12/31/2013

Snoop Lion - “Smoke The Weed” (Feat. Collie Buddz) Official Video



Earlier this month, Snoop Dogg got together with Dâm-Funk to release the collaborative synth-funk album 7 Days Of Funk. But Reincarnated, the reggae album that Snoop released under his Snoop Lion guise earlier this year, hasn’t reached the end of its album cycle quite yet. And now we get a video for “Smoke The Weed,” a collaboration with full-time reggae singer Collie Buddz and probably the most redundantly titled Snoop track of all time. The images of marijuana plants and Snoop blowing smoke come to us thanks to director John Mazyck.

Katy B - “Crying For No Reason” (Official Video)



The great British dance-popper Katy B will give us her sophomore album Little Red early next year, and I can’t fucking wait. One of the early singles is the twinkling, strobing heartbreak-anthem “Crying For No Reason,” and now that song has a video in which Katy belts the song out while a crazy light-show erupts all around her. Some lighting engineer really went nuts on this one, trying out all his biggest ideas.

Capital Steez - “47 Piiirates” (Feat. Dirty Sanchez) Video



Last year, Capital Steez, a young Brooklyn rapper and member of Joey Bada$$’s Pro Era crew, took his own life just before Christmas. This week, Pro Era has marked the one-year anniversary of his death by making a video for “47 Piiirates,” a Bada$$-produced track from Steez’s AmeriKKKan Korrpution Reloaded mixtape, made up of rotoscoped and CGI-enhanced archival footage of Steez and collaborator Dirty Sanchez. And in other Pro Era news, the crew is getting ready to release their new group mixtape Seccs Tap.e Part.2. And we’ve got a stream of “Sol Luna,” a new Joey Bada$$ track with Dyemond Lewis and A La $ole.

12/26/2013

Yuck - “Somewhere” (Official Video)



2013 is the year that British fuzz-rockers Yuck lost their frontman and still released Glow & Behold. And now they’re ending things by giving us a video for the contemplative six-minute zone-out “Somewhere,” one of that album’s highlights. Jacob Perlmutter, a friend of the band, has artfully edited together black-and-white airport and airplane footage that fit the song nicely; check it out below.

Miley Cyrus - "Adore You" (Oficial Music Video)



Watch Miley Cyrus Roll Around in Bed in the Video for ‘Adore You’

Officially set to drop later today, Miley Cyrus's latest video (leaked last night) features Cyrus re-creating the under-the-sheets opening scene of The Counselor and pantomiming what it looks like when she takes a shower. Apparently no one taught her that it's unhygienic to touch one's face that much.

12/24/2013

The 10 Best Viral Videos of 2013

Nothing this year could quite match Psy’s billion-hit 2012, but whether super-cut, music video, interview, dash cam footage, prank or late-night sketch, there were still plenty of videos that spread across the Internet like wildfire in 2013. Seeing as there are something like 47 trillion uploads on YouTube, narrowing down the best viral web clips of the year was something of a Herculean feat…as far as listicles go anyway. But after combing through the Internet’s archives for months on end, we’ve finally picked our 10 favorite sensational viral vids of the year. Some were annoying, some were inspirational and some were downright hilarious. What all of our selections have in common, though, is that they possess a certain magical Internet panache, an ineffable essence of virality, if you will.

So without further ado, here are our choices for the 10 best viral videos of the past year:

10. David Letterman is Obsessed With Drums



Until this super-cut was put together and released in June, few knew of the long-time Late Show host’s fascination with drummers and their drums. He sees plenty of them in action every week, and has apparently made it somewhat of a tradition to go out of his way to compliment his musical guests’ drummers or, even better, ask them if they actually own the “beautiful” drums they’re playing.

9. Charles Ramsey Eats McDonald’s, Rescues Missing Cleveland Teens, Gives Unforgettable Interview



Charles Ramsey was just eating his McDonald’s when he heard screaming coming from a neighbor’s house in Cleveland this May. He went over to investigate and ended up rescuing Amanda Berry, her six-year-old daughter and two other women who had been held captive in the home of Ariel Castro for over 10 years. We’ll let Ramsey walk you through exactly what happened the morning of the rescue:

8. Astronaut Chris Hadfield Covers David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” in Space



In May, astronaut Chris Hadfield covered David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” in the most apropos way possible: in orbit aboard the International Space Station. Hadfield recorded the video shortly before turning command of the ISS after a five-month stint in which he became the first Canadian to walk in space. The video is proof that the only way to truly channel the spirit of Space Oddity-era Bowie is to be as far out literally as Bowie was mentally when he recorded it.

7. The Russian Meteor



The many countless videos of the Chelyabinsk meteor striking Russia in February taught us two things: 1) We’re all doomed, and 2) Having a dashboard camera recording at all times is apparently a thing in Russia.

6. #Hashtagging with Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake



Hopefully you don’t know too many people—or any people—who choose to remove #hashtagging from its natural habitat on Twitter and Instagram and try to introduce it into everyday speech. It’s 2013, though, and this type of thing happens. A sketch taking this unfortunate trend to its absurd extreme was probably inevitable, and who better to take it down than Fallon and JT? We know about their chemistry together and how talented they are individually, but it was still nothing short of awe-inspiring to see the duo speed-hashtag back and forth without so much as a hiccup. #killedit #bringingsexyback #morehashtag #wecantstop #JTandFallon4Life

5. “What Did The Fox Say?”



We really, really, really want to hate this video. But just as comedy duo Ylvis’ “What Did the Fox Say?” is in the running for dumbest viral sensation on the Internet, it’s also pretty damn hilarious, particularly the intro, where an overly earnest Bard Ylvisåker runs through all the animals fortunate enough to have a signature sound before reaching the tragically silent fox. It gets weird from there. Regardless of what you think about it, it wracked up almost 300 million YouTube views in 2013, and was even parodied by SNL.

4. Jason Sudeikis, Ed Helms, Will Forte and Jason Bateman Parody Mumford & Sons



With their suspenders, vests, loosened ties and grandiose sense of earnestness, Mumford & Sons are practically caricatures to begin with, so its no surprise that a quartet of some of the funniest men in America decided to parody the English folk rockers with an over-the-top video for “Hopeless Wanderer.” Props to Mumford & Sons for having a sense of humor and signing off on the video themselves.

3. Jimmy Kimmel Teaches Kids Not to Mix Twerking, Alcohol and Fire



Part public service announcement, part masterful prank, this fall Jimmy Kimmel taught us all a lesson about safe twerking, as well as that we should probably trust our instincts when they tell us that a little whiskey and a few candles aren’t enough to set a person on fire.

It started with a video uploaded to YouTube that featured a girl botching a twerking session with some already-poured shots and a few burning candles present. When her roommate opened the door she was bracing herself on, the girl collapsed on the fire and alcohol combo and came up in hysterics, her stretch pants on fire. Two months after the video was posted, Kimmel posted the extended cut in which he enters the apartment room with a fire extinguisher, revealing that the girl was a stuntwoman and that the whole thing was another of Kimmel’s pranks on the nation. Well done, sir.

2. Bap Lip Reading Takes on the NFL



We realized the brilliance of Bad Lip Reading during last year’s Presidential Debates, but the group’s best and most popular video is an NFL version they released in January. Even though these are all overdubs, We’re going to go ahead and choose to believe that Andy Dalton was invited for homemade Mai Thais at mid field after the Bengals played the Ravens.

1. “Bound 3”



Kanye’s insane music video for “Bound 2” still fresh in our minds, James Franco and Seth Rogen achieved unprecedented levels of virality when they released a shot-for-shot recreation with a flannel-clad Franco barking lyrics as Yeezus and Rogen and his back hair playing the part of Kim Kardashian. You decide which one is sexier.

Ariel Pink & Sky Ferreira - “My Molly” (Official Video)



Earlier tonight, with no advance warning, Sky Ferreira tweeted out a link to a video. She and Ariel Pink have recorded a new version of Pink’s old solo lo-fi track “My Molly,” turning it into an immediate twisted-nerve pop song. And director Grant Singer has made a video for the new version, one in which both Pink and Ferriera look as trash-glam as they’ve ever looked. We don’t know anything about why this exists, or whether there are any plans for any future collaborations between these two. But they sound and look really good together, and Pink’s melodies come through much more clearly when they’re delivered by a singer who’s interested in, and capable of, selling them.

12/23/2013

Disclosure - "Voices" ft. Sasha Keable (Official Video)



 The latest to be graced with a video is the Sasha Keable collab “Voices.” Watch the wildly physical clip.

Google Zeitgeist | Here's to 2013



Zeitgeist 2013 http://www.google.com/zeitgeist #zeitgeist2013
Discover what the world searched for with Google's year in review.
Music: "Feels Like Coming Home" by Jetta http://goo.gl/O0atNn


Daft Punk's Random Access Memories available now on Google Play: http://goo.gl/w1MJyQ
The Rolling Stones are now on Google Play: http://goo.gl/PaJHEG
Breaking Bad available now on Google Play: http://goo.gl/qkPZa4
Despicable Me 2 available now on Google Play: http://goo.gl/np16NG
"1D: This is Us" available on Google Play http://goo.gl/3W1IwY © 2013 Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Additional footage provided courtesy of Centro Televisivo Vaticano

Run The Jewels – “A Christmas Fucking Miracle” Video



Run The Jewels have shared an official video for “A Christmas Fucking Miracle” featuring the duo posing for Christmas cards, reenacting A Christmas Carol (with El-P as Tiny Tim and Killer Mike as Scrooge), and letting some kids destroy a mall Santa scene. Joey Garfield directs and Mr. Killums makes an appearance.

