Brandon Flowers - “Lonely Town” (Official Video)

Brandon Flowers has been on a roll with tracks and videos for his upcoming solo album The Desired Effect. First, there was the Evan Rachel Wood-starring Puritanical fever dream for lead single “Can’t Deny My Love,” followed by a black-and-white dance-off for “Still Want You.” And for the album’s third single, “Lonely Town,” he mines the same nostalgic era that inspired his music with a video that starts off with a cassingle for the new track being played on a Walkman. We follow a girl around who is dancing in her house alone, jamming out like we all do when we think no one is watching. But the creepy ending implies that someone probably is.

Rainer - “Nocturn” (Official Video)

Singer Rebekah Raa and producer Nic Nell (aka Casually Here) make brooding, R&B-inflected electronic pop under the name Rainer. The London duo are releasing their debut full-length next month, and today, they’re sharing a new video for its excellent lead single “Nocturn.” Directed by Alexander Brown of the London film collective The Sweet Shop, the clip tells the story of a dancer who’s forced to give up dancing due to a medical condition. Dancing usually makes for a decently engaging music video, and this one is no exception. But the narrative grants it some welcome emotional heft, and the lead actress imbues her performance with a visceral physicality — plus, she’s got a terrifically tragic dead-eyed stare. Towards the end, the video thaws from slow motion and cool gray undersaturation into a frenetically edited collage of dancing and kaleidoscopic visuals, and it feels like an earned catharsis.

Palma Violets - “English Tongue” (Official Video)

Brit indie rockers Palma Violets are in full swing for the release of their second album, Danger In The Club. We’ve heard the title track and “English Tongue,” and now, the latter gets a video. Directed by Don Letts, the clip captures the raucous, bar-chorus feel of the song, even if we find Palma Violets performing in the light of a church’s stained-glass windows. They also meet up with an incense-bearing, mysteriously old-fashioned clergyman, who has an ominous air about him.

Death Cab For Cutie - “Black Sun” + “Passenger Seat” (Acoustic) Video

For Death Cab For Cutie fans, news of Chris Walla’s departure was a jarring accompaniment to last August’s announcement that the band had completed their eight full-length. Though Kintsugi was recorded with Walla, Death Cab enlisted Zac Rae as their new touring member. In these acoustic performances of “Black Sun” and “Passenger Seat,” recorded as promotional material for the app Shazam, Rae plays piano, the only instrumentation to underscore both stripped-down renditions.

Jamie xx - “Gosh” (Official Video)

Last month, when the xx’s production mastermind Jamie xx announced his debut solo album In Colour, he shared a couple of new tracks: “Loud Places,” a lovely collaboration with his xx bandmate Romy Madley Croft, and the impressionistic dancefloor banger “Gosh.” “Loud Places” already got a video, and now “Gosh” has one, too. For the clip, director Erik Wernquist used real hi-res deep-space photos from sources like NASA and used them to tell a story about space exploration, imagining how it might look if people came to another planet. The video takes its time, but once it gets going, it’s full of stunningly beautiful images.

Gepe - "Hambre" (feat. Wendy Sulca) (Official Video)

Guión y dirección: Ian Pons Jewell
Producción: Angela Vargas
Producción Ejecutiva: Camila Molina W.
Asistente de Dirección: Sergio Bastani
Dirección de Fotografía. Gustavo Soto
Dirección de Arte: Javier Cuéllar.
DIT/Edición: Cristian Morales
Colorista: Luke Morrison @ The Mill
Post Productor: Samantha Letzler @ The Mill
VFX: C_M

Actúan: Alex Terán, Abel Iparraguirre, Andrés Rojas, Brigitte Azogue, Carlos Sanjinés, Gonzalo Jauregui, Helen Petrova, Jessica Fernanda Gomes, Pamela Chavarría, Sebastián Pastor, Winner Zeballos

Casting: Hidaya Exeni, Macarena Estévez
Locaciones: Fernando Ballivian
Asistente de Arte: Alejo Torrico
Vestuario: Valeria Wilde
Make Up: Paola Romay
Peinado: Romelia Perales

Asistente de Fotografía: Sebastián Fernández, Silvana Baltz.
Asistente de Producción: Percy Miranda.
Gaffers: Zacarías Gutiérrez, Walter Pacombia, Walter Acho.
Transporte: Juan Colque Mamani, Wilfredo Vilazón, Guillermo Terrazas.
Catering: Marcelina Manrique

Agradecimientos:
Freddy Mamani – Diseñador / Arquitecto de “Príncipe Alexander”
José Luis Mercado – Rock en las Américas
Marco Quispe Vilca
La Espina
Juan de Dios
Alejandro Chino Quispe

Rodado en el salón de eventos “Príncipe Alexander”
El Alto – Bolivia - 2015

Iron & Wine - “Everyone’s Summer Of ’95” (Official Video)

Earlier this year, Sam Beam’s beard-folk project Iron & Wine released the old-unreleased-songs collection Archive Series Volume No. 1, compiling music that Beam recorded around the same time as he made his 2002 debut The Creek Drank The Cradle. One of those songs was the lovely, minimal “Everyone’s Summer Of ’95,” and it now has the pro-wrestling-centric video that nobody was expecting. In the clip, we see David Dastmalchian, an actor from the movie Prisoners, as a no-hope drifter who jumps into an indie wrestling ring on the spur of the moment. This is not a recommended course of action. Erin Elders and Jeff Tomcho directed the video.

Shana Cleveland & The Sandcastles - “Holy Rollers” (Official Video)

La Luz frontwoman Shana Cleveland is releasing her solo debut with her other band, the Sandcastles, in May. We premiered the finger-picked rattler “Itching Around” a few weeks back, and before that she also shared the quiet, cat-stretch lazy track “Golden Days.” Now, she’s directed a drama-kid-weird video for yet another excellent song off her album. “Holy Rollers” floats by on warm, moody melodies, but the video is bright and garish, with Cleveland shedding costumes like skin in front of a shiny, gold backdrop. Actually, this reminds me of going to one of those portrait studios as a child and posing on a ladder against a paint-splattered backdrop or something totally random like that. The picture-in-picture action in the upper left hand evokes that old, cheesy photo style as well. Yet, the “Holy Rollers” video is gripping in the same way that televangelism’s camp is — and Cleveland’s honey-thrum playing throughout never loses momentum.

Lindstrøm & Grace Hall - “Home Tonight” (Official Video)

Space-disco wizard Hans-Peter Lindstrøm is getting ready to release Runddans, his unlikely collaborative album with Todd Rundgren and Serena-Maneesh’s Emil Nikolaisen, but that’s not all he’s got going on. He just linked up with Skin Town singer Grace Hall for the excellently graceful dance single “Home Tonight.” And now we get a “Home Tonight” video; it revolves around a glamorous young woman, a werewolf mask, and a big bag of money. Petter Tangmyr directs.

Tennis - “Mean Streets” (Official Video)

Earlier this month, Tennis dropped a typically sunny, jaunty new song called “Easter Island” that didn’t make last year’s Ritual In Repeat album. It will, however, appear on an upcoming deluxe edition due out next month. To mark that, and to kick off the beginning of a nearly sold-out US tour, Tennis have unveiled a brand new video for “Mean Streets,” which will also appear on the deluxe LP after first emerging on 2013 EP Small Sound. Director Keith Musil brings together three cowboys — more accurately, a cowboy, a farmhand, and a prospector — for an impromptu dance-off in the dead of night. Something about the song’s buoyant charm makes me smile every time I watch these dudes cut a rug in the spotlight (and at this point, I’ve watched it many, many times).

Regal Degal - “Delicious” (Official Video)

Brooklyn post-punkers and 2010-vintage Band To Watch Regal Degal recorded their new album Not Now between New York and Berlin, and new single “Delicious” finds the band in a slippery, fluttery New Romantic mood. Regal Degal leader James da Costa co-stars in the new video, which was directed by Emma Westenberg.

