‘Black Shore’, a new track from Úlfur

Spotted this video on Vimeo earlier and it grabbed my eye immediately. The song is by a fellow named Úlfur (full name Úlfur Hansson) who I’m 99% sure is the bassist for Jonsí’s band when he tours. Striking out on his own he’s created this beautiful electronic track which reminds me a bit of something you might hear in a Miyazaki film. The video was directed by Máni M. Sigfússon who created an abstract piece of art that’s sort of gothic Enya. He directs videos for all the biggest Icelandic musicians, so I’d highly suggest you check out the rest of his videos as well.

Hopefully Úlfur releases a full-length album soon, I’m really digging his sound.

Bobby

Matthew Dear’s new video for ‘In The Middle (I Met You There)’

To coincide with the release of Matthew Dear’s new EP Headcage he’s released a trippy new video directed by Morgan Beringer. The song is called In The Middle (I Met You There) and features vocals from Drums front man Jonny Pierce, which brings an interesting angle to Dear’s music. The song is rather vibrant and melodic, like a natural progression of where Dear’s music is potentially heading. The video itself is pretty crazy, like watching paint melt on drugs or something. It fits though, and certainly sets a mood for the song.

Bobby

The Jullien Brothers bring life to posters with their new video for ‘Troll Slayer’

My old friend Jean Jullien has teamed up with his brother, who goes by the name Niwouinwouin, to start Jullien Brothers, a music/music video production duo making some amazing shit. Niwouinwouin released his Troll Slayer EP late last year, and now they’ve upped the ante with a brand new video which is amazing. The video all takes place on the wall of a bedroom, told through the medium of the posters. The protagonist hero must rescue his love from the evil troll, traversing different posters and battling foes as he goes. The images above give you a sense of the the story, but you have to see the rest to truly see how brilliant these two are. Also be sure to watch it full screen, the experience is that much better.

Bobby

Watching ice melt can be rather exciting

36000 photos, 40 blocs of ice, 40 timelapses of 4 hours, 25 liters of water. That’s what went into the the making of the this video for Mimi Goese and Ben Neill’s song Cusp. Director Christophe Thockler has done a great job of turning the mundane act of ice melting into something engaging, perhaps even beautiful. It’s funny though, that as cool and exciting the video is, the making of video (see below) shows how rather mundane the process was, just a guy with his Canon 60D chilling in his backyard melting some ice with heat gun. But that’s also sort of the genius part of it all, that you can create such amazing work with just one person and a few simple (ok, expensive) tools.

Bobby

Music video for CHLLNGR’s song, ‘Change’

Earlier tonight I was ranting on Twitter that there should be a movie about hipsters with super powers, and this awesome music video is what sparked the thought. The song is CHLLNGR’s Change, which I’d describe as space dub, but I have no idea if that’s a real thing or not. The video is wonderfully vague, featuring a sunglass wearing beard-o aboard an organic spaceship floating around space. Suddenly he’s attacked by a crazy lady in another spaceship, shooting at the beard-o’s ship. He goes into defense mode and handles the situation in a spectacular way.

What I love about this is how out there this is. There’s mystery, there’s power, there’s spectacle – really everything that gets me excited. The video was co-directed by Chad Turner and Ryan Todd, and I think they did a great job. The color palette and special effects are really well done and the pacing makes the video something special. I’d totally watch a full-length feature of this.

You can also download the track for free by clicking here. You can also read about behind-the-making of the video on Wired by clicking here.

Bobby