New Mixtape - The End...?

It's ironic that I return from a long hiatus to talk about a mixtape I made centered around songs about endings. I submitted it for the Yewknee Summer Mix Series, and you can view the tracklist and download it here. It features a wide variety of musicians new and old, including a handful (Jeff Hanson, Sparklehorse, J Dilla) who are sadly no longer with us. This mixtape is dedicated to them. Enjoy.

Free Album from Greensboro's Workday/Schoolnight

One of the big surprises I received at the Cucalorus 14 launch party back in 2008 was a performance by Greensboro experimental rock band Invisible, a group that utilized ingenious homemade devices that produced beats from a variety of found objects. It was a fascinating performance, one that preceded a screening of a documentary made about the band, and kept me interested in what Invisible would do next.

Well, one of the members, Bart Trotman, has just delivered a free album under the moniker Workday/Schoolnight entitled Plastic Ocean. It's a sprawling work, combining minimalist glitch-pop with sound collages utilizing dozens of thrift store cassettes, including "self-help tapes, self-hypnotic tapes, daily affirmations, and vocabulary lessons." The songs alone are fairly interesting to listen to, but it's the ludicrousness of the samples Trotman uses to bookend each song that keeps me listening. I will say that the length of the album (70 min.) left me wishing some more editing had taken place before its release.

Still, it's hard to look a gift horse in the mouth, especially when that gift horse has such a wide variety of interesting samples at his disposal. You can get the whole album for free on Megaupload or Mediafire, but only for a limited time.

New Firewall of Sound Trailer!

So excited to finally be able to post the new trailer for my music documentary Firewall of Sound. Enjoy!



Please leave me your comments, either on here or on our Vimeo page!

Hall of Awesome: The Top 10 Albums of 2009

10

Bon Iver

Blood Bank EP (tie)

10

Animal Collective

Fall Be Kind EP (tie)

9

Loney, Dear

Dear John

8

Various Artists

Dark Was the Night

7

Blakroc

Blakroc

6

Neko Case

Middle Cyclone

5

M. Ward

Hold Time

4

Mos Def

The Ecstatic

3

The Flaming Lips

Embryonic

2

Grizzly Bear

Veckatimest

1

The Decemberists

The Hazards of Love

Click on the album titles to stream them, courtesy of La La.

Honorable Mentions:
Andrew Bird, Noble Beast
Animal Collective, Merriweather Post Pavilion
Basement Jaxx, Scars
Cursive, Mama, I'm Swollen
Discovery, LP
Helado Negro, Awe Owe
StreightAngular, After and Before
Wilco, Wilco (The Album)
Yo La Tengo, Popular Songs

Hall of Awesome: The 2009 Mixtape

Every year, I compile a top ten list of my favorite albums of the year. However, there are a ton of individual songs that deserve some props as well, even if their respective albums didn't impress me enough to make my best-of list. So, without further ado, enjoy these 19 tracks that epitomize the best music 2009 has to offer. As with last year, there's a La La playlist at the bottom of this list (and in the sidebar) featuring all of these tracks, which you can stream in full.

1. How I Became the Bomb, "Action Lady"
A highlight from a solid series of EPs from lovely Tennessee rockers How I Became the Bomb.
2. Imogen Heap, "First Train Home"
3. Girls, "Lust for Life"
4. Andrew Bird, "Anonanimal"
5. Death Cab for Cutie, "Little Bribes"
Further proof that Death Cab can still deliver catchy little pop songs like no one else.
6. Animal Collective, "Bluish"
7. Basement Jaxx, "Raindrops"
My pick for dance anthem of 2009.
8. Camera Obscura, "The Sweetest Thing"
9. Dirty Projectors, "Stillness is the Move"
10. Fever Ray, "If I Had a Heart"
11. Discovery, "I Want You Back"
It doesn't matter how many "tributes" people will be making to Michael Jackson in the coming years. They won't be half as awesome as this cover from Vampire Weekend/Ra Ra Riot side-project Discovery.
12. The Mountain Goats, "Drug Life"
The best track from the Merge covers compilation, with John Darnielle returning to his trademark, bare-bones, voice-and-guitar sound.
13. Helado Negro, "Dahum"
14. Jay-Z feat. Alicia Keys, "Empire State of Mind"
15. They Might Be Giants, "Meet the Elements"
They Might Be Giants are no strangers to making educational pop songs, but this is one that can be loved by children and adults alike.
16. Yo La Tengo, "Periodically Double or Triple"
17. The Avett Brothers, "I and Love and You"
18. Mastodon, "The Last Baron"
Naturally, this playlist can't end without thirteen minutes of ear-bleeding metal.
19. Bon Iver, "Woods"
With "Woods" and the Jaxx's "Raindrops," we proved Jay-Z wrong about the death of Autotune.