Kendrick Lamar – “Sing About Me” Video



The 12-minute downbeat epic “Sing About Me, I’m Dying of Thirst” is the dark night of Kendrick Lamar’s good kid, m.A.A.d. city, the point in the album’s loose narrative when, after the liquor-pounding “Swimming Pools (Drank)” spirals into a violent episode, our hero takes a long, contemplative look at his life and the reality of the people around him. A segment from the track’s “Sing About Me” half serves as the soundtrack for a new video from director Darren Romanelli that transposes scenes of Kendrick in Compton with artist Eddie Peake working on a mixed-medium graffiti mural. The video was released with the following statement:
When the lights shut off, an artist’s dream is that their work will stand the test of time. The ones that influence our culture are the ones we most remember. Here, two powerful creative forces come together to elevate the status quo and lay ground to their legacy. This is their poetry. Sing about them. This is part one.
Watch the video below. Part 2 (“Dying Of Thirst”) is scheduled for January release.

Beyoncé – “Grown Woman” Video



A week ago, Beyoncé dropped 17 new videos on the world in the form of her new “visual album” BEYONCÉ, which rules by all non-visual album standards. Thus far, she’s kept most of those videos off the internet, only posting a few — like “Drunk In Love” and “XO” — while her team scrubs all traces of the others from the computers of everyone who didn’t play money for the album. But now the bonus track “Grown Woman,” which doesn’t appear on the album, has appeared, with a Pepsi logo attached. An early version of the Timbaland-produced track appeared in a Pepsi ad, and so now Pepsi is in the odd position of attaching itself to a weird video in which old Beyoncé footage, through the miracle of CGI is made to look like it’s singing a new Beyoncé song, and then everything just explodes into a glitched-out, acid-fried dance party. Jake Nava directs. Watch it here.

Phantogram - “Black Out Days” (Official Video)



Thus far we’ve heard “Fall In Love,” “Celebrating Nothing,” and “Black Out Days” from Phantogram’s sophomore effort Voices, and now the latter has a very flashy video. In keeping with their leap to a major label, it’s a big-budget operation involving lots of gold paint and dramatic footage of band members Sarah Barthel and Josh Carter. It’s crazy to believe this is the same band that once regularly toured through one of the tiniest bars in my town, but all the pomp and circumstance suits this music.

ceo – “Whorehouse” Video



Word of ceo’s second album, Wonderland, came with lead single “Whorehouse,” which I described like so: “The song’s childlike jauntiness belies its adult-oriented title, but the elaborate-yet-whimsical construction shows the kind of professional touch that can only be honed with the experience of years. It’s got hooks for days too.” Now that song has a very colorful music video that’s in keeping with the album’s evocative cover art.

2013 in Gaming: The Year in Under 2 Minutes



2013 has been a landmark year for gaming. New consoles have been released and the older ones have made a fantastic last impression with an incredible line-up of intense and innovative titles. Both mainstream and indie developers have pushed the boundaries of interactive entertainment in 2013, delivering experiences we'll be talking about for years to come.

These are by no means the only great games from 2013. Your favorite game isn't missing because I don't think it is worthy... more likely it just didn't edit together well with the rest or had to go to keep it under 2 minutes. I also attempted to give some screen time to overachieving indies that deserve the attention, rather than trying to cram in every major release.

SOUNDTRACK
Sometimes - Miami Horror
The Defeatist - Cameras

GAMES FEATURED (in order of first appearance)
God of War: Ascension
Tomb Raider
Bioshock Infinite
Ryse: Son of Rome
Outlast
Call of Duty: Ghosts
Need for Speed Rivals
Forza 5
NBA 2K14
FIFA 14
Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn
Ni No Kuni
The Cave
Rayman Legends
Shin Megami Tensei IV
Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons
Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD
Super Mario 3D World
Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag
Splinter Cell: Blacklist
Devil May Cry
Deadpool
Battlefield 4
Grand Theft Auto V
Papers Please
Payday 2
Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs
Pikmin 3
The Swapper
Total War: Rome 2
Killer is Dead
Guacamelee
Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance
The Last of Us
Killzone: Shadow Fall
Gran Turismo 6
Proteus
Gone Home
Beyond Two Souls
Fire Emblem: Awakening
Don't Starve
Dead Rising 3
Dead Space 3
Batman Arkham Origins
Injustice: Gods Among Us
Grid 2
Remember Me
Contrast
Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon
Crysis 3
The Wolf Among Us
Saints Row 4
Resogun
Tales of Xillia
Knack
Killer Instinct
Dead Island: Riptide
Lost Planet 3
Call of Juarez: Gunslinger
Gears of War: Judgement
Metro: Last Light

12/19/2013

Metronomy - “I’m Aquarius” (Official Video)



Last month we heard Metronomy’s “I’m Aquarius,” the first single from Joe Mount’s upcoming Love Letters. Now that song has a video by director Edouard Salier in conjunction with Somesuch and the Creators Project. It’s a little bit like if Wes Anderson had made Gravity instead of Alfonso Cuarón and also reminiscent of those Broken Bells videos or the Future/Miley/Mr. Hudson spacecapade “Real And True.” Are we entering a new music video space age? Find out below.

Mas Ysa - “Why” (Official Video)



Mas Ysa is Thomas Arsenault, an itinerant singer/songwriter/producer currently operating out of Woodstock, New York. Today he announced the details of his debut EP for Downtown Records, Worth, and revealed the video for lead single “Why.” Shot in Woodstock and directed by Arsenault and Natalia Leite, it features Nicholas Arsenault and Ally Schreiber as hockey players battling it out on the ice one-on-one. The song’s a shape-shifting electro-pop number with shades of bursted-lung basement emo and frenetic programmed beats reminiscent of everything from ’80s New Wave pop to ’90s drum ’n’ bass. Maybe a little Xiu Xiu in there too? But a lot more uplifting than that.

Freddie Gibbs - “Deuces” (Official Video)



Freddie Gibbs has been throwing impossibly hard Midwestern rap songs on the internet for years now, an “Deuces,” his recent collaboration with Chicago producer Young Chop, is one of his best yet. The extremely low-budget new “Deuces” video, from director Danny Manhattan, finds Gibbs rolling slowly across the urban blight of his Gary, Indiana hometown.

Yuck – “Lose My Breath” Video



When I heard “Lose My Breath” from Yuck’s Glow & Behold. I didn’t picture impossibly cute ducklings or precious children splashing around in a kiddie pool. But that’s what directors Michael Reich and Anthony Baldino envisioned, so now the song has a video like that. It’s the second video for this single, following the one with the epilepsy trigger warning. Check it out below, especially if your browser history includes Cute Overload.

Oneohtrix Point Never – “Boring Angel” Video



R Plus 7, the new album from Brooklyn synth wizard Oneohtrix Point Never, has been cleaning up on the year-end lists, and now director Jean Michael Boling has made an all-emoji video for its track “Boring Angel.” This seems like a ridiculous clickbait idea, but it actually works beautifully, with Boling expertly using the little cartoon-face symbols to interact with the musical elements of the track and to tell a story. Suffice to say: Absolutely cathartic use of the praying hands.

12/17/2013

Eminem - “The Monster (Feat. Rihanna) Official Video



Eminem scored a massive hit when he teamed up with Rihanna on “Love The Way You Lie” a few years ago, so when he brought her back for the Marshall Mathers LP 2 track “The Monster,” you already knew it was going to be a single. Pop radio has been playing the the track for weeks, and now it follows “Berzerk,” “Survival,” and “Rap God” as the album’s fourth video. The clip takes a look back through Em’s career, revisiting some of his more iconic videos, as well as the Grammy performance with Elton John. Em can actually do that, since he looks exactly the same as he did in 1998.

Chlöe Howl - "Rumour" (Official Video)



The young British pop singer Chlöe Howl has been on a short but potent hot streak lately, releasing generally awesome singles like “Rumour” and “How Proud.” “Rumour,” a statement-of-intent sort of song, already had a video, but now it’s got a higher-budgeted one, a clip befitting of a rising and recognized young star. The clip itself is an eminently goofy visual metaphor about how rumors are like chess matches that keep us muzzled (or something), but Howl herself has such a fun and badass presence that it’s worth watching.

Guerilla Toss – “Pink Elephant” Video



“Pink Elephant,” off Guerilla Toss’ excellent Gay Disco, now has a video courtesy of editor and director Heat Wilson. Over grainy old stock footage of cars, Wilson layers a text crawl of statements released by Honda regarding the popularity of their cars among car thieves. Though the video is obviously dated, the Civic and Accord are still two of the most stolen cars in the country.

Beyoncé - “XO” (Official Video)



Looks like the videos from Beyoncé’s self-titled “visual album” are making their way to YouTube one by one. As Tom explains, they’re all fantastic, so, good deal! We already saw the Jay Z duet “Drunk In Love” today; hot on its heels is Terry Richardson’s clip for “XO,” which finds Bey and hundreds of other human beings having a blast at Coney Island. It’s a good look for a great song, which is a phrase you could apply to almost every one of these videos.

Beyoncé (Feat. Jay Z) - "Drunk In Love” (Official Video)



"Beyoncé" The Visual Album
14 Songs 17 videos

Music video by Beyoncé feat. Jay Z performing Drunk in Love. (C) 2013 Columbia Records, a Division of Sony Music Entertainment

Matthew E. White - "Human Style" (Official Video)



Matthew E. White has a new video for the Outer Face EP track “Human Style.” The Tony Forgey-directed video captures the recording of the track with White and his fellow Spacebomb collective buddies. The song is a laid back jam, but the stark black and white clip displays some very sharp editing that gets across White’s vibe very well.

Hot Sugar – “Mama, I’m A Man” (Feat. Antwon, Lakutis, & Big Baby Gandhi) Video



The producer Hot Sugar has been making tons of tracks for rappers from the Tumblr-rap underground. And on his track “Mama, I’m A Man,” he rounds up three of that scene’s most impressive talents — Antwon, of San Jose, and Lakutis and Big Baby Gandhi, of Queens — and lets all of them get playfully nasty. The song goes, and its video, which Hot Sugar directed himself, consists of nothing but these three guys rapping on escalators. You might be surprised at how much charisma these guys can display while on escalators.

