The Best music videos of 2018...I think.

I miss MTV.
Not MTV of today - filled with reality shows. No. I miss the pure MTV music video channel of my youth.
I miss having the time to just sit and watch it too.

You can learn a lot from music videos - cultural trends, fashion, new art directional styles, editing techniques, scene transitions and pure wacky ways of seeing the world. They also have their fingers on the pulse far more than any TV show or newspaper. 

So, with Christmas providing a much needed lull I decided to see what was happening out there in 2018. 

And here are my picks. 

1. Janelle Monae - Make Me feel. 

This is so Prince isn't it? And the style is very iPod. I just love he fashion as well. I would wear those see through embroidered trousers if I had the guts. Apparently this video is about Janelle's bi-sexuality - running from man to woman unable to choose. 



2. John Mayer - New Light

This is so shit it's kinda genius. Apparently John Mayer asked some guy in LA who specialises in making bat mitzvah videos.

It also reminds me of my favourite show "Glow" - there is a great episode where they spent the whole episode showing the recorded TV show complete with tacky scene transitions and bad acting. That's what this is like. 



3. Travis Scott: “SICKO MODE” [ft. Drake]

Directed by Dave Meyers and Travis Scott.

There is so much going on in this video. Really interesting camera techniques and trickery, some neon paint, coloured smoke, singing murals, very jiggly butts (like how does that butt actually move like that?) and Drake sounding super cool. 



4. Drake - Nice for What.

Sorry for another Drake but this guy is on it with his video game. For "Nice for what" Drake gave the camera to 22-year-old director Karena Evans. She shot scenes of powerful women celebrating their worth and doing their thing. The result is a video that's joyful and strong - nice one Drake, nice one Evans. 



5. The Carters: “APESHIT”

Probably the most talked about video of the year. Beyonce and Jay Z in the Louvre and some amazing modern dance. New, pop and cool meets classic high brow art. The meeting is mesmerising and you need not delve into anything deeper than that. But if you do then the message is about blackness, its relationship to Western colonialism and about black capitalism as act of radical subversion. Deep man.



Oh and if you are not viewing this on a public screen you may wanna check out the video for Duck Duck Goose by Cupcakke. She is not shy. 

Singing record covers

Isn't it funny how records have stuck with us, whilst tapes, CDs and mini disk players have all bitten the dust. At the moment it seems that album download services are going that way too. It's of course partly nostalgia that keeps the record popular of course. But that doesn't explain why there are so many young buyers of records. For these people it's more the album artwork and the physicality of the things that make people feel like they are really coming home with something special. Here's a little music video which cleverly plays on album art, personifying it and making it seem like something that really should be treasured. It's for Roy Kafri's Mayokero.

Roy Kafri - Mayokero (Music Video) from Vania Heymann on Vimeo.

Thanks to my colleague David for this one. 

Tippex and Basement Jaxx

In the world of computers you forget that other people out there in schools and the suchlike are using Tippex. Ahhh Tippex - my books were adorned with the stuff - mainly because I couldn't spell.

So here is another brilliant online Tippex experience for you to enjoy. You have to open it in Youtube for it to work. And try a good few diff years - so funny. I got back to the Romans.

Hunter and Bear's birthday Party

What else have I been sent recently? Well I was also sent this very cool Basement Jaxx video. It's trippy man.



No there is no link between these two things in case you are wondering...apart from they both have an "x" in. Yeh see what I did there??
xx

Beyoncé's little sister Solange Knowles - a surprise

I was sceptical about how good Beyoncé's sister's music might be. After all she surely had an easy route to fame  - "Oh your sister is famous, do you sing too? Yes? Here's a record deal." But to be fair I really like this cute little tune "Losing You" and Solange's inept unpolished little dance moves which are the opposite of Beyonce's raunchy style. She's pretty adorable. Her video seems to feature a fair few union jacks in a very non-Uk setting so that's strange. Maybe she has a crush on us. We are pretty hip aren't we.

Check her video out and let me know what you think.



There is an interesting article about her in The Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/nov/03/solange-knowles-true-dev-hynes

The best music videos ever?

Today I've decided to look at some of the music videos which NME have in their 100 best videos of all time list. Here are the ones I agree with. Plus I'm gonna also add some of my own. Coz this is my blog innit. Enjoy.

Firstly here's Muse with Knights of Cydonia. It's a massive western and there is a unicorn and some laser guns and a hot chick and basically it's a teenage dream. A hilarious one.


I've loved Metallica ever since I was 17 and I watched my Boyfriend's mates' band The Fire Breathing Penguins play Enter Sandman in our local in Swansea. Here they are with Turn the Page and a sad video about a woman selling her body to raise her daughter. Its beautifully done.


This is a dark one - but we are coming up to Halloween so why not - Monster by Kanye West, Jay Z and Nicky Minaj. It's kinda wrong but I like it. It's the goth in me.


Phew after the living dead we could do with some Catholic church time right? Madonna's Like a Prayer should do the trick. Oh and look she had a black Jesus before Lady Gaga. Madonna is right - she's a little copycat! I've just noticed Madonna dances like my Mum in this video.


Here's another poor sinner - Lady Gaga poor dab is in love with Judas. How could she do that to sexy Jesus? Oooh she loves a bad boy. This video is amazing just for the costumes, let alone the religious symbols. But there are also some awesome dance moves here for you to learn and produce in a club near you.


Talking about dancing there's some wonderful slow mo- dance moves here. This is the Knife with Deep Cuts. It might be the beauty of this female impersonator's calmness but this is mesmerisingly haunting and beautiful. Never heard of these guys before I saw this video.



This one is funny. In Jane's Addiction's Been caught stealing a bunch of interesting characters go shoplifting in a supermarket then everyone, including an acrobatic granny, does a bit of dancing. That's always a winner isn't it - a dancing granny?