The Hall of Awesome 2009 Mixta...

New Sufjan Stevens - "The Sleeping Red Wolves"

People who've already gone out and purchased Sufjan Stevens' new movie/soundtrack, The BQE, have probably already stumbled across a couple hidden tracks shortly following the film, a noisy instrumental and this plaintive choral piece featuring Stevens back on vocal duties:

Sufjan Stevens - "The Sleeping Red Wolves" (MP3)

According to this interview from The Quietus, Stevens had originally intended "The Sleeping Red Wolves" to be included in The BQE, but "there just wasn't enough time, so I just threw it in at the end."

The BQE is out now on Asthmatic Kitty, in a myriad of formats.

Get Unbunny's Black Strawberries Reprinted!

Ryan Catbird has been working hard to get people to pledge money to his project on Kickstarter, which involves getting the long out-of-print release Black Strawberries by indie stalwarts Unbunny reissued on 180-gram vinyl. Take a listen:

Unbunny - "In a Way" (MP3)

It's a wonderful example of fans directly financing the release of music. $5 or more gets you a high-quality download of the album, $20 or more gets you the LP, and $40 or more gets you the Deluxe Version LP, which promises to feature "special extras, additional artwork and/or customization, hand-numbered and signed by Jarid Del Deo [leader of Unbunny]."

He hasn't reached the $3,500 goal yet, and there's only 53 days left, so if you haven't chipped in, please consider it. Oh, and just so you know, all donors will have their name listed in the liner notes!

News You Already Knew: Beatles Catalogue Remastered!

Before today, 9/9/09 was just the day The Beatles: Rock Band was gonna be released (which is still pretty cool-sounding). Now, it's gonna be the day that the good people at Apple Corps Ltd. finally get off their ass and remaster the entire Beatles discography. Thank God they waited until the CD format became almost completely obsolete! Anyhoo, each album will come with new liner notes, packaging, and making-of documentaries included on each disc:


I'll be the first to admit I have most of the Beatles albums on burned CD-R (sorry, $25 for the unmastered White Album is borderline criminal), so I'm extremely happy to learn that my lazy spending habits are finally paying off. There have been many efforts to rejuvenate the dying music market, but this is the first one in a long time that might actually bear fruit. Let's hope people still have disposable income by the time September rolls around. Also, for those wondering if this means the Beatles are finally coming to iTunes, "Discussions regarding the digital distribution of the catalogue will continue. There is no further information available at this time." Well, as they say, ob-la-di, ob-la-da.

The Lonely Island, Incredibad

The success of Internet comedy trio The Lonely Island could’ve easily been attributed to being in the right place at the right time, but their staying power has proved that Lorne Michaels didn’t just pick the first result that came up on YouTube. Now, the three Saturday Night Live cast members/writers have returned to their original moniker for Incredibad, a CD/DVD compiling their most memorable songs from SNL, as well as a handful of new tracks and sketches.

The first thing you may notice about the collection of tracks is that Andy Samberg, Jorma Taccone, and Akiva Schaffer have an affinity for nerdcore rap, whether its Andy and fellow SNLer Chris Parnell bustin’ rhymes about a trip to the theater to see The Cronicles of Narnia (“Lazy Sunday”), or Andy and Akiva bragging about their nautical escapades with T-Pain (“I’m On a Boat”). While this is a strategy that pays off pretty consistently, it does make for a somewhat tedious listen once we finally arrive at the alien three-way that is the title track. High-profile guests like Jack Black and Norah Jones provide entertaining diversions from the familiar material, and it’s nice to finally have unbleeped versions of SNL favorites like “Dick in a Box” and “Natalie’s Rap,” a hilarious hardcore rap parody featuring a wonderfully unhinged Natalie Portman.

Interludes like “The Old Saloon” poke fun at the obnoxious DJ call-outs during promo tracks, but sometimes, like in the case of “Shrooms,” the simpler the idea, the funnier. Songs rarely break the three-minute mark, which is the perfect length to get the jokes across without wearing out the concept, something the other writers of SNL could stand to learn.