12/16/2013

Majical Cloudz - “Savage” (Official Video)



“Savage,” a new song that the Canadian duo Majical Cloudz shared last month, wasn’t on their indelible 2013 album Impersonator, but it’s certainly as sparse and intense as anything that did make it onto the LP. And now singer Devon Welsh has made a video for the song that serves, more or less, as a live-action lyric video. The camera focuses on a pair of hands as they scrawl the song’s deeply felt lyrics on notebook paper.

Neko Case - “Calling Cards” Lyric Video



“Calling Cards,” off Neko Case’s perfectly named The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You, has just been given a new lyric video, a format that has really come into its own in 2013. This one pairs the song with some grainy and sweet footage of couples young and old.

Young Galaxy - “Fever” (Official Video)



This is the seventh music video to come out from Young Galaxy’s recent Polaris Music Prize-nominated album, Ultramarine, but it’s striking how diverse they’ve all been. The band’s music has worked well with many different accompaniments. Case in point, the new video for “Fever.” Like “Sleepwalk With Me” and “Hard To Tell” before it, the Christopher Mills-directed clip for “Fever” is an animated one, this time using illustrations from Gaëlle Legrand. Matching the moodier tone of the song, the video takes on some dark and psychedelic imagery creating a place where people are reduced to silhouettes and buildings transform into grimacing faces.

Wampire - “Giants” (Official Video)



We named Portland micro-psych duo Wampire a Band To Watch earlier this year. Since then, their Polyvinyl debut Curiosity has yielded videos for “Orchards” and “The Hearse.” Now comes a third visual, this time for “Giants.” It’s a deranged romance of sorts brought to you by director David Fine.

Milk Music - “No, Nothing, My Shelter” (Official Video)



Milk Music released a statement today saying they will not be playing live shows anymore. They promise that this has nothing to do with the state of the band, rather it’s an artistic decision they’ve made while they focus more on recording and making videos. Speaking of videos they also put out their newest one. It’s for “No, Nothing, My Shelter, read the full statement from the band and watch the video below, directed by Dylan Sharp of Gun Outfit.
“We, Milk Music, have decided to not plan anymore live performances for the foreseeable future. This is an artistic decision and should not reflect on our existence as a musical group. We’re currently exploring the wonders of video, as well as recording our next record, Mystic 100′s, a possible double album of intense beauty. A series of videos shall follow it’s release”

Blitzen Trapper - “Thirsty Man” Official Video



Portland folk-rock band Blitzen Trapper recently put out their new album VII a few months ago, but only dropped this new video today. Director Robbie Augspurger turns “Thirsty Man” into the soundtrack to a very surreal and goofy take on noir tropes. There are moments that seem like things that have appeared in countless films (the mysterious woman, the bloody interrogation, etc.) but everything is slightly off in a pretty entertaining way. Why does the mysterious man have a framed picture of a poodle? Why is everyone fighting over that phone shaped like a lady’s shoe? Probably better not to ask.

Eagulls – “Tough Luck” Official Video



Eagulls have a new video out that is a tad less gross than their previous one that featured time-lapse footage of a rotting pig brain. “Tough Luck”’s clip is just as visually layered and hazy, but here it’s built out of scenes of the band playing. Watch the Sam Alder-directed video below.

Carcass - “Unfit For Human Consumption” Video



Carcass released a new video, for Surgical Steel track “Unfit For Human Consumption,” also their first in 17 years (the last was this clip for Swan Song track “Keep On Rotting In The Free World”). The video more or less uses Surgical Steel’s cold, shiny, very sharp cover art as a jumping-off point, and while it’s SFW and not overly grotesque, the lesions on Jeff Walker’s face are not exactly appetizing. “Unfit For Human Consumption,” indeed. Dig in just the same.

12/12/2013

Red Fang - “Blood Like Cream” Official Video (Feat. Fred Armisen)



I don’t know where the Portland sludge-rockers Red Fang found the budget to make an amazing and funny video for their pounding “Blood Like Cream,” from their new album Whales And Leeches, but god bless them for it. The video features the following things: Fred Armisen, a zombie horde, copious beer consumption, and excessive gore. It’s a lot of fun. Watch it at Rolling Stone.

Watch A Teaser For Damon Albarn’s First Solo Album



Despite everything he’s put out over roughly 20 years, Damon Albarn has never produced a proper solo album. A short teaser featuring a moody piano melody backed with some electronic beats can be viewed.

The Top Music Videos of 2013 (Pitchfork)

The following list of our favorite music videos of the year includes (but is by no means limited to): cursing little A$AP Mob disciples, a bizarro Last Supper, Drake's dad's moustache, Greta Gerwig dancing like nobody's watching, Danny Brown lip synching to Bob Dylan, a shredded Daft Punk, meticulous stop-motion animation, the dreams of a horny teenager, and, of course, incest. Here they are, presented in alphabetical order by artist.

A$AP Rocky: “Wild for the Night” [ft. Skrillex] [Director: Chris Robinson]



Arcade Fire: “Afterlife” (YouTube Music Awards Version) [Director: Spike Jonze]



Bat for Lashes: “Lilies” [Director: Peter Sluszka]



Beach House: “Wishes” [Director: Eric Wareheim]



Bob Dylan: “Like a Rolling Stone” [Director: Vania Heymann] (click screencap to watch interactive video)

http://video.bobdylan.com/desktop.html

Cat Power: “Manhattan” [Director: Greg Hunt




Chance the Rapper: “Everybody's Something” [Director: Austin Vesely]



Daft Punk: “Get Lucky” (Shredded Version) 



Dillon Francis: “Without You” [Directors: Mister Whitmore and Devon Gibbs]



Drake: “Worst Behavior” [Directors: Drake and Director X]



Duck Sauce: “It’s You” [Director: Phil Andelman]



Fiona Apple: “Hot Knife” [Director: Paul Thomas Anderson]


 
Gesaffelstein: “Pursuit” [Directors: Fleur & Manu]



Haim: “The Wire” [Director: Alexander Hammer]



Justin Timberlake: “Suit & Tie” [ft. Jay Z] [Director: David Fincher



Kanye West: “New Slaves” (Projection) [Directors: Kanye West and Nick Knight]



Majical Cloudz: “Childhood’s End” [Director: Emily Kai Bock



Phoenix: “Trying to Be Cool” [Director: Canada



Queens of the Stone Age: “I Appear Missing” [Director: Boneface



Slava: “Girl Like Me” [Director: Eugene Kotlyarenko]



Solange: “Lovers in the Parking Lot” [Director: Emily Kai Bock



Shugo Tokumaru: “Katachi” [Director: Kijek/Adamski]



Tame Impala: “Mind Mischief” [Director: David Wilson]



Vampire Weekend: “Diane Young” [Director: Primo Kahn] 



Yeah Yeah Yeahs: “Sacrilege” [Director: Megaforce]



Via: Pitchfork.

More: The 10 Best Music Videos of 2013 (Paste) / Top 25 Music Videos of 2013 (CoS)

Cibo Matto - “MFN” (Feat. Reggie Watts) Official Video



In that lost halcyon era known as the ’90s, Cibo Matto were two Japanese women living in New York (plus, sometimes, Sean Lennon) who made songs, frequently about food, that borrowed from kitschy ’60s pop and clubby rap. It’s weird to think about this now, but they once seemed like the coolest band on the face of the planet. Other than the odd reunion show, they’ve been on hiatus ever since releasing their Stereo Type A album in 1999. And now they’re back! The group will release the new album Hotel Valentine — apparently a concept LP about ghosts in love in a hotel — early next year, and they’ve already got a video for “MFN,” a collaboration with the beatboxing comedian Reggie Watts. Check out the hyperactive, colorful, Georgia-directed clip.

Meek Mill – “I’m Leanin’” (Feat. Travi$ Scott, Diddy & Birdman) Video



Certain comments-section mainstays may disagree, but I maintain that Dreamchasers 3, the latest burst of frantic rap intensity from Meek Mill, is one of the year’s finest mixtapes. The tape opens with “I’m Leanin’,” on which Meek and recent-vintage Kanye West protege Travi$ Scott go in hard over a furious Cardo beat and both Diddy and Birdman offer triumphal money talk. And now director Jon J has made a video for the track, throwing black-light effects and nightmarish editing all over Meek and Travi$’s impressive crazy-eyes faces.

Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings - “Ain’t No Chimneys In The Projects” (Official Video)



If you watched the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings joined Joan Jett & The Blackhearts as one of the most welcome and unexpected acts to belt out a song from a moving float. Jones’s appearance was a whole lot more impressive, too, when you consider that she’s going through cancer treatments; she had successful surgery earlier this year. Jones, understandably, does not appear in the video for “Ain’t No Chimneys In The Projects,” the new but old-school Christmas soul song that she sang from that parade float. Instead, the animated clip shows us the plight of a little kid attempting to string Christmas lights from a project rooftop. Ryan Louie directs.

FAMY – “A Ho A Hand” Video



“A Ho A Hand,” and the visual is essentially just a fashion portrait of FAMY from photographer Richard Round-Turner brought from darkness to light. Very catchy guitar figures in there, though! Anybody who cares for Frightened Rabbit or really any folk-tinged UK guitar pop will probably dig, so dig in.

Watch South Park Parody Kanye Again


Back in 2009, South Park aired an episode based around the idea that Kanye West is actually a gay fish, or that he’s so insecure that a joke about him being a gay fish would be enough to plunge him into an identity crisis. That episode, one of the most famous in the show’s history, led to a shockingly honest and non-pissed blog response from Kanye, though he did later threaten to “choke a South Park writer with a fish stick” on record. (This was the same album where Kanye said “Fuck SNL and they whole staff.” Bill Hader: twice dissed!) Well, Kanye now has more reason to get weirdly, conflictedly upset. Last night’s South Park season finale, titled “The Hobbit,” featured the return of Kanye, now a “recovering gay fish” engaged to Kim Kardashian. This one, built around ideas of Photoshop and body-image issues, is more targeted at Kim than at Kanye, but there’s still plenty of stuff in there, including a “Bound 2” parody. (If that response time strikes you as impressive, there’s also a bit about Time naming Pope Francis as its Man Of The Year. That happened yesterday.) Watch all of cartoon Kanye’s appearances below.


