Awesome, Intriguing, or Mindbending Music Videos

[Mental]

So, I actually think this could be the coolest thread I've tried to start at the Shrine, generic or cliched as it might be, because I have a not-so-secret love for music videos. It's my absolute favorite form of video because the boundaries are so unlimited. You can do music videos that use unexpected visuals or themes or experimentation in ways they never would in movies or television.

So I'm proposing a continuing (sticky?) thread on music videos that are notable in some way not just for being a cool song, but for being a really notable or fun or just mindfucking video as well.

My first contribution, brought on by my recent electronica discussions with Sine, is Royksopp's remix of "Remind Me", which features an evolving, animated, entirely watchable series of data displays diagramming every part of a young cartoon woman's workday in London - it's one of the most mind-expanding videos I've seen, at least for me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBvaHZIrt0o

If we share resources here, we could collect a truly awesome set of videos. The Shrine Music Criterion, if you will, of entertainment to dazzle each other with knowledge of. Unless you don't like music videos, in which case I pronounce you an uncouth barbarian and philistine!

[SineSwiper]

Anything from Chris Cunningham and Michel Gondry. Seriously. They are fucking geniuses. I've got both of their music video DVDs with a bunch of stuff on them.

Chem Bros' Star Guitar by Gondry
Bjork's All is Full of Love by Cunningham (side note: Bjork normally favors Gondry, but she did this one excellent video by Cunningham.)
Squarepusher's Come on My Selector by Cunningham (funny)
Aphex Twin's Come to Daddy by Cunningham
Aphex Twin's Windowlicker by Cunningham (heh, you should find the censored version)
Aphex Twin's Rubbery Johnny by Cunningham (fucked up...)
White Stripes's Fell in Love with Girl by Gondry
White Stripe's Hardest Button to Button by Gondry
Kylie Monologe's Come Into My World by Gondry (not a fan of the song, but it's a cool video)
Chem Bros' Let Forever Be by Gondry
Daft Punk's Around the World by Gondry

In short, Gondry is the Master of Low Tech and Cunningham is the Master of the Fucked Up. Bjork favors Gondry and Aphex Twin favors CC.

Thread OVA!

[Mental]

I am very happy watching those videos.

[Shellie]

Chem Bros' Star Guitar by Gondry

Watching that on Youtube doesnt quite achieve the effect of the video.

Love those DVDs!

[SineSwiper]

Chem Bros' Star Guitar by Gondry

Watching that on Youtube doesnt quite achieve the effect of the video.

The HD version is on there, and it isn't bad.

[Imakeholesinu]

Kinda surprised you left this one off the list.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01C4RPEinM4&feature=fvw

[Kupek]

White Stripes, Hardest Button to Button: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLESpHrtvxs

I should probably pick up one of their albums sometime. The songs of theirs I've heard I like.

Also, Finger Eleven, Paralyzer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYGCT4AQIR0

Now, this is the typical thing you'd hear on the radio. That's where I originally heard it. The song has a hook that drills into my brain, but that's not why I'm pointing to the video. All of the shots of the band are your typical radio-friendly rock video. But the dancers are downright hypnotic. I could watch five minutes of those dancers. There's a fluidity and coordination to their movements that is like a visual version of the audio hook. And I normally don't care about dance at all.

Cibo Matto, Sugar Water: http://www.mtv.com/videos/cibo-matto/46 ... ater.jhtml

The song does almost nothing for me, but the video is a technical accomplishment.

[Shellie]

White Stripes, Hardest Button to Button: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLESpHrtvxs

Cibo Matto, Sugar Water: http://www.mtv.com/videos/cibo-matto/46 ... ater.jhtml

The song does almost nothing for me, but the video is a technical accomplishment.

Both from Gondry...he is absolutely amazing. He also directed and wrote Eternal Sunshine for a Spotless Mind and Be Kind Rewind.

The collection of his works DVD were a great buy..theres a ton of his material on there including short films and interviews. Most of his ideas come from his dreams.

[Kupek]

No shit. I had no idea that those were done by the same person, and that he did Eternal Sunshine.

I probably should have looked closer at Sine's list, since it included Hardest Button to Button, but... post a wall of links with no context, and my eyes are going to glaze over it.

[Imakeholesinu]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCsfUXFmBDQ

Another great one.

[Mental]

I haven't had time to go through and look for more of my own favorites from the memory banks yet, but I really appreciate the contributions. By the way, Shellie, the effect of the first Gondry video comes across. For the first thirty seconds or so I was like "this is just a train with a camera pointed out the window", then I went "holy shit" and more or less stayed of that mindset.

