WISH - “Retro Grade” (Official Video)

Toronto band WISH play stripped-down psych rock, and on “Retro Grade,” they manage to stuff a lot of spacey jamming into a two and a half minutes. The track appears on the band’s upcoming self-titled debut, and you can hear it in the video below, which also gives you a good look at the lyrics and the band themselves.

Steve Gunn & Mike Cooper - “Pony Blues” (Official Video)

Recently, guitarist Steve Gunn teamed with Mike Cooper — a legend of experimental music best known for his lap-steel guitar playing — to collaborate on the album Cantos de Lisboa, which is the 11th volume in the consistently great FRKWYS series. Now, in the music video for the song “Pony Blues,” director Champ Ensminger has crafted something very special. Recently finding a geographical similarity between the American South and his new home of Thailand, the clip is shot in the forests of the latter and it is simply one of the most visually stunning videos I’ve seen in a while. The classic blues song fits perfectly as the soundtrack to a haunting short-film version of a Thai ghost story. It follows a young man as he pursues a beautiful woman, but all is not as it seems, and the story moves toward an inevitable conclusion that should bring uneasy flashbacks to this year’s Under The Skin.

HANAH - “Out of Touch” (Official Video)

HANAH’s first single, “Out Of Touch,” is a shining example of electronic minimalism. Backed by a skittering beat and syrupy synths, New York-based Hannah Taxman has created an enticing and sensual debut. The track was produced by Luca Buccellati, who is also responsible for Tei Shi’s glorious Saudade EP from last year. The video, directed by Nicolas Pesce, matches the uneasy tremors of the song itself and sees Taxman obscured by shadow and shot through a fuzzy, prismatic lens.

Freddie Gibbs & Madlib - “Harold’s” (Official Video)

When I write that YG’s My Krazy Life is, to my mind, easily the best rap album of 2014 thus far, someone will inevitably show up in the comments section and make a case for Freddie Gibbs and Madlib’s Piñata. Well, sorry. YG may not be anywhere near the technical rapper that Gibbs is, but My Krazy Life (which came out the same day as Piñata, has more drive and cohesion and hooks, and a more complete sound, than any other rap record in a long time. But Piñata is still great! It’s a strong, unpretentious collection of dark and intricate tough-talk and beautifully hazed-out production with some very strong guest verses. “Harold’s,” a song named after a great Chicago-area fried chicken chain, is a great example of what the album does right. And now, in the new video for “Harold’s,” we see a ton of wintertime footage of Gibbs in his Gary, Indiana hometown, with enough shots of the song’s namesake to make me very hungry. Gregory Buissereth directed the video.

Moonface - “City Wrecker” (Official Video)

Last year, ex-Wolf Parade and Sunset Rubdown member Spencer Krug released the beautiful and overlooked album Julia With Blue Jeans On under his Moonface name. He’s back with a new EP called City Wrecker and he’s shared the release’s title track. It’s another painfully gorgeous and contemplative piano ballad like the ones that filled his last LP. Watch a video for the track below and read some words from Krug, who says that, despite some lyrical similarities, the song is the “aesthetic opposite” of Miley Cyrus’ “Wrecking Ball.”

Hello everyone and anyone.

I recently made some more recordings under the name Moonface, which take the form of a 5 song EP called City Wrecker, and run at around half an hour.

“City Wrecker” is the title track of the EP. I wrote it before Miley Cyrus released “Wrecking Ball,” but I cannot prove it. Oh well. In describing the song (and maybe the whole EP) I would say it’s the aesthetic opposite of “Wrecking Ball” by Miley Cyrus, which is not to say that’s a good thing or a bad thing, just an apple for you to hold up beside your orange. Regardless of all that, my friend Eetu, who recorded this EP, still likes to call the song “Wrecking Ball” and to sometimes call me Miley, but that’s okay cuz we’re buddies.

I lived in Finland for a couple of years, but now I live in a little town nestled in the woods of Vancouver Island. This is a recent move, and so City Wrecker represents the last album I completed in Helsinki. Maybe I will go back to that big icy lighthouse, and all the lovely weirdos within I have come to love, one day, but for now I have used it up.
I have a tendency to wreck the places I live. I am a luster scraper; a green grass imaginer. I wreck places emotionally, as in, even though they stay the same objectively, they somehow worsen in my heart. I wreck their meaning, and so ultimately their function. No more crackling inspiration. I waste my own time. I get bored. I turn gardens into dust bowls.

