From the overcast shores of Norfolk comes this spooky video for The Fool, the second single from up and coming London band Real Fur. Directed by filmmaker and musician Si Allen, the video sees dancer Bugsy Monroe becoming almost possessed as she performs a very anguished routine on the gloomy beach.

Ultimately, she succumbs to The Fool‘s catchy bass riff and casts off the blue fabric bound to her wrists. Monroe is a stunning dancer, and Allen’s beautifully shot sequences on the ever-darkening beach make this brooding video exciting to watch.

Real Fur might be somewhat new to the scene, but their sound (sometimes reminiscent of Vampire Weekend or Foals) is polished and a pleasure to listen to. If you can’t get enough of The Fool, head to their website, where you can hear some more of their infectious tunes.

Just finished a Skype chat with your mother or one of your best friends? Well here’s a short film guaranteed to make you think twice (or thrice) about turning on a webcam ever again. Created by ZBros Production, Webcam is a chilling seven minute story about Julia, a young girl being watched obsessively by someone who has hacked into her webcam, that seemingly unobtrusive and handy connection device that sees everything.

Initially it’s not clear that we’re following Julia through the eyes of the hacker, until a small icon of his face momentarily flashes up as she’s getting ready in the bathroom. Spoooooky. What starts off as observations of Julia’s daily routine and ritual behaviors—talking on Skype, studying, watching TV, checking social networks and gossiping with friends—gradually turns into more sinister voyeuristic transgressions of her dancing in underpants, sleeping and getting into bed with her boyfriend.

Tension grows as the hacker increasingly involves himself in Julia’s life, sending her an anonymous gift and communicating to her through computer sounds and lights until the final disturbing scene (no spoiler here, you’ll have to watch it for yourself).

Based on real life events in which a Californian man was arrested in 2010 for spying on a woman through her webcam along with thousands of other reported cases; it’s an eye-opening, timely message that successfully highlights the dangers of webcam hacking and the technology permeating our lives.

Portable is very excited to bring you this exclusive video of Melbourne-based artist Ghostpatrol documenting his creative process and production for his collaboration with Neverfail Springwater’s Art Series water cooler collection.

Opening in the Melbourne surrounds, the video follows Ghostpatrol into his studio, providing an intimate behind the scenes look at his creative space that features all kinds of creative inspiration and paraphernalia. A stack of classic books, brightly colored toys and animal figurines are on show next to Ryan McGinley‘s iconic Girl with A Wolf photograph—a piece that obviously inspires his signature illustrations of folkloric, fantastical creatures and people, such as the witch figure he is seen creating for the Art Cooler design.

Aptly accompanied by classical music, the cinematography spirals in and around this Hobart-born artist, focusing in and out as he mixes paint, sketches and applies layers to his artwork. Producing a vast body of work across painting, sculpture, drawing, murals, dolls and even drawings on a canvas of pencils, with most centered around mythical figures and creatures inspired by children’s tales past and present (Red Riding Hood, Zelda and Super Mario all cameo), Ghostpatrol has quickly risen through the ranks to where he currently sits, as a highly popular and sought-after creator both in Australia and internationally.

Neverfail Art Coolers: Artist Series is part of Neverfail Springwater’s collaboration with local artists to produce their Art Series water color collection. It’s a stylish way for Australians to hydrate this summer, that’s for sure.

Donny Benét began his musical career following in the footsteps of his father as a disco accordionist. After determining that there was an apparent lack of demand in the music market for a disco/accordion infusion, Donny began focusing his talents on the electric bass. Now, with the help of a drum machine, Fender Rhodes, Moog Synthesizer and pitch bender, Donny has recorded his unique debut album, ‘Don’t Hold Back’.

Donny “has worked hard to create an album that will hopefully make him the most famous disco accordion/jazz bassist of the 21st century”. The one-man-band entertainer that describes himself as “almost karaoke-style entertainment” recently played at the Parklife Music Festival in Sydney, and since then, interest in the artist has steadily increased.

In an interview with independent Australian blog Faster Louder, Donny admits to having a “great affinity for late ‘70s and very early ‘80s R&B music. All the early ‘80s Prince stuff is definitely high up the list of influences”. This is highly evident in his latest video for Sophisticated Lover. The clip stars the famous Pontiac Trans Am from iconic 80s film Knight Rider, along with a couple of Weimaraners and a fishing boat. Also starring in the video are two generic blonde models and an elderly look-a-like that could possibly be his illusive famous father, Antonio Benét. Directed by Luci Schroder, the highly stylised video is the epitome of Miami Vice-esque 80s smooth in a magnificently awkward way.