[SineSwiper]

Cibo Matto, Sugar Water: http://www.mtv.com/videos/cibo-matto/46 ... ater.jhtml

The song does almost nothing for me, but the video is a technical accomplishment.

I was trying to figure out the name of the artist, but yeah, I wanted to include that, too. Gondry had to be a real pain with these ladies because the synchronization and timing were critical, so they had to do many, many takes.

Also, Finger Eleven, Paralyzer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYGCT4AQIR0

Now, this is the typical thing you'd hear on the radio. That's where I originally heard it. The song has a hook that drills into my brain, but that's not why I'm pointing to the video. All of the shots of the band are your typical radio-friendly rock video. But the dancers are downright hypnotic. I could watch five minutes of those dancers. There's a fluidity and coordination to their movements that is like a visual version of the audio hook. And I normally don't care about dance at all.

I know I've seen that type of "multiplying dance" thing before. Maybe it was Madonna's (well, William Orbit's) Frozen, also a Cunningham video. It also reminds me of Portishead's Only You by, again, Cunningham.

Or maybe it's those damn Intel Multiply set of commercials.

I probably should have looked closer at Sine's list, since it included Hardest Button to Button, but... post a wall of links with no context, and my eyes are going to glaze over it.

Translation: I couldn't be bothered to spend 20 seconds to read the entire post.

Kinda surprised you left this one off the list.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01C4RPEinM4&feature=fvw

Oh yeah, most of Gorillaz's videos are cool. One of my favs:

Gorillaz' 19-2000 (Soulchild Remix) by Jamie Hewlett and Pete Candeland (HD with original mix)
Gorillaz' Tomorrow Comes Today by Jamie Hewlett
Gorillaz' El Mañana by Jamie Hewlett and Pete Candeland

[SineSwiper]

Also:

Chem Bros' Do It Again (similar to another video Fatboy Slim's Push The Tempo, though I think the FBS version is better and much funnier)

[Mental]

Oh yeah, most of Gorillaz's videos are cool. One of my favs:

Gorillaz' 19-2000 (Soulchild Remix) by Jamie Hewlett and Pete Candeland (HD with original mix)
Gorillaz' Tomorrow Comes Today by Jamie Hewlett
Gorillaz' El Mañana by Jamie Hewlett and Pete Candeland

Dammit. That last one should have been mine to list. But, you know that the El Manana video is a matched pair with the video for Feel Good Inc, right?

Gorillaz' Feel Good Inc.

[Shrinweck]

Okay, as an anime nerd I really wanted to suppress this enough not to post it, but even now that I'm not as big as an anime nerd as I once was, I still really feel the need to post this one amazing opening. Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei is one of the funniest things I have ever seen (literally: Good Bye, Teacher of Despair). Any loving creator who, during the first opening of his anime, has a picture of him smiling next to his main character hanging himself definitely has something new going for himself.

In any case, out of the three/four openings here is his best one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zx6t2N0Wjtc

It's not my first favorite version but by far it is the busiest so I figured it would be the best to throw here.

And on a more mainstream note, Gnarls Barkley has rights to one of my favorite music videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmQFH5XdC7s

I have one music video saved to my hard drive and this is the one.

Youtubes quality does not even come close to how it looks in decent quality but it gives you a taste.

[Shellie]

This list would not be complete without Fatboy Slim's Weapon of Choice

Another of my favorite videos is really a short film with a song on top, but the two work really well.
Kenna - Hellbent

The original short film, More

[Mental]

I gotta make time to watch all these and give my impressions. There's more than I thought there would be, already.

[SineSwiper]

Chris Cunningham in 60 seconds

Also, trailers for Gondry and Spike Jonze. Speaking of which, Shellie posted Weapon of Choice by Jonze. Another Jonze hit: Sabatoge. Also, Intergalatic by Hornblower.

And while we're going anime intros, Death Note's metal intro. Reminds me of a Japanese System of a Down. The band is called Maximum the Hormone.

[Kupek]

Someone needs to do it, and I guess it will be me: Thriller is an amazing piece of entertainment. I watched it for the first time in a long time after he died, and remembered why it was such a big deal back in the day.

I've watched about half the videos linked in this thread, and they're all good stuff.

[Mental]

I think tomorrow I might create a special YouTube account and playlist out of all these. If not tomorrow, then at some point.

