We’ve come to the end of year one of our music video blog, Seen Your Video, and there’s been an explosion of talent in music videos in 2012. Unlike some years that have been dominated by an elite group of ultra-talented directors, this year saw an extremely diverse collection of new talent taking center stage. Among the up-and-coming directors that impressed me this year are Emily Kai Bock, who’s received much acclaim for her aesthetically cutting-edge work and Ninian Doff, who’s incredibly inventive concept videos have wowed me again and again. It was also a great year for Yoann Lemoine who continued his visually spectacular videos (and is quickly breaking into the mainstream), DANIELS who are still the most exciting and groundbreaking directing team out there, and enduring oddball favorite, Andreas Nilsson who can pretty much do no wrong in my book.
The following is my list of the top 50 music videos of the year and I’ll note that it was both difficult to narrow this list down and also come up with any type of sensible ranking for the excellent selections, so consider the order to be about about 80% arbitrary. The best music videos this year encompassed the entire spectrum, with remarkably inventive concepts, biting social and political commentary, beautiful visual pieces, breathtaking animation, and dramatic, poignant storytelling all factoring heavily into the year’s best. These are the music videos from 2012 that I felt pushed the envelope of the medium and are worth your valuable time to watch and rewatch. The first 10 videos are embedded below, and hit the continue reading link below to go to seenyourvideo.com for the rest of the list. If you have any favorites that you think I missed, feel free to leave them in the comments. Enjoy!
50. St. Vincent “Cheerleader” (dir. Hiro Murai)
49. Mint Julep “To The Sea” (dir. a nice idea every day)
48. Hilary Hahn and Hauschka “Draw a Map” (dir. Eric Epstein)
47. Of Monsters and Men “Little Talks” (dir. WeWereMonkeys)
MP3 Of Monsters and Men – Little Talks
46. tUnE-yArDs “My Country” (dir. Mimi Cave)
45. Flying Lotus “Tiny Tortures” (dir. David Lewandowski)
44. Delta Heavy “Get By” (dir. Ian Robertson)
43. Grimes “Oblivion” (dir. Emily Kai Bock)
42. JUSTICE “New Lands” (dir. CANADA)
41. Danny Brown “Grown Up” (dir. Greg Brunkalla)
Music For Kids Who Can't Read Good 
Great post!! I am a huge St. Vincent fan, so I am happy to see she made it on your count down. Love your blog; keep up the great indie work!
James Rawson