Mystery Skulls

Mystery Skulls

Mystery Skulls performs in Dallas
Background information
Origin Dallas, Texas, United States
Genres Electronica, indie pop, Minneapolis sound, electronic rock, soul
Years active 2011–present
Labels Warner Bros. Records
Associated acts The Secret Handshake
Website Mystery Skulls on Tumblr, BandCamp page
Members Luis Dubuc

Mystery Skulls is an American indie pop/electronica act that originated in Dallas, Texas but now operates out of Los Angeles, California.[1]

History

The project was formed in 2011 by Luis Dubuc after his previous project, The Secret Handshake, was dissolved.[2] Dubuc initially announced the project on August 8, 2011 via the Mystery Skulls official Tumblr account, where he posted a video of the song Amazing.[3] He later followed this post with a five song EP on December 30, 2011.[4] Since then, Mystery Skulls has performed in cities across the country, signed with Warner Bros. Records, and has collaborated with noteworthy artists such as Brandy Norwood and Nile Rodgers.[5][6] Dubuc continues to perform shows across the country.

Chart history

Videos

The Mystery Skulls have had three official music videos so far. "Ghost" which is a parody of "The Exorcist"; "Paralyzed" which is shown as a Japanese video game featuring mystic monks playing basketball at night; and finally "Magic" which is completely CGI animated and presents an alternate telling of how the galaxy came into existence. The only official video to have at least a million views on YouTube is "Paralyzed".

Several videos have been created for Mystery Skulls' songs by their fans. In 2012, the YouTube user Ben Mangum, under the name MysteryBen27, released his first animated music video featuring music by Mystery Skulls entitled "Turntable Turnabout" which featured the Ace Attorney characters Phoenix Wright, Miles Edgeworth, Godot, and the Judge dancing along to the song "Money".[8] As of December 2, 2016, the video has 9.9 million views of YouTube and it has said that Mystery Skulls loved the video so much, that they gave permission to Mangum to use their songs to make future music videos.

And coincidentally on October 26, 2014, Mangum and a group of friends called "the Ghost Crew" released an animated video for the song "Ghost", which featured original characters and a plot heavily modeled after the Hanna-Barbera cartoon Scooby-Doo.[9] The video is still immensely popular - as of December 1, 2016, the video has 20 million views on YouTube; which far surpasses the views of the original "Ghost" music video which has less than half a million. The members of "the Ghost Crew" who were mentioned in the end credits consist of Ben Mangum who is the director and one of three animators, the other animators are Isaiah Kim and Blake Hudson; backgrounds/props were done by Kressent Rhodes, James Workman, and Jourdan Lasko, and effects were done by Patrick Rantala. "Ghost" was so popular that Mangum decided to make a series of sequel videos entitled "Mystery Skulls Animated", and that "Ghost" was the 1st video in the 6 part series.

Mangum's next video, "Freaking Out", featuring the same characters from "Ghost", was released on April 15, 2016; it is the 2nd video and first sequel in the series and as of December 2, 2016, the video has 6.4 million views on YouTube. The members of "the Ghost Crew" consist of the same group that did the "Ghost" video save for two new members; they are Melyssa Denton and Chloe (Poisonhearts). Ben Mangum is again listed as director and animator, but the other eight are simply listed by name making their contributions unspecified. Blake Hudson makes a dedication after the end credits to his father, Tony King for believing in him. A fourth video and 3rd in the series is to be released at an unknown date using the song "Hellbent".

Another user, Marisol Aranda, under the pseudonym yuramec, released a homemade music video in 2015 with original characters (unrelated to Ben Mangum's work) with the song "Magic". The video is said to be incomplete since it is presented in a rough-draft/storyboard format and a more-completed version is presumed to be released at an unknown date, though this seems unlikely because of the users belief that Aranda was denied permission to use music by Mystery Skulls. The current video as of December 2, 2016, has amassed 4.3 million views on YouTube so far and has not been taken down.

Yet another user called Sleazeplanet has released a number of music videos featuring music by Mystery Skulls, which include hits like "Amazing", "Ghost", and "Paralyzed".

