Portugal. The Man – Atomic Man

Portugal. The Man has just released a music video for “Atomic Man,” the new single from their forthcoming album Evil Friends. The video is captivating, featuring black and white still photo portraits of the band members strung together at high speeds so as to create the illusion of motion.

More intriguing than the video’s cinematography, however, is the fact that Danger Mouse produced the new album. The taste of Evil Friends that we get from “Atomic Man” suggests that the Mouse has brought to the table the same accessible rock production value that garnered Grammy’s for the Black Keys’ El Camino.

Post War Years – Glass House

British synth-pop quartet Post War Years recently released a video for “Glass House,” the title track from the band’s upcoming EP.  The follow-up to 2011′s “All Eyes” video, “Glass House” picks up where its predecessor ended. Director Tobias Stretch once again creates a beautifully nightmarish world in which disfigured puppets have seemingly inherited the earth. For those who haven’t seen the ”All Eyes” video, imagine watching a Jim Henson marathon while tripping your face off. The puppets chase the heroine in a car until she inevitably joins them on a joy ride. “Glass House” is even more cartoonish, with its brighter color scheme and oversized clown villains. This time, the girl is chased through a glass house — the only literal element in this video — by said clown villains and falls in love with a Technicolor robot creature. This dizzying scene is perfectly set to Post War Years’ driving, dreamy acid-pop. The results are just as one would imagine: terrifying, confusing and enthralling.

Post War Years’ Glass House EP is set to drop July 16 via Chess Club Records.

MP3: Post War Years – “Glass House”

Sigur Ros – Eg Anda

Sigur Ros tend to match their beautiful, surreal compositions with equally stunning videos. The Icelandic dream weavers’ visual treatments for songs like “Glosoli” and “Hoppipola” rank, at least personally, among some of the best videos produced in recent years. The band’s latest for “Ég Anda,” a track off their new album Valtari, takes on a far more experimental tone. Directed by Ragnar Kjartansson as the first of a 12-part “mystery film experiment,” the video is an odd, disturbing, but ultimately educational primer on how to save a choking victim. Check out the strangeness above.

James Blake – A Case of You

In a live session for BBC Radio 1 last February, James Blake took a break from his warped electronic modus operandi and stunned the music world with a soulful rendition of Joni Mitchell’s “A Case of You.” The track has since garnered all sorts of critical acclaim and found a place for itself in the classic covers hall of fame, a position cemented by the striking new video accompaniment. Shot in London last week and directed by film-maker Seb Edwards, the visual consists of actress Rebecca Hall (best known for her roles in The Prestige, Vicky, Cristina Barcelona, and Frost/Nixon) in a dramatically-lit bedroom pantomiming the gamut of intense relationship-related emotions. Hall’s heartrending performance is simple enough to shine in its own right without overwhelming the original achingly beautiful poetry and cover vocals, preserving and complementing the power of each. Watch it below.

“A Case of You” is now available on Blake’s Enough Thunder EP and the deluxe edition of his self-titled debut, both via Atlas.

MP3: James Blake – “A Case Of You”

Emil & Friends – Let Your Heart/Prescriptions

Go big or go home — a lesson apparently well-learned by Emil & Friends, who recently put out a beautiful double video for “Prescriptions,” a fantastic track off their latest album, Lo & Behold, and an unreleased song, “Let Your Heart.” Shot on location in Bali, Indonesia, the visually-stunning piece follows an out-of-place Westerner on his journey to find meaning in this exotic, Southeast Asian country. Definitely worth the eight minutes. Lo & Behold is out now on Cantora Records.

MP3: Emil & Friends – “Prescriptions”

Duck Sauce – Big Bad Wolf

How many times have you heard Duck Sauce’s “Barbra Streisand”? Based on the fact that the music video currently has 63 million views on YouTube, I’m guessing your answer lies somewhere within that range. With a hit that dominant in pop culture, Duck Sauce’s follow up had high expectations, and the video for their latest single “Big Bad Wolf” certainly doesn’t fall short of absolutely outrageous.

True to their Streisand roots, Duck Sauce duo A-Trak and DJ Armand Van Helden star in their own video as literal “dickheads,” wandering around the city as personified bulging crotches ogling and howling at borderline-fat chick cleavage. It’s pretty lewd—I had to avert my innocent eyes more than once and I probably should have included a disclaimer earlier on—but the video is also inspired and creative in a way dance videos haven’t been since the likes of Fatboy Slim and Aphex Twin. But I still watched it. And I still liked it. What does that say about me, I wonder?

Frank Ocean – Swim Good + Thinking About You

In two days, Frank Ocean has dropped as many videos via his Tumblr for tracks from Nostalgia, Ultra. And they are… weird. Produced and directed by High Five Collective and Nabil Elderkin, last week’s “Thinking About You” video featured—somewhat surprisingly given the more traditionally romantic lyrics—two intense child death scenes, a crazy contact lens-wearing shaman, some teepees, and Ocean himself in a brief cameo as a nurse. So when “Swim Good” surfaced this morning, I wasn’t surprised to find Ocean, dressed as a Jordans-wearing samurai, pushing an old school orange stretch limo along a scenic ocean drive, remembering how he killed his lover with a sword in a room full of taxidermied animals. Oh yeah, and this whole scene is being watched/imagined/dreamed by a popcorn-eating pandaman. Honestly though, both clips are dope as hell. Watch the “Swim Good” video above and “Thinking About You” after the jump.

MP3: Frank Ocean – “Thinking About You”

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St. Vincent – Cruel

Only Annie Clark (dba St. Vincent) could turn being buried alive—my number two fear right behind zombies—into an enchantingly glamorous experience. After listening to last month’s “Surgeon” about, oh I’d say seven thousand times, expectations were high and the delightfully mordant video for “Cruel” off the upcoming album Strange Mercy doesn’t disappoint. Clark again eludes the confines of genre by capitalizing on her perfectly wistful, eerily beautiful, yet somehow energetic style, melding elements of beyond-eccentric 50s cinema kitsch and a would-be morbid, creepy storyline. I could try to get all English-major-analytical on the deeper significance of the video’s message, but I think I’m just going to be satisfied with the weird beauty of the song and perfect shots of impossible bone structure.

The Huffington Post’s original premier of the video features a long explanation detailing the shoot, in case you’re still thinking more WTF than OMG.

MP3: St. Vincent – “Cruel”

The Sound of Arrows – M.A.G.I.C.

Swedish electronic popmakers The Sound of Arrows dropped the beautiful track “M.A.G.I.C.” all the way back in January 2009, but just recently released the stunning video you see above. The video plays off the child-chorus of the song perfectly, featuring youngsters roaming a world that has been abandoned by all adults. Sounds like a pretty sweet place…ICE CREAM FOR BREAKFAST!!!

MP3: The Sound of Arrows – “M.A.G.I.C.”