Music Video Roundup: Damon Albarn, Megu & Patron, Bombay Bicycle Club

Over the course of four minutes we get to see a 3D portrait of English alt-rock icon Damon Albarn (Gorillaz, Blur) come together in this timelapse of a Zbrush sculpt. From bone to muscle and flesh, and skin to hair it's a mesmerizing 4 minute performance set that ultimately culminates in a final image that looks like an avant garde early 90's album cover.

Created in collaboration with producer David Russell, the track is from Damon's upcoming standalone LP, sharing the same title as the track above; Everyday Robots. Coming April 29.

Music Video Roundup - Someone Distortions, Keep Shelly In Athens, Daniel Bélanger

Music Video Roundup! Finally a few good tracks to share- First up we've got Someone Distortion's Tiger Teeth, noteworthy for quite possibly being the first music video to be entirely created in an Excel spreadsheet (In this case it's Open Office, same thing). I mean, the amount of time it must have taken to fill in every frame and thousands of rows must have been staggering, but the creativity is commendable. Directed by Jaime Pantoja of Dodo Estudio based off an idea by Joshua Rackstraw.

Music Video Roundup - Youth Lagoon, Machinedrum, Stanton Warriors, Danny Brown, Kodachrome

It's been a while since our last roundup, so here's a fresh batch of awesome tracks with an emphasis on 'V' for variety. I wanted to kick things off with Youth Lagoon's (Idaho native Trevor Powers) beautifully animated music video for Raspberry Cane, featuring beautiful animated concept art and nightmarish, impossible creatures suddenly walking the earth, ushering in the end of times.

Music Video Roundup - Fka Twigs, Oneohtrix Point Never, Vial Of Sound

Directed by Jesse Kanda, Water Me is an intimate, first look into the deeply personal world of British artist FKA Twig's deeply personal, surreal brand of music. This glitched out track about relationships was created in collaboration with IDM producer Arca, best known for his collab work with Kanye West. Kanda did an amazing job synchronizing the visuals to the dissonant aural aspects of the track, using post effects to transform FKA's face into a canvas of her deep sadness. FKA Twigs' 'EP2' is premiering October 9 on the Young Turks Label.

Music Video Roundup - Bloc Party, Phoenix, Hodgy Beats

This absolutely deranged, yet hypnotizing music video for Ratchet, taken from Bloc Parties upcoming Nextwave Sessions EP is a dance oriented affair with a complete glitchfest of a music video, filled with random gif-like loops, intentional visual corruption and even repurposed footage from their 2012 Octopus music video. I wasn't sure who created the video until frontman Kele Oreke started sprouting multiple versions of himself, at which point I realized it was the craftwork of the deranged British Aftereffects warlock himself, Cyriak, who's recently collaborated with the likes of Bonobo and Flying Lotus on various music videos.

Music Video Roundup - Moderat, M.I.A., Claire X Wildeyes, The Postal Service

From their upcoming album 'Moderat II,' Bad Kingdom offers a taste of the continuing Modeselektor/Apparat collab directed by Pfadinderei, narrating the tale of a young British man who falls into a downward spiral of corruption and greed. Executed using a series of hand drawn images,  the track offers this tale via a series of vignettes that flow into each other. Their sophomore album drops on August 2.

Music Video Roundup - A-Trak, MØ, Mumbai Science, Breach

Following A-Trak's excellent collab with Tommy Trash for Tuna Melt, the folks return with an equally fun, bizarre track and music video for Jumbo co-created by Galantis and directed by John Miller. Starring a full gym of A-Trak clones in a gym doing their thing with size shifting basketballs, it's all rather bizarre, but ultimately hypnotizing to watch.

Music Video Roundup - Young Galaxy, Siriusmo, David Lynch & Lykke Li, Washed Out

The latest video from the Canadian electro-pop band is an exercise in stark, disturbing contrasts and apocalyptic melancholia as all hell breaks loose. Director Ivan Grbovic commented that the epic spectacle was born out of many a conversation with band members, who sought to address the lack of substance present in many modern music videos with this ambitious endeavor.

