Top 20 Best Animated Music Videos

Bearded Indie-folk collective Fleet Foxes have just released a new animated video for The Shrine / An Argument; one of the most sprawling, rustically melodic tracks off Helplessness Blues (2011): and it’s an imaginative masterpiece.

If you aren’t aurally intimate with Fleet Foxes music, they’re the band that successfully made “choral folk” the new black back in 2008, with the release of their self-titled debut. It went platinum in the UK, but failed to captivate the US market - like a lot of quality indie music sadly - despite being one of the best releases of that year (in my humble book obviously… but seriously - get onto it).
Helplessness Blues isn’t an unworthy follow up either. The Shrine / An Argument’s animated video below (by Sean Pecknold & Britta Johnson) with its warm muted copper tones - colours I’ve always envisioned listening to their music – and intriguingly haunting little narrative, is what I would call the  “Picasso’s gizz” – pure creative genius.

…And it got me to thinking how much consideration goes into the storytelling of animated music videos… and how the good ones can leave such a graphic imprint in the back of your mind. It’s a lot more than 3 dudes in a garage with a swinging light bulb that’s for sure!
With that in mind, here are the top 20 best animated videos that managed to capture the Radar team’s imaginations in recent years.

Let me know if I missed any!

Fleet Foxes – The Shrine / An Argument

Gorillaz - Stylo

Daft Punk – One More Time

Radiohead – Pyramid Song

Red Hot Chili Peppers – Otherside

Pearl Jam - Evolution

Goyte – Heart's a Mess

Moby – Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad

Grizzly Bear – Ready Able

MGMT – Time to Pretend

Sebastien Tellier – Look

Kanye West – Heard ‘Em Say feat. Adam Levine

The Chemical Brothers – Another World

Portisehead – The Rip

Tool – Sober

Architecture in Helsinki – Do the Whirlwind

Goldfrapp – Twist

Royksopp – Beautiful Day Without You

Coldplay – Strawberry Swing

Queens of the Stone Age – Go With the Flow

Bluejuice's Jake & Stav Talk Pashing Grannies & Fingering

Jake and Stav from Bluejuice came to in to Radar Radio (where I is working now yo) to take us through their new album Company track-by-track. Needless to say, as soon as the boys got behind the mikes, witty banter ensued...

And what is better than musicians who can actually talk earnestly and humourously about their music? Musicians who admit they like dressing up as women, kissing grannies and musicians who "want everyone to get fingered during the tour". Also needless to say, I fell more and more in love with these boys shooting this interview (until I literally fell holding the camera - damn low blood pressure - fortunately Jake revived me with some of his juice - it was green). You will LOL your arse off, oh wait that's LMFAO... let's just say, you will enjoy an overly used acronym when you watch these videos...

Warm yourself in Real Estate’s Days

Snuffed out camp fires, dregs of sunsets in the rear-view and other water damaged memories of summer love that fritted away as the leaves began to turn is what comes to mind listening to the latest offering from New Jersey indie folk-pop four piece Real Estate.

Their second album Days (Domino) may sound like an album you’ve heard before (The Shins Oh, Inverted World or The Thrills, So Much for the City), but it’s hard to decipher whether it’s the actual music or because the songs’ rounded mellow tones and jangly folk guitar riffs suck you back to a place in the back of your mind you haven’t dusted off for some time. There’s undeniable warmth in Real Estate’s melodies, entrancingly tainted with disconnection and loss. It’s really beautiful stuff.

Definitely take a road trip into tracks like ‘Green Aisles’ and ‘Out of Tune’, but I recommend muddying up the tarmac and getting lost in the whole album. You'll forget where you’re headed… and you won’t even care… 

Rapper 360 on Flying and Falling

Check this video I produced of Aussie battler (of the rapping variety) 360 as he takes Radar Radio's jock extraordinaire Reegan track by track through his new album Flying and Falling. 360 aka Matt Colwell seemed like such an earnest character... he really laid it all out for us in this interview: I was surprised by how disarming and openly personal he was. You’ll feel like you know him after watching this, even though no doubt we’ve only just scratched the surface… It includes snippets of all his music videos too.