Early last week, the internet’s folk music-loving communities were ablaze with talk of a new artist called Robin Bacior, whose song Ohio (and its beautifully choreographed music video) made the rounds of music blogs and Tumblr feeds before landing on the home page of Vimeo’s Staff Picks.

In the time since, Robin—a California native who now calls Brooklyn home—premiered her new single I Hate the States on Nylon Magazine’s blog and has made the video’s directors Ellis Bahl and Alex Fischer two of New York’s most in-demand new creatives.

We spoke with Robin just a day after her debut LP ‘Rest Our Wings’ was released to ask about the early praise she’s received, find out what made her start her own record label and talk about all things Brooklyn.

PORTABLE: You moved from California to Brooklyn, where you’ve now found considerable success. What was that transition like?

That’s a really hard question. I’d say it was very full. I went from a really tight-knit loving community in a small town in California where it never snows, to a beastly sized city in New York where I had few friends and the winter was purely white. It was a much-needed time that allowed me to explore my own brain a little bit, which was both very lonely and very exciting. I’m really glad I did it.

What was it about Brooklyn that drew you here? How has the creative community that exists there inspired you?

I’ve wanted to live in New York since I was 11. I came with my mom to visit her family, and I was immediately enamored with Brooklyn. I can still vividly picture walking around for the first time, feeling this new part of my brain open up. When I returned back to California, I felt I had left one foot in New York, and for years I’d talk about it and think about it like some reoccurring dream, kind of fantasize about living in New York, and then one day I decided to actually do it. Having spent a majority of my life with this idea in the back of my head and then watching it turn into a reality, I sometimes feel like I’m living in a dream. It’s definitely been rough at times, but I’ve been lucky to find an incredible community in South Brooklyn, full of very talented, bright people that have taught me a ton about creativity and drive, and provided a home for me on the east coast. I didn’t move here with the intention of pursuing any musical path, but through meeting and collaborating with so many artists in my own neighborhood, it just kind of happened.

Both the titles title of the first single from your new record are related to the United States. To what extent does the country play a role in the record?

Well, it’s not so much about the country itself, it’s mostly about space and physical distance being an issue. Friends of mine have joked that I can be a little nomadic, and to an extent it can be true. I really love movement; the versatility of land and just how much there is to see, but suddenly all the people I care about are spread hours in every direction, and somehow I end up a little isolated. The whole album is about the idea of being in a transient part of my life, picking up very permanent pieces along the way, and questioning that conflict.

Buzzine compared your sound to Joni Mitchell and Morrissey. How did that feel? What artists are you most inspired by or obsessed with?

That’s a huge compliment. It just so happens I have a huge obsession with Joni Mitchell. Her songs are pure observations, confessions, and so, so truthful. She never compromised the honesty of her songs. Her music has allowed me to feel comfortable saying how I truly feel and allowing people to hear that. It can be really frightening to say what’s exactly in your head, but Joni Mitchell really does that in these breath-taking poetic ways that are still straightforward. Confusion and vulnerability are universal, and Joni Mitchell isn’t afraid to admit that in song, which I admire. So yeah, I’m pretty flattered with the Joni references.

Tell us the story behind Consonants & Vowels. Why start your own label? What did that process involve?

Last fall while my label partner (Jillian Putnam-Smith) was visiting me in New York we were sitting on the train and she brought up the idea. We’re really old friends and balance each other’s work ethic pretty well. We’d toyed with the idea before and finally decided to take the leap. We named it Consonants & Vowels because we want the label to focus on artists with lyrically potent music, and also because we both love the Regina Spektor album ‘Songs’, and it’s a reference to the song, “Consequence of Sounds”. I spent my summer reading up on the start of a lot of my favorite labels, and the story is almost always the same; a small community of friends start a label to release their music to a larger audience. I’ve met so many insanely talented people who I’d love to help be heard by ears outside the South BK community, and I’d love to have Consonants & Vowels be the medium for that. The label is still in its infancy, but we’re working on it, and people have been really supportive so far, which makes it really fun.

We first saw the video for Ohio when it was picked up as a Vimeo Staff Pick. How did it feel to know one of the web’s largest creative communities was listening to your song?

It felt really crazy. It’s strange to think that about 40,000 people have heard a song I wrote sitting on the floor of my bedroom. I’m really excited for Alex and Ellis, they made a really beautiful video and I’m glad people can see how talented those two are.

What was the process like working with Alex and Ellis?

