musicforants.com's Best Music Videos of 2011

With two–time best video of the year winner, Andreas Nilsson taking 2011 off to focus on adapting Ingmar Bergman’s horror classic Hour of the Wolf for the stage, the field was wide open for a new batch of directors to step in and create some really amazing work. Two all-caps video-making collectives – CANADA and DANIELS – dominated the year with their visually spectacular and incredibly innovative clips, while a number of old faves like Garth Jennings, Patrick Daughters, Megaforce and Keith Schofield did some spectacular work, and plenty of new directing talent contributed to another wonderful year in music videos.

It was so hard to narrow the list down to 25 this year that I decided to expand the list to 30 (which still left room for plenty of Honorable Mentions). These are the music videos that I felt pushed the envelope of the medium with fantastic visuals, superb editing, gorgeous cinematography, and inventive concepts. Basically, these are the videos that are worth spending your valuable time watching. The videos are embedded below and as always, If you have any favorites videos from the year that you think I missed, make sure to leave it in the comments. Enjoy!

30. Memory Tapes – Yes I Know (dir. Eric Epstein)

MP3 Memory Tapes – Yes I Know

29. St. Vincent – Cruel (dir. Terri Timely)

MP3 St. Vincent – Cruel

28. Mint Julep – Aviary (dir. A Nice Idea Every Day)

27. Mister Heavenly – Bronx Sniper (dir. Corey Adams)

26. Jamie Woon – Lady Luck (dir. Vincent Haycock)

MP3 Jamie Woon – Lady Luck

MP3: Sharon Van Etten – Serpents

After earning a swarm of fans with her 2010 album Epic, Sharon Van Etten is preparing to release her third album, Tramp, and the Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter has brought a few friends along with her. The album was produced by The National’s Aaron Dressner with Bryce Dressner on guitar and there are definite similarities between the brooding, tumultuous first single “Serpents” and the Dressner brother’s main gig. The comparison is most evident for me in the drumming (provided by The Walkmen’s Matt Barrick) which has the same thunderous quality as tracks like “Mr. November” and “Bloodbuzz Ohio”. Sharon’s new album also includes appearances by Zach Condon of Beirut, Wye Oak’s Jenn Wasner and Doveman’s Thomas Bartlett, and as evident by this fiery cut it’s definitely going to one to watch for next year. Download below.

MP3 Sharon Van Etten – Serpents

Tramp will be released on February 7th on Jagjaguwar.

Call It A Comeback Mix

This week, Kate Bush released only her second album of new material in 17 years to critical (and Big Boi) acclaim. Many artists have attempted comeback albums, but few are as excellent as 50 Words for Snow (need I remind anyone of Chinese Democracy?) which got me thinking of other once-great artists who were successfully able to come back after a lengthy hiatus, breakup or just a bunch of bad albums in a row. I’ve made a mix of some of my favorite tracks from comeback albums which you can download below or listen on Spotify. Enjoy (and happy thanksgiving)!

MP3 Kate Bush – Wild Man
MP3 Portishead – The Rip
MP3 Paul Simon – You Can Call Me Al
MP3 Johnny Cash – Delia’s Gone
MP3 Dinosaur Jr. – Almost Ready
MP3 Gil Scott-Heron – I’m New Here
MP3 Sunny Day Real Estate – How It Feels To Be Something On
MP3 Raekwon – House of Flying Daggers
MP3 Bruce Springsteen – Waiting On A Sunny Day
MP3 Guided By Voices – The Unsinkable Fats Domino
MP3 Morrissey – Irish Blood, English Heart
MP3 Roky Erickson with Okkervil River – Goodbye Sweet Dreams
MP3 Sonic Youth – The Empty Page
MP3 Bob Dylan – Not Dark Yet
MP3 Spiritualized – Soul On Fire

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Spotify Playlist: Call It A Comeback Mix

Let me know your favorite comeback tracks / albums in the comments!

MP3: of Montreal – Wintering Debts

Of Montreal released the first track entitled “Wintering Debts” from their upcoming LP, Paralytic Stalks yesterday, and wow, this is a stunner. It’s taken a few listens to get a full grasp on the 7 1/2 minute jam but one thing’s for sure, if you were growing weary of the funky glam-pop that has dominated OM’s last three releases, you’ll be excited to hear that this track goes in some entirely different directions.

The track opens with a pretty acoustic melody reminiscent of Elliott Smith, moves into some of the playful indie pop characteristic of their early Kindercore albums with shades of the experimental psych-pop of Skeletal Lamping, and then ends with a sprawling cacophony of orchestral pop that reveals Sufjan Steven’s influence (Kevin Barnes has not been shy about his admiration for Age of Adz). There’s even a section near the end that evokes the Twin Peaks soundtrack. After this exceptional track, I’m thrilled to hear what else of Montreal have in store for their new album.

MP3 Wintering Debts

Paralytic Stalks will be available early next year on Polyvinyl Records

 

MP3: Jónsi – Gathering Stories

Jónsi has been a busy man lately. Sigur Ros just announced their glorious return next year with a “floaty and minimal” new album and they just released a magnificent live double album, Inni (which is worth the purchase for the beyond-gorgeous version of “All Alright” alone). If that wasn’t enough, he also composed the score for the new Cameron Crowe film We Bought A Zoo and contributed two new solo tracks to the film.