[Mental]

I lag. But I remembered another incredibly worthwhile contribution to this list:

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uzgt1FuDR-w">MAYDAY ft. DJ Craze and Cee-Lo Green - Groundhog Day</a>

Not only is the song very unconventional and incredibly technically skilled hip-hop - all the artists kill it, the DJ too - but the video just..defies description. Timelapse city lights at night, bizarre shots of the artists peeling away Polaroids of themselves, bluescreened background effects and great art direction. This video is one of the ones that makes me want to take up making music videos.

[Mental]

Also, Madonna had two INCREDIBLE videos off Confessions on a Dance Floor, which I thought was one of her best albums.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKInZXBiVSo">Madonna - Jump</a>

If you like Parkour even just a little bit, this video should be seen. Going in the theme of the song, these folks pull off literally Mirror's Edge-quality moves. Those falls in Mirror's Edge that you might have thought, "okay, this is a little bit of videogame poetic license, Faith would be dead after a fall like that" - no, these runners actually do that. Not to be missed.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqFB79jP4eM">Madonna - Get Together</a>

In terms of shaders and special effects, I think this is the bar that I have set for other videos. Not only is the 3D interesting and well-done, but it is shaded with a very stylized, postercolor set of filters that make the whole thing look like a day-glo version of A Scanner Darkly on LSD. If I someday learn to program effects like that, I will be a little closer to dying a happy man .

[Mental]

Just found this via YouTube's recommendation system:

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ST2BGQWeOgY">Royksopp - Only This Moment</a>

Time-reversing footage, political overtones, everyday life, and more colorful special effectz. Sine, you ought to hop on this one if you haven't seen it.

[Mental]

Just found this today via YouTube automated recommendations, omg, it is awesome!

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pO_ydAudgQs">Minipop - "Like I Do"</a>

The song sounds like the Cardigans and Portishead squished together, and the video is as if Terry Gilliam and Tim Burton had teamed up to animate and direct "Yellow Submarine".

By the way, any chance this thread rates a sticky?

[Mental]

Also, I know I post this all the time, but the music video for the new Astro Boy series is hyperkinetically lovely.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AaMxZVoVLkw">CHEMISTRY meets M-Flo - Now Or Never (Astrosexy)</a>

I'm kind of post hogging, but I also kind of admit to starting this just to have a log of really cool videos I've watched.

[SineSwiper]

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uzgt1FuDR-w">MAYDAY ft. DJ Craze and Cee-Lo Green - Groundhog Day</a>

Not only is the song very unconventional and incredibly technically skilled hip-hop - all the artists kill it, the DJ too - but the video just..defies description. Timelapse city lights at night, bizarre shots of the artists peeling away Polaroids of themselves, bluescreened background effects and great art direction. This video is one of the ones that makes me want to take up making music videos.

I hate most rap videos, but this one isn't bad.

Madonna - Jump

If you like Parkour even just a little bit, this video should be seen. Going in the theme of the song, these folks pull off literally Mirror's Edge-quality moves. Those falls in Mirror's Edge that you might have thought, "okay, this is a little bit of videogame poetic license, Faith would be dead after a fall like that" - no, these runners actually do that. Not to be missed.

Meh. I've seen freejumpers before, which all this video is. That and Madonna's funny-and-sad attempts at some ninja dancing shit, or whatever you call it. And the song sucks. William Orbit does a much better job than this Stuart Price guy.

Madonna - Get Together

In terms of shaders and special effects, I think this is the bar that I have set for other videos. Not only is the 3D interesting and well-done, but it is shaded with a very stylized, postercolor set of filters that make the whole thing look like a day-glo version of A Scanner Darkly on LSD. If I someday learn to program effects like that, I will be a little closer to dying a happy man.

Yeah, this video is a lot better. Some qualities remind me of Rez, especially the beginning with the trees sinking into the ground.

The others were alright. I do like the Royksopp song.

[Mental]

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4PMHt7vSE8">Blue Alien Singing</a>. Not technically a music video, but I dare any of you to tell me I'm wrong.

[SineSwiper]

The Fifth Element. An awesome, awesome movie.

If we're going to go into non-music music videos, try Bobby McFerrin Demonstrates the Power of the Pentatonic Scale.

[Julius Seeker]

Nothing more fucked up than Serge Gainsborough in the 80's Lemon Incest - Serge Gainsborough

[Kupek]

If we're going to go into non-music music videos, try Bobby McFerrin Demonstrates the Power of the Pentatonic Scale.

Awesome.

[Mental]

I favorited all (or most, I tried, might have missed one or two) of these on one of my YT accounts:

http://www.youtube.com/moonsoverthewell

I'll split them into playlists later. But keep them coming if you got 'em!

[Kupek]

Goldfish, Fort Knox: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAdX_nwXlrY

Never heard of them before, but it's a neat video and a catchy song.