Overall, Incredibad does an exceptional job cataloging the first few years of one of the more recent success stories to emerge from the Not Ready for Primetime Players. However, the accompanying DVD feels more like a last-minute bonus than a comprehensive collection, only delivering five of their infamous “SNL Digital Shorts” and three Lonely Island skits. Still, a gift horse this hilarious shouldn’t be looked in the mouth, especially if said horse has just consumed a bottle of Carlos Santana’s champagne.

Oasis Tries Their Hand at Viral Marketing

Last year, Oasis decided to promote their new album, Dig Your Own Soul, in a very unusual way: get buskers from the New York City metro system to learn a couple of the songs, and then "leak" the songs to an unsuspecting public by performing them. Well, that time has come and gone, but they made sure to document the whole experience in this fascinating, 18-minute film (with cinematography by Wendy and Lucy's Sam Levy):

Hall of Awesome: Best Albums of 2008

10

Sigur Rós

Með Suð Í Eyrum Við Spilum Endalaust

9

Fleet Foxes

Fleet Foxes

8

She & Him

Volume One

7

Gnarls Barkley

The Odd Couple

6

Girl Talk

Feed the Animals

5

Death Cab for Cutie

Narrow Stairs

4

R.E.M.

Accelerate

3

Spiritualized

Songs in A&E

2

Coldplay

Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends

1

Bon Iver

For Emma, Forever Ago

2008 was a year of rediscovery for me, a time to take in all the music I'd been missing out on for the last few years. I fully absorbed In Rainbows and if I could take back my Best of '07 list, it would be at the top. I took advantage of Amazon.com's daily discounts on MP3s, snatching up The Shins' Oh, Inverted World, Guided By Voices' Bee Thousand, Broken Social Scene's You Forgot It In People, M.I.A.'s Kala and others. Also, to celebrate the election, Ryan Catbird gave away everything his label had released for free, so I'm still taking in the vast quantities of music he's supplied me with (thanks again, man, and let me just say Manishevitz' East to East is fantastic). So, I'm surprised I was able to cobble together ten albums I actually got around to listening to this year, and some of them I didn't even hear for the first time until a few weeks ago. I only recently decided to include Fleet Foxes on my list, even though I had their song "Blue Ridge Mountains" on my 2008 Mixtape, thus breaking one of the few rules I give myself. I really don't feel like getting into the specific reasons why I picked each album, other than to say that I didn't expect new albums by R.E.M. and Spiritualized, two acts I felt had become irrelevant in recent years, to make my list but there you have it. Also, Bon Iver not only wins the best album of the year award, but also the best album to listen to during a drive through a rainstorm in the middle of the night award. Anyway, click on the album titles to stream them, courtesy of La La.

Honorable Mentions:
Ben Folds, Way to Normal
Conor Oberst, Conor Oberst
The Explorers Club, Freedom Wind
Flight of the Conchords, Flight of the Conchords
Jeff Hanson, Madam Owl
Oasis, Dig Out Your Soul
The Raconteurs, Consolers of the Lonely
Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, Pershing
Neil Patrick Harris, Nathan Fillion, Felicia Day and Others, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog: The Soundtrack

Devin's Merry Little Mixmas! This Wednesday!

I'll be doing one more show for WUAG 103.1 FM on Christmas Eve, from 1 to 3 PM. To listen to the show on your computer, open up iTunes and from the Advanced menu, select Open Audio Stream and type in the following URL:

http://152.13.184.64:8000/

I'll be playing ONLY Christmas songs during my set, but they'll be mainly indie-based, including Holiday cheer from Goldfrapp, Beth Orton, Death Cab for Cutie, Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, Chris Walla, The Prayers and Tears of Arthur Digby Sellers, and selections from the BRAND-NEW SUFJAN STEVENS CHRISTMAS EP that leaked onto the web last Friday. So this Christmas Eve, grab a glass of spiked eggnog, cozy up to the fire, and crank up the volume!

One Christmas Compilation Worthy of Your Cash

Last year, I neglected to mention that the excellent blog Hard to Find a Friend posted an indie Christmas compilation entitled Peace on Earth, featuring new music by Chris Walla, Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, and my good friend Perry Wright and his band, The Prayers & Tears of Arthur Digby Sellers. Well, I'm not making the same mistake this year, as they've debuted a second volume of Peace on Earth, with much of the same artists back with more holiday cheer, plus new recordings by American Analog Set, Oxford Collapse, Bodies of Water, and Jason Collett of Broken Social Scene. The whole thing costs less than a movie ticket, and 100% of the proceeds go to the Children of Uganda, so you get the double satisfaction of getting some kick-ass Christmas tunes and helping out a worthy cause. Volume One is still available, too, with all proceeds going to Toys for Tots. Seriously, guys; it's a win-win situation no matter which one you buy.