The first of these, “Gathering Stories” is an exuberant, uplifting song that could have easily made it on Jonsi’s triumphant debut album Go. The track features the flourishing instrumentation and percussive thrust that has shaped much of his solo work. He really makes creating beautiful music seem effortless. Download the track below and click here to watch the international trailer for We Bought A Zoo.

MP3 Jónsi – Gathering Stories

Pre-order the We Bought A Zoo OST from Amazon.

Video: Hudson – Against The Grain

I’m always on the lookout for great stop-motion animated videos and this one ranks up with the best I’ve seen this year. It’s very similar to the Laura Veirs’ “Phantom Mountain” video in that it features office supplies being animated across a wooden desk, just replace sticky notes with pencils. The clip, directed by Dropbear, is visually stunning, filled with vivid colors and clever uses of the writing utensils to illustrate the songs lyrics. The track, from emerging Melbourne indie-folk artist Hudson is quite nice as well. Watch the video above and download the track below.

MP3 Hudson – Against The Grain

Check out more of Hudson’s music at their bandcamp

The Antlers, Rihanna do The xx

Whether it’s covers, remixes, side-projects, tv commercials, or Mercury Prizes, British minimalist indie pop band The xx have managed to stay in the spotlight ever since their sensational debut album in 2009, which is both a testament to their overwhelming popularity in the indie music scene and their ever-growing mainstream appeal. Both sides were on full display the past few days, as musicforants.com faves The Antlers offered a studio version of their gorgeous VCR cover (which was debuted in its live form at a radio station in our neck of the woods).

Meanwhile everyone’s favorite Barbadian pop star Rihanna proved yet again The xx is a favorite among the mainstream elite (also see: Shakira’s cover of “Islands”) with her sample of the band’s “Intro” in her dazzling new tune “Drunk On Love”. With this sample and that amazing Trainspotting / Requiem For A Dream-like music video, I’d say Rihanna’s spot as coolest international pop star is pretty well-secured. Hear both tracks + the originals below:

MP3 The Antlers – VCR (The xx cover)

Rihanna – Drunk On Love

Originals:

MP3 The xx – Intro
MP3 The xx – VCR

When Saints Go Machine

It isn’t a common practice of mine to skip through an album. I feel as though the difference between good and great exist within those 2-3 seconds between every track. It’s something as simple as song-order. How well a song transitions to the next can greatly alter what you thought of it initially… and for me, personally, I like to get a sense that there was a little if any thought put into it. Is the artist creating a story or simply demonstrating that he/she can be creative? How much/little did they experiment with their sound? How much of that experimentation did he/she reveal? You might think I’d praise an artist who gives me a little bit of everything, but I think it is an even greater risk to present something that is entirely you.

I’ve spent the last week and a half floating down the solemnly dour narrows of Danish quartet When Saints Go Machine… thinking they’ve arrived just in time to laud the moodier side of Fall… and that was it, you know? Dark, brooding, mumpish… there would be no other way to describe Konkylie than something that is strangely dejected and I’d be damned near deaf if I didn’t feel like it was deliberate. Their haunting timbres stare at a singing silhouette of Anthony Hegarty all the while spitting blackish hues onto soon-to-be bare naked trees. Never mind the boundaries of Nikolaj Vonsild’s falsetto because at the end of the day, I just don’t think they care, really–and that’s the beauty of it. From start to finish, spirited synths wrestle with airy lyricism, provoking nothing less than a few great moments of rhapsodic interpretation. It is truly an album to get lost in and it is only this kind of album that gives you a better understanding of respect.

MP3 When Saints Go Machine – Parix
MP3 When Saints Go Machine – Kelly

Video: Stuck in the Sound – Pursuit

I wouldn’t normally listen to the song featured here (although I guess if you dig mathy guitar solos and Matt Bellamy-like falsettos, you could probably do worse) but this music video for French band, Stuck In The Sound has such a fun concept and great execution that I couldn’t resist posting.

Directors Caleb and Fortiche mashed-up clips from tons of awesome 80’s films like Back To The Future, Rocky, Ghostbusters, Top Gun, E.T., Blues Brothers, Terminator, Breakfast Club and Die Hard (just to name a few) and used some pretty slick effects to insert the band’s faces onto the characters. Yeah, the results can be a bit cheesy (like when Doc Brown exclaims the band’s name instead of the usual “Great Scott!”) but I found the rapid-speed onslaught of classic clips to be extremely entertaining. Watch above and listen to another Stuck in the Sound track from their upcoming album below.

Caveman

It’s easy to shrug off yet another hyped-up band from Brooklyn with a fairly innocuous band name and technicolor artwork, but after even a cursory listen to this band’s new album Coco Beware it’s easy to see why Caveman has been getting so much attention. The band has garnered plenty of comparisons to Grizzly Bear for their textural, organic chamber pop, although the band also shows it’s well-versed in the lush synths of the 80’s as well as spacey, psychedelic folk from the 60’s and 70’s. The band blends it’s mastery of sound with plenty of memorable melodies and gorgeous harmonies that have a subtle way of seeping into your brain, exemplified in the standout tracks like “Old Friend” with it’s haunting melody and driving rhythm and the glorious building “Thankful”.

MP3 Caveman – Old Friend
MP3 Caveman – Thankful

Get the album at iTunes
Listen at Spotify