Spring is in the air, and this batch of music videos reflect the joyful moods and colors popping up all around us. Of course, it’s hard not to feel happy when you take part in Xiu Xiu’s raging house party of uninhibited pixels and watch Elijah Wood traveling through time as the host of a science-fiction television show with Apples In Stereo. Aloe Blacc tries to temper the mood with a shot of grim wintry soul, but the song and video are so good we’ll forgive him for stalling the spring buzz. After the jump, watch all of Flavorwire’s choices for best music videos of the week, and try to imagine your own response if you came upon a rainbow crew of paper cranes flying around your city.
Apples In Stereo – “Dance Floor”
Elijah Wood time travels, looks suitably perplexed, watches a grossly dressed Apples In Stereo perform a bit of bleep pop, adds a vocoded vocal line, gets mightily confused by his watch, and invites even more Lord of the Rings/Mordor jokes by staring into a flaming black hole. A good time is had by all.
Aloe Blacc – “I Need A Dollar”
We’re big fans of How To Make It In America, and so it was refreshing to see Aloe Blacc’s opening sequence song “I Need A Dollar” get its own video showcasing the soul wither and trill. The split screen effectively juxtaposes Blacc gesticulating impassionately in a room of invariant light with an anonymous hustler’s harried day in the city. The two paths converge in an ending that keeps you guessing.
Xiu Xiu – “This Too Shall Pass Away (For Freddy)”
Pixelated disembodied faces wander aimlessly in the maze of life in this strangely literal video. Characters that resemble Darth Vader and his Imperial Guard pop up, as does an old style Nintendo, subtle mini-Mac computers, a quick tribute to The Smiths, an execution, and a pixel party with plenty of chips and dip where the attendees decide to take a few shots, smoke some cigarettes, and shave off all their hair with one wave of a blurry hand.
How To Dress Well – “Decisions”
A dense drop of eye candy celebrating a blurred, shifting parade of various vague cultures — this new video from How To Dress Well matches the songs gauzy haze and is completely non-linear but still entrancing.
Angela McCluskey – “Handle With Grace”
Whimsical paper cranes are released from their bondage to lift the veil off a drab city. During their flight they manage to enlighten some of the people marching on their own repetitious paths, all white-knuckled and aged hands gripping briefcases and handbags like life preservers. The wordless disbelief on the peoples faces make it seem like a lifetime of regret flew away with the birds, and the story evolves into an intimate imagining of two lovers.