The interactive category is still a fairly new one, and there were only five I could have possibly put here. Three of them were really boring, but these both are worth spending some time with, particularly the first one.

Arcade Fire - We Used to Wait (taken from The Suburbs)

Plug in the address of the house you grew up in (or lived in at a significant time in your life) and via the magic of Google Maps, the video is set there. I actually found the experience very moving and cathartic, which I didn’t expect from a web application.

thewildernessdowntown.com

Au Revoir Simone - Knight of Wands (taken from Still Night, Still Light)

Who doesn’t like to color as the listen to music, right?

theknightofwands.com

This is the end.

These are brain candy. But it’s gourmet brain candy.

Broken Social Scene - All to All (taken from Forgiveness Rock Record)

When we were kids, my two sisters and I would stand at the top of the stairs, pretend to have a slow-motion fight where one of us would punch the other, who would then fall down the stairs, also in slow motion. The faller would get back up, charge up the stairs (again, still in slow-motion) and punch the other person down. We could cycle like this for hours.

Ratatat - Drugs (taken from LP4)

Just say maybe.

Aeroplane - Superstar (taken from We Can’t Fly)

Fashion has a price. If you’re going to be boring, you may as well be naked.

Holy Fuck - Red Lights (taken from Latin)

Cats are badass and you know it.

It’s not over yet…

We love our stuff. If you think that’s not true, try watching Hoarders or MTV Cribs sometime.

Wax Taylor (feat. Charlie Winston) - I Own You (taken from In the Mood for Life)

Actually, we kind of love our stuff a little too much. Umm… anyone wanna go Ghandi with me?

Boy Eats Drum Machine - Hoop + Wire (taken from Hoop + Wire)

Jason Sivers imagines a world where it’s not our computers & cell phones that unite and achieve sentience, but rather our boxes of tapes, Ataris and alarm clocks that we forgot to clear out from our parents’ attics.

OK Go - This Too Shall Pass (Rube Goldberg version) (taken from Of the Blue Colour of the Sky)

As I said the other day about the marching band version of this song, OK Go have been so generous to pour themselves into these videos to remind us that anything is possible, even a two-story Rube Goldberg machine synced to a pop song.

The end is near…

These three, because of their depth, simplicity and beauty, stood alone from some of the sillier categories I created.

Harper Simon - Berkley Girl (taken from Harper Simon)

I have to say this every time I mention Harper Simon, but I didn’t discover his 2009 debut album until a year after it had been released. It wasn’t for lack of paying attention, it simply had barely been reported on in the indie music press. Which is criminal, because not only is Harper the son of Paul Simon, but the album is completely amazing. So, quit jumping the shark with this Wavves and Sleigh Bells crap and start doing your jobs again in 2011, ok guys?

Jena Malone stars as the girl Harper loved and lost (except for as a friend).

El-P - Time Won’t Tell (taken from Weareallgoingtoburninhellmegamixxx3)

Children can be cruel, and so can poverty, but the human spirit still triumphs.

Black Prairie - Red Rocking Chair (taken from Feast of the Hunters’ Moon)

If you’re not a parent, you may feel some bafflement as to how parents can feel such deep love for these tiny creatures who can barely eat by themselves, usually smell like food and/or poop and have ruined their sleep, social and sex lives. But I can tell you, something, like an embedded microchip you didn’t know was there, switches on when you have a child, and the love you feel for them transcends any feelings you’ve had for anyone, ever.

So, to lose a child is probably the most heartbreaking thing that could ever happen to a person. Portland’s Black Prairie tell this story with grace, using only a few instruments, words and scenes.

Keep on ridin’…