Ellis and Alex are both really great guys and I’m very lucky they took the time to work with me. I met Ellis around my neighborhood a year or so ago, and Alex not long after, and was really impressed with both of their work. I wanted them to make something that was completely their vision, that wasn’t about the song itself, but was a separate creation inspired by the song. One of the most exciting things about working with other artists is having a conversation through your art. The video is a dialogue between my song, the dance choreography and the camera work of Ellis and Alex. I saw the filming, and saw the final product while I was on tour in California and was blown away by what they had made.

Your new record’s been out for less than 24 hours so far. How have people reacted to it? What do you want people to think or feel when they listen to it?

So far people have been very complimentary, which is nice. I worked really hard on this LP to make it a really direct reflection of how I hear the songs in my head, so I feel really pleased with how it turned out. I want people to feel whatever is natural to them while they listen to it, that’s really all I can ask for.

The most talented family in Hollywood are at it again.  Gia Coppola, granddaughter to legendary director Francis Ford Coppola, niece to Sofia Coppola and cousin to Jason Schwartzman has teamed up with Wren to create What’s Up? The short fashion film is rich in pop culture references, name-dropping everything from Lady Gaga and Kim Kardashian to Facebook, and follows an afternoon in the life of a teenage girl distanced from her self absorbed mother.

Founded in 2007 by Melissa Coker in Lake Forest, Illinois, Wren has an affiliation with lost girls and was named after Jenny Wren, a “sad winsome little creature who makes dresses for dolls in Dickens’ Our Mutual Friend.” This inspiration is a perfect match for the delicate directorial style of Coppola who, over the past two years, has immersed herself in the world of fashion film, and perfectly harnessed the line’s “air of free-spirited exuberance, restrained elegance, and low-key sophistication” in the small details she highlights.

Set in Los Angeles, Coppola’s film submerges bleak reality with the superficiality of the world surrounding the protagonist (played by Bella Zarember), as she trolls Facebook and trawls through her Wren wardrobe. Reminiscent of the work of aunt Sofia, with each shot the beauty is in the detail and heightened femininity of not only Coker’s designs but the whimsy and nostalgic effect of dim lighting and cousin Robert Schwartzman‘s (remember Michael Moscovitz from The Princess Diaries?) erratic and haunting soundtrack.

Lolita

The defining film of this theme, Stanley Kubrick’s 1962 film (based on Vladimir Nabokov’s 1955 novel) saw then-53-year-old James Mason assume the role of Humbert Humbert, who, were he written in 2011, would most likely have to go door-to-door informing his neighbors of his, er, “appreciation” of young girls. Sixteen year old Sue Lyon was cast alongside him as the precocious, lollipop-sucking girl with the “lovely, lyrical, lilting name” that has gone on to represent this very phenomenon in popular culture.

Love them or hate them, at some time in our lives we all have to deal with roommates. These times can be wonderful, (sharing mugs of gin over board games on a Tuesday evening), or they can be downright awful (cleaning the entire house while everyone else is out partying). Either way, the idea of two (or more) people sharing a living space is great fodder for film and television, and this format has given us some of the most entertaining movies and tv programs over the years. Good, bad, fun-loving and psychotic, these are the best and the worst of on-screen odd couple roomies.

It was exciting enough when, last year, the boys from Animal Collective announced they were collaborating with environmentally friendly label Keep to design and release a range of socially aware, but totally stylin’ sneakers. Now, not only can you be hitting the streets in a pair of cruelty-free ‘Avey Tare Ghost Tobin’ kicks, but the band also announced that all-pre-ordered shoes will come complete with a bonus cassette of previously unreleased music, all delivered in one eco-conscious, yet fashion friendly hit.

With no real need for a reminder with incentives like that (did we mention all proceeds go to California’s Socorro Island Conservation Fund?), and the launch of the shoe line only weeks away, this video teaser, thanks to Abby Portner (also band member Dave, or Avey Tare’s sister) does well to get one in the mood for a sneaky afternoon online shopping fix. Set to the dance-driven sounds of Fickle Cycle from the band’s ‘Grass’ single, the short features images of the wildlife and natural scenery the project is aimed to help, along with hand-drawn animals and plenty of AC’s trademark trippy visuals.

Those lucky enough to get their hands on one of the exclusive mix-tapes can look forward to the tracks Jailhouse from band member Geologist, Call Home (Buy Grapes) from Avey Tare and The Preakness from Panda Bear, along with Country Report from Deakin. Genius. The shoe line is due to be released on March 26th.