12/11/2013

Eleanor Friedberger - “My Own World” (Official Video)



The Fiery Furnaces’ Eleanor Friedberger gave us the supremely likable solo album Personal Record earlier this year, and she’s now made four videos with the reliably funny director Scott Jacobson. The latest of those is for the Personal Record song “My Own World,” and it stars indie actress Kate Lyn Sheil as a young woman who deals with some serious bullshit. Friedberger plays one of the people giving her bullshit.

Wooden Shjips - “Everybody Knows” (Official Video)



Last month the surprisingly relaxed and friendly new album from the Portland-via-San Francisco psych-rock warlocks Wooden Shjips. Today, the band gives us their video for the sprawling, meditative, half-acoustic “Everybody Knows.” The clip is an amorphous affair about ladies doing masked rituals in the middle of a forest, amidst clouds of dry ice, and another lady whispering sweet nothings to a horse. It’s all so woodsy and vague and swirly that it evokes serious The Song Remains The Same flashbacks, and that’s probably done on purpose. Austin Will directs.

Zula - “Twin Loss” Video



Back in August we premiered Zula’s “Twin Loss,” an understated yet emotive digi-fried rock song whose Thom Yorke influence Noisey wisely points out. It’s about the trauma of losing a twin sibling at birth, with Nate Terepka’s words set to music that sounds more like lingering melancholy than overwhelming grief. The band’s self-directed video only amplifies that feeling. It’s well worth a viewing or two, so do that below.

Califone - "We are a Payphone" (Official Video)



Califone isn’t one for being showy — even their “interactive” video from earlier this year is a lesson in passivity. The visuals for “We Are A Payphone” look in at someone else’s nostalgia trip, as our unseen protagonist applies meaning and memories to objects the viewer has no attachment to. It’s an odd effect (and takes a dark turn in the middle) but it’s fitting for the maudlin song that accompanies it. The clip was made by Buffy alum Amber Benson and Angela Bettis.

Mazes - “Notes Between F & E” Video



In the 1976 documentary on the World Livestock Auctioneering Championship, How Much Wood Would A Woodchuck Chuck, Werner Herzog captured the grotesque and beautiful nature of bid calling — that is, the lightning fast announcing performed by an auctioneer. British rock band Mazes and director James Alcock were inspired by the film and tried to recapture some of that action in their new music video for “Notes Between F & E.”

YouTube Rewind: What Does 2013 Say?



Once again, Youtube has collected its top stars in a single video to put one final nail in 2013.

To celebrate 2013, we invited some YouTubers to star in a mashup of popular moments this year. Can you spot all the references?
WATCH THE TOP VIDEOS OF 2013: http://yt.be/rewind

Can you name all the YouTube stars in the video? Did you get all the references to the top videos and memes of the year? (Also look for the secret, easter egg video annotations!)

#REWIND2013

MUSIC
Music remixed by DJ Earworm: http://youtube.com/djearworm
The Fox (What Does the Fox Say?) by Ylvis: http://goo.gl/Z2Q6sq
Blurred Lines by Robin Thicke: http://goo.gl/8tcnhU
Can't Hold Us by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis: http://goo.gl/o1wclM
Get Lucky by Daft Punk: http://goo.gl/9Z1rc1
Gentleman by PSY: http://goo.gl/X3bw7M
Harlem Shake by Baauer: http://goo.gl/fOQmFX

STARRING (IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE)
Kid President - http://youtube.com/soulpancake
Ryan Higa - http://youtube.com/nigahiga
MysteryGuitarMan - http://youtube.com/mysteryguitarman
Kassem G - http://youtube.com/kassemg
GloZell - http://youtube.com/glozell1
Blogilates - http://youtube.com/blogilates
Kaycee Rice - http://youtube.com/brads411
DeStorm - http://youtube.com/DeStorm
Taryn Southern - http://youtube.com/TarynSouthern
Bethany Mota - http://youtube.com/Macbarbie07
Brandon Laatsch - http://youtube.com/freddiew
Jenna Marbles - http://youtube.com/JennaMarbles
Hannah Hart - http://youtube.com/MyHarto
Rhett & Link - http://youtube.com/RhettandLink
Tobuscus - http://youtube.com/Tobuscus
Convos With My 2-Year-Old - http://youtube.com/ConvosWith2YrOld
Alison Gold - http://youtube.com/patomuzic
Mike Tompkins - http://youtube.com/pbpproductions
Epic Meal Time - http://youtube.com/EpicMealTime
Tori Locklear - http://youtube.com/vickyraye
Chester See - http://youtube.com/chestersee
Jimmy Fallon - http://youtube.com/latenight
Laina - http://youtube.com/wzr0713
Tyler Oakley - http://youtube.com/tyleroakley
Prancercise - http://youtube.com/Prancercise
Girls' Generation - http://youtube.com/SMTOWN
Marina Shifrin - http://youtube.com/mvsdzb
The Fine Bros - http://youtube.com/TheFineBros
Hikakin - http://youtube.com/HIKAKIN
D-Trix - http://youtube.com/theDOMINICshow
Sam Horowitz - http://goo.gl/1U60fn
Bart Baker - http://youtube.com/BartBaker
Jack Hoffman - https://www.youtube.com/user/HuskerAt...
Barely Political - http://youtube.com/barelypolitical
Alex Day - http://youtube.com/nerimon
Annoying Orange - http://youtube.com/daneboe
Dave Days - http://youtube.com/davedays
Jamie Oliver - http://youtube.com/JamieOliver
iJustine - http://youtube.com/ijustine
Epic Rap Battles of History - http://youtube.com/ERB
Porta Dos Fundos - http://youtube.com/portadosfundos
Magic of Rahat - http://youtube.com/MagicofRahat
SORTED Food - http://youtube.com/sortedfood
Cookie Monster - http://youtube.com/SesameStreet
Macklemore - http://youtube.com/RyanLewisProductions
Corridor Digital - http://youtube.com/CorridorDigital
The Slow Mo Guys - http://youtube.com/theslowmoguys
Smosh - http://youtube.com/smosh
Jimmy Kimmel - http://youtube.com/JimmyKimmelLive
Nick Selby - http://youtube.com/rupumped
Grace Helbig - http://youtube.com/dailygrace
FreddieW - http://youtube.com/freddiew
PewDiePie - http://youtube.com/PewDiePie
...and more!

CREATED BY
YouTube & Portal A: http://portal-a.com
Full Credits: http://portal-a.com/rewind

WATCH THE TOP VIDEOS OF 2013: http://yt.be/rewind
WATCH THE BEHIND-THE-SCENES: http://yt.be/rewind/bts
WATCH THE EFFECTS BEFORE & AFTER: (coming soon!)

FEATURING AUDIO FROM:
Goats Yelling Like Humans: http://youtu.be/nlYlNF30bVg
Dead Giveaway by schmoyoho: http://youtu.be/nZcRU0Op5P4

The American Humane Association was present during this production. No animals were harmed in those scenes.

Inspired by Talia Joy: http://youtube.com/taliajoy18

R. Kelly - “Cookie Video” Explicit (Official Video)



Black Panties as great Album, and one of the best reasons to check it out is “Cookie,” an absolute monster of an R&B song that compares cunnilingus to sumptuously licking the cream out of an Oreo. Now that song has a hyper-misogynist video in which Kellz inhabits a mansion staffed by scantily clad ladies who do his bidding. Really takes the charm out of an otherwise first-rate sex romp! Anyway, watch below.

7 Days Of Funk – “Hit Da Pavement” Video



Today marks the release of 7 Days Of Funk, the album-length collaboration between Snoop Dogg (aka Snoopzilla) and DâM-FunK, and there are plenty of ways to celebrate. First of all, the duo released a video for album opener “Hit Da Pavement” by director Henry DeMaio. It’s a classic cruising clip for a song that’s exceptionally suited for cruising.

Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks - "Cinnamon And Lesbians" (Official Video)



Last month we heard “Lariat,” the lead single from Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks’ upcoming Wig Out At Jagbags. Now comes our second taste from the album in the form of director Jay Winebrenner’s “Cinnamon And Lesbians” video. Like “Lariat,” the song is absolutely not going to shock anyone who’s been listening to Malkmus any time in the past decade — i.e. it’s inscrutable, preternaturally melodic, slightly jammy, and floats along at an easygoing pace. As for the video, there’s some kind of goofy storyline interspersed between Jicks performance clips and other assorted quirk. It’s nice..

together PANGEA - "Cat Man" (NSFW) Official Video



L.A. garage rock fiends together PANGEA released their wonderfully preposterous and rowdy “Snakedog” 7-inch this year. Now we’re introduced to their next anthropomorphic figure, the “Cat Man.” He’s got his own racy, seizure-inducing animated video by Shelby Hohl to go with a raunchy, ear-searing anthem that will elicit delight from fans of Black Lips, FIDLAR, and Nirvana. The song is culled from Badillac, the LP they’ll release next month on Harvest Records. Check out the clip and gear up for one of 2014′s wildest records.

Badillac is out 1/21/14 via Harvest. Pre-order went live today at iTunes and Amazon.

12/10/2013

Mutual Benefit - "Advanced Falconry" (Official Video)



Director Allie Avital Tsypin’s clip finds a placid family photo session going slightly awry.

Transparent Machines (Short Film)



beeple’s provocative short film, “Transparent Machines,” posits that if we want to blame anyone for lack of privacy online, we should start with ourselves.

