VITALIC: Poney Part 1

French electro stylist Vitalic team up with ace visualist Pleix to deliver this simple, yet highly chic glamour reel of well manicured pooches. Slow motion close ups, billowing hair sweeps and razor share neon post effects makes this a pony free, dog friendly cat walk stutter. Watch the video (qt).

MASSIVE ATTACK: Live With Me

A brand new single from the forthcoming greatest hits compilation of the genre defining don't-call-them-trip-hop Bristol band. After a rotation of contributors, including original member Mushroom and singers ranging from Sinead O'Connor, Nicolette, Tracey Thorn, Shara Nelson, Tricky, Horace Andy, Sara Jay, Liz Fraser, and even Madonna, the remaining two members push forward to release this collection with an expected album of new material to follow shortly the following year. With fellow Bristolians Portishead expecting a new release soon, could this be the second coming of trip-hop? The video here features the vocals of living soul legend Terry Callier. Watch the video (qt). UPDATED: with audio (qt - stream).

FIONA APPLE: Not About Love

Finally it is revealed that throaty, piano key plucking, world weary beyond her age singer / songwriter Fiona Apple is nothing more than a vaudevillian, Milli Vanilli style lipsync front woman for a heavily bearded, rotund middle age man named Zach. I am shock this revelation has not attracted more media attention. Watch the video (qt - stream).

JAY-JAY JOHANSON: Rush

The pallid Swedish trip hop electronica crooner releases the title track to his latest long player. The single is a blend of MOR pop sensibility and adult contemporary schmaltz. Is it edgy and cool? With the reliance on soft focus lenses, ample concealer and hazy lighting tricks, the only thing for certain is the eighties are undead and undying. The only saving grace? Ballerinas and lots of 'em. Watch the video (real).

THE VINES: Winning Days

There's no video as of yet, but Aussie rockers, the Vines, are all a twitter with the completion of their third album. And while lead singer and songwriter Craig Nicholls probably hasn't combed his hair since album #1, the stop motion antics of this title track video from their second album are quite crisp and enjoyable. Watch the video (qt - stream).

BOY LEAST LIKELY TO: Be Gentle With Me

A perky little pop song from two twee blokes from the English countryside. The video features an assortment of plush pranksters and debilitating strings that force humans into puppet-like slavery. Well, maybe nothing that dark, but conceptually, that description is almost accurate. Watch the video (qt - stream).

HOT CHIP: Over And Over

MK of Not Your Usual Bollocks tips me on this great new clip from the UK electro pop rawk pranksters, Hot Chip. The South East London band play a hybrid mutation of hip hop funked electro mashed soul rock steeped in an intoxicating marinade of humour. This clip takes the concept of the band and brings it to the screen. Watch the video (qt).

GOLDFRAPP: Ride A White Horse

Worth the wait, the new video for Goldfrapp explores trash culture in the most literal of senses. With choreographed homeless bums in grease smudged tightie whities to cigarette butt and bottle-cap topped pizza, this video is a puzzling statement on the state of glam and glamourisation. Who knew corrugated cardboard was so hot right now? Directed by Diane Martel. Watch the video (qt- stream).

TV ON THE RADIO: Dreams

Having landed back in Toronto after a rousing splash of Florida sunshine, I am now refreshed to face the dreariness of bitter cold Toronto ubanity. And what better way to celebrate such winter blues than the bluesy alt-electronics of Brooklynites TV on the Radio? This epic single surges with bristling energy and is nicely married with the startling monolithic imagery of ancient stone idol clashed against the detatched urban street life of metropolis New York. Directed by Elliot Jokelson. Watch the video (qt).

LAIKA: Alphabet Soup

A new clip from the space pop band named after the infamous Russian astronaut dog. Animated video found as I lounge on the sandy shores of South Beach, Miami. Why yes, I'll have another Mojito... Watch the video (real).

FRANZ FERDINAND: Walk Away

The latest clip form the Glaswegian quartet sees the lads steeped in Hitchcockian intrigue. Images of a blonde Bergman-esque beauty, dark sunglass clad villians, high-beam lighted car chases and cabins settings on an Orient express fill the narrative assembled from a ptchwork of thrillers from the 40's, 50's and 60's. As a bonus, the single contains an excellent cover version of Air's Sexy Boy. Watch the video (qt).

