Video: "Blue Clouds" - Elizabeth Mitchell and You Are My Flower

It's not easy for a songwriter to stand out on an album with covers of songs written by Bill Withers and David Bowie among others, but on "Blue Clouds," the title track from her new album out today, Elizabeth Mitchell and You Are My Flower give the lullaby her husband Daniel Littleton wrote for their daughter a gorgeous reading that makes it possibly the most indelible song on the album.

That's really all the excuse you need to watch this video.

Elizabeth Mitchell and You Are My Flower - "Blue Clouds" [YouTube]

Video: "Miss Elephant's Gerald" - The Pop Ups

I am not a huge Halloween fan, and so I'll be upfront and say that I'm not gonna feature too many Halloween-related tracks here.  (At least, I'm sayin' that now.)  So when I say that the new "Halloween" track from puppet/kindie (kindie/puppet?) band The Pop Ups, "Miss Elephant's Gerald," isn't very Halloween-y, that's actually a good thing from my perspective.

It does swing, however.

(Below the video is a Bandcamp widget from which you can purchase the track -- also available on iTunes.)

The Pop Ups - "Miss Elephant's Gerald" [YouTube]

Monday Morning Smile: Candela y Los Supremos - "El Desalojo del Piojo"

I've featured the work of Candela y Los Supremos here on the site before, but I will be honest that it is hard for me to get past the language barrier -- singing in nothing but Spanish (or perhaps Portugese) makes it difficult for me to properly evaluate.

The music is infectious pop, though, so I'm gonna post this video, the leadoff single from the band's brand new album Animaladas (out tomorrow, Oct. 16, in Spain, and a week later worldwide, I believe).  It's for the song, "El Desalojo del Piojo," which roughly translates to "The Eviction of the Louse."  That translation makes the constant hair-mussing of 7-year-old Candela make a lot more sense.

If you want to listen to more, PlayGround has you covered.

Candela y Los Supremos - "El Desalojo del Piojo" [YouTube]

Video: "Dance Like a Monster" - Play Date

Halloween is more than a month away, but I guess it's time to start thinking about the holiday. (If, unlike me, you're a big fan of it.)

Play Date certainly are, as they've just released their first video from their forthcoming debut Imagination, the seasonally appropriate "Dance Like a Monster."  It's kinda of a combination of public-access TV, It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!, and the Unfrozen Caveman sketches from Saturday Night Live.  (With a small amount of "Danger, Will Robinson!" thrown into the mix.)  Pretty sure this'll be a hit with the kids.

Play Date - "Dance Like a Monster" [YouTube]

Monday Morning Smile: Mungge (Nid Scho Widr!)

"Nid Scho Widr," for those of you not living in Switzerland or up to speed on your Romansch, means "Not again!"  In this case, it's an expression suitable for the marmots and hedgehogs populating this stop-motion animation from this now-disbanded Owl Studios (a quartet of Swiss animation students).   Gotta say, though, those marmots and the hedghog all look a lot like Sid from the Ice Age movies.  Must be the eyes.