We are the Transparent Machines™ | fullscreen please |

Our society is obsessed with the conflicting concepts of transparency and privacy. We are “outraged” by the actions of the NSA, yet continue to willfully upload more and more of our personal information to Facebook and Google. This film explores the contradictory nature of our actions and beliefs regarding transparency.

directed by: beeple
sound design: standingwave / soundcloud.com/standingwave
music: hecq - pulverized / hecq.de
voice over: rachel salaman

Mt. Wolf - “Midnight Shallows” Video



London-based in/out (aka Jean-Philippe Blunt & Thom Humphreys) explore the world of chronophotography and Étienne-Jules Marey in this music video for Mt. Wolf’s Midnight Shallows. I love the video’s restraint and balance, lovingly reveling in each unique motion. The later shots that composite the dancer and echoed ribbon are particularly lovely.

For more chronophotography love, check out Norman Maclaren’s Pas de deux, Michael Langan’s Choros and Mass Market’s Nike “Human Chain”. Or roll your own in processing.

Jackson & His Computer Band - "G.I Jane" (Official Video) (NSFW)



Sex and violence collide in fantastic fashion in this WTF-laden music video for Jackson & His Computer Band’s “G.I Jane.” Directed by Mrzyk & Moriceau with animation by Mathematic. [NSFW]

Coldplay - "Atlas" (Hunger Games: Catching Fire)(Lyric)


NY-based Mario Hugo directs a celestial music video for Coldplay’s Atlas

Mario Hugo directs, Micah Lidberg illustrates, and Absolute Post's Ric Comline and Jonny Bursnel lead animation for a new video for Coldplay, Atlas. We are pleased to have concepted and produced the video for The Hunger Games 2 title track - touching on the human values found in mythological symbolism, the audience is led through a marbled story of baroque violence and celestial peace. Many thanks to Phil Harvey.

The Staves - “Winter Trees”



London-based Karni and Saul blend beautiful compositing with peculiar creatures inspired by laser-cut wood in this music video for The Staves’ Winter Trees.

For more woodcut-goodness, check out Nando Costa’s The New America and the work of Huntergatherer.

Gloom - "Menina" (Official Video)



Birdo Studio presents a Japanese-inspired kaiju Brazilian music video. (“Kaiju” is a Japanese word which literally means “strange creature”, like the ones in the movie Pacific Rim.) Mostly shot in São Paulo with a 7D, this film was animated with Flash.

Keys N Krates - "Treat Me Right" (Official Video)



Make sure someone treats you right and kick back and watch Ohji’s Keys N Krates music video for Treat Me Right.

Major Lazer - "Watch Out For This (Bumaye)" feat Busy Signal, The Flexican & FS Green (Official Video)



Major Lazer "Watch Out For This (Bumaye)" feat Busy Signal, The Flexican and FS Green
Director: Jay Will (Game Over)
Secretly Canadian / Mad Decent

Migos - “Hannah Montana” (Official Video)


Almost as instantly infectious, incessant, and/or irritating as Migos’ breakout hit “Versace” was the YRN deep cut “Hannah Montana,” an ecstasy song that subbed in white female celebrities’ names (including Katy Perry, Hilary Duff, and, of course, Miley Cyrus) for Molly. It was a funny gimmick, and Dun Deal’s beat was an ideal ball pit for one of this trio’s patented sproing and boing routines. I’ve felt an intense fondness for the crazy, ridiculous thing since the first time I heard it. Like all the best Migos songs, it’s fucking nuts.

Less than a month after “Hannah Montana” hit the internet, Cyrus debuted her new wild child persona, complete with rampant twerking and references to Molly, so the Migos song’s punchline (using an innocent young pop star’s name as drug slang) wasn’t quite so clever anymore. That’s reflected in the updated version of the song that appears in the official video, which somehow milks the Miley reference even more so than the original. Much to my dismay, this re-working lacks the spontaneous energy and natural flow of the original, which you can download for free as part of YRN. It feels like a cold cut-and-paste job, like they cranked out a novelty hit to cash in on a stupid trend when in actuality they wrote a genius slap-happy rap track. On the plus side, there’s a prelude in which three female carolers turn “Hannah Montana” into a Christmas song, so the video isn’t a complete shitshow.

Swervedriver - “Deep Wound” Official Video



When ’90s shoegaze demi-gods Swervedriver played Jimmy Fallon last year it was a bit of a surprise when they debuted a new song. Now we’ve heard the studio version of “Deep Wound,” which has just gotten this nifty video. It finds the band playing with plenty of hazy, pretty visual abstractions to go along with all the pretty, hazy musical abstractions.

12/09/2013

The 10 Best Music Videos of 2013 (Paste)

This year was a weird one for music videos, what with Miley trying her very best to offend as many people as possible, and Robin Thicke not quite understanding how to make his provocative lyrics feel any less misogynistic. Billboard has begun to count YouTube views in their chart calculations, and any decent song can hit number one if the video’s cool, viral or innovative (or provocative) enough to go viral. That said, there were droves of music videos that set expectations higher this year, more than can fit in any list. Here are 10 that exemplify the qualities that keep a video on our minds, from feel-good simplicity or cinematic value to good humor or interactive elements.

10. Alex Bleeker & The Freaks – "Step Right Up
Directed by: Richard Law
Alex Bleeker, who has certainly seen his share of big musical festivals with his other band Real Estate, captures the spirit of the campgrounds with this video for “Step Right Up.” Featuring Bleeker walking around the festival site with a strange hat and a natural cast of festival oddities mulling around in the background, it’s a simple, feel-good expression of the way people can still enjoy music in an organic,refreshingly un-processed way.


9. HAIM – “The Wire”
Produced by: Good Company
Given their take-over of the airwaves and the Internet, seeing the Haim sisters break a few hearts in their music video for “The Wire” is probably to be expected, but that doesn’t make their depiction any less fun. The sisters take turns coolly dumping their unsuspecting boyfriends, who take it pretty tough as the girls brush it off, singing “I know, I know, I know, I know that you’re gonna be okay anyway.” It turns the track into an anthem of post-break-up eye-rolls, and the sisters’ impatience for their exes’ emotional theatrics feels on-point for a generation of Katniss Everdeens. (Besides, GIRLS fans, can we all agree it’s kinda fun to watch Booth Jonathan get dumped for a change?)



8. Phoenix – “Trying to Be Cool”
Directed by: CANADA in conjunction with The Creator’s Project
If Phoenix’s idea of trying to be cool involves fog machines, animals in office chairs, firing off cannons and mirrors on the ceiling, maybe they’re onto something. None of the events in this seem to have absolutely anything to do with each other except maybe that they might make you feel like a badass, from owning a kid at chess to showing off ping pong skills to busting through a paper wall. Besides, nothing says “trying (too hard) to be cool” like picking out a pre-groomed mustache from a board of options.


7. Kanye West – “Bound 2”
Directed by Nick Knight
Yep, this video is cheesy. Yep, Kim Kardashian’s naked in it. Yep, “Bound 2” is the reason we were all subjected to “Bound 3*.” But despite all of this, in less than a month, the imagery in this video has already reached an iconic status, a reminder that even when Kanye West kind of sucks, he also kind of rules, and none of us can look away.

*It should be noted that “Bound 3” received several votes as well.



6. Django Django – “WOR”
Directed by: Jim Demuth
With the help of the folks over at Noisey, Django Django turned the video for their epic song “Wor” into a mini-documentary of sorts, focusing on the Well of Death riders in Allahabad, India. It’s exhilarating and exciting, but the most fascinating part of the video is the interview aspect, in which the riders explain away their profession. “There’s danger in everything, even in walking on the road.” It’s an interesting perspective that pairs well with the track.



5. Beach House – “Wishes”
Directed by: Eric Wareheim

Director Eric Wareheim, known as half of comedy duo Tim & Eric, certainly serves up some off imagery in the video, which appears to be some kind of exhibition for gymnasts and cheerleaders. The announcer is played by Ray Wise, who mouths the words with precision and and a totally deadpan facial expression, and the result is weirdly moving.



4. Jim James – “A New Life”
Directed by: Mimi Cave

The video for “A New Life” begins the way you might imagine the songwriting process did, with James and a single acoustic guitar. But as the beat and the additional instrumentals begin to kick in, the video continues to present fitting visuals not only for the sounds, but the lyrics: “Hey, open the door,” sings James as he quite literally opens a door into a desert scene, where he’s joined by fantastic characters and a gaggle of backup dancers that seem to embody exactly the type of theatric choreography I kind of want to jump up and perform every time I hear the song, too. Mostly, this video is strong because it maintains the kind of aesthetic you expect from the spiritual and soulful James while keeping the imagery fresh and entertaining.



3. Drake – “Started from the Bottom”
Directed by: Director X and Drake

This latest story-telling video from Drake is further proof that the Canadian artist is rap music videos’ Taylor Swift: Drake’s always playing a character, and this role as a convenience store clerk may be his most entertaining yet. The cast of googly-eyed coworkers taking turns making a pass at a customer is light-hearted and laughable, and for a song with a topic that could have easily taken to the rap-video-cliche of big cars and self-praise, the music video is fun and relatable.



2. Arcade Fire – “Afterlife”
Directed by: Emily Kai Bock

Well, Emily Kai Bock and the Creator’s Project have gifted the Internet with another dreamy, thought-provoking music video, this time playing on family dynamics, fantasy and (you guessed it) the afterlife for Arcade Fire’s Reflektor single. The storyline begins at the dinner table and as it continues to follow the children’s sleepless activity and the husband’s dreams, it seems that the family’s mother has passed away and that all of the family members, through figurative and literal wandering, are dealing with grief. Powerful imagery spanning poolside baptisms and flashing police lights along with a nightmarish scene in which the small child is trapped in a washing machine tug at the corners of your consciousness, providing just the type of dreamy state of consciousness the song and much of Arcade Fire’s catalog might inspire in a listener.