HEALTH - “New Coke” (Official Video)

DIRECTED BY JOHN FAMIGLIETTI
EDITED BY LUKE LYNCH
PRODUCED BY DANIEL CHRISTIANSEN

EXTREME SLO MO ::
CINEMATOGRAPHY :: JERRY HENRY
GAFFER :: JOFFREY MASON
CAMERA OPERATOR + TECH :: DREW LAUER
www.hollywoodspecialops.com
LIGHTS :: www.hivelighting.com

Royal Thunder - “Time Machine” (Official Video)

Bluesy metal act Royal Thunder put out their sophomore album Crooked Doors earlier this month, and today they’ve released the seven-minute-plus video for “Time Machine.” Frontwoman Mlny Parsonz, who recently split from her husband and Royal Thunder guitarist Josh Weaver, told Rolling Stone about the the personal impetus for “Time Machine”:

I made some bad choices with someone, and having this person in my life was really toxic for me. The song is me realizing, “Oh, my God, I just wasted all this time.” You just have to take something from an experience like that and learn from it.”

Parsonz also spoke with us extensively about how their record, Crooked Doors, was a break up from a lot of things — not simply the dissolution of one relationship. Directed by J.P. Bradburn, the video features fuzzy, projected neon footage of the band performing intermixed with symbols of the occult.

Kris Kristofferson - “Won’t Back Down” (Tom Petty Cover) Video

Kris Kristofferson wrote “Sunday Morning Comin’ Down” for Johnny Cash and played Whistler in Blade. He is one of American music’s great living badasses, and he’s contributed a new cover of Tom Petty’s “I Won’t Back Down” the the soundtrack of Texas Rising, a new History Channel miniseries about Texas’ struggle for independence. In the miniseries, Kristofferson also plays President Andrew Jackson, a man who — historically speaking, at least — could’ve stood to do a little more backing down. Kristofferson’s version of the song would’ve been hopelessly middle-of-the-road if literally anyone else had been singing it, but that man has a voice that tells some stories. 

Freddie Gibbs - “Pronto” (Official Video)

Last month, Indiana rap monster Freddie Gibbs released a surprise three-song EP called Pronto. Today, he’s given us a stark black-and-white video for the title track. In director Nick Walker‘s clip, we see Gibbs shirtless in a bathtub, draped in many, many snakes. We also see him rapping with what looks like an anaconda over his shoulders. Gibbs deserves some serious respect for not being too creeped out to make this video. There are also some mostly-naked women in there, and I can imagine that helped keep things from getting too uncomfortable.

Sia - “Fire Meet Gasoline” Video (By Heidi Klum)

UPDATE: This clip apparently is not a proper Sia music video. The singer was not involved in the shooting, but lent her song to the spot for Heidi Klum Intimates’ lingerie line.

A new video for Sia’s 1000 Forms Of Fear track “Fire Meet Gasoline” has surfaced. It appears that the pop singer is over her obsession with tiny dancer Maddie Ziegler, who appeared in her last few music videos, but is still a fan of provocative visuals and big-name guest stars. The new video stars supermodel Heidi Klum and Game Of Thrones‘ Pedro Pascal as a passionate couple who end up setting fire to their house. Sia’s trademark wig makes an appearance at the end, tying everything up with a nice little bow.

The Dodos - “Goodbyes And Endings” (Official Video)

Permanently giddy San Francisco indie-poppers the Dodos released their Retriever album earlier this year, and they’ve just dropped the video for the headlong, harmonically rich “Goodbyes And Endings.” Director Charlie Villyard‘s clip tells the story of a disheveled drunk who washes up on a beach and then embarks on a series of adventures. It turns out to be a sort of gleefully silly origin story.

Something Anorak - “I Am A Doctor” (Official Video)

Last year, we named Bristol lo-fi duo Something Anorak a Band To Watch right around the time they released their debut album, Tiny Island, on Howling Owl Records. Today we can announce they’ve signed to Portland-based Lefse Records. To mark the occasion, the duo has released a video for the woozy, reverb-soaked single, “I Am A Doctor” by James and Mark Hankins. It follows the Barrett brothers’ hedonistic lifestyle in a countryside estate, where they pop champagne in pools and hit golf balls from each other’s mouths. Then, of course, there’s the creepy veggie-golem that gets resurrected by the mansion’s headmistress. It’s a slightly demented parallel reality that fits the song like a pair of tennis gloves.

Concrete - “Strike The Rat Down” (Official Video)

The Austin hardcore band Concrete, which features members of Glue and Breakout, combines a couple of older crush-your-face forms of punk rock, old-school N.Y.H.C. and even older-school British streetpunk. That combination seems to be what’s cool in hardcore right now (see also: Violent Reaction). When it’s done right, it makes for a brutal, fun sound, and Concrete’s new video for their song “Strike The Rat Down” matches both that brutality and that sense of fun. Director Saman Ghanbar‘s clip mixes footage of the band playing a sweaty basement show with images of skinheads trashing a house and beating someone up for no reason.

ANAMAI - “Half” (Official Video)

ANAMAI brings together Anna Mayberry from Toronto sludge rockers HSY and David Psutka of industrial drone project Egyptrixxx. The result is murky, spacious folk that is far gentler than both members’ previous output. Director Cayden Mowbray’s video for their single “Half” features painted hands against patterned backgrounds, creating a textured visual that’s as simple as it is sensual. The inverted colors and contorted fingers cleverly echo Mayberry’s wispy vocals against Psutka’s atmospherics. Their new album, Sallows, was recorded by Psutka and Josh Korody, who has worked with Fucked Up, Cousins and Greys.

Calexico - “Falling From The Sky” Video (Feat. José González)

Americana-mariachi hybrid Calexico released their new album Edge of the Sun a few weeks ago, and today they’ve shared the video for “Falling From The Sky” which guest stars none other than fellow guitar aficionado José González. Unfortunately, featured vocalist Ben Bridwell of Band of Horses doesn’t show up in the Mikel Cee Karlsson-directed clip, but González is well-equipped to handle the starring role on his own. For an inexplicable reason, he must care for a disgusting Jabba the Hut knockoff during the video. Let’s just say if a creature like this really fell from the sky we’d all sprint away in horror. But here’s González, feeding it cold cereal, carrying it around in a big wooden box and sleeping next to it! What a gentleman. Watch the bizarre storyline unfold.

Miami Horror - “Love Like Mine” (Feat. Cleopold) Video

The Australian pop quartet Miami Horror has debuted a video for their single “Love Like Mine” off of their new album All Possible Futures, which was released yesterday. As Caitlin pointed out in an earlier post about the song, Miami Horror’s producer Ben Plant cites “weirdness and sunshine” as two of the band’s biggest mood-influencers, which is audible on this disco-inspired track. The video, however, takes that statement to a whole new level; a bizarre crime scene unfurls from the driver’s seat of a parked car in a lot surrounded by palms. Judging by the Oldsmobile, bell-bottoms, and aviators, it must be the ’70s.

Honne - “Coastal Love” (Official Video

A few weeks ago we premiered buttery R&B duo Honne’s excellent Darondo cover “Didn’t I,” off their forthcoming Coastal Love EP, and today they’ve shared the video for the EP’s title track. The song is a bleating dance-pop production about long-distance love, the video a tale of intrigue that centers around an expensive, magical sea creature and a pair of star-crossed lovers. Listen for the guest vocals from Tamsin Wilson of Wilsen in the background and watch the clip.

Mac McCaughan - “Wet Leaves” (Official Video)

In a couple of weeks, longtime Superchunk frontman Mac McCaughan will release Non-Believers, the first solo album he’s ever recorded under his own name. We’ve heard “Lost Again” and the 7″ version of “Box Batteries,” and now McCaughan has made a video for the lilting DIY synthpop song “Wet Leaves.” The video comes from director Trudy Benson, who also did the Non-Believers cover art. It’s pretty much just a time-lapse image of an abstract painting coming into existence, and it mostly serves as a vehicle to hear the song. And the song, with its longing yelps and its backing vocal from Annie Hayden, formerly of the ’90s indie band Spent, is well worth hearing.

