Video: "Lovely" - Helen Austin

Helen Austin is having a good year. Between having her first kids album Always Be a Unicorn nominated for a JUNO Award for best children's music album and releasing some cute little videos (here's another), her sweet folk-pop is getting some definite visibility.

Her latest video from Unicorn is for the song "Lovely," and it's as if Michael Rachap decided to get all crafty with his Readeez. (Not really: the animation was done by UK firm Guns For Hire Film.) I just think this is a simple but well-done video that properly accentuates Austin's lyrics.

Helen Austin - "Lovely" [YouTube]

Video: "When I Look Into the Night Sky" - Lori Henriques (World Premiere)

On her 2011 debut Outside My Door, Lori Henriques exhibited a taste for brainy wordplay to go along with her jazzy and occasionally melancholic pianoplay, wrapped in packaging designed by her brother Joel Henriques. How brainy? Her contribution to the 2012 compilation Science Fair dealt with Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle.

Henriques is now getting ready to release her follow-up album The World Is a Curious Place To Live on June 4, and I'm pleased as punch to debut the first video from the album. It's for "When I Look Into the Night Sky," a nifty reworking of the classic "St. John's Infirmary." Rather than wowing us with scientific fact, this new track is a wide-eyed and wondrous appreciation of the infinite expanse outside our planet and its connection to the individual. Lori once again gets an assist from her brother Joel, who put together the video featuring the tiny paper puppets. "Sparkle" and "marvel," indeed.

Bonus tidbit: Did you know that yesterday (98 years ago, at least), the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics -- the predecessor to NASA -- was founded? Even almost a century ago, people were actively trying to figure out how to connect more closely with the stars and planets around us.

Lori Henriques - "When I Look Into the Night Sky" [YouTube]

Video: "The Cereal Song (What's Missing?)" - The Flannery Brothers

It's good to have some new music from The Flannery Brothers. I like this song, but really what puts it over the top is the dancing. Check out the dancing from Dan, Mike, and Jonathan. Spoon juggling for the win!

Flannery Brothers - "The Cereal Song (What's Missing?)" [YouTube]

Video: "Let's Skateboard" - The Not-Its

As can be implied from my review of The Not-Its' KidQuake album, I am not up-to-date on my skateboarding lingo. "Stalefish." But with The Not-Its' new video for "Let's Skateboard," none of that matters, because its shots of skateboard kids accompanied by the propulsive song makes me almost absurdly happy. The boys in tutus are a nice touch. (Via Cool Mom Picks)

The Not-Its! - "Let's Skateboard" [YouTube]

Video: " Similes and Metaphors" - The Bazillions

This video for "Similes and Metaphors," off the Twin Cities' Bazillions' latest album Heads or Tales is as pretty as a picture, no, that's not right, it's the cat's pajamas. no, that's not right... Whatever it is, it's another cool video from the band and eg design, not to mention one that owes a small debt to The Incredibles.

The Bazillions - "Similes and Metaphors" [Vimeo]

Video: "The Princess Who Saved Herself" - Jonathan Coulton

I briefly thought about not posting this, because by doing so I prove that I'm not infallible. Because if I were infallible, I wouldn't be posting this video nearly 18 months after it originally went on YouTube.

But then I thought, there must be others like me who haven't seen this either. So I'm sharing. It's for Jonathan Coulton's stone-cold (and incredibly popular) track "The Princess Who Saved Herself" from the fine Many Hands: Family Music for Haiti compilation.

It's a fan video. Not just any fan. But a whole bunch of school students. I don't typically like fan videos, but there's something about the match of the elementary school art juxtaposed against Coulton's whip-smart lyrics that warms my heart greatly.

Jonathan Coulton - "The Princess Who Saved Herself" (fan video) [YouTube]