Artist: Justin Roberts
Song: "If I Were"
Album: Lemonade
Description: There is some very lo-fi stop-motion animation in this video, but somehow it fits the gentle, understated love song.
Source: YouTube
"Night Owl" - Uncle Dox
Artist: Uncle Dox
Song: "Night Owl"
Album: N/A
Description: I'm a sucker for good jangle-pop song, and the paper-cutout stop-motion video from the Minnesota-based artist that goes along with this celebration of those kids who just don't like their 8 PM bedtime is very cute.
Source: YouTube
"Superhero 2017 Remix (feat. Carly Ciarrocchi)" - Tim Kubart
Artist: Tim Kubart
Song: "Superhero 2017 Remix (feat. Carly Ciarrocchi)"
Album: N/A
Description: Tim Kubart took a shot at making a poppier, dancer version of breakout his Tim and the Space Cadets debut hit, "Superhero," and rolled out a slick new lyric video to go along it. It's chopped up, tweaked, and amplified, and he gets help from his fellow Sprout host Carly Ciarrocchi (and animator Avi Jacob). It's lots of fun but I gotta admit, though, I still like the crunchier version of the song (along with the more narratively-driven video).
Source: YouTube
"Colour of Leaves" - The Moonlights
Artist: The Moonlights
Song: "Colour of Leaves"
Album: The Moonlights
Description: I know. What in the world am I doing posting a song titled "Colour of Leaves" in mid-March -- presumably it's all about fall colors, right? Nope! Well, maybe it is, but there are lyrics celebrating the sun, tiny bugs, moss, and, yes, SPRING! As a video, this is pretty boring -- Moonlights Dean Jones and Rachel Loshak singing and occasionally making eye contact with the camera -- but as a song, Jones and Loshak make for some wonderful harmonies.
Source: YouTube
"Cat Scratch Fever" - fleaBITE
"Byke" - Baron Von Rumblebuss
Artist: Baron Von Rumblebuss
Song: "Byke"
Album: Summer-Sonic
Description: This is a fairly lo-fi video, a "condensed shot of our favorite bike ride" in North Carolina's Raleigh-Durham area, as BVR's mastermind Tray Batson puts it. But its mellow filtered vibe and surprisingly un-sped up visuals match the dreamy song celebrating bike-riding quite nicely.
Source: YouTube
"The Unicorn and Princess Rainbow" - StevenSteven
Artist: StevenSteven
Song: "The Unicorn and Princess Rainbow"
Album: Foreverywhere
Description: Steve Burns wearing a headband with a unicorn horn, Steven Drozd playing 3 instruments at once, and an epic story acted out by, what, 7-year olds? Psychedelic rock has never been so kindie.
Source: YouTube
"Rolling Down the Hill" - Justin Roberts
Artist: Justin Roberts
Song: "Rolling Down the Hill"
Album: Lemonade
Description: A cute kid playing office, Justin mugging for the camera as he pretends to play Robbie Fulks' guitar solo, and a sweet fiddle-tinged folk song (with a fiddler to boot). All that and one of my favorite closing lyrical lines in a kindie song this or perhaps any other year.
Source: YouTube