Moaning - “The Same” (Official Video)

There’s something innately appealing about watching something get destroyed. Los Angeles’ Moaning wreck a house in the video for their catchy as hell new song “The Same,” and it’s captivating to see them irreversibly tear things down while they sing about not knowing what’s coming next. Change comes in fits and starts — sometimes it feels like putting a sledgehammer through a wall, but more often than not it feels like nothing is happening at all. “We’re the same/ Everything else has changed,” they sing flatly in the chorus. You try to get a grasp on life, but it all moves too quickly. Usually it’s easier just to give into the chaos. “What’s next? Who knows?” they ask. “We’ll see how it goes.” Moaning doesn’t know what’s coming, but they’ll tear everything down in the mean time while they try to figure it out.

Elvis Depressedly - “Thou Shall Not Murder” (Official Video)

Elvis Depressedly will release their seventh full-length record, New Alhambra, next month, and today the Asheville-based duo shared a video for the record’s third single “Thou Shall Not Murder.” When I interviewed Elvis Depressedly back in March and premiered the single “Bruises (Amethyst),” Cothran commented that the song is about, “How we move through life and things that once either made us feel a lot of pain or a lot of joy kind of dull out and seem further away as we get older: being aware of how we’re decaying but not really being too defeated by it, just acknowledging that life is kind of a journey from one bright place to the next, in between long stretches of uncertainty.”

Although Cothran was referring to a specific song, this sentiment applies to the entirety of New Alhambra, a record that attempts to brighten those long stretches of uncertainty and does so exceedingly well. “Thou Shall Not Murder” is about betrayal, about making mistakes and the subsequent shame that comes with regrettable choices. The song’s accompanying video, directed by Micah Van Hove, is about going back on those decisions, and the struggle to maintain some of your innocence as you grow older. Van Hove commented on his personal attachment to Elvis Depressedly’s music:

Mat’s music has always made me think about death, but always through the lens of love. You’d be hard pressed to make it through a conversation with Mat or one of his albums without hearing a jubilant death wish, but I’ve always understood it as an expression of an overbearing feeling of love; a heart so heavy with love for this world and its people that the idea of death is merely a joke — a joke we tell our friends and lovers to keep them close, to remind them that the present is the most important gift we have.

For me, the words and melodies on New Alhambra are bathing in a sense of reclaimed innocence that compelled me to explore how a child internalizes the notion of death for the first time.

Ed Schrader’s Music Beat - “Emperor’s New Chair” (Official Video)

No band does a better job of not giving a fuck than Ed Schrader’s Music Beat. These are two dudes who make short, sticky power-punk songs using a single drum and bass as their instrumentation. They’re goofy and endearing and a total joy to see live. “Emperor’s New Chair” is from the band’s most recent album, Party Jail, which was released last May. In this video, Ed Schrader and Devlin Rice magically end up trading place a la Freaky Friday. Rice commented that the video is a parody: “The idea was to try and recreate Paul Simon’s whimsical video for ‘Call Me Al,’ except that it would actually be funny.” Watch director Justin Barnes’ re-creation.

Matthew E. White - "Feeling Good Is Good Enough" (Official Video)

I consider Matthew E. White’s album Fresh Blood to be something of a sacrificial lamb. White (and Trey Pollard) produced and arranged labelmate Natalie Prass’ jaw-dropping, grandiose self-titled debut, an album that couldn’t help but eclipse his own record that came out a few weeks after. In March I went to see White perform with an entire orchestra in Brooklyn, and his songs are every bit as sweeping and stunning, if a little more understated. In fact, the similarities between the two records suggests that a signature “Spacebomb sound” is in the making. To get a feel for what that performance was like, watch the Shawn Brackbill-directed video for “Feeling Good Is Good Enough” below. It’s got plenty of behind-the-scenes footage and shots of the whole band performing. And if you haven’t checked out Fresh Blood, spend some time with it. Sometimes the sleepy, under-the-radar records are the ones that startle you awake.

American Wrestlers - “Kelly” (Official Video)

Recent Band To Watch honoree American Wrestlers explore well-trod American past times in the video for “Kelly.” The UK transplant finds the beauty in a dude wearing a cowboy hat drinking beers in his garage and flipping through channels on the TV, turning a simple activity into something compulsively watchable. It’s intercut with dusty footage of locations from around the country.

Overdoz. - “Fuck Yo’ DJ” (Feat. A$AP Ferg) Video

The last time OverDoz. put out a mixtape was back in 2013, and even then the L.A.-based rap collective said those songs were several years old. So hearing something new from the four members — Kent, Cream, P, Joon — is heartening. What’s even better? The crew are releasing a proper album, 2008, via RCA some time this year. These guys bubble with the same effervescence that made Odd Future so appealing at first, but they have none of the meanness, none of the dead-eyed despair. Even the refrain — “fuck your DJ” — isn’t vicious so much as a boast that their music is better than whatever radio trash your DJ is playing. It’s about arrogance, not animosity. A$AP Ferg drops by for a droopy, sing-song verse flipped fast and stuttery at the end. He’ll help with name recognition, sure, but it’s the OverDoz. rappers that really shine on the song. They’re not shying away from more serious issues either, as you can see in the sardonic “Rich White Friends” that was released back in January. Check that video along with the Calmtic-directed clip.

Clarence Clarity - “Buck-Toothed Particle Smashers” (Official Video)

Destroyed pop demon Clarence Clarity loves to experiment with body horror, and his latest video for “Buck-Toothed Particle Smashers” finds him in full mad-scientist mode. In his Technicolor world full of glitchy sophistry, bodies wind and writhe like they’ve been shoved through the many-lensed eye of a fly, or they’re engorged with sticky, webby fluids like life-sized arachnids. The track is off Clarity’s repulsive-pop album No Now (Stream), but he’s enlisted Denmark’s Kill J for a brand new second verse.

Speedy Ortiz - “The Graduates” (Official Video)

Speedy Ortiz’s sophomore album Foil Deer (Stream) dropped today, and in honor of its release the band has presented the video for its second single “The Graduates.” Matthew Caron directs as Sadie Dupuis encourages her bandmates to drop googly eye tabs concocted in her arts and crafts lab. The band goes on to group-halucinate a giant bunny rabbit, and eventually start tweaking, but not before dosing an entire restaurant’s worth of people. Members of Palehound make a cameo in the diner, and Krill gets a shout-out as Darl Ferm draws up some sort of trip-map? I’m not sure, but this is some choice Ken Kesey shit.

Show Me The Body - “Space Faithful” (Official Video)

Queens punk outfit Show Me The Body have followed in their NYC brethren Ratking’s footsteps and opted to release their semi-self-titled SMTB EP via BitTorrent.

Their EP has already been downloaded a whopping 120,000 times, proving that the taste for New York sludgy-hardcore is not a thing of the past. Along with the EP, the bundle includes a download of the previously released video “Bone Soup,” the below video for “Space Faithful,” and a digital zine. But you can also watch the Queens punk group tramp around the city in gritty black-and-white fuzz of the “Space Faithful” video.

Rozwell Kid - “Kangaroo Pocket” (Official Video)

West Virginia’s Rozwell Kid were among the acts performing at Stereogum’s very own SXSW showcase last month. In their new video for the melodic guitar churn “Kangaroo Pocket,” the lead track from their recent album Too Shabby, the four-piece plays through their latest single totally headless. It’s a lighthearted clip, but the cartoonish gore plays on the sense of helplessness that inspires so many great punk rock songs. If you want to catch Rozwell Kid’s live show, they’re about to embark on a pretty massive North American tour. Watch director Geoff Hoskinson’s video.

