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Retrospective 2009: Best Videos
Posted by Matt | Posted in Music | Posted on 06-01-2010
While I thought the original video for the opening track of Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, was fairly decent, I litterally fell in love with Sarah Newhouse’s take of the song. She basically mashed up several scenes of some 80s movies (The Breakfast Club, Footloose, Pretty In Pink, Mannequin) making it almost seems like the scenes were made with Lisztomania in mind and just waited for Phoenix to just release it …
Nyle is an emerging emcee hailing from Brooklyn, New York and he really made his name with this video. It started as a school project that he had to do which he picked to perform his take of Lil Wayne track, Let The Beat Build, with live instruments and in one take. Which became the big selling point of the video when it surfaced on the internet. He was even invited on Alexa Chung as an aftermath of his new found popularity.
Minimalist aesthetic was definitely the name of the game for the video of CuDi’s lead single off his debut album. I think that it really set the vibe of what we had to expect from KiD CuDi album as the visuals are far from what we normally expect from rappers. No chains, no rims, no half-naked bitches, just great cinematography. It felt alot like an indie film vs a summer blockbuster. While I’m not saying that I’m not into ‘summer blockbusters’ as they definitely hold their appeal with explosions and shiny stuff, it’s good to have something different once in a while.
While this was the first single off Passion Pit debut album, it was really the second video that I had seen of them… The first one was actually To Kingdom Come where it visuals really impressed me. So I decided to backtrack through their library of very … few videos and stumbled on the one for The Reeling. An incredible video where the gritty quality and rip/tear style almost made me feel like I was watching the intro video of a gang in The Warriors.
Visually stunning and always challenging me to find all the reference movies every single time that I watch it, Dan Black really did the right decision to hire up Paris studio Chic & Artistic for the making of his video as I don’t see how it could have been anything better.
Natasha Khan videos always gave me the creeps, not as being afraid per se, but there’s always something odd and unsettling in each of her videos. It was no different for Daniel, where she replace bicycle riding bunnies by some odd looking touchy dancers that she has to fight off as the whole video is a big ode to the Karate Kid movie.
This video was possibly the most daring video I’ve seen in 2009, as Matt & Kim are allegedly really naked (and really got into troubles with the police). No matter how many times I watch it, I’m always as stunned when they start taking their clothes off in a cold February weather as surprised at the fact that they made it alive stealing the whole naked stunt in the Naked Cowboy territory… I mean that guy is a cowboy for godsake.
Ross Ching was a regular unemployed guy and as unemployement go, well let’s say that he had alot of time on his hands. Free time that he put to good use by creating a fan video for Death Cab For Cutie song, Little Bribes. Not only amazing, but the video was actually picked up by DCFC to become the official video of the song. I’m pretty sure he’s not unemployed anymore.
Here’s another fan video to hit up the list with Gabe Askew view on Grizzly Bear’s song Two Weeks. While the original version of the video was pretty good, Askew visuals and storytelling were really what made his video stand out for me.
Jack White newest side project, The Dead Weather, lead single was pretty good, but it’s really the video that nailed it for me. I wasn’t sure where the whole thing was going at first, as the only thing they do at the beginning is walking in an unbuilt suburbia housing lot, but my patience was rewarded as they start shooting each other in the face for the rest of the video, making it the baddest motherfracker video of the year.
worth mentioning : Chairlift – Evident Utensil, Coldplay – Life In Technicolor II, The xx – Crystalised, Handsome Furs – I’m Confused, Lady GaGa – Bad Romance, Charlotte Gainsbourg & Beck – Heaven Can Wait.
tags: bat for lashes, beck, chairlift, charlotte gainsbourg, coldplay, dan black, death cab for cutie, grizzly bear, handsome furs, kid cudi, lady gaga, matt and kim, music, nyle, passion pit, phoenix, retrospective 2009, the dead weather, the xx, Video