COLDER: To The Music

Marc Nguyen Tan AKA Colder returns with a penetratingly chic second single from his brilliant sophomore record. The video is assembled by United Visual Artists, who describe the video on their site as "...singer, band and subject are revealed as fragile, paper-thin digital facsimiles, distorted and corrupted by the machine but rendered from unusually intimate perspectives." You will love this track. No woman can resist dancing the sexy to this one. Watch the video (qt). UPDATED due to the shuttering of Output Recordsvideo clip.

SONDRE LERCHE: Minor Detail

Bergen's hotbed of musicality includes fellow Norwegian notables Annie, Royksopp, Erlend Oye, Kings of Convenience and Magnet. Folk prodigy Lerche is amongst this esteemed crowd and leads the release of his third album with this video... at the tender age of 22. This clean, simple video that is subtle as a gentle seduction, slowly revealing the identify of the musicians with increasingly more intimate close-ups of their hands, backs, until ultimately revealing their faces. Watch the video (win).

THE FLAMING LIPS: Mr. Ambulance Driver

The new clip from the forthcoming new album, At War With The Mystics, landing April 4, 2006. Similar strangeness from the band that could have been called the Tijuana Toads, this video rides the always familiar, yet always delightful skinny white boy dancing as music video concept to full effect. Bravo, much loved cliche. Bravo. Watch the video (qt - stream).

MSTRKRFT: Easy Love

Toronto's MSTRKRFT break out the beats for this uprising electro-house anthem. Fans of The Juan MacLean, DFA, or Daft Punk will heartily appreciate, making this track glide as easily from the dingy boho dens of Williamsburg to the sun kissed beaches of Ibiza. For those in the know, you'll recognize one half of MSTRKRFT as one half of post punkers Death From Above 1979. For those in the know, you may recognize the inspiration of this video to be Japanese in origin. Watch the video (qt).

MAXÏMO PARK: I Want You To Stay

A track that appear on their debut record, A Certain Trigger should spell dizzying bursts of euphoria to me. Yet it hasn't. At least not yet. Perhaps its a grower as it is somewhat subdued for the angular stylings of the Newcastle quintet. The video is dramatic in twisty faux Glazer shocker. But it's directed by Ramon Bloomberg, which I suppose is another twisty shocker. Watch the video (qt).

CUT COPY: Saturdays

Excuse my absense! I've been powerbookless while the computer was at the shop getting the keyboard replaceed. Apparrent, buttons fall off unexpectedly. With my first request for service, I'm only take a small chunk out of the hefty Apple Care price.The Melbourne new wave / electro stylists club it up with this hairsprayed and lipglosses postcard of a music video. It is my postcard to you from my techless vacation!! Watch the video (real).

XIU XIU: Pox

The whole barbie doll music video thing is kinda played out. We've seen Metric do it before, and while it's a great excuse to shoot a really low budget video, it just doesn't excite. So while Xiu Xiu are still one of the indie bands of credible musicality, their videos do kinda blow. Watch the video (qt).

FISCHERSPOONER: All We Are

I have my suspicions that is this not an "official" Fischerspooner video. The case? No glam shots of Casey Spooner, no portraitures of Casey Spooner, no erotic imagery of Casey Spooner, no fashion photography of Casey Spooner... But none the less, the track is a well produced piece of electro pop, and the accompanying visuals, from a couple of South Africa's leading creative teams, REX and Tennant McKay, are quite nice to watch unfold. Watch the video (qt).

ARCTIC MONKEYS: When The Sun Goes Down

The unbearable burden of British music media hype has catapulted Artic Monkeys into the realm of Britain's most buzzed band. NME even goes as far as to compare the Sheffield band to the much ballyhoo'd and now disbanded Libertines. Is that the actor from Snatch? Watch the video (qt stream).

The 5th Annual Indie Music Video Festival

CALL FOR ENTRIES
The 5th Annual INDIE MUSIC VIDEO FESTIVAL
Cross-continent,cross-genre.
We are interested in all independently produced music videos.
Accepting entries under 6 min on VHS,DVD and mini dv. (NTSC only)
Deadlines,Entry Form and info
http://www.imvf.com/submissions.html
info@imvf.com

Screenings in 2005 included Vancouver, Victoria, Calgary, Toronto, Seattle, Los
Angeles, New York and Chicago.