Blis. - “Floating Somewhere High And Above” (Official Video)

The Atlanta-based trio Blis. released their EP Starting Fires In My Parents House back in February, and today they’ve debuted a video for the first single “Floating Somewhere High And Above.” This Travis Lamb-edited piece is a combination of all of the things I normally openly detest in music videos: scuzzy live performance shots, found-footage, super-imposed nostalgic lens filtering, basically everything made to seem nostalgic and sentimental without actually being nostalgic or sentimental. I’m an outspoken critic. HOWEVER, I will take back my jaded opinions now, because what Lamb has put together is incredibly effective. Blis. perform in what looks like someone’s family home, treading on faded family photographs littering the floor, all of which seem undeniably personal. Judging by the use of skeletal cartoons and burning KKK cross clips spliced in between bits of footage, this reads as a testament of a tormented familial history.

Raury - “Fly” (Feat. Malik Shakur) Video

Indigo ATLien Raury continues to impress. He’s had a video, song, and mixtape honored here at Stereogum, and it seems he’s out for more. Earlier this year he threw his fashionable hat into the racial injustice conversation with the humble, hopeful Malik Shakur collaboration “Fly.” Today, it gets a literal, simple, and powerful video treatment by Malia Murray. 2D black-and-white animation chronicles important moments in black history, both uplifting and sorrowful, before a visual eulogy for some of the recent victims of police killings scrolls slowly across the screen for what seems like forever — so disheartening. But the hopefulness shines through in the end.

Operators - “True” (Official Video)

Synth-pop trio Operators have been hinting at a full length project for quite some time now. Since the outfit — Dan Boeckner plus keyboardist Devojka and fellow Divine Fits member Sam Brown on drums — shared their first track, “True,” it seemed to be part of something bigger. To hold us over they released EP 1 last fall. Today, the band offers a video for “True” by director Brook Linder. It may not be a long player, but it’s awesome. An intricate plot involving multiple simultaneous homicides unfolds a la Michael Corleone at his godson’s baptism. Using only payphones to communicate, mysterious figures execute the dirty deeds, smoothly dispose of the evidence, and walk off as if nothing happened.

Public Access T.V. - “Metropolis” (Official Video)

The Manhattan-based rock band Public Access T.V. recently lost their home to the fire that destroyed several buildings in the East Village last month while they were touring the West Coast, which makes their single “Metropolis” sound more relevant than ever. The song is an homage to New York and a rejection of the ever-present band fantasy of moving to L.A. in order to take it easy. “And I don’t wanna live in California/ I’d take New York any day,” frontman John Eatherly sings in his pointed drawl. “Metropolis” will be on Public Access T.V.’s forthcoming debut EP, which is slated to be released next month. Watch the band perform the song in the stylized Jason Miller-directed studio video.

Against Me! - “Two Coffins” (Official Video)

Against Me!’s Transgender Dysphoria Blues was one of last year’s best albums, and “Two Coffins,” a cheerful acoustic number about realizing and accepting that you and your kid are both going to be dead someday, was one of its best songs. Like the album tracks “Black Me Out” and “Drinking With The Jocks” before it, “Two Coffins” now has an animated video, with director Margherita Ballarin starkly visualizing the song’s themes.

J. Cole’s New Music Video Is All About Dogs Fucking - J. Cole - "Wet Dreamz" Video

“Wet Dreamz,” a track from J. Cole’s album 2014 Forest Hills Drive, is a story-song about the time Cole lost his virginity. It’s pretty gross! That’s maybe something he shouldn’t have rapped about! But nothing about the song should really prepare you for its video. Director Ryan Staake made the amazing, absurd decision to tell the song’s story with a couple of adorable puppies standing in for Cole and the song’s nameless girl. So yes: This is a video about two dogs deciding to fuck. There is a moment where a dog has porny thoughts, imagining another dog on a velvet doggie bed. There is a moment where a dog winks. There is a moment where a dog learns to fuck by watching elephants fuck on TV. It’s hard to believe that this thing could possibly exist.

Ben Frost - “Rare Decay” (Official Video)

Ben Frost has shared a video for “Rare Decay,” a track from the Japanese deluxe edition of his latest album A U R O R A, which he’s also making available as a free download. The video combines a light show put together by Marcel Weber and live footage shot by Theresa Baumgartner, and they blend together so seamlessly that it’s hard to tell where one ends and the other one begins. It makes for some arresting visuals that capture the dark, looming intensity of the song.

Ava Luna - “Steve Polyester” (Official Video)

Ava Luna’s third full-length, Infinite House, is exciting because it’s inconsistent. Their sound is always challenging and expertly tailored, but this time around, it’s so varied that it’s hard to make comparisons or dump the record into any preexisting, contemporary categories. Nothing about this record is predictable, nor is it conventional, and giving extra breathing room to the weird has served the band exceedingly well. I’ve said in the past that Ava Luna is a kind of supergroup, a collection of artists who are well known outside of their work with the band, and in no way is that more obvious than when we admire the first three singles — “Billz,” “Coat Of Shellac,” and “Steve Polyester” — each of which was written by and fronted by a different member. “Steve Polyester” is Becca Kauffman’s absurdist spoken-word offering. It’s a wayward, spiraling tale about an amorphous being who the narrator pursues throughout a “not-so-popular part of town.” It’s initially goofy sounding, particularly when Kauffman’s narration descends into baritone at the mention of “anthill,” or when a crisp, nasally voice chimes in, “He’s like a ruby lined in gold!” But with time, Steve Polyester evolves into something much more than just a figure shaped like a cockroach. He (it?) becomes a document of unspecified desire, a pursuit of all of the things that we look for in other people rather than in ourselves. This is a song about longing for something undefined, which makes “Steve Polyester” a universal, albeit unorthodox, song. Angela Stempel’s whimsical animation brings some of Kauffman’s story to life, the narration’s many intricacies exposed by nuanced illustrations and angular line-work.

Korallreven - “Limitless” (Official Video)

Korallreven’s smooth synths are perfect for punctuating the night sky — it’s the kind of music that feels good when you’re in the dark, wondering at all the potential. Their new video for “Limitless” captures that feeling well, following around three pod people dressed in all white. One of them picks up a ride with a member of the Swedish duo, and is dropped off by two friends, who take a bunch of pills that look like candy and proceed to have what looks like a fun night out. It’s all cigarettes and smiles and neon retro-futurism, which culminates with a dance-off in an arcade at the end of the night. “Ever since we started making music it has always been about trying to reach the highest of feelings — and to also not be afraid of the lowest lows, when the inevitable come down happens,” the duo explains.”The video embraces this. A trip from reality to fantasy and reality to fantasy, you just never know what’s what. Just like when you are having the best weekend ever.”

Camera Shy - “Your Only One” (Official Video)

Camera Shy is the indie-pop project of Whirr frontman/Nothing bassist Nick Bassett and former Whirr singer Alexandra Morte. Together, they take the swooning shoegaze melodies of Whirr and strip away the moody guitar noise, fashioning it into something softer and gentler and utterly guileless. They’ve got one official release to their name so far, last year’s Jack-O-Lantern EP, and now they’re announcing a new self-titled full-length to be released this summer. That seasonal timing is no accident: Jangly first single “Your Only One” is warm sunny-day music of the highest caliber, a tender sigh that feels like the sonic equivalent of lying in freshly cut grass and staring up at an impossibly blue sky. But when she sings “I could be the one to be your only one,” Morte’s innocently honeyed voice captures both the sweetness and the uncertain longing of romance, and the song could just as easily soundtrack a daydream in the waning golden light of autumn. The video is fairly simple, but it works surprisingly well, matching the song’s upbeat but nostalgic mood with washed out old footage of Disney theme parks.

Eternal Summers - "Together or Alone" (Official Video)

Last month, we premiered Eternal Summers’ new single “Together Or Alone,” the first track from their upcoming fourth album Gold And Stone. The Virginia trio recently shared the stop-motion animated video for the song, which was directed by Japhy Riddle. It stars a honey badger who lives in an alcove in the woods and looks up through his telescope and eventually floating out and exploring the planets and stars as an escape. He works at a factory with some other honey badgers, filling up jars of honey from the hive. And in the end he inspires a socialist-style revolution, which ends with a smile.

