This one time…

This bizarre, inventive animated short by Nelson Boles makes me think of FLCL, which is a very wonderful thing to be reminded of. Enjoy!

NOTE: If you haven’t seen FLCL and you’re a regular reader of this site I recommend you pick it up immediately (now in HD!).

[ This one time... ]

Zeroing

Andrey Nepomnyaschev brings the abstract weirdness with some brilliant use of cloth animation. This, combined with Studio Takt‘s killer sound design (grab your headphones), makes ‘ZEROING’ a stand out.

[ ZEROING ]

Phazing

“We are not going home; we’re phazing, a million miles away!”

Lots of talented folks from Sweden pitched in to create this polished-to-a-retro-sheen journey through space for Dirty South‘s dreamy progressive anthem ‘Phazing’: Maceo Frost (direction, art direction, animation, design), Robin Günther (art direction, animation, design), Linus Lundin (3D animation), Elias Widerdal (3D animation) and David Günther (sound FX design).

It’s a colorful trip through universe, punctuated here and there by dashes of abstract geometry, that compliments the uplifting synths of the track rather nicely. You know the drill: headphones on, lights down, volume up. Enjoy!

[ Dirty South feat Rudy 'Phazing' (Official Video) ]

One Minute Puberty

NSFW Warning: If you (or your employer) are offended at line-drawings of naughty bits you might want to pass on this one.

Berlin-based motion artist Alexander Gellner expertly condenses the confusing cacophony of changes that define puberty into a single minute of tight animation. Music and sound design comes courtesy of Niklas A Kröger.

[ One Minute Puberty ]

Gifted

Music video concepts we can get behind #4831: Astronauts buggin’ out in space due to some potent psychedelic hallucinations. Respect to Three Legged Legs for the creative and unique direction, Mark Kulakoff, Dylan Spears and Michael Tavarez for their tight execution on the design and animation and to N.A.S.A. for the hot tunes. Read/see/watch more about the project here.

[ N.A.S.A. "Gifted" (feat. Kanye West, Santogold, & Lykke Li) ]

Spiral

Hell yes. Your presence is requested at The Tripatorium™ – feel free to make your way here by train. This stunner comes to us via the brilliant minds (and steady hands) of Matt Clark and Ross Neil, two super-talented individuals we’ll definitely be keeping an eye on.

Best served in full-screen HD with the lights dimmed and the volume up. Get ready for a treat, friends.

[ Spiral ]

Grand Central

“Made with 1 km of yarn and four different flashlights and one lamp. Yarn was shaken and illuminated in different ways and shot in stop motion.”

This music video for the Tomasz Stańko Quintet –  by Polish directing duo Katarzyna Kijek and Przemysław Adamski – could easily have been created entirely inside of a computer but, if it had, the unique warmth and charm that comes through with such intentional, painstakingly hand-crafted execution would most certainly have been lost. Cheers for the dedication and hard-work, znajomych!

[ Tomasz Stańko Quintet "Grand Central" ]

Ready, Able

We’re diggin’ this trippy, bizarre and engrossing music video Allison Schulnik conceived, directed and animated for Grizzly Bear‘s ‘Ready, Able’.

A big thanks goes to Charles for sending this in – cheers!

[ At 44 1/2 Emerging Artists 2010: Forest by Allison Schulnik ]

The Art of Flight

One of the things I love almost as much as snowboarding itself is high-speed, HD camera footage of people boarding gorgeous back country trails. This trailer for The Art of Flight, set to be released this Fall, combines just the right shots with a well-suited soundtrack by Anthony Gonzalez of the electronic group M83 and Curt Morgan of Brain Farm, the production company behind the film. Even if you don’t board, I think you can certainly appreciate the stylish, trippy nature of this trailer.

[ The Art of Flight ]

After the Rain

Here we have an animated short from Gobelins students Charles-André Lefebvre, Manuel Tanon-Tchi, Louis Tardivier, Sébastien Vovau and Emmanuelle Walker that’s colorful, original, and just plain fun. Emmanuelle, in particular, has some great videos on her Vimeo page and, if you’re a Paris-lover like myself, then this particular one should do the trick. Here’s hoping for more, and in HD please!

[ Après la Pluie ]