As frontwoman Catherine McCandless sings 'Here it comes again, the beautiful, warm weather,' the world as we know it comes to an end. Young Galaxy's 'New Summer' is from their fourth LP: Ultramarine and now available via Paper Bag Records.

Music Video Roundup - Midnight Juggernauts, Hooded Fang, Disclosure

As both a new single and informative mini documentary, 'Memorium' from the Aussie alt dance/electropop outfit is a wonderful journey into the evolution of CGI over the years, culminating in a Kinect fueled jam at the Midnight Juggernaut's studio.

Music Video Roundup - Blatta & Inesha, Coma, Major Lazer (NSFW)

Italian synth duo Blatta & Inesha narrates the outcome of two very diverse generations colliding once a house party goes a little too far in 'We Don't Know.' Subdued electro beats and a vat of summer colors do their best to suppress the horror that ultimately befalls all the partygoers. Directed by Gianluca Ricceri.

Music Video Roundup: The Gaslamp Killer, Holy Ghost, Rekki

Shot in a 12th century crypt in Prague and inspired by the works of Alejandro Jodorowsky's surreal films like The Holy Mountain, director Hyperballad brings us an unnerving music video filled with Dervish dancers, religious iconography and possessed creatures to bring Gaslamp's unsettling, tremulous synth track, 'In The Dark' to life. You can purchase Breakthrough, Gaslamps Killer's excellent LP over here.

Music Video Roundup : Strip Steve, Dan Deacon

Courtesy of Boysnoize records, Strip Steve's 'Hood' just got an amazing music video created by harnessing the power of Google Maps and satellite imagery, offering us a wonderfully edited, at times completely glitched out glimpse at life around the world. The track is from Strip Steve's 'Micro Mega' debut album, which you can pick up here.



The eclectic Baltimore based electro artist Dan Deacon just recently collaborated with director Meredith Moore to create this stereoscopic gif-stravaganza of a music video, which actually came with it's own distinct smartphone app. Deacon's always had a penchant for interacting with his audience in unique ways, so props to him for trying to push the envelope.

Music Video Roundup : Wild Nothing, Man Tear, Young Wonder

Appetizer: Regardless of whether you were a child of the 80's or not, 'A Dancing Shell' from the Virginia/NY based dream pop band Wild Nothing carries and upbeat sound and cheerful retro visuals to kick off the weekend. With visuals provided by the eclectic Eric Shaw, whose main tools are comprised of gouache, ink and wildly psychedelic thoughts, the entire affair carries a rather pleasant Talking Heads vibe to it.



Entree: A dose of cosmic disco pop is in order from the debut track of the Stockholm based Man Tear, comprised of Axel Boman and Petter Nordkvist. Featuring a whimsical dose of bubbly beats and cheesy lyrics set to visuals of awkward international travel footage in low budget hotels, it's all in good fun. Amore means 'love' in Italian, fyi.



Dessert: Hailing from Cork in Ireland, Young Wonder offers us a haunting, mystical track featuring the incredible vocals of Darragh Nolan of the Sacred Animals. The onslaught of mountainous, natural imagery overlaid at a frenzied pace complements the wonderfully eclectic sound of the track. Keep your eyes out for this duo, they're going places. Directed by Brandon Canty of Feel Good Lost.

Music Video Roundup: Young Galaxy, Binary

Montreal's penta-outfit Young Galaxy switched up more pop-oriented sound to switch things up a little with 'Pretty Boy,' a track better suited for the dance floor crowd. Director Luke McCutcheon offers us a snapshot of a rather creepy relationship blooming between two walking simulacra, fitted with some rather unsettling, expressionless latex masks. The track is from their upcoming album Ultramarine.



The visuals of Binary's 'G.O.D.' perfectly compliment the industrial, grungy sound of the track, accented by cooling vovals of David Troster. The video delivers a message of breaking free from monotony, stagnation and frustration, a welcome one for overcoming that mid week work lull!

