The Daily Swarm

Happy Hollows “Death to Vivek Kemp”

This week in must-see videos we’ve got ourselves a video premiere—that’s right kids, you are seeing it here first. My very favorite part of this simple animated/motion video is when the singer squeals and a splatter of paint hits the scream. Like she just spit on the front row a little. Other than that, I’ve gotta say director Benjamin Gauvain Hoste does a great job making very simple animation both varied and interesting to watch, which is harder to sustain than you would think for 3 minutes.

Broken Bells “The High Road”

Our attention spans have become so short that even veteran directors like Sophie Muller are willing to write a treatment that amounts to, “So, the guys are walking down a road and over the course of the 4 minutes of the song they run into a bunch of inexplicable shit—each more bizarre than the last…” This one is on you, Internet.

Ludacris “How Low”

OMJesus. Ludacris as Bloody Mary. “If you go low enough Ludacris appears in the mirror.” And then that one of his crew who wears the Jason mask shows up. How come none of the video hos are undead?

Lawrence Arabia “Apple Pie Bed”

One of 2009’s catchiest but under-heard songs finally gets one of 2010’s sassiest videos. If you weren’t entire sure what an apple pie bed is, this video resolves the mystery. Repeatedly. Then they even it out with some awkward crotch thrusts that made me laugh much harder than they reasonably should have. Bonus points for the nod to Nudie suits.

Follow columnist Courtney E. Smith on Twitter or read her blog.