Drew Henkels is a real renaissance kind of guy. I first got into contact with him last summer when he was interning for Rooftop Films and he was pimping the fest around the web. Now he’s working freelance audio-tech for them.

But, more importantly, Drew is both a filmmaker himself and a musician. His first, self-released EP dream, dream, fail, repeat is available now off of which I’ve heard a few tracks. I’m no music critic, but I really like Drew’s brand of catchy, low-fi pop songs. Kind of like a more upbeat Elliot Smith and songs that would go great on a Wes Anderson soundtrack. Some of Drew’s older tunes can be heard on his MySpace page.

To go along with his music, Drew makes his own videos, of which I’m going to embed two here:

First up is “Baking in the Sun,” which is a more traditional music video and features Drew in his grungy apartment that he shares with various spider and insects. Shot on B&W Super 8, the video has a great retro feel. It’s like the old, semi-experimental videos I used to stay up and watch on MTV’s old 120 Minutes show with some funky stop-motion animation. Great, catchy song, too:

Next is light wave, sound wave, brain wave, which is less a music video and more a true experimental film with some of Drew’s music on the soundtrack. It opens with some shots of I don’t know what set to some poppy little notes, which quickly degenerates into more random, abstract images set to just noise. The film then really picks up in the second half with a cool candle light show and, appropriately enough, shots from a NYC rooftop accompanied by a snappy percussive beat:

[NOTE: Video no longer available.]

For more on Drew, check out his YouTube page.