Video Round-Up: Bernie is Talented Edition

Video Round-Up is a weekly post collecting an assortment of videos from around the web. Whether they be music videos, creative viral marketing, just plain cool, or just plain ridiculous, they will all be found on Video Round-Up.

In this edition of the Video Round-Up, I've featured some unbelievably creative people with an immense amount of talent...and some that have started a stupid new dance trend, but let's ignore them for now. From some amazingly talented animators and their beautiful graduation production project, to a skilled pianist and his experimentation, there's plenty of creativity and talent on showcase here.



Volker Bertelmann probably had a purpose to slightly deceive when he decided to record his music under the name Hauschka, because it certainly doesn't sound like it is all coming from one man and his piano, but it is. Bertelmann lays all sorts of objects on the piano strings and mallets and experiments until he hears something he likes. This video -- where NPR captured his process on camera -- captured my attention, but equally fascinating is the one in which they give him an assortment of trinkets and he feels his way through them right on camera and ends up with an amazing song right there on the spot. Be sure to watch that one as well.



This is absolutely magical. I'm not really into animation -- except when I'm watching something from my childhood or something that my kid wants to watch -- but this is the kind of animation I want my kids to have. It simultaneously teaches children life lessons, and entrances the adult with the really cool stylistic choices they use to convey the world that a little blind girl might imagine when limited to her other senses.



I'm calling it now: the next big trend in the indie music scene is bluegrass. A new generation of musicians is taking a crack at the genre, and bands are blowing my mind with ridiculously technical playing -- like The Punch Brothers and now Trampled by Turtles. Thanks to Matthew Mason for the recommendation on this one. P.S. Their whole CD is great, in case you want to pick it up.



And you thought the lean back and the Soulja Boy dance were lame.