Music Video Roundup : A-Trak & Tommy Trash, I Am Un Chien, Fitz & The Tantrums

Created for their now well circulated Tuna Melt track, A-Trak & Tommy Trash's collab just received an awesome new music video directed by Ryan Staake, featuring a mind boggling domino/rube goldberg chain reaction spanning an entire house to reveal a tasty treat at the end. Seemingly shot in one take, the music video is filled to the brim with some rather well done CG trickery. That overt saturation just gives it all away in parts, but it's ultimately an uplifting, fun experience.



French electro group I Am Un Chien's Humanity is a mesmerizing endeavor from their upcoming album, offering us a seamless splitscreen mimickry of the animal kingdom. I Am Un Chien have described themselves as 'Two human dogs playing with sounds,' so the music video couldn't be more fitting. Directed by Panteros666 of the Club Cheval collective.



The LA based soulful indie pop outfit embraced minimalism for their supremely relaxing 6AM track from their upcoming album (More Than Just A Dream). Featuring a synchronized neon heart, a callback to their band logo. For being a group that's wholeheartedly rejected the usage of any guitars, they've definitely nailed a rather awesome, retro tinged sound.

Music Video Roundup : Jesse Marco, Computer Jay

Jesse Marco's new music video for Superstar put a smile on our faces for it's fun premise, featuring a few teens having a blast busting out some pretty mesmerizing dance moves at a grocery store to the throwback sound of the New York based DJ. Can't help but get some Daft Punk vibes from the sound, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.



Computer Jay's Hardships (Ft. Orfeo) is an ambitious, cosmic undertaking directed by the track creator himself, featuring cameos by fellow LA musicians Daedalus, Gaslamp Killer and Subtitle traversing a mystical desert. Mellow synths provide a fitting backdrop to the beautiful array of vintage equipment and barren scenery.

Music Video Roundup: Efterklang, Polly Scattergood

Polly Scattergood's Wanderlust takes me back to the Black Cherry era of Goldfrapp with the familiar ambient/dreamlike electropop sound, and it's oh so good. Taken from her upcoming Arrows album, the music video just seems to get better with multiple viewings.

 

'The video has a puzzle structure: the whole story progressively makes sense to the viewer as minutes go by.'

Director Vince Carry offered some interesting insight into the music video for Danish band Efterklang's The Ghost. A fitting name for the track, considering that the band spent a week gathering footage and sound samples from an abandoned Russian mining town for inspiration. Moral of the story? Curses are pretty timeless.

Music Video Roundup - Decibels, Reggie Watts, Sigur Rós

British electro-pop band Decibels just released a delightfully catchy new jam called Ruza, featuring an old man visiting his old haunts while wistfully reminiscing of good times past. Reminiscent of groups like Hot Chip, the track is an eclectic mix of pleasant basslines and percussion with an overall uplifting, summery feel.

Music Video Roundup -Futurecop, Instrumenti, Wavves

Futurecop's just premiered their brand new music video for Atlantis 1997 a sick retro-synth pop track reminiscent of a mix between M83 and Kavinsky. Comprised of Pete Carrol and Manzur Iqbal, the duo also collaborated with French artist Laurent Ashe (Lifelike) to create a sick Italo Disco inspired remix of Atlantis 1997, which you can check out below.

Music Video Roundup: Compuphonic, Django Django

Belgian producer Compuphonic's 'Sunset' (Ft. Marques Toliver) got an awesome stop motion based treatment from the Lisbon based Salon Alpin creative collective. Built with an unmistakably retro-synth pumped foundation, Sunset is a blast to the past. And on a related note, Compuphonic has one of the best websites I've ever seen, emulating the look of the very first Apple operating system, OS1. Check it.



Despite indie rockers Django Django having had a meteoric rise to success in 2012 with their self titled debut album, they made a rather interesting mistake of making their music video overshadow their understated track, 'Wor.' Featuring a look at the gravity defying Well of Death Riders from Allahabad, India..The documentary style approach to the music video nearly drowns the track completely out. However, it's commendable for it's experimental approach.