KISS Star In Halloween Scooby-Doo Movie Out This Summer For Some Reason

KISS will be appearing in animated form alongside the Scooby-Doo crew in the new film Scooby-Doo! And KISS: Rock & Roll Mystery. Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Eric Singer, and Tommy Thayer will all voice themselves, alongside a guest cast that includes Darius Rucker, Kevin Smith, and Jason Mewes. The film will take place at a KISS amusement park called KISS World, where the band will perform a Halloween concert and team up with the detectives to investigate some spooky circumstances that are happening on the park grounds. The film will also feature a new original KISS song made specifically for the movie. Watch a ridiculous trailer for the new film below. 

The Armed - “Forever Scum” (Official Video)

Detroit hardcore outfit the Armed released their new single “Forever Scum” and its accompanying video today in order to announce their forthcoming untitled full-length. In this simple but effective video, a turntable is doused in gasoline and then lit on fire. It’s a nice DGAF statement that probably took a fair amount of effort to actualize, and it pairs perfectly with the band’s statement about their new single to Fader:

There’s a lack of real, immediate honesty in a lot of music and art… Too much consideration of one’s peers and too little commitment to any statement or direction in fear of being considered uncool, either now or in the future. The result is a big gray blob of same-y rehashed bullshit protected by 15 layers of irony and reference to shield its creator from backlash. This song is about not caring about any of that.

Killer Mike - “Ric Flair” (Official Video)

Yesterday was Killer Mike’s birthday — what’s a more appropriate birthday for the rapper than 4/20! — and, in celebration, he shared an unreleased video for “Ric Flair,” a track off of his 2011 album Pl3dge. It was directed by Travis Nelson, and starts off with the titular pro wrestler projected onto buildings in downtown Los Angeles before being replaced by Killer Mike, who raps in different parts of the city and whose image eventually joins Flair’s up on the skyscrapers.

Lil Wayne - “Hollyweezy” (Official Video)

After hopping on a remix of Dej Loaf’s “Me U & Hennessey,” Lil Wayne also decided to drop the video for “Hollyweezy” today. Wayne’s rapping fierce and fast in the video, contrasting his hometown Hollygrove, Louisiana with the glamour and sleaze of Hollywood

Sheer Mag - “Fan The Flames” (Official Video)

Watching Sheer Mag play a bridge show in Austin was one of the best experiences that I had at this year’s SXSW. I’d seen the Philly-based band play more conventional venues, including New York’s Bowery Ballroom, but somehow the slipshod presentation of this particular set seemed most appropriate. With no bar or noisy side conversations to distract, the band sucked all of the attention out of the surrounding atmosphere. It was late, after all, and if you weren’t hanging out to watch them, then why were you out on a pedestrian bridge at 3AM on the last night of South By in the first place? Today, Sheer Mag released a video to accompany their new single “Fan The Flames,” which will be included on their forthcoming EP along with the song “Button Up.” Director James Rodenhouse’s clip perfectly encapsulates the band’s live presence — Christina Halladay sings with the kind of forceful tenacity that’s not to be fucked with, but she takes time to smile back at the enthused audience along the way.

Sam Amidon - “Blue Mountains” (Official Video)

The photograph on the cover of Sam Amidon’s latest album, last year’s Lily-O, shows a couple of young girls sitting in a sun-soaked pasture, innocent to the band of armed men congregated menacingly just over the hill. This sense of blissful ignorance in the face of danger is woven through Amidon’s music subtly, and his haunting, disaffected voice is a constant reminder of this, at once monotonous and deeply evocative. Director Andrea Sisson’s video for Amidon’s song “Blue Mountains” follows an anonymous girl in slow motion through a bucolic Appalachian scene. It’s a sensuous clip that celebrates the adventurousness of youth and mourns its passing all at once.

Future - “Where I Came From” (Official Video)

The unrelenting slew of Future videos continues. Fresh off the news that he will tour with Drake this spring, the Atlanta rapper dropped the video for “Where I Came From,” a track off his Beast Mode mixtape. Considering he has three tapes that were released contemporaneously, there’s plenty of new Future material to satisfy his die-hard fans, but Beast Mode is far and above the best one. Future raps about his roots over a Zaytoven jazz piano sample that’s thrust even higher in the mix than the beat. Even if he’s reminiscing about the past, the plentiful shots money and jewelry in the visuals cement one thing: He’s on top now. In the opening clip, Future caresses money like a lover, pretending to ask what perfume the stack is drenched in. It’s a pithy revelation metaphor for his whole situation right now.

C Duncan - “Here To There” (Official Video)

Christopher Duncan is the kind of musical renaissance man that only comes around every so often. A classically trained violist and pianist, Duncan fused his conservatory taste with a love for indie rock by teaching himself guitar, bass, and drums. Tracks like “Say” and “For” exemplify the rich, detailed arrangements that make up Architect, Duncan’s aptly titled, entirely self-recorded debut album. The new video for “Here To There” recreates the track’s lilting rhythm and gently constructed harmonies through minimalist composition and subtly overlayed shots of trains and stars.

Lil Durk - "Like Me" (Explicit) ft. Jeremih (Official Video)

Among his Chicago drill peers, Lil Durk might be the one with the best shot at any kind of sustained commercial success. Case in point: He’s now made a for-the-radio rap&B single without ditching any of the weird melodic intensity that makes him such an interesting rapper in the first place. “Like Me” pairs Durk up with fellow Chicagoan Jeremih. Its video, from director Eif Rivera, has a relationship-centric storyline, but it’s most memorable for the shots of the two stars on a Chicago rooftop, wearing weird fur collar things.

Mumford & Sons - “Snake Eyes” (Live Video)

The tremendous doofs in Mumford & Sons are continuing with their questionable plan to leave behind the big-tent neo-folk that made them famous. The band’s new album Wilder Mind looms imminent, and the hamfisted early singles “Believe” and “The Wolf” move the band toward a supremely bland and character-free form of rock music. The latest is “Snake Eyes,” a song that has the same sort of cathartic build as older Mumford tracks — except instead of building to a big close-harmony bleat-along, this one leads to crashing compressed guitars. It works about as well as you’d imagine. The band has shared the song in live-video form, even though the audio is pretty clearly the studio version. Satisfy your morbid curiosity.

Built To Spill - “Never Be The Same” (Official Video)

The triumphant Idaho guitar-manglers Built To Spill return tomorrow with their new album Untethered Moon, and while the album itself is prime slow-swelling indie rock, the videos find the veteran band acting commendably silly. We’ve already posted their goofy-as-hell “Living Zoo” video, and their new clip for “Never Be The Same” builds on that one, going full meta in the process. The new video, from “Living Zoo” director Jordan Minkoff, tells the story of what happens with Built To Spill frontman Doug Martsch becomes weirdly obsessed with one of the characters from that “Living Zoo” video. It’s probably the single most amateurish video I’ve ever seen from a major-label recording artist, and it serves as a beautiful showcase for Matsch’s nonexistent acting skills. That’s a good thing, somehow. This thing is an enjoyable mess, way better than a straight-up performance video would’ve been.

Bonnie “Prince” Billy - “Gloria” (broeder Dieleman Cover) Video

Record Store Day is now only one day away, and like many others before him, Bonnie “Prince” Billy aka Will Oldham has decided to release something special for the occasion. Oldham and the Dutch singer-songwriter broeder Dieleman each selected one of the other’s songs to cover and will release the tracks on a limited edition 7″. Today, they shared Oldham’s version of Dieleman’s “Gloria” to announce the split, and it’s a rambling warble done in his signature delicate folk. The song is titled “Drie Vragen” in Dielman’s original Zeelandic dialect, and was translated to English by Oldham and Mimi Visser. Joan Shelley provides near-perfect, silvery harmonies. The video, directed by Eduard Walhout, pans through various shots of deserted natural scenery. Suddenly, a mysterious stick-man appears. He seems to be sort of a puppet-talisman, and he’s really cute. The video was filmed during the solar eclipse that happened in March of this year.

