BANKS - “Drowning” Video

The American-born, British-based singer BANKS exists on that distinctly London present-day point where pop and R&B and experimental, architectural bass music all overlap, and her recent single “Drowning” is a fine example of what she can do. In director Mike Piscitelli’s new video for the track, she slinks through a room full of mirrors and lightbulbs, making very intense eyes at the camera.

T.I. - “About The Money” (Feat. Young Thug) Video

T.I.’s new video for his new Young Thug collab “About The Money” is a classic example of a director — Kennedy Rothchild, in this case — doing too much. It’s a busy video: Haphazard switching between color and black-and-white, words flashing onscreen, a wolf and a lady vampire showing up for some reason. Tip’s recent “Turn It” clip, with its helicopter and its walls of fire, was way better. Still, the song bangs, and these two are fun to watch even in the worst circumstances.

Bob Mould - “I Don’t Know You Anymore” Video (Feat. Colin Meloy)

Bob Mould is a punk rock legend still bashing out remarkably vigorous and effective anthems. (My co-worker Michael says he’s making the best music of his career right now, which is lunacy, but the mere fact that someone could think that right now is amazing.) But legend status and good songs don’t necessarily guarantee a healthy income, and that’s the idea of Mould’s new video for his driving new song “I Don’t Know You Anymore.” Decemberists frontman Colin Meloy stars an an oily douchebag version of himself, and he helps Mould and his bandmates Jason Narducy and Jon Wurster figure out how to sell things on 2014. (Fake Apple logos help, apparently.)

TOPS - "Change of Heart" (Official Video)

From TOPS' "Change Of Heart / Sleeptalker" 7".

Morrissey - “Earth Is The Loneliest Planet” Official Video (Feat. Pamela Anderson)

The Borat Movie can no longer claim the “randomest Pamela Anderson cameo” crown. Lately, Morrissey has been releasing short spoken-word videos for songs from his grand-return album World Peace Is None Of Your Business. We’ve seen him plaintively reciting his lyrics for the album’s title track, for “The Bullfighter Dies,” and for “Istanbul.” And in the latest of these, for “Earth Is The Loneliest Planet,” Moz is on some deep California shit, standing atop the famous Capitol Records building during a beautiful L.A. sunset and sharing a quiet bonding moment with a fellow animal-rights activist who also happens to be the star of Barb Wire.

Charli XCX - “Boom Clap” (Official Video)

Right now, it’s hard to tell whether Charli XCX is at that career point where it’s impossible to tell whether she’s a star in the making or whether she’s already there. She does, after all, sing the chorus on the #1 song in these United States. Either way, it’s fortuitous that the movie The Fault In Our Stars, which features Charli’s lovestruck single “Boom Clap,” is about to come out. Charli’s video for “Boom Clap” just came out, and it’s one of these soundtrack videos that haphazardly alternates movie footage with footage of its star. But the video still has a ton of Charli dancing around Amsterdam and looking mad charismatic, so it’s still good.

Foo Fighters Sonic Highways: Announce Tease (HBO)

Last month, HBO announced that Dave Grohl would produce his own series for the network that would serves as an extension of his Sound City documentary. While recording their eighth album in different cities across the country, Grohl was also interviewing the artists and engineers that work in each studio they went to. The show’s called Sonic Highways and Grohl calls it “a musical map of America.” No word on when it’s premiering (probably sometime in the fall) but here’s a quick 20-second teaser to hold us over.

Ab-Soul - “Stigmata” (Official Video)

Last week, Ab-Soul shared “Stigmata,” a track that’s most likely on his upcoming third album. The full version features Action Bronson and Assad but the video drops the two guest rappers and serves more as a promo for the new album than an outright music video. The video itself is interesting enough though, featuring Ab dragging a cross through the desert with some shades on and a crown of thorns on his head. It could also strike up a little controversy with some religious groups, which could be fun!

Ryan Adams - “Neutron Dance” (Cover The Pointer Sisters) Video

This year is the first Code Conference, formerly known as the All Things Digital Conference, and they’ve gotten a few very special guests including Beats co-founder Jimmy Iovine, Google’s Sergey Brin, and maybe most importantly Ryan Adams. He started out with a tech joke to win over the audience: “I got some time to kill; I tried to pay my hotel bill with bitcoin” before starting off with a cover of the Pointer Sisters’ “Neutron Dance.” 

And the original: 

Ariana Grande - “Problem” (Feat. Iggy Azalea) Official Video

We, as a community, may never agree on this, but I hold that Ariana Grande’s honking Iggy Azalea-featuring pop-R&B sunburst “Problem” the the greatest potential summer jam that has yet emerged in 2014. The “Problem” video just hit the internet, and it is a big, dizzy energy-jolt with a lot of contortionist breakdancing and a ton of early-’60s mod design. Iggy wears the Emma Peel Avengers jumpsuit, which is going a lot way toward me eventually being OK with Iggy Azalea. Nev Todorovic directs. You could take a stand for the purity and importance of true independent music, or you could watch the video. Pick one! You can’t have both!

