Every now and again I come across a song that I feel compelled to play on repeat because no other song could possibly speak to my current mood with such intensity. Lately I have oscillated between “Icarus” by White Hinterland, which Bobby used to kick off this super mixcast, and “Z” by Tanlines.

Although the concept of the video is very unassuming and simple, I think it works really well with the music. The monotonous moving footage of an autumnal naturescape in Vermont is the perfect companion to the dreamy and upbeat tone of the song. I really like the video’s unpretentious and lo-fi quality, proving that you don’t need visual trickery and bells and whistles to produce an engaging music video. Mind you, I say this as someone who becomes instantly bored when confronted with a pouting and posturing lead singer, epilepsy-inducing editing, epic and overdone story lines and gyrating back-up dancers. I’ll take autumn leaves and sweet melodies over strobe lighting and flashy camera angles any day.

Danica

This morning I started thinking about how Lykke Li hasn’t released an album since Youth Novels which came out in 2008. Youth Novels was such an amazing album of songs about love that sounds like they were lost from the 60′s. Sadly it looks like there’s going to be a long wait for her sophomore release but until then she’s done this cover of Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow which is pretty sentimental. It’s pretty sad but beautiful at the same time, and of course her voice sounds amazing. Get the tissues ready.

Bobby

My buddy Ryan sent me this video for Tim Knol’s song When I Am King and it’s quite a cute little video. The video was created and directed by a guy named Sverre Fredriksen who soldered about a million pieces of wood to create this two minute, stop motion video. All said and done it took him roughly 5 hours to create one second of video… nutty, I know. I’m not even really sure what the video is about, there’s a guy riding his horse, he makes a big tree house, has dinner with a bunch of ghosts and then everything gets cut down by some scissor birds. Very random, very beautiful.

Be sure to check out the making of video as well!

Found through If It’s Hip, It’s Here

Bobby

Has a puppet show ever made you cry? If your answer is no then this video might just change that fact. The song is taken from Josh Ritter’s newest album So Runs The World Away called The Curse, one of my absolute favorites in fact.

The video is centered around the story of an archaeologist who discovers an Egyptian mummy and they begin to fall in love. They live a wonderful life together but unfortunately the mummy is immortal while the archaeologist is mortal and subject to the effects of time.

Honestly I got pretty misty eyed watching this video. It’s a combination of Josh Ritter’s amazing vocals and the strangely emotional puppets. It should also be noted that the video was directed by Liam Hurley, who is the bands drummer. It has a very Being John Malkovich vibe to it, but maybe I’m just saying that because I know nothing about marionette puppets. Nonetheless I’d suggest taking the time to soak in this beautiful piece of music/art.

Bobby

Just as a warning I have to say that this is the first post written directly from my iPad, so it’s kind of ironic that it’s a video post. The folks over at Grand Crew grabbed lead singer of Born Ruffians Luke Lalonde for a little acoustic version of their song Oh Man from their most recent album Say It which was released on Tuesday. It’s definitely one of my favorite songs on the album and Luke’s version is extremely faithful to the original. If you dig this song I’d definitely suggest picking up the album as well.

Bobby