1. Bob Dylan – “Like a Rolling Stone” Interactive Video.
Created by Interlude

For this new visual to “Like A Rolling Stone,” Dylan creates an interactive experience that allows users to flip the channel between various pop culture icons singing the song in the context of their own television shows, spanning from infomercials to Real Housewives and the History Channel to Marc Maron, peppered of course with vintage footage of Dylan performing the classic himself. For a song that’s been the soundtrack to many big changes over the years since its release, pairing it with the visuals to showcase its continued relevancy (even in somewhat goofy, unexpected circumstances) makes it a resounding example for artists of any age: with the right message, a song can be meaningful to fans of all ages and tastes.
 

http://video.bobdylan.com/desktop.html
Click image or visit Video Bob Dylan 

Daft Punk - “Instant Crush” (Feat. Julian Casablancas) Video



Daft Punk’s “Instant Crush” video, previewed yesterday on French TV, is now available to watch in full.  Unlike those live “Get Lucky“/”Lose Yourself To Dance” clips, it’s a Random Access Memories promo that does not feature the robots performing with Pharrell and Nile Rodgers. Set in a museum, this one’s a tragic love story starring a Napoleonic soldier statue modeled after Julian Casablancas, who also appears in the flesh.

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - “Higgs Boson Blues” (Official Video)



Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds made a grandiose post-Grinderman comeback with Push The Sky Away. One standout from that record was “Higgs Boson Blues,” a moribund eight-minute epic involving the devil, Robert Johnson, and, uh, Miley Cyrus. (“Hannah Montana, she does the African savannah while the simulated rainy season begins,” et al.) Directors Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard have presented a shadowy performance video featuring an even longer and more epic live version of the song. It’s a fucking monster, and you should watch the whole thing below — not because of some surprise at the end, just because it rules.

Blouse - “A Feeling Like This” (Official Video)



Blouse continued making their chilly psychedelia this year with new album Imperium, and now have a new video to go along with it. The Angus Borsos-directed clip for “A Feeling Like This” pairs the song with very abstract, but nonetheless beautiful imagery. A girl is seemingly in space and on her roof at the same time, a man’s car is stopped by a gargantuan and perfectly shaped orb, two children play with sticks on a hill. It’s a surreal video, but one that fits the music just right.

Watain - “Outlaw” (Official Video)



Even among Scandinavian black metal bands, Watain have a particularly striking, powerful, and original visual aesthetic, so it’s hard to believe they’re only now — on their fifth album — releasing their first video. “Outlaw” is one of the heavier (and better) tracks from the August release The Wild Hunt, and while the video is blurry and grainy as hell (intentionally so), it really does capture the coolest elements of the band’s psycho-fuck style. I didn’t see anything NSFW here, but if you’re not comfortable watching, say, American Horror Story, you might want to avoid this, too. To everyone else, I encourage you to check it out — it’s a really creepy video and an excellent song.

Angel Olsen - “Forgiven/Forgotten” (Official Video)



When Chicago singer/songwriter Angel Olsen announced her upcoming album Burn Your Fire For No Witness last month, it was accompanied by lead single “Forgiven/Forgotten,” which Tom noted was “a juiced-up two-minute rock song that’s about 1000% more muscular than anything on Half Way Home,” Olsen’s skeletal 2012 breakthrough. Now that song has a video by director Zia Anger, and it features Olsen hugging it out with her love interest and cracking a smile on various solo walks and bike rides. It’s a simple and effective visual for a simple and effective song.

12/05/2013

Top 25 Music Videos of 2013 (CoS)

When was the last time you actually sat through an entire music video? Thought so. It’s not like the old days, when an afternoon on the couch meant hours of non-stop music videos not of your choice. That’s the thing, though. With YouTube, we’re not just spoiled, but desensitized to knowing that we can watch anything, whenever and wherever. (Well, depending on your cell phone.) Because of this, it’s easy to skip things most of the time, knowing that you can just catch it later.

Of course, that “later” more often than not becomes “never” until, hey, you’re here reading a roundup post like this and thinking, I should comment and tell this guy he’s wrong, and that I’ve watched everything I come across, and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Save yourself the trouble and instead click ahead and experience — or revisit — the best crop of videos from this year. It’s eggnog time, folks. No better hour than now.

25. Action Bronson – “Strictly 4 My Jeeps”


Athletic abilities, financial portfolios, and culinary chops, Action Bronson flaunts all in the video for “Strictly 4 My Jeeps”, proving that he’s possibly the greatest host you could ever find in the Big Apple. With appearances from RiFF RAFF and Big Body Bes, we’re offered a peek into the world of Bronsoliño as he traverses the city in an enormous, blacked-out Jeep and smokes wax from his signature G Pen. Drake’s “Worst Behavior” interlude could’ve learned something from RiFF RAFF’s brief, but entertaining appearance, in which he ends a seemingly important business call (“Let me tell you something, if you know too much then you ain’t gonna know enough”) in order to bet against Action sinking a 12-footer. Of course, Bam Bam delivers. –Pat Levy

24. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – “Despair”


Fact: “Despair” is the first music video lensed atop the Empire State Building. So what? You’ve seen Sleepless in Seattle, you’ve seen the Observation Deck. What makes this video a winner is how director Patrick Daughters harnesses the eclecticism of Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ iconic frontwoman Karen O. To date, she’s been responsible for evolving the mysticism of the Brooklyn outfit, be it through her epileptic mannerisms, carnival facial expressions, or Elton John-rivaling wardrobe. Here, we get a little bit of all that, though the way she’s contained by New York’s iconic skyscraper and eclipsed by morning light offers an autumnal sense of intimacy that just so happens to check off the traditional NYC filming cliches of being majestic and respectful. For years, I’ve believed this band’s better to watch than strictly listen to, and their latest album, Mosquito, has proven that in live settings all year. This is just supplementary evidence. –Michael Roffman

23. Superchunk – “Staying Home”


Like the band itself, Superchunk’s video for “Staying Home” isn’t for the faint of heart. Opening with a close-up shot of bare feet with long toenails (eww gross!), the video matches the in-your-face intensity and humor that Superchunk have always given to their music and live sets. The video only clocks in at under two minutes, but it’s jam-packed with jovial hardcore punk energy and disgusting visuals. Directed by Taiyo Kimura, the video also features ridiculous cut-outs of the band eating curry in a toilet, a monster eyeball tormenting, egg-smashing wheels, and frantically jittery camera movements throughout — it’s just crazy. Though the band members are all well into their 40s, they proved with I Hate Music and this video that they aren’t slowing down anytime soon. –Josh Terry

22. Daft Punk – “Lose Yourself to Dance”


We spent a lot of time waiting for Daft Punk, talking about Daft Punk, and listening to Daft Punk this year. So, it’s only fitting that the music video for their second single off Random Access Memories portrayed them as where they’ve been all along: atop a breathing heap of gyrating devotees multiplying with every beat. While “Get Lucky” garnered the most attention on radios worldwide, “Lose Yourself to Dance” lyrically and visually encapsulated the “unity of the dance floor” and “people being connected,” themes Thomas Bangalter discussed with Vibe earlier this year. Of course, he and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo were responsible for much of that business in 2013, and as such, this video resembles our shiny contract with the French duo: If they play it, we will dance. –Erin Carson

21. Sky Ferreira – “Night Time, My Time”


All year, Sky Ferreira has turned pop upside down, tossing cigarettes on its slick surface in hopes of starting a fire. She has. Her latest album, Night Time, My Time, listens like an audio diary for the pop possessed. Catchy, loud, sticky, and grimy — the whole thing crackles with the finesse of both a late ’90s alternative album and the sugary riffs of today. The video for her gloomy title track splatters all of those ideas against the lens, as indie director Grant Singer runs Ferreira through a number of shades, outfits, and locales. It’s got the editing style of Nicholas Winding Refn, the sensual malaise of Mulholland-era Lynch, and the frustrating sexual violence of Gaspar Noé — who coincidentally is responsible for Ferreira’s head-turning album cover. Try remaining seated at the end here without squirming like a little worm on a big fuckin’ hook. –Michael Roffman

20. J Mascis and Sharon Van Etten – “Prisoners”


A bunch of venerable indie rockers came together for the John Denver tribute, The Music Is You, and no song featured a better dream team treatment than “Prisoners”. While Sharon Van Etten and Dinosaur Jr. frontman J Mascis’s audio turns the sunny folk legend’s big country tune into a bona fide ripper (thanks in no small part to a killer guitar solo straight out of Bug), equally charming is the video starring two indie darlings that cross the line between the music and comedy scenes: Superchunk drummer Jon Wurster and songwriter Aimee Mann. The two play Denver devotees (dressed in the finest denim and sporting that undeniable haircut) who, against all odds, are brought together, thanks to the help of a dating site for Denverphiles and a couple of adorable, fuzzy puppets (that likely got the job through their connections to Wurster’s pal Gary the Squirrel). The jaded should stay away: this warm, quirky video goes straight for the heart and hits it square. –Adam Kivel

19. Kurt Vile and the Violators – “KV Crimes”


What would you do if you were crowned royalty? Kurt Vile gets his chance to reign in his video for “KV Crimes”, which depicts him parading around the streets of his native Philadelphia with a newfound sense of accomplishment. The shaggy-haired slacker king himself rests upon a sheepish throne while his city surrounds him with KV flags, as he spends the day bestowing guitar picks to babies and dining at a Wawa-catered feast. Yet, the real feat of this video is that we see Vile taking full ownership of his music; with “KV Crimes”, he transcends pretty strums and feedback-laced echoes to claim what’s truly his on the triumphant, lyrically sharp Wakin on a Pretty Daze. You might even say it’s fit for a king. –Paula Mejia