Oliver Tank in Slow Motion

This dreamy sky-scape track is the work of new young Sydney producer Oliver Tank. Take note Cher, this is how to use auto-tune effectively! I just love how this track pulses along... really sparse layering of sound. He really uses that space; what sounds like the space between breath and a heartbeat. Definitely one to watch.  

Last Night I Heard Everything in Slow Motion by Oliver Tank

Hurry Up M83! We're Dreaming...

It's safe to say the arrival of M83's new album double Hurry Up, We're Dreaming will be like a long lost lover coming home (after 3 years) and I can't wait to feel it wrap its arms around me and make love to my every sense. (I know I talk about music like that a lot, it's no wonder I'm single...)

M83, headed up by French artist Anthony Gonzalez, is a genius at creating the ultimate melancholy party mixtape with his music: your head might bounce, you hands might swim so your friends can see... but your heart's lost somewhere in the galaxy of hazy minor keys and angst-ridden phrases that fall like burnt out stars. Check out "Be Wild" followed directly by "Cyborg" (Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts, 2003) and you'll get what I mean.

"Midnight City" is the first official single we've heard hit the airwaves and it's already got my arteries pulsing and the ends of my nerves scrounging around online for more leaked tracks.

It's quite 'pop' this track; with that surging 4/4 beat and fuzzy layers of 80’s style synth (something M83 have always unashamedly been a fan of) only emphasised by the top-line sax solo taking us out at the end - which has made quite the comeback this year! So, it will be interesting to hear if the rest of the album has the same kind of vibe as a whole... and if the diehard shoegazers droop their chins accordingly in a different direction as a result   (as many did with the release of Saturday = Youth, 2008). This is what Anthony himself had to say,

"It's a double album. It's mainly about dreams, how every one is different, how you dream differently when you're a kid, a teenager, or an adult. I'm really proud of it. If you're doing a very long album, all the songs need to be different and I think I've done that with this one." (Spin)

Hurry Up, We're Dreaming is due out this October 2011, and I for one can't wait to plug it in and close my eyes...

Girls ‘Vomit’ Tastes So Sweet

This kaleidoscopic new track 'Vomit' from Girls’ forthcoming Album Father, Son, Holy Ghost feels like you’d imagine it would if you were one of those cement-footed Mafia victims (circa 1970) sinking to the bottom of the sea as your last bubbled-breaths escape before your eyes.

The sinking, heart-wrenching finality is stretched from ballad-verse into some raw sweet-arse retro power riffs (Velvet Underground Vs Zeppelin?) and you go all the way down with it...

That is, until the characteristic yellow-toned optimism of Christopher Owens’ vocals break through the surface & breathe life into the back end of the track against a welling gospel chorale and ‘Whiter Shade of Pale’ style organ to cry, “Come into my heart, my love...”

Fuck, I love that kind of contrast in music, and Girls do it so well. I remember when I first heard previous singles ‘Laura’ (Album, 2009) and ‘Broken Dreams Club’ (Broken Dreams Club EP, 2010) the sweet & sour mix was so alluring and confusing; you felt like laughing, crying and dancing all at once. And that’s life, isn’t it? Hmm, maybe just mine... but there is something so relatable about Girls’ music it makes me think I’m not alone.

Girls, as the song goes, “I really wanna be your friend forever”

PS. You can download it now for free from Girls offical facebook page.

Memory Tapes, Yes I know...

So excited about US producer Dayve Hawk AKA Memory Tapes new material, since his first LP Seek Magic fuzzed around my ipod and the back of my head for endless days after its release. His sound is dappled so beautifully with light and loneliness, where lots of sampled layers give it this watery texture that just moves through you until it literally moves you.

His latest video "Yes I know" directed by Eric Epstein is also one of the best new music videos I've seen. Absolute creative genius; on par with the Michel Gondry and Chris Cunningham's music video art of the past.

If this new track is just droplet of what we can expect from Memory Tapes forthcoming album Player Piano (out July 5) it is sure to be a high-rotater.