[SineSwiper]

Apparat's Arcadia

Not sure if it's the real video to the music, but it's a very interesting combination.

[Mental]

I'll keep adding these. Thanks, folks.

[Julius Seeker]

Also, Madonna had two INCREDIBLE videos off Confessions on a Dance Floor, which I thought was one of her best albums.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKInZXBiVSo">Madonna - Jump</a>

If you like Parkour even just a little bit, this video should be seen. Going in the theme of the song, these folks pull off literally Mirror's Edge-quality moves. Those falls in Mirror's Edge that you might have thought, "okay, this is a little bit of videogame poetic license, Faith would be dead after a fall like that" - no, these runners actually do that. Not to be missed.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqFB79jP4eM">Madonna - Get Together</a>

In terms of shaders and special effects, I think this is the bar that I have set for other videos. Not only is the 3D interesting and well-done, but it is shaded with a very stylized, postercolor set of filters that make the whole thing look like a day-glo version of A Scanner Darkly on LSD. If I someday learn to program effects like that, I will be a little closer to dying a happy man .

Jump was an awesome video, like a good number of Madonna's videos. I have heard that it was inspired by an anime that Madonna likes. Confessions was an album that got lower than expected scores; but that didn't stop it from rising to #1 simultaneously in more countries than any other album in history. Critics have been this way toward certain musicians since at least the 70's, they gave lower than deserved scores to bands like the Beegees and Blondie who recorded many classics still played a lot on radio today. Anyway, I am willing to bet that the critics would have absolutely loved the album if it came from someone other than Madonna. It is easily her most underrated album.

[Mental]

Agree 100%. I couldn't believe it when she switched up to "Hard Candy", "Four Minutes" was just appalling. Talk about collecting a paycheck...

[Mental]

And I also agree, the critics in general have no idea how to judge Madonna properly. I like that you brought up Blondie, the lead singer of which some could argue was the Madonna of the 1970s - certainly one of the most talented, adventurous, and unique female talents of her era. I read something one day about how at least one person considered her performance on that one song whose name I can't remember to be one of the first raps to get real airplay on American radio - you know the one I'm talking about...great song...

[Mental]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deborah_Harry

Knew I could remember her name if I tried. She was a madwoman, just spectacular IMO.

[Julius Seeker]

The song was Rapture, it was the first really popular rap song and hit #1 ten years before Vanilla Ice and hammer recorded the second and third rap songs to hit #1.

Blondie also came out of the early New York protopunk scene, and was the first band to really merge punk and disco to pioneer what was probably the biggest pop-music movement in history. She also was the first sexy blonde female pop singer in a long line-up of them spanning over the next three decades and continues at present. The only American act in the UK to have a number 1 hit in three different decades. The oldest female singer besides Yoko Ono to have a number 1 hit (and she didn't have John Lennon's name to back her, just her own).

Deborah Harry herself is also one of those rags to riches stars that has a bit of her history reflected in some of her songs.

Lots and lots of great catchy tunes spanning New Wave, punk, disco, early rap, reggae, and rock spanning 4 decades now. I can't help but to love Deborah Harry and Blondie.

[SineSwiper]

Moderat - A New Error

Another interesting video. Moderat = Apparat + Modeselektor. Their first album came out early this year, but I didn't discover it until recently.

[Flip]

You want weird, look no further than Yaesayer Ambling Alp

[Julius Seeker]

Very surprised this one hasn't been posted yet. Watch it, trust me

[SineSwiper]

I need to redo the messages in youtube embed tag format.

[SineSwiper]

Moderat - A New Error

Another interesting video. Moderat = Apparat + Modeselektor. Their first album came out early this year, but I didn't discover it until recently.

Finally got a hold of this album. Fucking beautiful so far, but I'd expect nothing else from Apparat. (Even if I don't like Modeselektor.)

[SineSwiper]

http://mrdoob.com/121/The_Johnny_Cash_Project

Every frame drawn by a different person.

[Flip]

[SineSwiper]

Weird decay of the same dance routine. Reminds me of the Kylie video I posted way above there. Not a big fan of the song, but the video is a technical feat (by Gondry, of course).



EDIT: I hate YouTube. Most of these video links are broken, due to shitty copyright violation bullshit. Yet, I can replace with another link easily. So, what the hell is the point?

[Flip]

That Kylie video is the opposite of the XX video, where it builds on top of the same routine. Pretty cool.

[Flip]

I dont know whats going on with this one, ha.

[SineSwiper]

Okay, that was totally bizarre. The guy certainly likes to show off his bare chest.