It's Eurovision time! And Johnny Goddard of Youth Hymns brings appropriately zany energy to the visual for the British entry which has finally embraced the unhinged spirit of the long-running Song Competition.The video for Eins, Zwei, Drei brings the distinctive DIY electronic energy of electronic musician and inventor Sam Battle - aka LOOK MUM NO COMPUTER - into a bold visual world that channels the spectacle, chaos and theatricality of Eurovision.Combining inventive practical production with playful visual storytelling, the video celebrates the artist’s signature blend of analogue synthesizers, experimental engineering and unapologetically maximalist performance, as he breaks free of office monotony and sets his sights on a trip across the channel to the big Eurovision show in Vienna in May.Johnny Goddard brings his distinctive visual approach to the project, leaning into colourful performance, exaggerated staging and inventive camerawork to mirror the artist’s unconventional musical world - LMNC is best known online and in music communities for building and performing with handmade electronic instruments, including the viral Flamethrower Organ, the Gameboy Mega Machine, Furby Organ and enormous modular synthesiser installations. He is part of the Youth Hymns directing collective, who have over the years directed campaigns and music videos for the likes of JBL, Nike, Snoop Dogg, Pale Waves, Wolf Alice, Nowness, Heinz, Lego, Sainsburys and more.The collaboration with LMNC builds on their previous Euro-themed adventures together for Junk Rock TV, released in 2022, a travel and music documentary show, shot across European cities such as Barcelona, Berlin, Amsterdam and London built around a 48h challenge format where LMNC built musical instrument made out of junk found in each city.

Jessie Ware channels her inner horsewoman - with leading actor James Norton as her willing steed - in Thomas James' steamy and atmospheric video for Ride.Featuring an interpolation of the main theme from classic spaghetti western The Good, The Bad & The Ugly, the song certainly lends itself to having a cowboy-based video. But under James's direction, this takes an untypical turn, and certainly puts Jessie in control: Norton rides into Jessie's life, on white horse Caravan, but she asserts a majestic presence, and he becomes her submissive plaything.With a moody cinematic monochrome palette shot by Natasha Duursma, this sees Jessie the disco diva making a leftfield move into an aesthetic that Thomas James has perfected working for hellraising rock-based acts and iconoclastic rappers like Kneecap. And it pays off, in adding another dimension to her mystique. "The video is fully about Jessie and James - and their pretty stellar performances," says Thomas James. "Twisting perhaps, expectations of the handsome alpha cowboy."They approached the project really wanting to push perceptions. We had a lot of rehearsal, and the guys were very keen to improvise..."It was quite a liberating shoot, just rolling with the spontaneity. I think their on-screen chemistry, and there trust in each other, is what makes it what it is."

On the day of the release of the new Gorillaz album The Mountain comes the triumphant return of Jamie Hewlett's cartoon members of the band, in pretty much their original form - and in arguably their most ambitious production so far.But is it also the swansong for 2D, Russel, Noodle and Murdoc? It's an eight-minute epic, rendered completely in 2D animation, featuring three songs from the album - The Mountain, The Moon Cave and The Sad God - directed by Hewlett with long time collaborators Max Taylor and Tim McCourt. And it's a wonderfully-rendered pastiche of an animation classic. No prizes for figuring out what it is, that's clear from the first moments. And it works so well, fitting the musical flavour of this latest offering by Damon Albarn and his numerous collaborators.Of course the source material gets a very Gorillaz-type twist. It forms the basis of the reunion of the four members in the jungle, before they head off onto a journey to the eponymous Mountain. It's a classic set-up in a Gorillaz video - the rendezvous, followed by minimal action beyond the group engaging with their surroundings, with expertly timed jokes.Although he is sharing around the credits with his co-directors Taylor and McCourt and sequence director Jonathan Djob Nkondo), there is no mistaking the bone-dry humour that is the Hewlett hallmark and has been a feature of Gorillaz from their very beginning - 25 years ago. He is back on top form here.And then comes a curveball that swipes you sideways - perhaps appropriately, with the song The Sad God on the soundtrack. The bit where that question comes up: as they disappear, is this lovely Kong Studios-produced film also a fond farewell to the animated version of the band?Whether it's a real ending or just another twist, you may find you have a lump in your throat.