Hall of Awesome: 2008 Mixtape

Every year, I select my top ten albums of the year, and every year, there are always a ton of other albums that may not be deserving of that list, yet still have some amazing songs on them. That’s where the 2008 Mixtape comes in, taking those individual songs and stringing them together in a futile attempt at coherence. Thanks to the people over at La La, you can stream the whole thing for free in the blog sidebar. Here's the full tracklist, along with my comments on some of my selections:

1. The Decemberists, "Valarie Plame"
   Colin Meloy and Co. put out three singles this year, each with some pretty solid tunes on them, but it begs the question: Why didn’t they just release one six-track EP instead of spreading them out over the course of three months?
   
2. The Magnetic Fields, "California Girls"
   
3. Gnarls Barkley, "Who's Gonna Save My Soul"
   
4. Beck, "Chemtrails"
   Danger Mouse gets a double feature this year, and here's hoping 2009 will prove to be an equally productive year for the man.
   
5. Oasis, "The Shock of the Lightning"
   
6. The Explorers Club, "Forever"
   Even though I wouldn't stop talking about this album, it didn't blow my mind enough to appear on my top 10 list this year. It still remains an impressive collection of Brian Wilson-influenced beach pop that is definitely worth a listen.
   
7. Chairlift, "Bruises"
   Someone give the guy who picks the songs for Apple ads a raise.
   
8. The Hold Steady, "Constructive Summer"
   
9. Flight of the Conchords, "Ladies of the World"
   This album would've easily made my top 10 list if Flight of the Conchords had bothered to include ALL of the songs from season one. Oh well.
   
10. Fleet Foxes, "Blue Ridge Mountains"
    I got into this album extremely late in the game, so it won't be topping my list like some others, but this song immediately caught my ear and refuses to let go of it.
    
11. Keane, "The Lovers are Losing"
    
12. Ben Folds, "Bitch Went Nuts"
    I'm willing to forgive Folds for some of the filler on his latest album, mainly because the Ben Folds Five reunion concert kicked so much ass.
    
13. Music Go Music, "Light of Love"
    Yeah, I thought it was ABBA, too, but it's not.
    
14. Death Vessel, "Bruno's Torso"
    
15. Of Montreal, "An Eluardian Instance"
    
16. Antony & The Johnsons, "Shake That Devil"
    I've always thought Antony was too weird for his own good, but this song really blew me away. The awesome part takes over at about 2:30.
    
17. Benji Hughes, "Baby, It's Your Life"
    
18. Conor Oberst, "Souled Out!!!"
    
19. Peter Gabriel, "Down to Earth"
    This final track should serve as an indicator of what my favorite movie of the year is going to be.
    

Hall of Awesome: Top 5 Music Videos of 2008

Just hit play in the YouTube player below and enjoy all of my music video picks for '08, from five to one! Descriptions and critiques are to follow:



5. Mogwai, "Batcat" (dir. Dominic Hailstone)
Mogwai took a decidedly different direction for their lead single off 2008's The Hawk is Howling, even going so far as to hire Chris Cunningham-protégé Dominic Hailstone for the terrifying video. It makes up for Cunningham's video hiatus, and it stands up very well on its own as an unsettling distortion of a Brothers Grimm fairy tale.

4. Radiohead, "House of Cards" (dir. James Frost)
Eyebrows were raised when Radiohead announced their new video for "House of Cards" was made without a camera, but instead with a series of lasers and motion capture techniques that captured Thom Yorke's face, among other things, making for a cool-looking video for an excellent song. But props must also be given to all the animators and directors who worked on videos for Radiohead's contests, my favorites being "Nude" by James Houston, "Weird Fishes" by Tobian Stretch, and "Reckoner" by Clement Picon.

3. Justice, "Stress" (dir. Romain-Gavras)
Even though '07 was the year Justice released their self-titled debut, '08 was the year for them to deliver on the hype surrounding that release. They had a wildly successful tour, a killer live CD/DVD, and two new videos: the awesome "guess-that-logo" video by So-Me, "DVNO," and "Stress." Heavily influenced by the 1995 French classic La Haine, with its gritty, documentary style camerawork and controversial subject matter, the video follows a nameless group of delinquents (decked in jackets with Justice's cross logo emblazoned on the back) as they cause all methods of mayhem and chaos, from assault to vandalism to carjacking. The directors raise the question "Is this for real?" by including nice touches like having the gang wait for the sound guy before they take off in their stolen car, or in the video's finale, where the gang turns against the cameraman and break bottles over his head.

