jonathan boulet + special problems: community service announcement.

There is nothing to not like about this. A simple but eye-grabbing execution from New Zealand directing collective Special Problems for Jonathan Boulet’s “Community Service Announcement.”

Via Feed

phantomcolor + l’ascenseur: squint.

Described by creator Phantomcolor as being “interpreted visually as a succession of fluids one drinks at a lazy saturday morning breakfast”, “Squint” is a long, languid visualization set to the L’Ascenseur’s song of the same name. I have no idea where the breakfast thing comes in, but I don’t really care.

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jérémie périn + flairs: truckers delight.

So wrong it’s right. Jérémie Périn’s video for Flairs’ “Truckers Delight” manages to pull of being radiant in its vulgarity and basically just awesomely fucked up. I’m not sure what else to say but: a) it’s 8-bit, it’s my kyrptonite, I can’t not blog it, and b) totally NSFW. Unless you work in porn.

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ian stevenson + luke seomore: stare into the sun.

I’m always into exploring the sort of cruel paradox of hiding brutal life lessons inside the guise of children’s things. There’s always a witch heating up an oven just around the corner…

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Directed by Ian Stevenson and Luke Seomore, with audio by Graffiti 6, “Stare Into The Sun” delicately walks the fine line between absurdist children’s animation and inside joke. There’s just something about the hero character’s face that lets you know that, unicorn riding and rainbow hoping aside, this shit ain’t gonna end well. Be sure to watch it to the very end.

joe lea + laurel collective: fax of death.

This reminds me of Lite Brite. And basically anything that reminds me of Lite Brite is guaranteed win. Animate by Joe Lea for Laurel Collective’s “Fax of Death.”

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the decemberists: here come the waves.

I just got hard. Anything involving the visual interpretation of music is pretty exciting. Not just a music video, per se. A lot of the time, music videos are just a literal translation or version of a video. Song bumps, it’s in a club, booties shake, the end. Song is slow, singer holds someone, they gaze at each other, the end. These aren’t interpretations, they’re more like regurgitations.

So, when a band like The Decemberists employs four young film-makers to create animations interpreting their tracks, I get jumpy. For “Here Come The Waves: The Hazards Of Love Visualized” animations were created by Guilherme Marcondes, Julia Pott, Peter Sluszka and Santa Maria. On Oct. 19th, The Decemberists are playing a live show at UCLA synched entirely with the hour-long animation on screen. Which, clearly, would be fucking incredible. If anyone has tickets and feels like flying me to L.A., I would be more than up for it. Kthnx.

lusine + britta johnson: two dots.

A magical video for Ghostly International artist Lusine’s “Two Dots.” Directed by Britta Johnson, it lives at the geometric intersection of mathematics and emotion. Where love and passion follow concisely laid out scientific laws and there’s a theorum to neatly explain the trajectory of desire.

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fool’s gold + matthew lessner: surprise hotel.

Sometimes the only thing left to do to beat the heat is to squirt orange soda pop at your dog. Yes? Yes.

Food fights, awesome. Water fights, awesome. Soda fights, awesomer. Matthew Lessner’s vid for Fool’s Gold’s “Surprise Hotel”, awesomest.

Lessner also directed the recent kickass vid for Dirty Projector’s “Stillness Is The Move.”

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sally shapiro + will joines: miracle.

Again, my love for all things Japanese rears its head. If only I could find something Japanese that sucks, but I can’t, because everything Japanese is awesome.

Again, the sleek but empty urban digital Japanese-vibe fills this epic but intimate vid for Sally Shapiro’s ‘Miracle”, directed by Will Joines. In big cities we can live our lives so closely grouped together that it makes our loneliness feel even more cavernous for the lack of actually being physically alone.

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francisca valenzuela + smog.tv: peces.

Crazy cool vid for Francisca Valenzuela’s “Peces.” Not a clue what she’s saying, but the stylization and animation in this vid is incredible.

Google tells me “peces” translates as “clay wetted for making mud walls.” Which doesn’t sound quite as incendiary as I was imagining from the cold frenzy of the vid. So maybe it’s wrong.  Any Spanish speakers out there; can you let me know in the comments what the song is all about? Would love to know.

UPDATE: So thanks to some Spanish-savvy readers, it turns out “peces” actually means “fish” (I’m guessing it’s a Latin-based connection with “Pisces”, which is interesting to me because my star sign is Pisces). Thankfully, that’s way more interesting that wet clay walls. Thanks to everyone for their info on this and to “the other Francisca” (coincidence? maybe, maybe not) for her translation down in the comments!