HARD-FI: Cash Machine

Richard Archer. Staines, England. Influences that range from Emimen to The Killers to Massive Attack to The Specials. Mix it with a trio of bandmates and out spews Hard-Fi's rock-pop-mutation. There's apparently an x-rated version of the video on the band's website (click the post title), with registration. This video is directed by Dougal Wilson. Watch the video (qt).

LADY SOVEREIGN: Random

No, it's not Sporty Spice on hoodies and quaaludes. It's the brave new hype of grime, Lady Sovereign! While most London nineteen year olds are getting shitfaced at the pub at 5 to 11, (ed - Is that still true since the pub hours have been changed?), Sov is getting shitfaced on rhymes and beats with co-horts Mike Skinner, label head Jay-Z (who signed her), Missy Elliott and Timbaland. That's some heavy, heavy names for this rhymer to drop. "Straight Up Cheeky" is the working name of her full length due in the summer. Watch the video (qt).

TEMPOSHARK: It's Better To Have Loved

Spotted on Arjan's blog, this is the Brit band's lead single. Considering the pop-electronic production style, it's not suprising in the slightest that the production decks were man-ed by Frou Frou main man Guy Sigsworth. Terrifyingly lo-fi, the video melds image upon image for a doppleganger ghostly effect. Directed by Justine Pearsall. Watch the video (qt).

STARS: Your Ex-Lover Is Dead

Peter C tips us to this stunning new video for the latest single from Stars. Perhaps an homage to Michel Gondry's "Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind" or reminiscent of lost Canadian winters of ice skating, the video features the band minstrelsing on fractured frozen lake surface, looking rose cheeked and serene. Co lead vocals sung sweetly by Torquil and Amy. Fans of Amy Millan, who counts both Stars and the Broken Social Scene as benefactors of her mesmerizing vocal contributions, will be delighted to hear her solo effort is forthcoming this year, potentially as early as spring. Watch the video (qt).

ARCADE FIRE: Neighbourhood #3 (Power Out)

There is a renaissance of animated videos and here is one from the indie it band of the decade. The Arcade Fire not only played the recent Fashion Rocks stage with David Bowie, the esteemed Montreal enclave are nominated for 2 Grammy Awards: Best Alternative Music Album and Best Song Written For Motion Picture, Television Or Other Visual Media (for their Six Feet Under single "Cold Wind". Not to shabby, indeed. Watch the video (qt).

MOGWAI: Hunted By A Freak

Tyler M. tips me to this great animated video of free falling pet store critters from the moody Scottish prog rockers. The cartoonishly dark video goes as far as to state that only two animals were killed in the video. I have been fortunate enought o have caught Mogwai play live in the UK, when I used to live there. Catch them in a town near you as they embark on their US tour starting in March 2006. Another hot video from the crew at Plates Animation. Watch the video (real).

TOM VEK: Nothing But Green Lights

Tom Vek rollerskates further into underappreciated indie herodom in another lo-fi, low cast indie video. Sure it's the unlikely and so-lame-it's-cool venue of a desolate roller rink, but is that really an excuse for blighting this track with such unflattering angles and dismal lighting design? Appreciate the track, mourn the video treatment. Watch the video (real stream).

SKALPEL: 1958

Shuffling snare drums and jazz samples are the mainstay to the black and white retrospective of imagery from the track title era. Of course, Skalpel is labelled by the avant hop curators of Ninja tune. The two member band of Marcin Cichy and Igor Pudlo hail from far away and unlikely Wroclaw, Poland where the mine the dusty crates of forgotten Polish jazz records. Directed by Dariusz Szermanowicz and Magierski for #13. Watch the video (qt).

WE ARE SCIENTISTS: Great Escape

The American alternative rock trio blast onto the landscape with their debut long player With Love And Squalor. This video not is a clever twist of three lad that do everything as one, including showering, dating women and using the urinal. The band recently played David Letterman, a major coupe of rock and roll marketing 101. Watch the video (win).

TOWA TEI: GBI (German Bold Italic)

Former Deee-lite DJ Towa Tei combines the geisha wiles of Aussie pop icon Kylie Minogue with Parisian video director and photographer Stephane Sednoaui to concoct this stylish, popstatsic Japanese clip. Never have I experienced such a wonderful tribute to a type face before. It's a font for goodness sakes! This track is from the second album called "Sound Museum". The forth, entitled "Flasher", is forthcoming. Watch the video (qt).