Top Five Music Videos of 2008

Merry Christmas!

Isn't the internet great? When the people largely responsible for creating the music video concept and broadcasting it worldwide decided to "stop being polite and start getting real" the music video had to go somewhere, and here it is.

As my Christmas gift to you here's my top 5 music videos of the year, in reverse order.

Number 5 was created by Atlanta artist/musician Adam Bruneau for the Deerhunter song Microcastle. This is simple and beautiful, please enjoy:


#5 Deerhunter, Microcastle

The last time I saw The Buddy System live it was a while ago and they were plagued by a variety of technical issues. I think they were opening for A.Armada at the 40 Watt for the Anam Cara release party. The Buddy System rely very heavily on the visual components of their show, and that night they were having some problems with it. But when stuff like that happens to a band you just have to overlook it and give them the benefit of the doubt. Their last song, Return to Horse Mountain, rectified any set problems they had:


#4 The Buddy System, Return To Horse Mountain

On November 20th Radiohead released the video for the song Weird Fishes, created by fan/artist Tobias Stretch. It's easy to gush about Radiohead, but it's amazing that a band as big and as unbelievably grand as they are can still be as fan-oriented as they have been with In Rainbows. They really just defined how you are supposed to release an album and stay ahead of industry curves and such. Tobias Stretch was one of the 4 winners of the Aniboom Animated Music Video Contest, and the animation is pretty out of sight and creepy. The videos from the other 3 winners are great too. Most important band you can hear and see live right now? I think so. It's hard to argue against it. Nightmares ahead:


#3 Radiohead, Weird Fishes

This video for Toe Jam by The BPA featuring David Byrne and Dizzee Rascal could possibly be one of the most memorable music videos of all time. The BPA (Brighton Port Authority) is Norman Cook, better known as Fatboy Slim (who always has great videos). Directed by Keith Schofield at Streetgang Films:


#2 The BPA featuring David Byrne and Dizzee Rascal, Toe Jam

And last but most certainly not least, you can always count on Björk for great videos too. Here's the beautiful video for Wanderlust, created by Encyclopedia Pictura and choreographed by Chris Elam. My video of the year was much-hyped and I think it showed up big time:


#1 Björk, Wanderlust