ANIMAL COLLECTIVE> PEACEBONE
Rock photographer-turned-director Timothy Saccenti dazzled us earlier this year with his spinning glass cube in Battles "Atlas". This time, he's captured our hearts with an occasionally sticky - but mostly sweet - teenage alien love story for Animal Collective. "Peacebone" follows a raccoon-eyed girl and her giant, multi-fanged boy toy as they spend a sunny day driving, picnicking and toilet-papering. The video is just plain weird and might've come off as silly were it not for Saccenti's strangely compelling cinematography and some eye, er, mouth-popping creature effects courtesy of DopePope and Click3X. [Prodco: Zooma Zooma; Label: Domino Records] KR

MENOMENA> EVIL BEE
With two strong videos released in less than a month, Portland-based experimental rock act Menomena is shaping up to be a serious player on the video scene. After War & Julius turned "Rotten Hell" into an epic, slo-mo food fight, the band turned to animator Stefan Nadelman for a loosely literal interpretation of "Evil Bee." Financed by kicks company PF Flyers, Nadelman's richly-detailed animated vid follows two electrified bees, trapped in an Orwellian world ruled by ruthless mechanical birds. There's a surreal, storybook quality to the video's mixture of photo-realism and 2D cut-out animation that's wholly unpredictable and enjoyable. [Prodco: Schatzi Marketing; Label: Barsuk Records] KR

KANYE WEST> GOODLIFE
Suddenly-hot French directing duo Jonas&François reunite with Ed Banger illustrator So Me to do for Kanye West what they did for their MTV VMA-nominated Justice video, "D.A.N.C.E.". Though strikingly similar, the undeniably fun rotoscoped animation style fits perfectly with Kanye's larger-than-life lyrical freshness and the song's laid back beat. Save for the obligatory video ho, who provides her own 3D animation, "Goodlife" raises the creative bar for mainstream American hip-hop videos, a genre that, with very few exceptions, is woefully short on inspiration ("Lip Gloss" anyone?). [Prodco: El Niño @ 75; Label: Def Jam] KR