AraabMuzik - “Day Dreams” (Official Video)

AraabMuzik, the MPC-damaging producer who started out as a Cam’ron beatmaker and went on to become an EDM-tent draw, just announced the impending release of a new album called Dream World. It’ll be Araab’s first commercially-avaiable since 2011’s Electronic Dreams, the album that really made his name. The onetime seapunk cause celebre @LILINTERNET directed the video for first single “Day Dreams,” which follows the Electronic Dream model, giving a weirdly visceral take on slick Euro-club sounds. In the clip, we see Araab at work in a club full of laser lights, while images of oceans and cityscapes flash across the screen.

Watch Patti Smith & Laurie Anderson Induct Lou Reed Into The Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame

Last night, six artists were inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in the Performer category. Lou Reed, Green Day, Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Bill Withers, and the Paul Butterfield Blues Band all received honors, and each got a speech and performance dedicated to them. Ringo Starr was inducted with an Award For Musical Excellence and the “5” Royals got an Early Influence nod. There were a number of highlights, including an emotional speech from Laurie Anderson, who accepted the award for her late husband Lou Reed after an introduction from Patti Smith. Watch video of their speeches below.

Also during the ceremony, Tommy James, Dave Grohl, and Miley Cyrus performed with Jett; and Karen O, Nick Zinner, and Beck covered Reed.

Watch Kanye West’s Surprise Coachella Performance With The Weeknd

The second weekend of Coachella is not without its surprises, even though it’s typically received with much less fanfare than the first. For example, last night the Weeknd brought out special guest Kanye West during his set in what’s probably the biggest surprise appearance this year. (At least maybe until Drake’s set later tonight.) The Weeknd started off with a cover of “Heartless” before Kanye took the stage and ran through “Can’t Tell Me Nothing,” “Black Skinhead,” “Don’t Like,” and his new song “All Day.” Watch videos via Missinfo .

Watch The Series Premiere Of Diplo’s Animated TV Show Major Lazer

Diplo’s Major Lazer animated series has been in the works for a long time — they were obviously fixated on ’80s cartoons since the release of their first album back in 2009 — and it finally premiered on FXX’s Animation Domination block on Thursday night. They also debuted a new song, “Night Riders,” in celebration of the premiere. As we found out earlier this month, J.K. Simmons, Ezra Koenig, Charli XCX, Riff Raff, Andy Samberg, and Aziz Ansari will all make guest appearances sometime this season. 

(via Pitchfork)

If you want a higher quality version, it’s available via FXX if you have a cable or satellite subscription, or you can buy it on iTunes.

Watch Green Day Reunite With Original Drummer, Cover Rancid & Operation Ivy With Tim Armstrong In Cleveland

Tomorrow night, Green Day go into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. Last night, the band played its first U.S. show in a couple of years at Cleveland’s House Of Blues, and they made it a special one. Punk rock hero Tim Armstrong, of Rancid and Operation Ivy, joined the band for a couple of songs. Together, they did Op Ivy’s “Knowledge” and Rancid’s “Radio,” which Billy Joe Armstrong wrote with Tim Armstrong (no relation, though I still hear people calling them brothers sometimes). Tim Armstrong should really have some kind of Hall Of Fame dedicated entirely to him. Green Day band also brought out original drummer John Kiffmeyer, who played with the band between 1989 and 1990, to play some old rarities. Below, watch fan-made videos of all that going down.

Young Thug - “Constantly Hating” (Feat. Birdman) Video

Yesterday, Young Thug released his deeply absorbing Barter 6 album, though he’s now saying that it’s really just a mixtape and that the real album, called Hy!£UN35, is coming in August. In any case, Thug just shared a video for the strange, bloopy, amazing Barter 6 opener “Constantly Hating,” which has a pretty incredible beat and an appearance from Thug mentor Birdman. Frequent collaborator Be El Be directed the video, and as with a lot of Young Thug videos, there’s no real production to this thing. It’s just a cameraman following Thug around for a few hours. Best Thug accessory in this one: The giant floppy black hat.

Bloody Beetroots - “The Grid” (Official Video)

Bloody Beetroots – “The Grid” (Dir. James Chappell)

The best action-movie fight scenes I’ve seen lately are in this and on the Netflix show Daredevil, neither of which are actual movies.

Snoop Dogg - “So Many Pros” (Official Video)

Snoop Dogg – “So Many Pros” (Dir. François Rousselet)

A celebration of some classic graphic design, and Snoop’s version of the between-the-movies trailers from Grindhouse. The presence of the other Snoop, the one from The Wire, boosts this one’s cool points by at least 25%.

Watch Faith No More Debut “Sol Invictus” & “From The Dead” In Vancouver

Faith No More’s comeback tour rolled into Vancouver last night, and the Canucks were rewarded with the debut of two new songs. “Sol Invictus,” the title track from their new album, is a slow-burner that builds and builds without ever quite boiling over, while “From The Dead” is, surprisingly, a jangly acoustic number. Watch fan-made video of both songs below.

Jay Z - “Glory” (Official Video)

Earlier today Jay Z shared the video for the Blue Ivy-inspired 2012 track “Glory” on his new streaming platform Tidal, and now a version for the non-subscribers among us has surfaced. The clip shows Jay Z rehearsing for his Carnegie Hall performance back in 2012 — Alicia Keys and Nas make cameos. Once again, this isn’t really new content that’s popping up on Tidal but old behind-the-scenes leftovers that have been slightly tweaked to appear exclusive. It’s almost embarrassing. Of course, “Glory,” which samples Keith Murray’s “The Most Beautifullest Thing in This World,” is still a gorgeous, poignant song and fun to watch because a dad publicly proclaiming love for his daughter is the best, most beautiful thing on earth. You can find the clip online now.

Never Young - “Like A Version” (Official Video)

The Bay Area’s Never Young released an unsettling video for the first single off of their recent self-titled EP. “Like A Version” is the kind of post-hardcore song that truly sounds like a successful hybridization of the genre’s original form, appropriated and re-worked into something contemporary. Its video was directed by Armando Armas, and it’s a creepy and intriguing visual interpretation of the song’s aural menace.

John Carpenter - “Night” (Official Video)

John Carpenter is one of the great B-movie directors of all time, so it’s weird to see anyone other than Carpenter himself directing a John Carpenter music video. Nevertheless, it’s happened. Carpenter claims that he’s effectively retired from filmmaking, and earlier this year, he released Lost Themes, a great album full of the sort of pulsating synthetic instrumental music that he often used to score his own movies. Gavin Hignight and Ben Verhuist directed Carpenter’s new video for the track “Night,” paying tribute to the aesthetics of Carpenter’s old films. In the clip, we see Carpenter trying on a virtual reality headset and transforming himself into some sort of masked nightmare warrior, which seems about right. The clip is full of beautiful nighttime cityscape shots, and it serves as an effective pastiche, even if the man himself didn’t do it.

Garbage - “The Chemicals” (Feat. Brian Aubert) Video

Garbage aren’t the most active band these days, but they do make sure to do something new for Record Store Day every year. Two years ago, they enlisted Screaming Females’ Marissa Paternoster to help them cover Patti Smith’s “Because The Night,” and last year they teamed up with Brody Dalle on “Girls Talk.” This time around, they’re going to release a 10″ single of a new song called “The Chemicals,” a streamlined churn that features Silversun Pickups frontman Brian Aubert. Sophie Muller directed the song’s video, an iconic black-and-white collage of teenagers moshing in a basement somewhere.

Emerson Windy - “Come Get It” (Feat. Pusha T & P Money) Video

Emerson Windy is a rapper from Oceanside, California who released the incredulously titled mixtape Herojuana last year. Today, he’s shared a video for “Come And Get It,” one of the tape’s songs; it features Pharrell, P Money, and was co-produced by Timbaland. The video was directed by Yellow Nguyen. It’s about a lot of things, but mostly about loyalty.

