I’m actually finishing something I started a long time ago. Raul B. Fernandez is back, again! This is his biggest project to date. You can find out all about it here. Or you can just read on. I’m a big fan of the animation in the second half of the video. Get out the kettle corn and try to make yourself prepared.

In case you haven’t checked out the latest issue of Wired, they snuck in a little article (also available online) about music videos coming back into relevance thanks to the internet and the work of some talented directors. The article was penned by Jake Swearingen who picked the brains of directors like Keith Schofield and Cat Solen as well as pundits like yours truly to try and get a feel for the new music video landscape. Now that the article hit the streets we turned the tables on Jake to …

Photo by CARF

Mac McCaughan, cofounder of Merge Records, label behind such indie rock darlings as the Arcade Fire:
The bands we work with, we never recommend that they make videos. I like videos, but they really don’t sell a lot of records. What really sells records is touring -and artists can actually make money on the tour itself if they keep their budgets down.
[Source: Wired]
While certainly a pervasive and emblematic symbol of both musical and pop culture, it’s easy to forget that the only reason music videos developed and blossomed …

Not sure where the internet is going to weigh in on this new DCFC album yet, but if it’s anywhere on the side of decent, I’ll be up in arms and mystified. I realized that not everyone has had the pleasure of listening to them since before this century began. A lot of people don’t even know that they have any albums besides Plans. Both of these things are a shame because most of their best music was made prior to that album. So in an attempt to help out the lazy and uniformed about DCFC’s back catalogue, I’m going to give you my ‘expert’ opinion on the Top 10 Death Cab for Cutie songs of all time. Listen up.

That’s right kids. The empire strikes back. You didn’t think we were gonna let ‘007 go by without putting our stamp on it. Silly scenesters, tricks are for kids. This year we’ve even upped our numbers a bit and are thus doing things a bit different. Rather than bombard your senses into overload status with all the videos, we’re instead gonna give you some hearty portions throughout the week so as to give each video the proper respect and consideration they deserve.

So go on break or take your lunch, grab a coke and a smile, and watch as artists take you into the past and into the future. Over the high seas and through the rocky desert. From Europe to South America. A beehive to a bar. Our universe to distant universes. This officially puts an end to 2007 with the one and only list that matters. Any other list would be uncivilized.

Well it’s that time of year again. Marked by heavy drinking and gift giving, two things that are staples of the SRO staff diet. And, since we realize heavy drinking is an easy skill to master, we decided to once again guide our loyal readers to the ideal gifts for your friends and family this season. You don’t have to be a hipster to shop here, our gifts transcend all monikers and classifications. So don’t hesitate, read up and then get out that web browser and start shopping.

Also, if any of you out there have some killer ideas to add, leave us a link in the comments and we will entertain adding them to the list if they delight us. With credit given to you of course. So let us know what we missed that you love!

Our main man, Scott Cudmore has hooked us up a first look at his new video for Great Lake Swimmers. He’s finished shooting and is now just putting the final magical touches on the clip, so be on the lookout for the premier in the next month. They couldn’t have chosen a better song from Ongiara — ‘Your Rocky Spine’ being one of the best, not only from the album but from their entire catalog (only ‘I Will Never See the Sun’ tops it in my book). It’s definitely in my top 20 songs of the year list too, so if you haven’t heard it, do yourself a favor and get your listen on. All the goodies, after the jump.

Possibly the most prolific man in music videos right now, the success of Patrick Daughters is both obvious and surprising. Obvious in that the man gets the job done with style. Surprising in that his videos don’t really blow you away with clever gimmicks in the way Gondry or Jonze would in their heyday, nor do they appeal to the simplistic guilty pleasure centers that have made dancing on treadmills a part of our cultural consciousness. If anybody knows what a music video is in a classical sense, as both a commercial and artistic endeavor, it’s Patrick Daughters. Sometimes in attempting both he fails to achieve either, but sometimes he gets it just right and hits the damn thing out of the park. Patrick Daughters is fascinated with image and “image” is the language of music video commissioners and record label executives: hat the man gets tons of work is no surprise. The surprise is that he gets tons of work while maintaining creativity, intrigue and credibility, the intangibles that make a performer an artist (usually the type of stuff the suits try to avoid).