Since we're on the Decemberists' payroll—they pay us in the shiniest of doubloons—we're required to post this new video for The Hazards Of Love's "The Rake's Song." The clip was directed by a pair of students from London's St. Martins College (I heard that to attend that school you need to they have "a thirst for knowledge") and features some pretty literal visual interpretations—thanks for that "womb spilling out babies" animation—from the song.

Link:P4K. Music Blog for the Common People: End Hits

In honor of Labor Day—sadly I am not the only Mercury word drone spending his holiday at the office—we present you with this Cass McCombs music video for "The Executioner's Song" that is all about working. What great timing, since McCombs is in town tonight—performing at Mississippi Studios—which means you can watch this clip and then question him on his favorite knot-tying techniques. Sure, the hangman's noose is an old favorite, but I'm more of a highwayman's hitch type of guy.

End Hits: I'd sell my soul to be able to tie a good Turk's head knot.

"Song Away," easily the best track on Hockey's Mind Chaos, finally gets a video, and it stars twee-as-fuck actress Charlyne Yi (and some actor named Paul Rust, but I am not sure who he is). It's your typical boy-girl dance party with lots of bright lights, plastic cup drinks, and some absolutely terrible dancing.

End Hits: I guess Michael Cera was busy.

Few recordings, local or not, have me as excited as We Used To Think The Freeway Sounded Like A River, the poetic-sounding new full-length from the booze/horse enthusiasts in Richmond Fontaine. Thankfully the band just released this excellent video for their lead single, "You Can Move Back Here."

Blatantly ignoring the threat of poison oak, the Fontaine members—joined by a random friend and a tail-wagging dog—seem to be having a blast while performing deep in a woods, while the rest of the video acts as a snapshot of the beauty—the coast, the forest, the rain—of the state that we call home. Usually we avoid posting more than a couple lyrics of a song, but for Willy Vlautin we'll make an exception.

There’s so many people there
And you quit calling home
Now your voice is shaky and weird
Please you can move back here
We all miss you and you don’t have to be anything here and
At least you’ll have the Western sky and me on your side
Cities and subways that run all night
Everything costs so much
You’re all alone with neighbors on every side

God, I love this band.

End Hits: I once lost $20 at the Greshman dog track. (That's not a Richmond Fontaine song title, but it could be.)

Stereogum has posted the new Modest Mouse video, directed by one Heath Ledger. Weird, right?

The Mouse have a new release out today, No One's First, And You're Next, and the lead single, "King Rat," was given the animated video concept by Ledger... FROM THE GRAVE.

Um, no. Actually, it was started before Ledger's tragic passing in January 2008, but since the video was not complete, The Masses stepped up and finished the clip. Here's the press release:

In January of 2007, while visiting his homeland of Australia, Heath Ledger presented Isaac Brock of Modest Mouse with an idea to direct a video for their yet-to-be-released song “King Rat”. Heath’s vision, brave and unapologetic in its nature, would marry his love of bold and original music with his impassioned stance against the illegal commercial whale hunts taking place off the coast of Australia each year.

Always one to operate from his heart and take a stand for what he cared deeply about, Heath’s intention was to raise awareness on modern whaling practices through a potent visual piece without having to say a word. It was his way to let the story, in its candid reversal, speak for itself.

The video was fully conceived down to the last detail but unfinished when Heath passed away in January of 2008. We completed the video in his honor with the support and advocacy of Isaac Brock.

End Hits: I'm a sucker for a whale with a periscope.

P4K has posted the YACHT video for "Psychic City (Voodoo City)," from their DFA debut, and just-released, See Mystery Lights album. With a drip-drip beat that sounds like it was trapped in R. Kelly's closet—with Rufus—the song is a joyful little pop number that stands on it's own, yet still fits in nicely within the context of the album. And the video? Well, it finds the duo partaking in all sorts of creepy occult and religions activities—plus there is some smooching as well. I have never seen The Da Vinci Code, but I imagine the film is exactly like this.

There are rumors of a YACHT hometown show in September, but nothing is confirmed as of yet. As always, we'll let you know.

End Hits: This video needs more shots of Tom Hanks' hair plugs.

Sure, it would have been nice to see the Gossip burn it up in the SE industrial blocks for PDX Pop Now, but they are no longer our band, they are everyone's band.

That is why the trio quartet (Wait, when did that happen?) was at the Capitol Hill Block Party on Saturday, and it was there that they broke out a cover/medley of the Talking Head's "Psycho Killer." It's a little unorthodox of a cover (needs more "fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa"), but then again, what else did you expect from Beth Ditto and pals?

End Hits: I think her dress just hypnotized me. Hey, I just quit smoking... and I'm a chicken.

In what could best be described as their own personal "November Rain" (but with less shots of Slash soloing outside a dusty church), the Builders and the Butchers pull out all the stops on their epic "Golden and Green" video.

This Alicia Rose directed clip—which debuts on the AOL Spinner site this morning—captures plenty of shady dealings in a rural cabin, the prancing "Vivian Girls" (featuring the Mercury's very own, Flannery Smith, head of our scrapbooking and precious memories department), and a mythical woodland creature.

You're going to need to watch this video twice.

End Hits: This video just confirms my suspicion that nothing good ever happens in the forest.

The Portland Cello Project has just released this lovely and sparse video for "Tallymarks." Featuring the enigmatic Thao on vocals, the song is the highlight of their brand new The Thao And Justin Power Sessions recording. It's also not embedded. So you'll have to hoof it over to the Kill Rock Stars site to view it. UPDATE: It is now embedded. Yay.

Know who likes this video?

Kittens.
But that's what you get when you feature a ball of string (which eventually transforms into a DIY cello) in your video.

End Hits: Does this count as my Cat Friday contribution?

While trolling for Heidi and Spencer gossip—I'm a sad and lonely man—I discovered that record label mogul Perez Hilton offered up the "world premiere!!!!!" of the new video from the Gossip.

I wonder if there is a Perez Hilton quote I could use to describe this video?

It's fashion. It's glam. It's simple. It's moody. It's sexy.

Yeah, that'll work. Anyway, the video is for "Heavy Cross," the first single from Music For Men, which is out next week (in the UK).

End Hits: We're fashion, glam, simple, moody, but never sexy. Never.

With a new record on the way The Gossip have created this hot and sweaty infomercial to tell you all about Music For Men. Personally, I'm hoping that years of rampant filesharing have convinced Columbia Records to utilize an alternative distribution method for this album: each copy will be delivered via a pair of bulging pink shorts.

Wait, is that a dog's paw turning off the radio? Bad homophobic puppy, bad!

End Hits: I tried this at my gym. Let's just say I work out at home these days.

Tara Jane O'Neil's video for "A Vertiginous One," is quite spectacular. The haunting animated clip—which sort of reminds me of this well-received, and absolutely freakish, short—features a character that sort of resembles O'Neil, plenty of dead woodland creatures, diamonds skillfully plucked from an ear canal, and some mild eye bleeding. I did mention that it was haunting, right?

If you can decipher the video, please let me know what you think is going on. I've watched it three times already and, other than thinking it's gorgeous (and creepy), I'm stuck.

Link: P4K | End Hits: Your home for music blogging and animal taxidermy advice.