And I am a city wrecker not just for myself, but for those close to me as well, for my wrecking is a quiet and creeping poison that is hard to identify; hard to see coming through my mist of moods. I fuss, and then still am dissatisfied, making my loved ones feel sad and helpless, angry and confused, and perhaps most terribly, responsible. Though of course they are blameIess and magnificent.

I suppose this is why I have moved so many times in my life. It is not a good characteristic, and one I should work toward eradicating from my personality. But having regret is also unhealthy. So, I am Popeye?

Anyway, all of the songs on this ep, in one way or another, are about places. Going in and going out. Regret and hope. The past and the future. Ducking out early from your own farewell party. That’s why it’s called City Wrecker.

Tracklist:
01 “The Fog”
02 “City Wrecker”
03 “Running In Place With Everyone”
04 “Helsinki Winter 2013″
05 “Daughter Of A Dove”

The Fauns - “4AM” (Official Video)

Bristol shoegazers the Fauns released their striking sophomore effort Lights last fall on Invada, the label run by Portishead’s Geoff Barrow. One of the album highlights was “4AM,” a whispery and atmospheric number that moves at a brisk tempo but emotes like a ballad. Director Tia Salisbury’s video features model Kate Elson (twin sister of model/musician/Jack White ex Karen Elson) looking wistful amidst assorted urban and rural scenery. It’s a good look for a great song.

Rick Ross - “What A Shame” (Feat. French Montana) Video

Lord only knows why Rick Ross felt like he had to release two music videos in two days for songs from a months-old album, but that’s where we are right now. First up was the sunny, money-soaked “Supreme” clip. And now Eif Rivera has directed a grimly goofy crime-movie video for “What A Shame,” the album’s Camp Lo-quoting French Montana collab. The video details what happens when Ross goes to war with a rival crime family, and it includes a vaguely surprising moment in which a room full of mobsters discuss the Donald Sterling/Clippers situation. Also: Rick Ross sex scene! With missionary humping and everything!

Jeezy - “Me OK” (Official Video)

When I was in New York a few weeks ago, I ended up at a listening party for Seen It All, the new album from Young Jeezy (or, as he’d now prefer to be known, just Jeezy). I happened to be wearing all black that day, and Jeezy told me I was “G’ed up.” If you know me, you know that this was a crowning life achievement. This mattered to me because Jeezy has spent a solid decade making hard and unpretentious trunk-rattlers like his new single “Me OK.” And in that track’s new video, Jeezy stays dressed like I was that day (except better, with jewelry and clothes that fit and sneakers that presumably are not falling apart). The video, directed by Motion Family, is all grainy, naturalistic Atlanta street-level stuff. A few local rap luminaries make cameos, but the faces of the bystanders are just as important.

Franz Ferdinand - “Stand On The Horizon” (Official Video)

In Franz Ferdinand’s strange, striking new video for the shiny, horn-laced “Stand On The Horizon,” we see the band playing in a dark and mysterious seaside resort. It turns out to be the sort of place where younger men dance stiffly and robotically with older women, with everyone lit as dramatically as possible. The song comes from Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action, the album that the band released last year after a prolonged absence.

Rick Ross - “Supreme” (Official Video)

“Supreme” is one of the most sweeping, luxurious tracks on Rick Ross’ excessively sweeping and luxurious 2014 album Mastermind, and its new video practically drips with luxury-rap signifiers. Sports cars! Way-too-big swimming pools! Expensive alcohol spilled on the ground! Florida sunshine! Meek Mill cameos, and Ross smiles in this one more than he usually does. Frequent Ross collaborator Dre Films directed the video.

Owl John (Frightened Rabbit’s Scott Hutchison) - “Red Hand” (Official Video)

Frightened Rabbit frontman Scott Hutchison will release his debut solo album under the Owl John moniker this week. Uptempo single “Red Hand” is a fine example of Hutchison’s signature style, delivering memorable turns of phrase in his rich, weathered brogue against charging pop-rock driven by organ and guitar. The song now has an unnerving video in which a woman seems to be bathing in blood. It’s slightly NSFW due to side boob.

