The Very Best - “Let Go” (Official Video)

The Very Best, the duo of Malawian singer Esau Mwamwaya and Swedish producer Johan Hugo, have a new album called Makes A King coming out next month. Their new video for “Let Go,” which features Vampire Weekend’s Chris Baio on bass, follows the clip for “Hear Me” that they released last year. In the new video, Mwamwaya and Hugo become characters in an old-school NES video game. We see them bouncing across African and Scandinavian landscapes, avoiding crocodiles and polar bears alike. The pixel beat artist Pappas Parlor directed the animated video, and you can watch it and read a statement from the duo below.

The Very Best write:

Our friend Pappas Parlor is an amazing pixel bead artist from Sweden, We talked to him about doing an old school 8-Bit game type video with all the characters and landscape being made out of pixel beads and giving the impression of stop motion filming. The idea to have one level in Malawi where we run from street dogs and fight off Monsantos GMO monster maize plants, and one level in Sweden where we run from a fox and our enemies are the far right-wing political party. The whole thing was a collaboration between Pappas Parlor and The Very Best, we tried to come up with funny things that could happen in the video as well as addressing some of our more serious concerns. We also made characters of Chris Baio (Vampire Weekend) and Freddie Cowan (The Vaccines) so they could have a little cameo at the end. It took just over a month to make the video.

Watch The 8-Bit Grunge Medley You Didn’t Know You Wanted

What if all the angst and aggression of grunge were filtered through the sound chips of the very same video-game systems those artists grew up on? It’s a question we’ve asked ourselves many, many times, but finally someone has done something about it. The Youtube channel Filthy Frackers has crafted an animated medley of grunge’s greatest hits, reworked so they could fit nicely on an NES and paired with some fun visuals (that’s 8-bit Kurt Cobain in the picture above singing “In Bloom”). It’s not hitting the masterpiece chiptune levels of something like Ducktales or Megaman 2, but it’s definitely fun to pretend this is what Rock Band would have sounded like had it come out in 1993.

Total Slacker - “Super Big Gulp” (Official Video)

Total Slacker, who released their new album, Slip Away, this past winter, have a new video game-centric video for their song “Super Big Gulp.” In the Danny Krug-directed clip, Tucker Rountree sits down to play a mysterious Sega Genesis game only to be sucked into it (via animation that reminds me of “Digital Estate Planning,” the video game-themed episode of Community) while bandmate Emily Oppenheimer plays. Also of note: Anyone else remember that Jurassic Park game Rountree is playing in the beginning? You could pick to play as a human or a raptor, and while I wouldn’t call the thing good exactly, I still played the shit out of it as a kid and had a blast.

Lily Allen – “L8 CMMR” Lyric Video

Old-school gaming graphics seem to be making a comeback. First there was Flappy Bird (R.I.P.) and now it’s Lily Allen’s new lyric video for “L8 CMMR.” The colorful and pixelated video simulates various classic video games played by a Lily-like avatar, lyrics splattered in bright bubble letters throughout each scene.

Snoop Lion - "Get Away ft. Angela Hunte" (prod. Major Lazer) Video

Snoop Lion's homage to old school video games in his latest visual "Get Away," from his Grammy-nominated album REINCARNATED: http://smarturl.it/ReincarnatedDX

Directed by: Ashten "Whoopi" Winger
Animated by: Mykola Dosenko

"Coin" (EXIT 73 Studios)

“Coin” begins as a rather humble homage to fighting games of yesteryear, an 8-bit nod at nostalgia with lovingly crafted keyframes.

Then things get awesome.

More than just an epic fight scene, “Coin” is an odyssey told through the language of kicking ass. While mopping up the screen with hundreds of foes, the short’s hero journeys underwater, into outer space, through the belly of a whale and into the circles of hell. There are plenty of references to video games from my childhood, but even without that esoteric knowledge, it’s a wildly fun ride. 

“Coin” was directed and animated by Chris Burns (Exit 73 Studios) with music, sound design and compositing by Bob Fox.