2. Gnarls Barkley, "Who's Gonna Save My Soul?" (dir. Chris Milk)
What hasn't been said about this amazing video? Evolves from a somewhat corny breakdown of post-relationship depression to a fascinatingly surreal performance piece as an animated heart with the voice of Cee-Lo Green sings into a piece of broccoli, while the diner's customers and employees (including Cee-Lo and Danger Mouse) look on in shock. I never get tired of that ending either.

1. Björk, "Wanderlust" (dir. Encyclopedia Pictura)
Back when Michael Jackson ruled the airwaves of MTV, the debut of a new music video would often be hailed as an event that was not to be missed. Björk and the geniuses over at Encyclopedia Pictura brought a little bit of that magic back when they announced the debut of a new, eight-minute odyssey set to Volta highlight "Wanderlust." They held a premiere screening, gave away tons of 3D glasses to eager fans, and posted 30-second "sneak previews" of the video on Björk's YouTube page. Luckily for them, the video surpassed the hype, as "Wanderlust" takes the viewer on a journey through a world seemingly made out of animated strings of Play-Doh, as Björk and her herd of buffalo travel down a steady river and do battle with a water god and a clay doppelganger that grows out of Björk's backpack. Yeah, it's pretty fucking weird.

Music Review: Justice, A Cross the Universe

In 2007, a new French electronic duo, one that didn’t dress up in robot suits and shoot lasers out of a pyramid, released a debut album with a symbol instead of a title. It was considered one of the most promising new releases of the year, and a massive tour of America soon followed. That band, Justice, and that tour are documented on the new CD/DVD package A Cross the Universe, which includes a 64-minute documentary shot by Romain Gavras and So-Me, the directors of Justice’s provocative and wildly entertaining music videos (none of which are included on the DVD). The accompanying CD includes a full live performance from San Francisco, capturing Justice at their most raw and unhinged, carelessly mashing up bits and pieces from every song off their debut album, †, as well as snippets from sources as varied as Franz Ferdinand, Soulwax, Simian, and even Metallica.

However, it’s the DVD that shows exactly how Justice stand apart from their closest relatives, Daft Punk. For starters, it would be very hard to imagine Thomas Bangalter smashing a glass bottle on a fan’s head mere minutes before he was to take the stage, or Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo getting hitched in Vegas, only to have his new bride vanish the following day. Given one of the director’s penchant for staged misbehavior (one look at the video for “Stress” will tell you all you need to know), it’s hard to discern whether or not any of the mishaps Justice find themselves in are scripted. The supporting cast is quirky enough, from their tour manager and his obsession with firearms (an obsession that gets the band arrested at a local diner) to their bus driver’s desire to break the Guinness world record for singing the lowest musical note. There’s not much in the way of live footage, but there is plenty of pre and post-show antics, almost as if Justice had taken the mantra of their song “Tthhee Ppaarrttyy” to heart. Ultimately, A Cross the Universe makes for an attractive package, a gloriously fist-pounding live listening experience, as well as an amusing (and somewhat startling) look at the two guys behind the beats.

Scary Music Videos Part 3

UPDATE: Use this playlist to view these videos plus twelve others! For this list, click the playlist button on the bottom of the video, then click the right arrow.


Two years ago, I posted five of my favorite creepy music videos and it has consistently been one of my most linked-to articles. So last year I did it again and this year, I've scoured YouTube to find four more for your viewing (dis)pleasure. Enjoy!

Basement Jaxx, "Where's Your Head At" (dir. Traktor)
Superimposing faces onto animals and other people is nothing new here. Chris Cunningham famously took the face of Richard D. James (aka Aphex Twin) and planted it on creepy little kids as well as supermodels, with equally horrifying results. But Traktor's video for "Where's Your Head At" takes it a step further, revealing a secret plot to kidnap musicians and transfer their brains into monkeys. What purpose this is supposed to serve is never revealed, but it does make for a frightening music video.

Squarepusher, "Come On My Selector" (dir. Chris Cunningham)
Despite his two freaky-ass videos for Aphex Twin (three if you count the experimental short film Rubber Johnny), Chris Cunningham's video for Squarepusher is my personal favorite. And while it certainly isn't his scariest, it is definitely his most fun. So many bizarre things are in this, including a hyperactive Japanese kung fu girl, a talking dog, and a bad case of brainswap. Another oddity about this video is the fact that Cunningham had all the actors speak English, then dubbed over their voices in Japanese and included English subtitles.

