The Tontons, Videoified

Been a while since I’d heard a lot from The Tontons, one of my favorite bands (from these parts or any other), and I sadly have yet to check out their 2009-released full-length (I suck, I know), so I’ve been feeling particularly bereft. Thankfully, today along comes this sweet-ass video for “Leon”, filmed gorgeously by Zenfilm at various Houston locales (including visual shoutouts to Mango’s, sushi bar Soma, & Max’s Wine Dive, among others)

Musically, the song makes me think weirdly of Weezer’s “Falling For You” (well, okay, the guitar line does), but ground up and fed through the band’s patented psych-soul Transform-O-Tron^TM and coming out the other side like an alternate-universe psychedelic rock band fronted by Billie Holiday’s granddaughter. And yes, it’s awesome, especially with the added bonus of being able to see those Tontons kids smiling their way around the city and across the stage. Anybody who doesn’t fall a little bit in love with frontwoman Asli Omar (only a little bit, y’all; don’t get any crazy ideas) has a burned-out lump of black rock for a soul, honest. Enjoy:

(And btw, yes, this was apparently filmed with assistance from the Greater Houston Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, which both completely cracks me up and makes me proud as hell of my city. You go, Houston.)