Oneohtrix Point Never – “Still Life (Betamale)” Video

Usually, videos released the week before an album drops are intended to stoke interest in the new project, and I suppose the video Oneohtrix Point Never dropped today will accomplish that in a way, though it might be the kind of interest that drives people to watch Hoarders. Jon Rafman’s clip for R Plus 7 album track “Still Life (Betamale)” delves into the weird world of internet subcultures; it’s a series of photos featuring computers surrounded by squalor, anime, a dude with guns to his head, and what looks like a young girl’s underwear wrapped around his face and lots more stuff like that. It’s probably good to be reminded that the Internet is a big place and humankind is a strange species, but this video creeps me out big time. To experience the same sensation.

AlunaGeorge - Watching Over You

Watch the Nintendo-Inspired Video for AlunaGeorge's New Song "Watching Over You"

UK duo AlunaGeorge have offered up an extra spine-tingly new song, titled "Watching Over You", for a compilation put together by BBC Radio 1's Annie Mac. Brendan Canty (not the one from Fugazi) also created a very abstract video to go along with the track, filled with gently glitchy imagery and brief flashes of Nintendo games.

Google Maps 8-bit for NES

Google Maps is now available for 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment Systems (NES). Availability in Google Store is TBD but you can try it on your browser by going to http://maps.google.com and clicking "Quest" in the upper right hand corner of the map. Also...

Happy April Fools 2012!

Rye Rye - Boom, Boom

Geremy Jasper & Georgie Greville of LEGS imagine Rye Rye in a surrealist video game world for her new single "Boom, Boom". Multiple Rye Ryes dance, jump, fly, flip, sing and rhyme through collaged psychedelic game levels full of pyramids, flying carpets, laser shooting dolphins, hunks, UFOs, cubed clouds and dragons. In a visual style that pushes 90's Sega graphics 'Through the Looking Glass' "Boom Boom" pushes the hip hop video to mind warping dimensions.

Director: Geremy Jasper and Georgie Greville

Fox Retro

Superb! The word that can describe this sweet animation done by the talented folks of Punga, for Fox Retro. You can check it out on Gabriel Fermanelli’s blog (the director for this piece) for more info.

Game Cinematic : Ubisoft E3 2011 Retro Style

Assassin's Creed Retro


Ghost Recon Retro


Just Dance Retro


What if today's games where made with 10 years old computer animation style? Check these three game cinematic directed by Julien Baret for Assassin's Creed, Just Dance and Ghost Recon using old games references.

Space Invaders in Real Life

A gamer breaks out his handy spare joystick to save the world from an alien invasion of pixels! -via BB Spot

Super Mario Bros.

This video was part of my Bachelor thesis at the University of Applied science and art Hannover. The Super Mario Bros. game, released on the Nintendo Entertainment System, is not longer bound to the television size and get interactive with a new environment. The emphasis of my thesis is on the matchmoving work. It is the process of matching CG elements into live-action footage.

Game MTV

Game_MTV by: Alexander Yaichnikov.

PIXELS

New York invasion by 8-bits creatures !
PIXELS is Patrick Jean' latest short film, shot on location in New York.

Written, directed by : Patrick Jean
Director of Photograhy : Matias Boucard

Flairs - Truckers Delight

I wouldn’t exactly label this as highbrow, more like highfun! It’s pretty crazy and leans heavily on the raunchier side of life. Directed by Jérémie Périn.

Definitely NSFW, but probably worth getting fired for!

Truckers Delight animated video clip directed by newcomer wunderkid Jérémie Périn who takes the song's title (a tribute to those little pleasures that the lonely truck- driver indulges himself in) and takes it to the next level. Think Spielberg's Duel + Russ Meyer's Faster Pussycat Kill Kill! and Marc Dorcel's wildest fantasies. All warped into an 8-bit Sega era style graphic. And this clumsy and somehow pretentious description doesn't even come close to what you're about to see: it's très funny,très dirty, -très sexy. Très Flairs indeed.

Truckers Delight EP will be available in digital and 12" on November 23th. With 2 remixes by veteran Alex Gopher of French touch fame. Who's clearly has chosen the dance floor as his home turf. And Alixander III, taking some time off his duo Azari & III, who infiltrate the track with his science for cool grooves and his trademark modern take on the classic Chicago sound.

Download track on itunes : tinyurl.com/yzf59gc