18. Prince -  “Breakfast Can Wait”


Prince actually can be funny if he wants to be. The Minnesota legend is often stylish, sometimes sensual, usually over the top, but rarely humorous. This is the man who went after Vine with a copyright complaint because of eight clips that featured his music. This is also the same man who recruited teenager Danielle Curiel to direct and choreograph the “Breakfast Can Wait” video, which features a Prince stand-in that’s funny merely by existence. There are also the extended dance sequences that work as a sexual metaphor. This is a video for a man who made a song that led to all those parental advisory stickers. Times are changing, and for Prince it means making PG-13 worthy euphemisms that are left field, but still delightful. Pretty much everything can wait when Prince is actually having some fun. Now, let’s hope Dave Chappelle’s Prince caricature shows up for the next clip. –Brian Josephs

17. HAIM – “The Wire”


We too shed a tear for the trio of jilted lovers in “The Wire”. Musically inclined, confident, and girl-next-door beautiful, the Haim sisters understandably rank high among most coveted songstresses. The dream for millions of young men would be to have just a few minutes backstage with one (or more) of the sisters, but just as countless male-starring music videos have depicted in the past, falling for rockers isn’t easy. Featuring Jorma Taccone of The Lonely Island, the video borrows some of the off-the-wall comedic parody associated with the Andy Samberg-led collective. After focusing on Este, Danielle, and Alana all abruptly cutting ties with their male suitors, the video follows the brokenhearted exploits of these men as they try to deal with the extraordinary loss. As if borrowing from the corniest of rom-com montages, we watch as they sort through pictures, draft apologetic notes, and reminisce about relationship highlights, all while the sisters go on with their careers and new romantic endeavors. –Derek Staples

16. Kendrick Lamar – “Bitch Don’t Kill My Vibe”


Acknowledging his guilt against ominous keyboard tones in a sweeping cathedral, Kendrick Lamar smoothly belts, “I am a sinner who’s probably gonna sin again.” And so opens the illusory, dream-like video for “Bitch Don’t Kill My Vibe”, the third single off the rapper’s celebrated LP, good kid, m.A.A.d city. Set against the backdrop of a funeral, the video adopts Lamar’s notorious penchant for metaphor by eulogizing “Molly” – as signified in the final shot. Similar to last year’s “Swimming Pools (Drank)” and alcohol, the cryptic video condemns the drug’s destructive use, which has routinely been glorified in hip-hop culture. Ending with an abrupt cutoff to a black screen, the final scene reads: “Death to Molly.” In so clearly denouncing this drug, Lamar successfully transitions his talent for hidden lyrical messages into a visual format. –Christina Salgado

15. Vampire Weekend – “Diane Young”


Think of this as an East Coast indie rock last supper. There’s a ski mask-donning Jesus surrounded by the impeccably dressed disciples:  members of Vampire Weekend along with other notable musicians, like David Longstreth of the Dirty Projectors and the bubblegum-chewing Sky Ferreira, who looks increasingly bored and unhappy to be there as the video goes on. The other disciples attending also include Hamilton Leithauser of the now-hiatus’ed Walkmen, Santigold, Despot, and Chromeo. Directed by Primo Kahn, come for the awesome cameos, and stay for the best use of the saxophone since Born in the U.S.A. –Josh Terry

 14. Lily Allen – “Hard Out Here”


After a four-year hiatus filled with marriage and babies, Lily Allen’s return to pop came with a barrage of controversy. Parodying Robin Thicke and similar pop culture icons, “Hard Out Here” voiced strong opinions on sexism in the music industry. Copious ironic twerking amongst African American backup dancers summoned a multitude of think pieces, though Allen has asserted that the video “has nothing to do with race, at all.” In fact, in a behind-the-scenes clip, the British singer expresses early on that she didn’t want it to seem as if she was looking down on the women in the video, citing her own insecurities as reasoning. Offensive or not, “Hard Out Here” sparked a necessary debate and all the right chatter. A worthy kudos. –Amanda Koellner

13. Arcade Fire – “Afterlife”


In Arcade Fire’s video for their dance-rock anthem “Afterlife”, a flower-selling man religiously corrects his son’s dinner table manners: “Pásame el pan, por favor.” Giving his father a false impression of his plans for the evening, the child’s elder brother soon after leaves for teenage fun and miscellaneous partying, during which his distress and tiredness beautiful bleed into his subconscious longing for the family’s apparently perished mother. This imagery is repeated triply, as father and younger brother highlight the similarities in consciousness and longing for lost love despite the argument that can be made because of age difference. In the video’s final TV-watching moments, all is rendered as a feeling of simultaneous finalized and ongoing hopelessness, as the poor, male family of three is depicted in an incessant struggle between the inners of heartache and the outers of family mistrust and religious stringency. –Zander Porter

12. David Bowie – “The Next Day”


As artists age, they tend to conform. Being a rebel for 50 years is probably exhausting, when all you want to do is take it easy and hang out with your grandchildren. However, David Bowie is still willing to stir the pot and take on taboos, as he does in the title track to his unexpected/welcome return to the scene, The Next Day. Gary Oldman is a wayward priest (seriously, he knocks someone out in the first five seconds) who gets down and sleazy with a trashy Marion Cotillard while the robed “prophet” Bowie performs on a dive bar stage. In just three minutes, we get stigmata, self-flagellation, tears of milk, black eyes, priests behaving badly, and yet Bowie is still able to thank everyone who helped make the video, before disappearing, of course. It works as a great companion piece to “The Stars (Are Out Tonight)”, with Tilda Swinton making up the weird factor. –Justin Gerber

11. Kanye West – “Black Skinhead”


Yeezus has often been criticized into two categories: a grand expression of id or an overblown vanity project. The “Black Skinhead” CGI video shows these views are really two sides of the same coin, as the clip melds them — along with the song itself — into something more bestial. It’s Yeezus’ themes minimalized to its most primal aspect. Wolves are ready to hunt, the Black Skinheads are looking for blood, and at the center of it all is a muscular, almost faceless Kanye West, who looks something other than human. The only thing that’s clear and shining here is his gold chain.  We all knew American materialism is an ugly social aspect, but West and director Nick Knight interpreted it into a vision that’s both uncomfortable and replayable. The interactive elements of the video are a plus, but could that compare to the chills of when it unexpectedly shows up on a video playlist at, say, four in the morning? –Brian Josephs

10. Atoms for Peace – “Ingenue”


Thom Yorke was never much of a dancer until “Lotus Flower”, the video for which saw him writhing like a dorky contortionist hopped up on sugar. Now, he can’t seem to crawl out of the “awkward dancer” pigeonhole — or maybe he’s just comfortable there. Atoms for Peace’s “Ingenue” video plops Yorke back up onstage in weird clothes, only this time he’s got a partner to complement his moves. Dancer Fukiko Takase appears, at first, as Yorke’s doppelganger, wearing the same brown suit and ponytail while the camera cuts seamlessly between them. He finishes the sequences she starts. Then they’re both in the same space at the same time, playing off each other, carving space with their limbs, building intimacy.

Dressed more like the Doctor than the frontman of one of the world’s biggest bands, Thom Yorke uses these videos to further chip away at the mold of “rock star” he coveted in his bleach-blonde Pablo Honey days. Music videos typically work to enhance an artist’s image; Yorke prefers to complicate his. There’s space here to avoid being cool, to move like a freak, to push for some kind of paradoxical elegance. He’s still not the best dancer — Takase’s skill eclipses his — but there’s an expressive earnestness to the way he uses his body here that turns an abstract routine into something warm and connective. Out in the world, he’s Thom Yorke, the face of Radiohead, but there, in that theater, he’s just a body yearning to communicate with another body. –Sasha Geffen

9. Drake – “Hold On, We’re Going Home”


It’s hard to make an impressionable hip-hop video nowadays. So many big names work off the budgets of Hollywood blockbusters, featuring set pieces, action sequences, and cameos that could rival a summer tentpole production by Michael Bay or the late Tony Scott. So, by that nature, Drake’s boisterous short film for “Hold On, We’re Going Home” should have been lost in the mire, right? Yes and no. By leaning on ’80s nostalgia and revisiting Miami Vice‘s best episode, “Smuggler’s Blues”, Drizzy’s woozy, ambient R&B marries itself with the histrionic performances and rapturous action to great effect. The emotionalism is hammy, sure, but it only enlivens the track, which is exactly what any proper music video should do. It also lets us in on a little secret: The former Degrassi star doesn’t just want to be the world’s most desired crooner; he wants to be our hero, too. While he probably can’t have both — that is, unless Michael Mann decides to use him in a DTV sequel to his 2006 reboot — it’s an amicable attempt on his part. To top it all off, Steven Bauer got some more work for himself, too. –Michael Roffman

8. Janelle Monáe feat. Erykah Badu – “Q.U.E.E.N.”


David Letterman declared Janelle Monáe ““the hardest-working woman in show business.” Even a cursory glance back at some of her 2013 R&B contemporaries cements this well-earned reputation. For instance, both Monáe and Robin Thicke enjoyed a great deal of radio and multimedia play this summer. And, their respective music videos even share a few similarities; each is filmed in front of an expansive white screen and utilizes a comparable color pallet to spice things up, with quite a bit of bootie dancing to boot. But, “Q.U.E.E.N.” scores higher marks for displaying a cool style and meaningful substance, whereas Thicke’s viral sexploitation boils down to five minutes of naked models playing with incongruent props and aimlessly cavorting to no real end. “Q.U.E.E.N.” tells the far more exciting tale of Monáe’s soul sisters infiltrating a futuristic museum of famed rebels in order to free their fearless leader. It also finds Zulu warriors jamming out while Monáe’s partner in crime — the always intrepid Erykah Badulla Oblongata – stalks like a tiger in waiting. Between the oddball visuals, tributes to ’60s girl groups of yesteryear, and overall funky vibes, Monáe establishes herself as the modern day Nefertiti. Now, bow down to your royal highness. –Dan Pfleegor

7. Miley Cyrus – “Wrecking Ball”


Shut up.

