If you're not listening closely, "Santa's Sack" by White Ghost Shivers sounds like another family-friendly Christmas song. Listen closer, and you realize the lyrics are slightly more, er, adult-oriented. Eric Power's mixed media animation brings the suggestive lyrical content to the forefront. Because Santa only comes once a year......read more
On "Sa Sa Samoa," the pure pop bliss of Sweden's Korallreven gets augmented by the equally ethereal vocal loop stylings of Julianna Barwick. Director Filip Nilsson gives the transcendent, hymnal song a fittingly haunting video treatment, in which a scraggly-bearded fellow in a nice rain slicker carries around a mysterious box. We've got gorgeous natural landscapes, twinkling......read more
"As Young As Yesterday," the lead single off Korallreven’s excellent 2011 LP An Album By Korallreven, is a golden slice of Balearic bliss-pop. Fellow Swede Marcus Soderlund matches the carefree vibes of the tune with this video of a kid skating the streets of a black-and-white city, populated by him alone. To further enhance the floating feeling, we never really see his......read more
Continuing our obsession with nature portrayed in stop motion, we bring you this lovely video. Directed by Australian duo Greedy Hen. How heavy is this song too? Someone get us some Kleenex....read more
Australian photographer Keith Loutit spent a year shrinking the city of Sydney to diorama size, using a video technique that makes everything look miniature. In "Bathtub IV," Loutit captures the Westpac Rescue Helicopter Service in operation. The first responder choppers in flight, the clean beaches juxtaposed against an offshore oil platform, and the attractive little Aussies add up......read more
With the help of director Dean Tzenos, Canadian indie rocker (and sometime member of the New Pornographers) Kathryn Calder put together a crazy cute video for "Slip Away," the lead single off her first album Are You My Mother? Puppet bunny protagonists share the stage with cardboard butterflies and toy spaceships. So that's cool. Check it out....read more
Seabear is headed by Sindri Mar Sigfusson, whose solo project Sin Fang Bous really nails the Icelandic pop sound for us. "I'll Build You A Fire" is the second single off Seabear's debut LP, We Built A Fire (we have a theme here, folks). For the video, Sigfusson recruited his brother Mani to provide the visuals, and Mani came through with this colorful piece, featuring a......read more
Ah shoot, more evidence that Mark Ronson is actually THE dude. The video for "The Bike Song," off his excellent new album with The Business Intl, follows a story about bike gang spies set in swinging '60s London. The tune itself is a big, fun glorification of two-wheeled transport, featuring Spank Rock on pro-environment raps: "I can't understand it, but I can't really stand 'em, girls love cars,......read more
Animal Collective member Avey Tare (aka Dave Portner) keeps it in the family with this video for his nice new solo single, "Lucky 1." Portner enlisted the hallucinogenic animation skills of his sister Abby, who delivered this croc-infested mind melter. Hazy triangles figure prominently as well. Naturally....read more
Calgary-based indie folkers Woodpigeon enlisted Darren Pasemko to make an animated video for "Our Love is as Tall as the Calgary Tower" off their latest release, DIE STADT MUZIKANTEN. The animator quietly smacked it out of the park with this beautifully plaintive piece, a perfect accompaniment to the band's subtle chamber-pop. ...read more