Here's a clever one - and one that I remember coming out. REM with Imitation of life. The video is one scene fastforwarded and rewinded over and over so that you can focus, with the help of the camera with everything that is going on at the same time. It's a bit like being God  - making you omnipresent. Imagine if you could do this at real parties.


Ok - I know I've already featured Lady Gaga but her videos are just so good! And this one has Beyonce too so it's like, totally diff! So many good things in this one - nice little story line, great cigarette glasses and some great costumes for both girls.


This one is just so outrageously funny it has to feature. I mean girl look at that body!  LMFAO with Sexy and I Know it.


Finally MIA with Bad Girls which is shot somewhere that looks like Afghanistan or something but it's actually Morocco. It was shot in solidarity with thewomen to drive movement, so it has a political message. GOOOO MIA!

Ok so there are obviously lots of other great music videos out there. I didn't include some like Gangham Style because I have featured them very recently on my blog. Please let me know if you have a video you think is worthy to add to the list. Over and out.

He-Man does LMFAO

Oh my god I'm on a stupid music video binge! Gobbl gobble gooble!

Here's another gem. It's everybody's favourite musclebound helmet head He-Man singing LMFAO. And he's right. He is kinda sexy...didn't see that when I was 5. I was all about David Bowie as King Jared in the Labryinth.  David Bowie is still sexier methinks but check out He-Man's 16pack.



Oh and another think - who came up with the name He-Man? Like, seriously! There was also She-Ra wasn't there - now that's a little better - like 'she who roars' or something. But He-Man? "He's a man!" - no shit sherlock. Well, maybe they thought they better be clear as he had longish hair. Yeh maybe that's it. 

The Awesome PSY with Gangham Style.

Do you like needless explosions, funny horsey dance moves and slightly fat korean men? Right!!!! I'm with you! EVERYONE does. So you will, like me, enjoy this song and pop video by PSY (Park Jae-Sang), hailing from the popular K-pop music scene in South Korea.

His "Gangham" video on YouTube is the most viewed K-pop video in history with over 100 million views on YouTube. It has also ranked no.1 on the iTunes Music Video Charts. Take that justin Bieber! PSY is famous in South Korea for his satirical style of music and sense of humor. Apparently he is credited with breaking down the stereotype among K-pop music lovers that male singers have to be good-looking and be able to dance well. Well, personally I love his easy to copy dance moves and might bust them out in a west end club next week. 

Ooh and check out this remix with LMFAO, Dev, Offspring and Bloodhound Gang. 

London College of fashion show off their students

London College of Fashion have produced a music video type film to show case the 2012 work of their students. I think it's very cool and it should act as a wonderful marketing piece for the course. I particularly like the brightly coloured fluffy jumper outfit. Love the music too.


London College of Fashion 2012 from Bunker Design on Vimeo.

Friends in cool places

It's always nice in life to ride out a bit on the success of your friends. I like to boast that I have friends in high places, interesting professions and even slightly famous ones - ones who have their own Wikipedia pages. So it is with great pride that I announce to you all that my friend and advertising college housemate Hollie has made her debut as a music video director!  Here is her video for Bright Light Bright Light's "A New Word to Say". 

Well done Hols. It's pretty cool. 

When I asked Hols about the shoot she said "Well... the main thing was the noise! 3,000 balloons and they kept popping every few seconds. It was a massive factory space so it sounded like gunfire every time. 8 hours into the shoot and we still had tiny heart attacks every time one went off. Except for Rod, our artist, who was cool as a cucumber. That's professional pop stars for you...". 

So there you have a lesson from Hollie. If making a video with that many balloons bring earplugs. 

I heart Marina from Marina and the diamonds!!!

Arcade fire film down your street!!!

Check out this amazing new interactive video for Arcade Fire's new song built using html5 - I think it's probably the cleverest online video I've seen ever. Put in your most loved address at the beginning and wait for the surprises to begin.

http://www.thewildernessdowntown.com/

The World Cup begins and Shakira's song captures it wonderfully!

Shakira - Waka Waka | Official Video | World Cup South Africa 2010



I love this happy music video - the African dancing, the clips of players (did she have problems getting rights? because I know how difficult it can be). The song is catchy, even if you don't really know what you're singing.

From all the clips I have seen on the news it just seems like South Africa are just really happy to have the World Cup and mean to welcome the world with open arms. Their team aren't amazing but who cares! It's all about optimism and fun. They have the right attitude and the English fans could really learn from them.

And the lovely innocence of the kids out there is just gorgeous. A head girl of a little school interviewed on the news said that she was looking forward to meeting Victoria Beckham. Victoria, please make it happen!

Oh and here's what my friend Antoine sent me afterwards - apparently it's the original!

Darwin deez - radar detector

Cute video with cute little creative ideas and some weird hair and dancing. Enjoy.

re-art-ified

I won't lie to you now, I stole this video from Madam Lamb's blog coz I loved it so much. Only problem is the video is better than the song. Without further ado I give you "hold your horses's new video for "70 million".

70 Million by Hold Your Horses ! from L'Ogre on Vimeo.

Pixel power!!

A honda-cogs type music video

This music video is truly amazing. I wonder how many takes it took to get all this working - or whether they had to piece material together. Just a work of genius from the people who set it up. Clap clap for the technicians. You rock!

Directed by James Frost, OK Go and Syyn Labs. Produced by Shirley Moyers. The official video for the recorded version of "This Too Shall Pass" off of the album "Of the Blue Colour of the Sky". The video was filmed in a two story warehouse, in the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, CA. The "machine" was designed and built by the band, along with members of Synn Labs ( http://syynlabs.com/ ) over the course of several months.