Arca - “Sad Bitch” (Official Video)

Arca has shared a video for his Xen track “Sad Bitch,” another in his series of visual collaborations with digital artist Jesse Kanda. It feels like a sister to his evocative “Thievery” video, featuring the same kind of amorphous, shadowy figure dancing in slow motion. This one grows pustules on their back that cascade into little red dots that fill the screen.

Ty Dolla $ign - “Drop That Kitty” (Feat. Charli XCX & Tinashe) Video

Ty Dolla $ign has released a video for his single “Drop That Kitty,” featuring guest performers Tinashe and Charli XCX. Considering the fact that Charli XCX and Tinashe are two of the most promising young pop singers that Ty$ could’ve enlisted, the track falls a bit flat, relying way too much on a goofy euphemism (we all know what “kitty” refers to) and too little on the party’s respective talents. That being said, this video is pretty fun to watch, mainly due to the fact that there are kitten heads superimposed onto the bodies of backup dancers, giving it a bizarre Tim & Eric vibe without even trying.

Owen Pallett - “The Sky Behind The Flag” (Official Video)

Owen Pallett’s sophomore solo album under his own name, the gorgeous, meticulous In Conflict, was one of 2014’s best. Today the Canadian musician and Arcade Fire collaborator released a video for one of the album’s tracks, “The Sky Behind The Flag.” Animated videos seem to be something of a thing this year, and this one was created by Eno Swinnen. Pallett said the song is about distance and closeness:

The song is about how great distance can exist between things that appear to be very close. Like two lovers, or two halves of a brain: the extrovert that is engaging with the world, and the introvert that is providing commentary.

Ariel Pink - “Jell-O” (Official Video)

Ariel Pink has already worked with the director Grant Singer to make three videos for songs from his 2014 album pom pom: “Put Your Number In My Phone,” “Picture Me Gone,” and “Dayzed Inn Daydreams.” They’ve all been slow, creepy, and oddly beautiful pieces. That’s not the case with Pink’s new video for the frantic bugout “Jell-O.” This time around, Pink went a radically different direction, working with director Dan Kapelovitz (this guy, I assume?) and making a busy, frenetic psychedelic kaleidoscope of a video. It has cleavers and pig masks and Jell-O vomit, and it seems designed to remind you that Jell-O itself is made of animal pieces. The former Germs drummer Don Bolles co-stars, and the clip is dedicated to the late psych-rock trickster Kim Fowley, who co-wrote the song with Pink.

Soak - “Blud” (Official Video )

Sometimes it’s hard to remember that Bridie Monds-Watson is only 18 years old. The teenage singer-songwriter is gearing up to release her debut album, and in the process traveled to America to perform for the first time. I saw her do “Blud” for her first technical stateside performance — at the illustrious Beggars Group offices in Manhattan — where she explained that the song was about hearing her parents fight through the ceiling and wishing she could fix their pain. While this is a sentiment most kids have probably experienced, few of them can address it with the kind of poignant clarity that she’s managed on this song. So if listening to Soak makes it easy to forget her youth, this video highlights it, juxtaposing her performances and scenes from her musical career with moments of actual play. The video was created by Charlie Rotberg, who took footage from her tour of skate parks in the UK and other trips to show that empty pizza boxes and dance parties are just as important as her time in the spotlight.

Watch Nirvana Play A Show For Two People In New Montage Of Heck Clip

When director Brett Morgen agreed to take on the Frances Bean-produced documentary Cobain: Montage Of Heck, he thought that it would take 18 months to make. Instead, the film took eight years, and it just about sucked the life out of Morgen in the process. Anyone willing to spend that much time digging through archives and storage units in order to get one step closer to a person they never met deserves accolades, and today The New York Times published an article about Morgen’s struggle to make this long-awaited documentary. Accompanying the article is an exclusive clip from the film, featuring Krist Novoselic’s recollection of a house show that Nirvana played for two guests along with footage. Additionally, Novoselic reflects on his early days of friendship with Cobain and the late musician’s relationship with art. “He never had idle hands,” Novoselic says. “It just came out of him. He had to express himself.” Check out the exclusive clip over at The New York Times.

Courtney Barnett - “Kim’s Caravan” (Official Video)

There isn’t a single less-than-great song on Courtney Barnett’s ridiculously impressive new album Sometimes I Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit. Even in that context, though, “Kim’s Caravan” stands out. The seven-minute song starts as a meditation on Australia’s environmentally ruined coastline and turns into something vaguer and more existential. The new video, from director Bec Kingma, follows a similar path. It starts out as a beautifully photographed account of a grey day on that very same coast, as the camera settles on the local residents of what already looks like an apocalyptic world. But as it builds, the video turns into more of a hallucinatory vision, and it ends with an image that’ll stick with you for a while.

GABI - “Falling” (Official Video)

New York experimentalist GABI has shared a video for “Falling,” a skittish track from her recently released debut album, Sympathy. It was shot in the barren industrial wasteland that was formerly the site of Staten Island’s Fresh Kills Landfill, and which is now undergoing a decades-long rehabilitation into a park. The video captures the bleak landscape well, as Gabrielle Herbst and a crew of dancers act as modern-day nomads, exploring the land and using the vast swaths of empty space as their stage.

Taylor Swift’s Chinese Toyota Commercials Are Awkward Beyond Your “Wildest Dreams”

Taylor Swift took the best song off 1989 and turned it into a Toyota commercial, joining the long legacy of American celebrities appearing in foreign TV spots they’d never agree to stateside. The ad uses “Wildest Dreams” to promote Toyota’s newest hybrid car in the Chinese market. There’s two versions of the ad, but both involve Taylor in gorgeous ball gowns — “standing in a nice dress,” per the song’s lyrics — ushering in the new vehicles. The first commercial uses the song in its original album version, but the second opts for a stripped back piano take. Plenty of people have dubbed “Wildest Dreams” Swift’s attempt at making a Lana Del Rey song, but the piano version kind of disproves that idea to my ear. Obviously, Swift is more than comfortable pairing with various brands; she’s already a rep for both Keds and Diet Coke, and another 1989 favorite “Style” first debuted in a Target commercial. This is also not the first time Taylor has teamed with Toyota. And as far as the Chinese car commercial route, Swift is merely following in ex-boyfriend Harry Styles’ footsteps.

Watch here.

Caribou - “Can’t Do Without You” (Official Video)

Caribou’s pulsing, romantic single “Can’t Do Without You” might’ve been the best thing about last year’s very good album Our Love. Its new video does interesting things with the fond, simple glimmer of the song. It tells the story about a little kid and a flying, piñata-looking fish creature, and you learn everything you need to know just from the kid’s expressions. (That fish creature, by the way, can be yours. You’ll soon be able to enter a contest to win it at Caribou’s site.) Lorenzo Fonda directed the strange, pretty video.

Beatking - “DBA (Remix)” (Feat. Danny Brown) Video

I don’t know how I missed this, but Beatking, the booming and gleefully nasty Houston rapper, released a new mixtape called Club God 4 back in February. Underground Cassette Tape Music, Beatking’s 2014 collaborative tape with Gangsta Boo, was fucking great, so this should’ve been bigger news. The new tape features a track called “BDA (Remix),” on which Beatking and guest Danny Brown yell at strippers over a sample of Juvenile’s “Ha,” which seems like exactly the sort of thing you should expect to find on a Beatking tape. “BDA (Remix)” now has a video, and it’s probably the shittiest and most low-budget thing you’ll see all day. That’s sort of its charm. Bird Medina directed.

