Saturday 7 June 2008

I can see the music

I like music videos. They have more in common with short films than anything else, but they stand alone as a medium. They often do some very interesting and entertaining things. Here's a collection of some that I've enjoyed.

Bat For Lashes - "What's A Girl To Do"

Nice song, amazing video. Explains nothing, works brilliantly. Hurray for oddness.

Weezer - "Buddy Holly"
Embedding disabled unfortunately, but click here to see it
Another good song, and a very clever video. If you're a Happy Days fan then there's the added nostalgia element, but I just think it's incredibly clever and remember being blown away the first time I saw it.

The Avalanches - "Frontier Psychiatrist"

Another one that's pretty insane, but all the elements are put together so well. The kitschy feel of the whole thing is just superb and fits the track perfectly.

Daft Punk - "Around The World"

A triumph of choreography, with each set of dancers representing a different element of the song. The whole thing reminds me of a record going round on a turntable, which I have to believe is intentional. Possibly my favourite music video.

Gnarls Barkley - "Smiley Faces"

One that just makes me smile. Simple, effective and definitely a product of the time it has been created in. One I'm sure I'll love looking back on in ten years time.

Beastie Boys - "Ch-Check It Out"

A perfect example of how much fun you can have with a music video. Most of the elements don't fit together, and yet there's a definite narrative in there somewhere. The Beastie Boys have a great back catalogue of music videos that I urge you to have a look at.

Aphex Twin - "Windowlicker"

Confusing, scary, odd. Also a lot of swearing, so if you want to avoid that skip to about 3:45 (it's a pretty long music video, but it's worth it). Stay with it for as long as you can before it starts making you feel uncomfortable.

Vitalic - "Poney"

Dogs. Flying through the air. In slow motion. Why not?

OK Go - "Here It Goes Again"

Such a simple idea worked to perfection.

Kasabian - "Shoot The Runner"
Another with embedding disabled.
A pretty simplistic use of graphics, but I just love the feel of this one. It works so well with the type of music Kasabian make.

Royksopp - "Eple"

Another simple idea, but I like the journey it takes you on. Also, I wouldn't be surprised if the "uh-oh" sequences from Sealab 2021 were based on this video (unfortunately I can't find a clip of Sealab for comparison at the moment, but I'll keep looking).

The Prodigy - "Smack My Bitch Up"

Another video where the journey you're taken on works very well. Make sure you watch until the very end...

Basement Jaxx - "U Don't Know Me"

Great fun, with nice attention to detail to keep authenticity. Another one that shows how much fun you can have with music videos.

Fatboy Slim - "Weapon Of Choice"
Embedding not allowed...
Just brilliant. Another contender for my all-time favourite.

The Prodigy - "Voodoo People [Pendulum Remix]"

Another one that blew me away when I first saw it. A pretty unique yet simple concept.

Pendulum - "Propane Nightmares"

Well made, and an intriguing narrative told through just a few minutes of film.

I'll leave it at that for the moment, but I'm hoping to put up some more music videos here as I come across them, hopefully with a bit more in-depth commentary than the handful of sentences each one got in this entry. I'd like to know what anyone else thinks about any of these, and if there are any others you'd like to bring to my attention please reply with links.

1 comment:

TheTelf said...

Cool selection of videos. Two of my favourites are Coldplay's The Scientist and Will Young's Leave Right Now.