Vaults - “Lifespan” ¨(Official Video)

A couple weeks back we premiered “Lifespan,” an exceptional brooding synthpop epic by UK trio Vaults. Now the song has a video worthy of its sonic splendor. Directed by Nick Rutter and the band, its eerie, artful imagery is inspired by medieval “dance of death” paintings.

Bear In Heaven - “Time Between” Video + Stream Bear In Heaven Time Is Over One Day Old

Soaring, space-bound synth-rock band Bear In Heaven are about to put out their first album since 2012 — their excellent new album is called Time Is Over One Day Old and you can stream it here. Today, we’re getting a video for first single “Time Between,” a pointillistic portrait of New York City’s late-night denizens. “We came up with this loose concept of the time between dusk and dawn,” frontman Jon Philpot explains to T Magazine. That shadowy period is when the city’s most exciting weirdos come out to play, and director Nick Bentgen, determined to capture them all, spent a month filming nocturnal moments — both real and imagined, mundane and bizarre — in Manhattan and its surrounding boroughs. “The following day, they have to go back to being themselves and carrying on with life, as we all do,” says Philpot.

Sam Smith - “I’m Not The Only One” (Official Video) + Stream Sam Smith In The Lonely Hour

Sam Smith’s next single from his soulful debut album is “I’m Not The Only One” and the song is exactly what you’d expect from the crooner who has taken over the charts. The video stars Glee’s Dianna Agron as an unhappy housewife who gets revenge on her husband (The Mindy Project’s Chris Messina) while he’s busy meeting another woman in a dark, smoky bar. It’s a beautifully shot video with some really well-composed frames courtesy of director Luke Monaghan, who also did the video for Smith’s “Leave Your Lover.”

Ballet School -“Lux” (Official Video)

The Berlin trio Ballet School is making a name for itself with the pretty synth-rock single “Lux,” and the song’s new video, from director Nova Dando, goes all in on frontwoman Rosie Blair’s fashion-plate charisma. Suffice to say: You might never see a Cocteau Twins-informed dream-pop video with quite this much body-rolling in it. A ridiculously cute baby kitten also features prominently.

Philip Selway - “Coming Up For Air” (Official Video)

Radiohead drummer Philip Selway is getting ready to release Weatherhouse, his second album as a solo singer-songwriter, and lead single “Coming Up For Air” is a fine piece of way-out psych-pop that sounds something like a song his band might’ve recorded during that stretch between The Bends and OK Computer. Selway’s gleaming dome never shows up in the song’s new NYSU-directed video. Instead, it’s a loosely connected series of trippy, ominous, vaguely dystopic images, and it shows a lingering fascination with optical illusions.

Tori Amos - “Promise” (Feat. Her Daughter, Natashya) Video

“Promise,” one of the songs on Tori Amos’ new album Unrepentant Geraldines, is a duet with Amos’ 13-year-old daughter Natashya, who, it turns out, can really sing. She also shows up in the song’s brand-new video, which follows Amos’ video for “Trouble’s Lament” as the second one from the album. There’s not much going on in the video — it’s just two of them singing in a room together and doing the hug-from-behind-sway-together thing — but as a person with a daughter, it’s more than enough to get me feeling pretty emotional. Natashya, it seems, has mastered the staring-intently-into-the-camera thing, and she already appears to be taller than her mom. Also of note: Amos has been getting weird with her setlists on her recent tour, playing songs she hasn’t played in years (including songs from her Richard Marxist pre-Little Earthquakes band Y Kant Tori Read!) and a whole lot of ’80s covers. Below, check out the “Promise” video, as well as video of Amos covering Rihanna’s “We Found Love” during a recent Oakland show, completely turning it into a Tori Amos song.

Alvvays - “Archie, Marry Me” (Official Video)

Alvvays don’t reinvent the wheel on their self-titled debut and they don’t do anything outrageous for the “Archie, Marry Me,” video, but everything they do is so charming and well-executed that it doesn’t really matter. When a band plays into tropes as well as they do, it just elevates them as a highlight of the blissed-out pop genre. The video features grainy footage of the Toronto band on the beach and at sea, with frontwoman Molly Rankin’s striking platinum blonde hair always at the forefront.