For You - Oscar + Martin

Discovered this little Melbourne duo on yet another lengthy binge of Australian music... Oscar + Martin.

Such a unique sound: perfect little popping beats overlaid by sweet little edible melodies make for an impressive first LP release from the boys entitled For You. I love how honest and raw the lyrics are too: there's lots of soft little peaks of heartfelt sincerity which make you really want to know the characters behind them.

Hopefully I'll get yo meet you at your Oxford Art Factory gig tomorrow night!

In the meantime, get lost in this juicy little ditty, 'Recognise'.  

30 Seconds to Mars Get Their Butts Pinched

So I'm not a great fan of their music, but Requiem For a Dream is one of my favourite movies - and I told Jared Leto that when I shot this interview. Got to give it to him , he is good on the witty banter.

Top 10 Best Albums and Songs for 2010 (ok ok so it blew out to 40 – I couldn’t help myself)

2010 has churned out some of the most awe inspiring music ever to skittle its way around ear drums, curl down to clench the ends of our nerves and move us in countless different ways impossible to scratch out on paper.

Some I’ve flailed limbs uncontrollably to in crowded bars, some I’ve clutched close to my chest alone on rocky outcrops in the dark, some I’ve screamed to with arms wrapped around strangers on muddy fields and some I’ve even attempted to make love to… (Apparently LCD’s Drunk Girls only works as an aphrodisiac on certain occasions)

Regardless, it has been an incredible year of music and hence why I failed so dismally at whittling my list down to a standard top 10.

I’ve also included a few of my fave tracks from each album, although I would argue that the top 10 albums at least are near perfect bodies of work. Like a fine wine, I’m sure a lot of the 2010 albums will only get better with time and like the memories of being front-centre at the respective artist's gigs (or squished at the back, imprinted into some sweaty dudes beer gut like a Hollywood star hands impression) eternally unforgettable.

Please argue with me on your choices if they differ - love a good argument!

1.Deerhunter – Halcyon Digest
Fave songs: Coronado, Earthquake (and only because I am responsible for about 200+ consecutive plays on youtube of Helicopter before the album was released)

2.Broken Social Scene - Forgiveness Rock Record
Fave songs: World Sick, Sweetest Kill

3.Sufjan Stevens - The Age of Adz
Fave songs: I Walked, Impossible Soul

4.The National - High Violet
Fave songs: Little Faith, Lemonworld

5.The Radio Dept. – Clinging to a Scheme
Fave Songs: A Token of Gratitude, You Stopped Making Sense

6.Local Natives (Australian Release 2010) - Gorilla Manor
Fave songs: Sticky Thread, Cubism Dream

7.Foals - Total Life Forever
Fave songs: What Remains, This Orient

8.Caribou - Swim
Fave Songs: Jamelia, Odessa

9.Jonsi - Go
Fave songs: Tornado, Kolniour

10.Arcade Fire - The Suburbs
Fave Songs: Suburban War, We Used to Wait

11.Gold Panda - Lucky Shiner
Fave Songs: Same Dream China, Snow & Taxis

12. LCD Soundsystem - This is Happening
Fave Songs: Dance Yrself Clean, All I Want

13. Yeasayer - Odd Blood
Fave Songs: Grizelda, Madder Red

14.Beach House - Teen Dream
Fave Songs: Zebra, Norway

15.Seabellies - By Limbo Lake
Fave Songs: Smoketsar, Trans Ending

16.Delphic - Acolyte
Fave Songs: This Momentary, Remains

17.Tame Impala – Innerspeaker
Fave Songs: Alter Ego, It’s Not Meant to Be

18.Mice Parade - What It Means to Be Left Handed
Fave Songs: Old Hat, Tokyo Late Night

19.Parades - Foreign Tapes
Fave Songs: Hunters, Tripping Over Your Eyes

20.Delorean - Subiza
Fave Songs: Warmer Places, Stay Close

21.Band of Horses – Infinite Arms
Fave Songs: Infinite Arms, For Annabelle

22.Mount Kimbie – Crooks and Lovers
Fave Songs: Maybes, Sketch on Glass

23.Menomena – Mines
Fave Songs: Queen Black Acid, Lunchmeat

24.Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles II
Fave Songs: Empathy, Suffocation

