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 four official music videos so far. "Ghost" which is a parody of the The Exorcist; "Paralyzed" which is shown as a Japanese video game featuring mystic monks playing basketball at night; "Magic" which is completely CGI animated and presents an alternate telling of how the galaxy came into existence; and "Music" which is a love story in a futuristic world with ridiculous rules. 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. On May 6, 2012, the YouTube user Ben Mangum, under the username 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 August 9, 2017, the video has 12.7 million views on YouTube and it has been said that Mystery Skulls loved the video so much, that they gave permission to Mangum to use their songs to make future music videos.

On October 26, 2013, 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 follows "Mystery Skulls", a group similar to Scooby-Doo's Mystery Inc., made up of members Vivi, Arthur, and their dog Mystery. The group's van breaks down and they find and explore a haunted mansion, but find themselves chased by a skeletal ghost; a flashback reveals that the ghost is Lewis, a former Mystery Skulls member killed by a possessed Arthur, which in turn resulted with Lewis returning as a ghost, Vivi's memory wiped of Lewis and their love, and Arthur having his possessed arm ripped off by Mystery and replaced with a mechanical prosthetic. Now in present day, Lewis desires revenge and to reconnect with Vivi, but he is denied as the group escape the mansion, which fades away along with a heartbroken Lewis. The video is still popular and as of August 9, 2017 has 26.2 million views on YouTube.

The sequel to "Ghost" was released on April 15, 2016 using the song "Freaking Out". Shiramori, a supernatural plant witch, is hunting after Mystery the dog (who in the previous video was revealed to be a kitsune/fox spirit) comes to the location of the vanished mansion and finds Lewis's heart locket. She uses the locket to create essence flowers of each Mystery Skulls member before finally finding Mystery's trail only to awaken Lewis, who engages in a brief duel before Shiramori uses Mystery's essence flower to pursue him, as well as Lewis using Vivi's discarded essence flower to pursue her by jacking a semi-truck and pimping-it out ghost rider style ending video with him flooring the gas pedal. The sequel to "Ghost" is popular as well and as of August 10, 2017 has 9.9 million views on YouTube. At the end of the video, the next Mystery Skulls video was revealed to use the song "Hellbent".

Besides the official videos and the ones made by Mangum and "the Ghost Crew", there is one other video of greatest mention which is "Magic" made by Marisol Aranda under the username yuramec and released on June 5, 2015. The story follows a necromancer/magician and his impish assistant as they go to an abandoned mansion's cemetery to summon forth ghosts from their graves to sing only to disturb a three-eyed dragon spirit which chases after the necromancer throughout the mansion. When the necromancer gets cornered (and his wand destroyed), the numerous ghosts he previously summoned including the master and his wife surround the spirit and attack it with their music causing the ghost to transform into its original form, the daughter of the previous owners. With a joyful reunion, lights illuminate the sky; the necromancer nods to them as he and his assistant watch them ascend to heaven. The video is presented in a rough-draft storyboard format which states it is unfinished and as well as a rumor that Aranda did not receive permission from Mystery Skulls uses their music though the video has not been taken down. The current video has received 5.4 million views on YouTube as of August 1, 2017.

Discography

Albums

Year Album Chart positions
US
[10]		 US
Heat
[11]		 US
Dance
[12]
2014 Forever[13] 141 2 3
2017 One of Us[14]
  • Released: August 4, 2017
  • Label: Warner Bros.

Compilations

Year Album
2015 Ultra Rare Vol. 1
  • Released: September 22, 2015[15]

EP

Year Album
2011 Mystery Skulls
  • Released: December 28, 2011[16]

Singles

Title Year Peak chart positions† Certifications Album
US
Elect
[17]		 US
Elect-Dig
[18]
"Amazing"[19] 2011 — — Mystery Skulls
"Ghost"[20][21][22] 2013 15 20 Forever
"Paralyzed"[23] 2014 — —
"Number 1"
(featuring Brandy Norwood and Nile Rodgers)[24][25][26]		 — —
"Magic"
(featuring Brandy Norwood )[27]		 — —
"Music"[28] 2017 — — One of Us[28]

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. ↑ http://www.billboard.com/artist/6304642/mystery-skulls/chart
  11. ↑ http://www.billboard.com/artist/6304642/mystery-skulls/chart?f=322
  12. ↑ 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. ↑ Music News Desk (June 23, 2017). "Mystery Skulls Ventures Into Dystopian World with New Album 'One of Us'". Broadway World. Retrieved June 23, 2017.
  15. ↑ https://mysteryskulls.bandcamp.com/album/ultra-rare-vol-1
  16. ↑ https://mysteryskulls.bandcamp.com/album/ep
  17. ↑ http://www.billboard.com/artist/6304642/mystery-skulls/chart?f=1234
  18. ↑ http://www.billboard.com/artist/6304642/mystery-skulls/chart?f=1099
  19. ↑ http://www.allmusic.com/artist/mystery-skulls-mn0003314744/biography
  20. ↑ Loza, Larissa. "Exclusive: Mystery Skulls Reveals His "Ghost," Talks Warner Bros Deal, Nile Rodgers Collab". Vibe. Retrieved 29 October 2014.
  21. ↑ Barkan, Jonathan. "Mystery Skulls Spoofs ‘The Exorcist’ With "Ghost" Music Video". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved 29 October 2014.
  22. ↑ "EXORCISE YOUR DANCE DEMONS WITH MYSTERY SKULLS' NEW VIDEO". Vice. Retrieved 29 October 2014.
  23. ↑ Young, Killian. "A Grim Basketball Game Sets the Scene for Mystery Skulls' 'Paralyzed' Video". Spin. Retrieved 29 October 2014.
  24. ↑ 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.
  25. ↑ Augustin, Camille. "New Music: Mystery Skulls Links With Brandy & Nile Rodgers For 'Number 1'". Vibe. Retrieved 29 October 2014.
  26. ↑ Anderson, Trevor. "Mystery Skulls, Lion Babe & Zella Day: Emerging Picks of the Week". Billboard. Retrieved 2 November 2014.
  27. ↑ Daw, Robbie. "There's Another Mystery Skulls, Brandy & Nile Rodgers Song, And It's Appropriately Titled "Magic": Listen". Idolator. Retrieved 29 October 2014.
  28. 1 2 Skulls, Mystery (2017-06-10). "NEW ALBUM COMING SOON!!". @MysterySkulls. Retrieved 2017-06-12.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.