Mogwai, "Batcat" (dir. Dominic Hailstone)
The newest video on my list this year comes from instrumental rockers Mogwai, who delivered their uncharacteristically metal single "Batcat" not long ago, and with it, this terrifying video from Dominic Hailstone. Seemingly torn from the pages of a Brothers Grimm fairy tale, the video concerns a hooded girl fleeing from masked people only to wind up in a cave inhabited by the vicious title character.

Hugh Cornwell, "Another Kind of Love" (dir. Jan Švankmajer)
Who knows what '80s pop singer Hugh Cornwell was thinking when he hired freaky Czech surrealist Jan Švankmajer to helm his 1988 music video for "Another Kind of Love." Like one of my earlier picks, the visuals and music don't match at all, which only heightens the disturbing nature of the video. Watch for the part where Cornwell's dismembered head collides with the female mannequin's head and creates a swirling mass of clay with four eyes and an alligator mouth and tell me that a Nine Inch Nails song would've probably suited Švankmajer's creepy vision better.

Feel free to leave links in the comments to some of your own favorite scary music videos, and have a Happy Halloween!

Isaac Hayes (1942-2008)

Here's a little something to remember you by, Isaac.

We'll miss you.

The Flaming Lips Have Finished Their Movie!

I'm sure everyone already knew this, but after seven years in the making, Christmas on Mars is finally complete and has already begun making the rounds at various music festivals, including Sasquatch and Bonnaroo. In order to prepare the audience for the film, the Lips have made this brief PSA that plays before they screen it:



Now, if only they could get the multiplexes to put this in front of their feature presentation, rather than the dancing popcorn...

Radiohead: The Best Of (DVD Review)

Capitol Records drove the final nail into the coffin that was Radiohead’s contract today, with the release of a massive selection of greatest hits compilations, including a single-disc edition, a double-disc limited edition, a quadruple-LP edition, and a DVD featuring all of their videos. All of these came with the somewhat unoriginal title Radiohead: The Best Of, a puzzling choice considering so many of their song titles would make wonderful alternatives. What about No Surprises...or Exit Music...or We Suck Young Blood? Anyway, if you’ve already got most of Radiohead’s albums, you’ll probably find the DVD to be the only release this week of any value (though that LP box set looks pretty sweet, too). On it are 21 of their music videos, culled from each of the albums released on Capitol. The only glaring omissions are two videos done for Kid A, most notably Stanley Donwood and Shynola’s animated film for “Motion Picture Soundtrack.”

Unlike the single and double-disc CD sets, the DVD is arranged chronologically, so that viewers can truly see the evolution of the band from angst-ridden alt-rockers to representatives of the dark corners of the avant-garde. Pablo Honey alone is represented by four videos (three more than necessary, but I guess we must be thorough), most of which feature Thom Yorke mugging for the camera while the band plays on behind him. Radiohead’s visual style matured along with their music as they released 1995’s The Bends, and the directors they worked with began to forge dense narratives, as evidenced by the videos for “Just” and “High and Dry” (both the US and UK versions are on here, though the US version is the one worth watching). Jonathan Glazer proved especially good at translating Radiohead’s music into memorable visuals, with his beautiful time-lapse photography for “Street Spirit (Fade Out)” and the sinister car ride of “Karma Police.”

The real treat, however, is all the videos for Amnesiac and Hail to the Thief, most of which have never been released on DVD in the US. Michel Gondry’s astounding one-shot video for “Knives Out” is alone worth the price of admission, considering it was mercilessly removed from Gondry’s Director’s Label DVD at the last minute. Also essential viewing is Shynola’s ethereal computer animated video for “Pyramid Song,” featuring a polygonal character diving into an ocean filled with abandoned buildings and houses. One of the more surprising inclusions on this set is the video for “Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors / Like Spinning Plates,” directed by Johnny Hardstaff and featuring two Siamese twin babies whose chests get ripped apart by robotic machinery. The video isn’t as graphic as the description suggests, and the highly detailed machinery is actually quite beautiful to look at. Finally, out of the four videos for Hail to the Thief, the Jan Svankmejer-influenced “There There,” directed by Chris Hopewell, is the definite highlight.

Overall, Radiohead: The Best Of does a good job of showing a band in transition, as their video collection slowly goes from simply starring the band to reinterpreting their increasingly sinister, yet highly innovative music.