rolling Stones). They’ve intentionally become a total, aggressive affront to them, as if their entire post-millennial career has been one extended, James Franco-worthy performance-art stunt in baiting anyone whoever took them seriously. It’s hard to think of another band that has so eagerly created such a chasm between what they first presented themselves to be (in Weezer’s case, a Pavement that could sell records) and what they turned out to be (a Smash Mouth that sold even more). And that cognitive dissonance is weighing on the hearts and minds of old-school fans all the more heavily this year, as we celebrate the 20th anniversary of The Blue Album while bracing for the next inevitably disappointing chapter in the history of a band that long ago stopped writing great songs in favor of writing dumb songs about writing great songs. It may be a complete coincidence that Matt Sharp is dropping his first proper Rentals album in 15 years smack dab in the middle of this fray, but it’s a welcome thrown-bone nonetheless for those who were first drawn to Weezer for their winsome underdog charm (which got pissed away forevermore sometime during the first talkbox solo on “Beverly Hills”). It’s hard to say if Sharp was solely responsible for the enduring greatness of Weezer’s first two albums (though he has taken the band to court to essentially prove as much), but it’s no exaggeration to suggest they were never the same after he left in ’98. MORE