Disclosure - “The Mechanism” (Official Video)

Disclosure has never half-assed a music video so far, whether it’s something high-concept like the manic preacher breakdown of “When A Fire Starts To Burn” and the desk job skewering of “Grab Her” or more low-key affairs like the striking lyric video for Mary J. Blige-assisted version of “F For You.” They continue the trend on the video for “The Mechanism,” their one-off with British producer Friend Within. It’s a beautifully animated and captivating video that follows the gears in a machine and features several of Disclosure’s signature faces.

Ablebody - “After Hours” (Official Video)

Los Angeles duo Ablebody has been touring with the Pains Of Being Pure At Heart and Fear Of Men, and frontman Christoph Hochheim used to play in Pains, so it should surprise no one that “After Hours,” the A-side from Ablebody’s new 7-inch, is a study in post-punk jangle. (Incidentally, Hochheim and his brother Anton, who drums for Ablebody, also used to play in the Brooklyn shoegaze band the Depreciation Guild.) What might catch you off guard, though, is the song’s off-kilter harmonics and the hallucinatory visuals in director Martha Naranjo Sandoval’s video. Rarely has dream-pop felt so much like dreams actually feel.

Beverly - "Honey Do" (Official Video)

Earlier this year, Frankie Rose took a break from her solo career and, along with Drew Citron, formed the indie-pop duo Beverly. They announced their existence to the world with an immaculate fuzz-pop single called “Honey Do,” and now they’ve made a video for that single. Director Hanly Banks has put together a series of beautifully-framed moving portraits of teenagers, capturing their surly awkward joyous gangly presences with a powerful degree of empathy. I hope it doesn’t seem too weird when I tell you that the thing moved me.

Pixies - “Silver Snail” (Official Video)

The new Pixies album Indie Cindy has started a ton of fights just by existing, but the band hasn’t let those fights prevent them from making videos for just about every song on the album. “Silver Snail” is the newest video, and it’s a weird one. Mount Emult directs a deeply surreal chronicle of some freaky masked figures as they stalk a shirtless and desperate young man across a frozen tundra. If you have any idea what all this means, please enlighten us in the comments section. It does look cool, though.

of Montreal (aka Hammer Throw) – “Young Champion” Video

While it’s still kind of early to get a consensus on the nostalgia-porn ’80s-movie parody Ping Pong Summer, one thing is clear: of Montreal, under the more appropriate moniker Hammer Throw, have completely nailed their part in creating the film’s anthem, “Young Champion.” As 13-year-old Rad Miracle (yes … that is seriously the character’s name) fights against bullies to become the best ping-pong player and win the cutest girl in town (potentially through a training montage?!), he has Kevin Barnes shouting things like “Young Champion!/ Your heart is racing with the lions/ But your rival is still dancing on the night’s edge” over totally sweet guitar solos and big stadium-ready drums. The video is made up of grainy shots of Barnes in a ridiculous wig and spliced-together footage from the film which provides a tease of that training montage (with Susan Saradon as the wise guru). And while they’re not going to give away the ending … come on, how can Rad Miracle lose with a song like this on his side? Be warned not to jump in the air while listening because there’s a high risk you’ll freeze as movie credits roll over you. Watch it on Revolt now.

PULP : A Film About Life Death & Supermarkets Trailer

It’s easy to get cynical about the recent epidemic of broken-up bands reuniting and getting that festival money, but when the band in question is one like Pulp, the mere possibility of hearing “Common People” performed live tends to overwhelm any of those qualms. And now, those who haven’t gotten a chance to see the reunited band back in action will get an extended, high-quality look at it. When the band got back together a couple of years ago, they kept the camera running, and their new documentary Pulp: A Film About Life, Death & Supermarkets covers the band’s triumphant 2012 hometown show in Sheffield. It looks awesome, and the local-color stuff (a kids’ soccer team with Pulp’s logo on their uniforms!) looks almost as great as the performance footage. The movie debuted at SXSW, and it’ll screen around the UK this summer.

Miguel - “Simple Things” (Official Video)

“Simple Things” (or, if you prefer, “Simplethings”) is the languid, beautiful song that the R&B star Miguel contributed to the soundtrack of the most recent season of HBO’s Girls. That song is months old, and the season of Girls is over, but Miguel is only just coming out with a video for the song. Fair enough! I don’t know who directed the video, but whoever it was did an extremely good job. It’s got a simple story — Miguel leaving his house to meet an extremely pretty young lady — but it’s all shot in such gorgeous, expertly framed, pristine black-and-white that it still works wonderfully. Also, thanks to some goofy visual-metaphor work, we also get to see wild-looking dogs (or wolves?) running through the streets of Hollywood, which looks cool.

Secret Cities - “Bad Trip” (Official Video)

In the years since Fargo trio Secret Cities became a BTW in 2010, the band members settled into three very different lives in three very distant locales: Charlie Gokey practicing law in DC, Alex Abnos pursuing a journalism career in NYC, and lead singer Marie Parker teaching back home in Fargo. But they’re still managing to make music together — actually, they traveled to yet another city, San Francisco, to record Walk Me Home at John Vanderslice’s Tiny Telephone Studios. “Bad Trip” is a splendid example of the group’s knack for punchy AM pop with nods to Pet Sounds and Motown. Christopher Good’s video makes the song even more endearing; it features Parker giving a winning performance as a woman humorously haunted by the memory of an ex-lover.