25.Zola Jesus – Stridulum II
Fave Songs: Sea Talk, I can’t Stand

26.Best Coast - Crazy for You
Fave Songs: I Want To, Honey

27.Warpaint – The Fool
Fave Songs: Undertow, Bees

28.Bear in Heaven – Beast Rest Forth Mouth
Fave Songs: You Do You, Lovesick Teenagers

29.Glasser – Ring
Fave Songs: Home, T

30.Twin Shadow – Forget
Fave Songs: Castles in the Snow, I Can’t Wait

31.James Blake – Klavierwerke EP
Fave Songs: I Only Know What I Know Now, CMYK

32.Alpine – Zurich EP
Fave Songs: Villages, Too Safe

33.The Books –The Way Out
Fave Songs: The Story of Hip Hop, All You Need Is a Wall

34.How to Dress Well – Love Remains
Fave Songs: Ready for the World, Decisions

35.Hunting – Earnest Ellis
Fave Songs: I am the Beast, When I feel Like Jesus’ Son the World Will Feel Much Different

36.Twin Sister – Colour Your Life EP
Fave Songs: Lady Daydream, Phenomenons

37.Blackbird Blackbird – Summer Heart
Fave Songs: Sunspray, So Sorry Girl

38.The Holidays – Post Paradise
Fave Songs: 6am, Conga

39.Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti – Before Today
Fave Songs: Round and Round, Beverly Kills

40.Titus Andronicus – The Monitor
Fave Songs: No Future Part III: Escape from No Future, A Pot in Which to Piss

Broken Social Scene - Texico Bitches Official Video

Check out this saucy new video for Broken Social Scene's "Texico Bitches". And I thought the Preset's "This Boy's in Love" was homo-erotic! Whether it be milk or chocolate sauce, it's good to see artists using their creative license to be adventurous with their content direction. Sadly, some attitudes won't change themselves. This is a cracker of track to boot by one of my all time favourite bands:

Bear Bands and Bear Hands

Having the word “Bear” as part of your band name seems to be a mystical precursor for quality music these days, badged by scout-leading bands like: Grizzly Bear, Bear in Heaven, Panda Bear, Boy & Bear, Bearhug (Sydney band), the former Bear Vs Shark and the Bearnaked Ladies (oops wrong bear…and they were shit weren’t they). And now these little Brooklyn based furry nuggets, Bear Hands join my personal sleuth.

The boys began to cause a stir via a steady slog of support slots on the New York indie scene back in 2007 (Vampire Weekend, Les Savy Fav etc) after the release of their debut Golden EP. But it’s been their latest LP drop Burning Bush Supper Club that’s finally starting to chink its way into the independent Aussie airwaves.

They could be likened to fellow Cantora Records psy-rockers MGMT (upon hearing the track “Camel Convention” – I was envisioning a strange bird-like creature losing control of its limbs in the desert – or perhaps recalling my last night out on the town…) but Bear Hands seem to have a more jaunty texture to their sound: fuzzed-out vocals and just enough reverb to claw over dynamic percussion arrangements: some rollicking and tambourine infused, some unsuitably standard - but sounded out sweetly either way with woodland-romping melodies and abstract lyrics. I don’t know about you, but I love non-figurative language in song writing: where the sound of a feeling becomes the story and the way you flesh it out internally, tells it (true poetry? You tell me).

One of my fave tracks off Burning Bush Supper Club would have to be “Julien” (you can here what I mean by woodland-romping) as well as “Tablasaurus” (which has an Empire of the Sun kind of flavour to it).

Will Bear Hands get their bear heads mounted up on indie music fan's cabin walls alongside the formidably talented Grizzly Bear and Bear in Heaven? Only time - and perhaps a handy air rifle will tell...

You can purchase Burning Bush Supper Club from the Bear Hands website or here on itunes(although only their Golden EP is available in Australia as yet), or you can lend your heart to “Julien” here on Hype Machine. Check out their first single of the LP “What a Drag” below: