WATCH IT: Arcade Fire - The Wilderness Downtown (Chris Milk, dir.)

The internet has allowed music videos to be on-demand. You can watch what you want, when you want. That's revolutionary, for sure, but music videos themselves have largely remained the same as when they were only available on linear TV. Credit director Chris Milk with realizing that music videos shouldn't be encumbered by the old rules. Music videos don't have to be linear, they don't have to be static, they don't have to even appear in only one window. This video project for the Arcade Fire song "We Used To Wait"  accomplishes all of those goals and is the next step in the actual transformation of music videos from the old way into something very new. And the fact that the song grapples nostalgia and a quest for finding something organic in the digital age makes it all the better.

Created in conjunction with Google as a showcase for HTML 5 and the Google Chrome Browser, this multi-media experiment is all but guaranteed to be different for ever single viewer. It starts by asking for your childhood address, which is then plotted via Google Maps + Street View and displayed in various windows timed to the music. Other windows display a person running through a street, while another offers a flock of birds you can manipulate. A blank page opens and offers you the chance to draw or type a virtual postcard. Unlike watching a traditional video online, this one forces you to cease all your other web activity as windows sprout on your desktop revealing new growth and other elements that grab your attention. It's the kind of video that wouldn't have the same impact on TV, or even embedded on a page like this. It's an immersive experience that's personalized to each viewer. And it's pretty damn cool.

--> watch THE WILDERNESS DOWNTOWN and read more about the technology underpinning it

Arcade Fire "The Wilderness Downtown" ["We Used To Wait"]
Chris Milk, director | Nicole Muniz, film producer | Radical Media, production co | Shawn Kim, DP | Livio Sanchez, editor | Dave Hussey @ Company 3, colorist/telecine [NOTE: Credits refer to the film portions of the projct. Visit thewildernessdowntown.com/credits.html for full credits]

WATCH IT: New Politics "Yeah Yeah Yeah" (Lance Drake, dir.)

Director Lance Drake keeps things off balance and off/on-the-wall in this raucous performance video for New Politics.--> watch "Yeah Yeah Yeah"

New Politics "Yeah Yeah Yeah" (RCA)
Lance Drake, director | Ross Levine, producer | D&R Productions/Radical Media, production co | Ivan Abel, DP | Ashley Fenton, production designer | Chris Barnes, stunt coordinator |  Jennifer Heath, executive producer | Nicholas Robespierre, commissioner

WATCH IT: Johnny Cash "Ain't No Grave" (Chris Milk, dir.)

The music of Johnny Cash will live on forever, obviously. Question is: How do you make a video for the legendary Man In Black that can do the same thing? Director Chis Milk oversees a unique solution to that problem with The Johnny Cash Project, a communal and open art project in which fans/artists/anyone can use a special online drawing tool to create images inspired by individual frames from archival Johnny Cash footage. Each new "frame" is then sequenced into an animated video. Some of the contributions are faithful renditions of the original footage; Others are more abstract, or add unexpected filigrees and context.

The video is never the same twice: As more and more people trace over and add art to each frame of the video, the video changes and grows. In a sense, it's alive. Much like the music of Johnny Cash. --> visit "The Johnny Cash Project @ johnnycashproject.com to add artwork, watch the video as it currently exists and explore every aspect of the video

Johnny Cash "Ain't No Grave" (American/Lost Highway)
Chris Milk, director | Jennifer Heath, Chris Milk, Aaron Koblin, producers | Aaron Koblin, technical director | Radical Media, production co | Akiko Iwakawa @ Final Cut, editor

BOOKED: Diane Birch - Dennis Liu, director

• artist: Diane Birch
• song: "Valentino"
• label: S-Curve
• director(s): Dennis Liu
• production co: Radical Media
• comissioner: Jill Kaplan @ Skyway Productions

WATCH IT: Rob Thomas "Her Diamonds"

Alicia Silverstone is trapped under ice in this slick video for the equally slick new Rob Thomas single, "Her Diamonds." Director Dave Meyers depicts the actress as being literally frozen in a bedroom, sealed off from the outside world like a post-carbonite Lando Calrissian. The song and the sun work their magic, melting away the coldness and bringing her back into the real world. --> watch "Her Diamonds"

Rob Thomas "Her Diamonds" (Emblem/Atlantic)
Dave Meyers, director | Billy Parks, producer | DoubleJay Creative/@Radical.Media, production co | Damian Acevedo, DP | Ken Mowe, editor | Baked Goods, vfx

WATCH IT: Gnarls Barkley "Who's Gonna Save My Soul"

Good afternoon, heartbreak. This is for all the girls who broke your heart. Dumped you at the diner. Left you there in shock as she prattled on about all the reasons it's not you, but her, utterly ruining your cheeseburger deluxe, your day and possibly even your life. Director Chris Milk takes us to that situation and brings the emotions to life with this heart-wrenching and very unusual, very morbid and very genius performance video for Gnarls Barkley. I'd rather not totally ruin the surprise, so let's just say that fans of Michigan J. Frog and, uh, open heart surgery should be pleased.--> watch "Who's Gonna Save My Soul" via Quicktime or hi-res YouTube

Gnarls Barkley
"Who's Gonna Save My Soul" (Downtown/Atlantic)
Chris Milk, director | Anne Johnson, producer | @radical.media, production co | Danny Hiele, DP | Livio Sanchez @ filmcore, editor | Zach Matthews, prod. designer | Gradient Effects, fx + animation | Image Metrics, mouth animation | Dave Hussey, telecine

BOOKED: Linkin Park - Mr. Hahn, director

artist: Linkin Park
song: "Leave Out All The Rest"
label: Warner Bros.
director(s): Mr. Hahn
production co: @radical.media

NEW RELEASE: Lil Mama/T-Pain/Chris Brown "Shawty Get Loose"

Lil' Mama and guests Chris Brown and T-Pain pay homage to the original futuristic collaboration video — Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson's "Scream" — in this sleek clip for "Shawty Get Loose." Just as tricky as wrangling three stars onto the set was the CG work, which included "building" what's really just a virtual console that T-Pain manipulates. -->watch "Shawty Get Loose"

Lil' Mama"Shawty Get Loose" (Jive/ZLG)
R. Malcolm Jones, director | Steven Johnson, producer | @radical.media/Factory Features, production co| Brandon Cox, DP | Zuk, editor | Baked Goods, effects

BOOKED: Ray J - R. Malcolm Jones, director

artist: Ray J feat. Yung Berg
song: "Sexy Can I"
label: Koch/Deja34/Knockout
director(s): R. Malcolm Jones
production co: Factory Features (R. Malcolm Jones is signed with @radical.media)

NEW RELEASE: Luna Halo "Untouchable"

It's not a steel cage match — and it's not as cool as Scorpions "Rock You Like A Hurricane" —  but things are plenty dangerous in this video for Luna Halo. The band performs from a makeshift, electric fence cage. The contraption is not keep Luna Halo in captivity, but to keep the visiting hooligans from inflicting damage upon our rockers. In the end, the potential ass kickers bust through, thereby proving that an electric fence sign is not as effective a deterrent as actually electrifying the fence. --> watch "Untouchable"

Luna Halo "Untouchable" (American/Columbia)
Greg Jardin, director | Flick Wiltshire, producer | @radical.media, production co | Damian Acevedo, DP