The new edition of AirplayUK features a range of the most creative and entertaining music videos to come out of the United Kingdom over the last few months.

AirplayUK also includes our regular Director Profile, where we interview top directors working in music videos in the UK. This time round we are talking to Phil Sansom and Olly Williams, a directing team who work together as Diamond Dogs – a name inspired by David Bowie’s legendary album.

More about Phil and Olly later. But we start with a new video for pop-electro outfit Goldfrapp by leading British video director Dougal Wilson (whose previous video, for Bat For Lashes, was featured in the first edition of AirplayUK). Singer Alison Goldfrapp has previously opted for a sexy and glamourous image in her videos. But for A&E, the first single from the new album, she adopts a softer image, and even flirts with comedy - which is where Dougal Wilson comes in. His work invariably embraces visual humour and here is no exception as he presents Alison with some leafy dancing companions that emerge from the wood surrounding her.

The second video in the programme also has a comedy connection, although it's not immediately apparent. Radiohead are one of the world's biggest bands, and last year they made the momentous decision to release their own album In Rainbows, and let buyers choose their own price for it. There were no singles or official videos either, but they did present a fans-only webcast in November, shot at the band's HQ in Oxford, which featured several video performances, mostly shot by Garth Jennings - director of numerous acclaimed videos as well as the feature film version of Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy and the forthcoming Son Of Rambow – and comedian Adam Buxton.

It was Buxton who came up with the idea behind Radiohead's performance of Jigsaw Falling Into Place: he put each Radiohead member in bicycle helmets, each with a tiny camera attached. The result is a mesmerising performance video – and it's also the first time that each member of the band has appeared in a video (and this is now the official video) together for over a decade.

The next video, for dance-indie outfit The Black Ghosts’ Some Way Through This is by a new directing team who have taken one of the staples of DIY video directing in the age of YouTube and developed it to an extraordinary level. Ben Falk and Jos Newbolt have made an animated video, mostly from Lego. It's been done before - originally and most memorably for The White Stripes' Fell In Love With A Girl by the legendary Michel Gondry – but Ben & Jos have created a whole urban landscape with the stuff, and made several homages to famous movies, and the odd famous painting, in the process.

For a change of pace, we have the Ruarri Joseph’s Blankets, which finds the shaggy-bearded singer-songwriter in the recording studio with a bunch of musicians – all played by himself. Great multiple comic performances by Ruarri, directed by Gav Rowe and Luke Taylor.

That's followed by a new video for acoustic balladeers Turin Brakes, where the band allow full rein to the work of Karni + Saul, a directing couple who specialise in stop frame animation via live action photography. But here they are assisted by some more special effects work that provides the framework for the story of three dysfunctional relationships told through the directors stop-frame choreography. These couples live in an oddly shaped high-rise tower block - which takes on a life of its own.

Then we have a video by a doyenne of music video directing for one of the most fashionable rock bands of the moment. Sophie Muller has made hundreds of videos since the late Eighties for any number of superstars - she regularly works with the likes of Gwen Stefani and Beyonce, Maroon 5, Mika, and many more. But her video for The Kills takes her into less commercial and more experimental territory, showing how the simple use of projections and different film and video formats can result in something exceptional - especially when the band look this cool.

We then take a break from the run of recent British videos with our Director Profile, and a look at the career of directing team DIAMOND DOGS. Not that Phil Sansom and Olly Williams have been directing together for years, but they have built up a fine portfolio of work for a number of successful artists in a relatively short time, and have enjoyed a particularly productive and prolific last twelve months. That demanded a closer look – and a focus on five of their standout videos, shown here in full.

They also love to dress up. Welcoming AirplayUK to their West London base on a wintry afternoon, Phil and Olly are wearing the garb of down-at-heel Victorian gentlemen. It is their way of making the point that making music videos is not always a well paid job these days - but it is rewarding in other ways.

The Dogs' videos are strong on ideas, art direction, strong preparation, and having fun. For The Cribs' Mirror Kissers they made arguably the first video using a photocopier to manipulate the footage – it's certainly been done several times since. With a low-budget video for Tiny Dancers' I Will Wait For You they have the band perform in different rooms of a house in what seems like a single continuous shot. In The Black Ghosts' Any Way You Choose To Give It the Dogs' demonstrate their uncanny skill in creating robot versions of the band from bits of old junk.  