George FitzGerald - “Crystallise” (Feat. Lawrence Hart) Video

ManMakeMusic label boss George FitzGerald is releasing his own debut album Fading Love this spring. We’ve previously heard the minimalistic melancholy of “Full Circle,” and today he’s dropped another new track “Crystallise” featuring Lawrence Hart. Technically a video, the visuals that accompany the track were created by Joe Mortimer, who previously worked on videos for Peaking Lights. FitzGerald said this is what piqued his interest in working with Mortimer:

I loved the work Joe Mortimer did on Peaking Lights’ Cosmic Logic last year. With “Crystallise” being quite an ethereal and mysterious track, I thought a similarly abstract, hand-drawn approach would fit perfectly with the track.

He’s right. The track is cold, calm, and aloof, addressing a love that’s settled into its own tight geometric pattern.

JEFF The Brotherhood - “Black Cherry Pie” (Official Video)

Back in February, Nashville’s JEFF the Brotherhood got dropped by Warner Bros. and subsequently released their latest record Wasted On The Dream with longterm affiliates Infinity Cat Records. “Black Cherry Pie” is the record’s stand-out single that features a flute solo from Jethro Tull’s Ian Anderson, and now the brothers have shared an accompanying video. Jake and Jamin Orrall sit in a makeshift living room that might as well be a kindergarten classroom’s play house, drinking Busch (gross) while barely acknowledging costumed visitors traipsing across the faded red carpet. Watch the Jen Uman-directed video.

Lydia Ainsworth - “White Shadows” (Official Video)

We dubbed Lydia Ainsworth’s spectral Right From Real Album Of The Week back in 2014, and today the Toronto pop experimentalist has released a new video for that project’s “White Shadows.” The animated clip works in blues and blacks, telling its own narrative alongside Ainsworth’s lyrics. It was drawn and directed by Tara Dougans, who said this of the clip:

The video serves as a 4 minute visual response to Lydia’s composition. Rather than work with narrative, the focus was to create an interplay with the song — something akin to the invisible dance that takes place within the subconscious mind as an underlying energy takes shape and begins to grow. A dance because the evolution of an idea (a shadow) is often non-linear, traveling miles intuitively up from the depths in trust before suddenly arriving into light.

Siska - "Unconditional Rebel" (Official Video)

The shortest shooting ever.

Written & directed by Guillaume Panariello
Cinematography by Thomas Rames
Visual effect by Benoit Maffone (La Planète Rouge)
Produced by VLB Recordings & La Planete Rouge : laplaneterouge.fr
Music by siska : facebook.com/siskasoundofficial

This is a real video performance, a slow motion video, a sequence map with a traveling in front of 80 extras placed on 80 meters along a little road, lost in an industrial area. Filmed at 1000 frames/second with a Phantom flex 4k from a car driven at 50km/h, the shooting took 5 seconds for a 3'30 video: a living and dreamlike mural.

Brian Wilson - “On The Island” Video (Feat. She & Him)

Brian Wilson may have never heard of punk but he has heard of She & Him, the duo who served as one of Wilson’s many collaborators on his latest solo album, No Pier Pressure. The video shows off Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward in the studio with Wilson, recording their collab “On The Island.” It must be so surreal to record with a former Beach Boy!

Psalm Zero - “Real Rain” (Official Video)

Psalm Zero occupy a weird and exciting place in today’s metal landscape. As we mentioned in our writeup of their song “In the Dead,” the band is part of the conversation when we talk about metal, but they’re somewhere off to the side, lurking in the shadows where industrial noise and other genres mix freely and can even drown out the qualities that make a song particularly “metal.”

Last year, the duo of Andrew Hock (of the disbanded black metal band Castevet) and Charlie Looker (ex-Extra Life) put out The Drain, an album that barked forth mechanized and stripped-down oddities that borrowed from Godflesh, epic black metal (I’ve seen guitarist Hock wear a Summoning shirt while performing with Psalm Zero more than once), and elements of new wave and goth. That’s an unusual mix, and on The Drain, angsty and rigid passages, overlaid with ominous clear vocals from bassist Looker, gave way to lush synth crescendos and caustic screams provided by Hock. The whole thing seemed to move in some strange, halting lockstep driven by thundering drum machines and pounded bass, like twisted and dissonant chants from some alternate reality. We voted The Drain to be one of the best metal albums of the year. 

“Real Rain” is the first single from a forthcoming trilogy of Psalm Zero cassette releases coupled with videos; the whole thing is titled The Birthright Trilogy, and this video is “The Birthright Trilogy Part I: Real Rain.” (Listen to Looker, and you’ll hear him sing about fathers and brothers pretty often.) The song’s name is taken from the film Taxi Driver, a reference to a De Niro monologue in which he talks about an apocalyptic flood that will come to wash clean the blight of New York City. In true Psalm Zero style, “Real Rain” is eccentric, meshing bold melody with hammered-out beats, but Psalm Zero aren’t always this catchy. Knowing the song’s cinematic point of reference, some of the prettier moments and crescendos come off a bit gleeful about the prospect of wiping everything out and starting over, like a giddy kid with a magnifying glass and an anthill below. The song features backing screams from Paul Delaney of the New York City black metal band Black Anvil (and formerly of the hardcore band Kill Your Idols). 

As for the video, on the surface it’s an unlikely clip for an unlikely New York City anthem. From morning well into night, it navigates a series of moments stolen from New Yorkers. It’s unnervingly voyeuristic at times, a reminder that privacy is often non-existent in a city of nearly nine million where lives are lived in public. After a few watches, it grew on me — the city’s buzzing activity seemed reflected in “Real Rain”‘s humming chanted refrain. It was directed by Winston H. Case, who has previously done work with Wolf Eyes and Grimes.

Hear Rihanna Sample Florence + The Machine In Dior’s “A Night” Teaser

The great Rihanna track tease of 2015 is well underway, so here’s another offering from the impending R8. The song is called “A Night” and it features an excellent Florence + The Machine song called “Only If For A Night” from 2011’s Ceremonials. It appears courtesy of a Dior commercial for the luxury brand’s 2015 fashion week campaign starring Rihanna. In the clip the pop star is all haute couture mode, posing and dramatically dancing for the camera, until the end when she breaks back into her goofy, celebratory self. “A Night” has the same kind of slow-burning raw energy that fuels “Bitch Better Have My Money” and “American Oxygen,” indicating that “FourFiveSeconds” might be the sunny outlier on the record.

Guitar Hero‘s Back With A Redesigned Controller And The War On Drugs

Guitar Hero and the similarly themed Rock Band were once ubiquitous, but both of them seemed to fade away as the casual gaming audience that they attracted moved primarily to mobile devices to get their fix. But both games are coming back this year — Guitar Hero has just announced Guitar Hero Live, the first new iteration of the video game series in five years. It comes paired with a brand new plastic guitar controller, meant to more closely mimic the actual feeling of playing the guitar rather than just mashing colorful buttons.

As The Verge reports, there will be two main components to the new game: a solo campaign mode –where you take on the POV of a rocker and go out to perform your songs, and the audience reacts positively or negatively based on how well you do — and an online multi-player mode designed to encourage players to stick with the game.

The game’s creators also promise a more diverse lineup than ever, including EDM and hip-hop in addition to the game’s more traditionally guitar-oriented tunes. “If it’s got a beat, and it’s got a rhythm, you can make good gameplay out of it,” the developers told The Verge. The lineup so far includes the War On Drugs (for beer commercial lead guitar shit mode), Ed Sheeran (for sleep mode), the Black Keys, the Rolling Stones, Skrillex, Fall Out Boy, the Killers, and more.

Guitar Hero Live will arrive on Xbox One, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4, PS3, Nintendo Wii U, and some mobile devices later this year. Here’s a melodramatic trailer for the game:

Desaparecidos - “City On The Hill” (Official Video)

Conor Oberst’s reactivated punk band Desaparecidos absolutely destroyed at Coachella the day before yesterday. Today, they’re unveiling the video for “City On The Hill,” the single from their long-awaited sophomore album Payola. For the video, director Rob Stoucy frantically stitched together a ton of old footage, much of it from news broadcasts and commercials. It’s not random, though; there’s a connecting thread. It’s all organized to drive home the idea that the way we live is fucked up and unsustainable.