Discography

Albums

Year Album Chart positions
US[10] US
Heat[11]		 US
Dance[12]
2014 Forever[13] 141 2 3

Compilations

Year Album Chart positions
US US
Heat		 US
Dance
2015 Ultra Rare Vol. 1
  • Released: September 22, 2015[14]
 - - -

EP

Year Album Chart positions
US[10] US
Heat[11]		 US
Dance[12]
2011 Mystery Skulls - EP
  • Released: December 28, 2011[15]
 — — —

Singles

Title Year Peak chart positions† Certifications Album
US US
Elect[16]		 US
Elect-Dig[17]
Amazing[18] 2011 — — — Mystery Skulls - EP
"Ghost"[19][20][21] 2013 — 15 20 Forever
"Paralyzed"[22] 2014 — — —
"Number 1"
(featuring Brandy Norwood and Nile Rodgers)[23][24][25]		 — — —
"Magic"
(featuring Brandy Norwood )[26]		 — — —

References

  1. ↑ Jude Lee, Joyce. "Interview: Mystery Skulls Talks Brandy, Frat Gigs, And Music". Neon Tommy. Retrieved 29 October 2014.
  2. ↑ Abbate, Jake. "Mystery Skulls will perform songs inspired by past influences". PSU Collegian. Retrieved 29 October 2014.
  3. ↑ "Mystery Skulls Tumblr First Post". 2011-08-08. Retrieved 2012-09-27.
  4. ↑ "5 Song EP Available On Bandcamp". 2011-12-30. Retrieved 2012-09-27.
  5. ↑ "Day Off: Mystery Skulls". 2013-06-12. Retrieved 2013-06-20.
  6. ↑ Gabrielle Nicole, Pharms. "Mystery Skulls Talks New Album And Collaborating with Brandy & Nile Rogers". Life+Times. Retrieved 29 October 2014.
  7. ↑ "Ghost". Billboard. Retrieved 14 November 2014.
  8. ↑ Blackburn, H. Drew. "MYSTERY SKULLS HIT THE MAJORS ON FOREVER". Dallas Observer. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
  9. ↑ Kucera, Kelly. "Mystery Skulls' new animated music video revisits Scooby-Doo". Vanguard. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
  10. 1 2 http://www.billboard.com/artist/6304642/mystery-skulls/chart
  11. 1 2 http://www.billboard.com/artist/6304642/mystery-skulls/chart?f=322
  12. 1 2 http://www.billboard.com/artist/6304642/mystery-skulls/chart?f=324
  13. ↑ Blackburn, H. Drew. "Mystery Skulls Hit the Majors on Forever". Dallas Observer. Retrieved 14 November 2014.
  14. ↑ https://mysteryskulls.bandcamp.com/album/ultra-rare-vol-1
  15. ↑ https://mysteryskulls.bandcamp.com/album/ep
  16. ↑ http://www.billboard.com/artist/6304642/mystery-skulls/chart?f=1234
  17. ↑ http://www.billboard.com/artist/6304642/mystery-skulls/chart?f=1099
  18. ↑ http://www.allmusic.com/artist/mystery-skulls-mn0003314744/biography
  19. ↑ Loza, Larissa. "Exclusive: Mystery Skulls Reveals His "Ghost," Talks Warner Bros Deal, Nile Rodgers Collab". Vibe. Retrieved 29 October 2014.
  20. ↑ Barkan, Jonathan. "Mystery Skulls Spoofs 'The Exorcist' With "Ghost" Music Video". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved 29 October 2014.
  21. ↑ "EXORCISE YOUR DANCE DEMONS WITH MYSTERY SKULLS' NEW VIDEO". Vice. Retrieved 29 October 2014.
  22. ↑ Young, Killian. "A Grim Basketball Game Sets the Scene for Mystery Skulls' 'Paralyzed' Video". Spin. Retrieved 29 October 2014.
  23. ↑ Daw, Robbie. "Mystery Skulls, Brandy & Nile Rodgers Just Dropped "Number 1," The Best New Track You'll Hear This Week: Listen". Idolator. Retrieved 29 October 2014.
  24. ↑ Augustin, Camille. "New Music: Mystery Skulls Links With Brandy & Nile Rodgers For 'Number 1'". Vibe. Retrieved 29 October 2014.
  25. ↑ Anderson, Trevor. "Mystery Skulls, Lion Babe & Zella Day: Emerging Picks of the Week". Billboard. Retrieved 2 November 2014.
  26. ↑ Daw, Robbie. "There's Another Mystery Skulls, Brandy & Nile Rodgers Song, And It's Appropriately Titled "Magic": Listen". Idolator. Retrieved 29 October 2014.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 12/3/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.