Shut up with acting like stupid shot-for-shot parodies that just put someone/something else in Cyrus’s place are funny. Shut up with your 2007 Britney Spears comparisons. Shut up with your meltdown jokes. Shut up with your Sinead O’Connor open letters. Shut up with your hand-wringing about Cyrus’s agency, or sexuality, or stances on feminism. Shut up about Terry Richardson. Just shut up.

“Wrecking Ball” is immediate and undeniable. It uses nudity uncomfortably, with shots that create a palpable tension between the viewer and the subject. The goal isn’t to use sexuality to dim the song’s emotion; it’s to use uncomfortable portrayals of human nakedness to hammer that emotion home. It’s to pay homage to two of the form’s most important statements: D’Angelo’s “Untitled (How Does It Feel?)” and O’Connor’s own “Nothing Compares 2 U”. The video for “Wrecking Ball” mixes up sex and violence in the most banal of ways to express something true about the banal tragedy of a relationship ending.

It’s way too easy to make assumptions about Cyrus’s motives, about her life, about her intentions, about her whatever. Stop doing that. Shut up and watch “Wrecking Ball” again. –Chris Bosman

6. Beach House – “Wishes”


“Old sweat, mold, and jock straps.” If you asked Eric Wareheim to define beauty, this would be his answer. With a smelly college locker room and a slow-motion camera operator, the director used his cinematic paintbrush to create a fantastical half-time show that is impossible to forget. Beach House’s “Wishes” builds a setting for reliving painful memories, while still random and hilarious. This isn’t even close to a boring cheerleading routine or senior night ceremony.

Instead, Coach Ray Wise, best known for his role in Twin Peaks, sports a glammy jumpsuit to caress the crowd in dreamy wonder. The movement behind him brings the magic to life. Cheerleaders hype the crowd as they crash through a team banner and ghetto bump through their routine. The water boys provide the shock factor and sex appeal with choreographed bottle squirting and weapon twirling, as odd as it seems. The final result: the crowd is actually entertained, not to mention doused in emotion. As the fireworks burst behind Coach Ray standing strong on a valiant stallion, Beach House’s wish to be “forever still” couldn’t be any more desired.

While Beach House’s music can seem beautifully sullen, for the most part, Wareheim’s work for “Wishes” is a perfect dose of comedic relief. We’ll probably never know what sport involved nunchucks and horse masks, but we can now dream about it without losing our minds. –Sam Willett

5. David Bowie – “Love Is Lost” (Hello Steve Reich James Murphy Remix)


Welcome, my friends, to the zeitgeist. Captured here is everything future generations will need to understand the cultural spirit of our times (at least for the narrow band of human experience that gets excited for a James Murphy remix of a Bowie song). In true zeitgeist fashion, this moment must not only be an expression of our contemporaneity, but also contain both an inferential understanding of our past, and propose a crystallized vision of the future to come. Hyperbole? Perhaps. But maybe our friend Stefon can help illuminate:

    People, this video has everything: a stylish vampire growing stronger with age; disembodied hands clapping algorithmically; the digital artist Barnaby Jones; a maximized minimalist composition; the invisible and velvet-gloved hand of DFA … and foxymoshing. (What, pray tell, is foxymoshing?) It’s that thing where line drawings of topless white people come to life, totally make out, and then dissolve.

Thank you, Stefon, I couldn’t have said it better myself. Simply put: David Bowie meets Steve Reich meets James Murphy meets contemporary new media art practice. Beyond this iconic and conceptual confluence, it is just a damn good track. The beats are DFA-errific, Bowie is being Bowie, and the visuals are compelling (and sexy) enough to keep viewers glued to the screen for the full 10-minute runtime. Ladies and gentlemen: the zeitgeist. –Kris Lenz

4. Mumford and Sons – “Hopeless Wanderer”


Thespians who double up their profession with a career in music do so with varying success. How many, though, get to play actual band members in a music video? For Saturday Night Live alumni Jason Sudeikis and Will Forte, plus fellow funny men Jason Bateman and Ed Helms, the world’s favorite folksters, Mumford and Sons, provided the big break. The UK quartet had paved the way in some degree by surrendering their instruments to an Indian marching band in “The Cave” video, but it was director Sam Jones who pitched the idea of using comedians to play the band this time. Mumfords originally wanted to use the title track from Babel as the next single, but Jones insisted that his concept would only work with “Hopeless Wanderer”. The band loved the end product so much that there was no wish to change a thing about it.

For the video, the four comedians adopted the facial hairstyles of the real band members, and it is a full minute before faces are revealed to show that it’s a set of actors at play. Dappled sunlit meadows and dusty roads prepare the viewer for a standard workout, but perhaps not a kiss between a lightly moustachioed Sudeikis and hirsute Forte. Everything about the video is just that touch overwrought — the singing, male bonding, and instrument wrecking all played out to perfection. Helms summed the effort behind the video perfectly: “We’re so grateful to be a successful fake band. It’s been years of fake dedication and fake hard work to get here, and I really believe we are at the forefront of abject fraudulence.” –Tony Hardy

3. FIDLAR – “Cocaine”


FIDLAR’s ridiculously NSFW video for the already NSFW song “Cocaine” follows an apathetic Nick Offerman as he lets all of his frustrations pour out — quite literally — after being fired from his job via text message. “You’re friend. Shit. Autocorrect. You’re FIRED,” he reads before smashing his iPhone with a sledgehammer. He then proceeds to the nearest liquor store and pounds a bunch of 40s, in signature FIDLAR style, before taking to the streets of Los Angeles, dick in hand. Yep, this video is three minutes of Nick Offerman pissing off of buildings and overpasses, on the Hollywood sign, on Nicolas Cage’s walk-of-fame star, in a dog’s mouth, etc.

For about half the video, Offerman’s junk is blocked by a censor, which hilariously disappears when he starts using his water sports for more practical uses, like “putting” golf balls, washing cars, and watering gardens. Totally raunchy, totally FIDLAR. Their fuck-all attitude and unfiltered sleaze are pure distillations of rock ‘n roll and come at a time of near-ubiquitous cultural political-correctness (especially in the music industry). Crazy-ass bands like FIDLAR and crazy-ass videos like “Cocaine” are truly an endangered species of subversion. We best enjoy them while they last. –Jon Hadusek

2. Seth Rogen and James Franco – “Bound 3″


The premise of Kanye’s “Bound 2″ video  – he and a topless Kim Kardashian, grinding on a motorcycle through a Windows ’97 screensaver – doesn’t just ask for a parody of itself. It begs, and pleads, and stomps its feet for one. Insert a very hairy, shirtless Seth Rogen and a West-impersonating James Franco, who together created their own take on the video shot-for-shot while on the set of their upcoming film, The Interview. From Freaks and Geeks to Pineapple Express, the duo has a true bromance that stands the test of time, but making out on a gyrating bike really takes things to the next level. Although the Kardashian clan allegedly expressed unhappiness with Kim’s scantily clad appearance in the clip, Kimye got a huge kick out of the spoof, with the future Mrs. West tweeting to Rogen, “You nailed it!” –Amanda Koellner

1. Bob Dylan – “Like a Rolling Stone”

http://video.bobdylan.com/desktop.html
Click image or visit Video Bob Dylan 
Widely hailed as the greatest rock song ever written, Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone” revolutionized songwriting with its unprecedented melodic structure and scathing lyrical content. You would think there isn’t much more ground that the 1965 anthem could break. Alas, we stand corrected. Nearly five decades later, Dylan’s finest work proved innovative with the debut of its first music video: an interactive user experience.

Created by digital agency Interlude, the video frames the song against a mock television network, allowing users to flip through 16 channels featuring everything from The Price Is Right to Pawn Stars, and, yes — even concert footage from the rock god himself. As users click away, Dylan’s voice seamlessly transitions through each station, indulging viewers with the bizarre experience of seeing the likes of Drew Carey and the cast of Property Brothers lip-synching along with the lyrics. Indeed, there’s something unnerving about watching a bikini-clad contestant from The Bachelor writhing around in a hot tub while giggling “How does it feel?” — but that’s what makes it so captivating.

It’s a fascinating nod to social dissonance, and the charge is driven home when you juxtapose Dylan’s accusatory wail against the backdrop of modern television. Watching a contestant from The Price Is Right grip his head in disbelief while mouthing “Like a complete unknown,” then flipping through to see Danny Brown waving a corn dog while singing out “with no direction at all” demonstrates that the chasm between generations isn’t as deep as we think. On the contrary, the format couldn’t have served as a more obvious channel bridging decades of time. –Christina Salgado

Top 25 Videos of 2013:

01. Bob Dylan – “Like a Rolling Stone”
02. Seth Rogen and James Franco – “Bound 3″
03. FIDLAR – “Cocaine”
04. Mumford and Sons – “Hopeless Wanderer”
05. David Bowie – “Love Is Lost” (Hello Steve Reich James Murphy Remix)
06. Beach House – “Wishes”
07. Miley Cyrus – “Wrecking Ball”
08. Janelle Monae feat. Erykah Badu – “Q.U.E.E.N.”
09. Drake – “Hold On, We’re Going Home”
10. Atoms For Peace – “Ingenue”
11. Kanye West – “Black Skinhead”
12. David Bowie – “The Next Day”
13. Arcade Fire – “Afterlife”
14. Lily Allen – “Hard Out Here”
15. Vampire Weekend – “Diane Young”
16. Kendrick Lamar – “Bitch Don’t Kill My Vibe”
17. HAIM – “The Wire”
18. Prince – “Breakfast Can Wait”
19. Kurt Vile – “KV Crimes”
20. J Mascis and Sharon Van Etten – “Prisoners”
21. Sky Ferreira – “Night Time, My Time”
22. Daft Punk – “Lose Yourself To Dance”
23. Superchunk – “Staying Home”
24. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – “Despair”
25. Action Bronson – “Strictly 4 My Jeeps”

Via: Top 25 Music Videos of 2013 (Consecuense of sound)