In mid-2007 Phil and Olly had the chance to work with new pop band The Hoosiers for their first single Worried About Ray, and their video - featuring 'Ray' as a secret horror movie monster-maker (modelled on legendary movie animator Ray Harryhausen) whose creation runs amok in London – was a massive success (and it also featured in our last AirplayUK programme.) They followed this with a further flight of fancy for the band's second single Goodbye Mr A - this time turning The Hoosiers into a team of unlikely superheroes, which involved Diamond Dogs creating a cartoon title sequence, secret HQ and specially-designed costumes (with built-in muscles for the band members).

Diamond Dogs are not tied down to a particular style: their most recent video, for Sonny J's Enfant Terrible, is set among circus performers with a period, almost Victorian flavour…which might also explain Phil and Olly choice of dress for the interview!

We return to our playlist of recent British videos with an intriguing piece of work for the hugely popular Kaiser Chiefs. Directed by Jim Canty and shot on location in New York, it's a unique one-take video which essentially spies on the band from distance as they make their way to a rendezvous in Central Park. The key is that it was shot with a hugely powerful telescopic lens never before used in a video -  because its usually employed in real espionage.

That is followed by a video for Kano, one of the hottest homegrown hip-hop artists in the UK, shot on location on the streets of London. But this is no typical urban video. The London in Feel Free is a timeless place, set in its historical churches and alleyways, as well as its modern landmarks. It was directed by Nez, a Londoner of Morroccan descent who is one of the most promising young video directors to emerge in the past year.

The video for Babyshambles' French Dog Blues, features the band's iconic and controversial singer Pete Doherty is a way never before seen - in animated form. Indeed its arguably Doherty's best performance in a video thus far, as he and his band play in a real shop, full of very English curios and trinkets. There is a range of animation styles in the video by David Mullett, which includes the dog of the title who, the director says, is based partly on Snoopy, partly on Serge Gainsbourg.

That's followed by a new music video directed by Saam Farahmand – who became a big name in British music videos last year due to his celebrated videos for Klaxons and others. His video for These New Puritans' Elvis is a claustrophobic, intense and visceral affair which rarely budges from the sweat-dripping faces, rippling muscles and silent screams of the band members - and is grafted to the band's edgy sound.

And finally we have an animated tale (or quite possibly a parable) directed by Trunk – that's a prolific London-based animation collective – for new outfit Annuals. It features the love affair between a male and female, and the problems that are likely to arise if you convert your girlfriend to vegetarianism - if she happens to be a crocodile. But don't worry, it is only a cartoon.

And that's another fun-packed programme of AirplayUK.

AirplayUK 03 Tracklisting

1. Goldfrapp - A&E
Director: Dougal Wilson
Prod co: Colonel Blimp
Rec co: Mute

2. Radiohead - Jigsaw Falling Into Place
Director: Adam Buxton
Producer: Garth Jennings/Hammer & Tongs
Rec co: XL Recordings

3. The Black Ghosts - Some Way Through This
Directors: Ben & Jos
Represented by: Agile Films
Rec co: Southern Fried

4. Ruarri Joseph - Blankets
Directors: Gavin and Luke
Prod co: Big Balls Films
Rec co: Atlantic Records

5. Turin Brakes - Something In My Eye
Director: Karni + Saul
Prod co: Flynn Productions
Rec co: Virgin Records

6. The Kills - U.R.A. Fever
Director: Sophie Muller
Prod co: Factory
Rec co: Domino Recording Co

Director Profile: Diamond Dogs

7. The Cribs - Mirror Kissers
Prod co: HSI London
Rec co: Wichita

8. Tiny Dancers - I Will Wait For You
Prod co: HSI London
Rec co: Parlophone

9. The Black Ghosts - Any Way You Choose To Give It
Prod co: HSI London
Rec co: Southern Fried

10. The Hoosiers - Goodbye Mr A
Prod co: HSI London
Rec co: Sony BMG

11. Sonny J - Enfant Terrible
Prod co: HSI London
Rec co: Positiva

12. Kaiser Chiefs - Love’s Not A Competition
Director: Jim Canty
Prod co: HSI London
Rec co: Polydor

13. Kano - Feel Free
Director: Nez
Prod co: Colonel Blimp
Rec co: Warner Bros

14. Babyshambles - French Dog Blues
Director: David Mullett
Prod co: Agile Films
Rec co: Parlophone

15. These New Puritans - Elvis
Director: Saam Farahmand
Prod co: Partizan
Rec co: Angular Records

16. Annuals - Dry Clothes
Director: Trunk
Prod co: Trunk
Rec co: Virgin Records

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