Welcome to FACT’s newest feature: the weekly video round-up.
As we note at the end of every year, music videos have never been better. But too often, music videos — along with documentaries, live sets and interview clips — get lost in the shuffle of news and new music.
With that in mind, FACT is doing what it does for mixes, mixtapes, vinyl and more: rounding up the internet’s best videos on a weekly basis. And to remove our bias, we won’t be including our own content — you’ll have to stay tuned to FACT TV for all your Against The Clock, FACT Freestyle and Big Narstie needs.
Björk
‘Family’
Dir: Andrew Thomas Huang
The reaction to Vulnicura‘s album cover was a mixed bag of scoffs, mockery, and repulsion. Yet here it is expanded and the results aren’t just moving, they’re absolutely beautiful.
Pictureplane
‘Hyperreal’
Dir: Jesus Rivera
Rivera’s video glows with romance before it starts literally glowing from the toxic alien goop. Somehow this video manages to incorporate Magic The Gathering, teen love stories, and time-lapsed face melting, but you’ll have to watch it to see how.
Speedy Ortiz
‘MKVI’ (ft. Hannibal Burress)
Live At SXSW
Not a music video, but it would be a crime to ignore this wonderful moment from SXSW. The great Boston rock band Speedy Ortiz inexplicably invited comedian and Broad City-star Hannibal Buress onstage to drum. Hannibal Buress does not know how to drum, and the results are wonderful.
Dizzee Rascal
‘Nutcrackerz’ ft. Giggs
Dir. Dizzee Rascal
This video is a relief after some of the unpleasantly high concept videos that came with The Fifth. Taking directorial duties into his own hands, Dizzee simply raps into the camera at a few choice locations. No special effects, no production values, the city speaks for itself.
Jlin
‘Unknown Tongues’
Dir. Keith Deverell
Jlin, director Deverell and dancer Lilian Steiner remind us music videos don’t need to be complicated to amaze. Here we have one single idea executed so powerfully that we’re consistently surprised throughout.
Ka
‘Day 3’
Dir. Dr. Yen Lo
Ka’s new video is every bit as ominous as you’d imagine from something credited to the sinister doctor from The Manchurian Candidate. Shot on dark, and lonely streets it brings to life the song’s unsettling sense of calm.
Earl Sweatshirt
‘Grief’
Dir. Hiro Murai
Earl pairs the numbed depression of ‘Grief’ with a video that looks like it was shot wherever those victims in Under The Skin ended up. It’s a hell of a way to introduce his new album.
Carnage
‘I Like Tuh’ (ft. iLoveMakonnen)
Dir. Colin Tilly
Tilly’s video begins with an intense, oddly tender, standoff between two drug dealing Elvis impersonators, but it doesn’t stay there long. It has a lot of places to go during its ridiculous 10 minute stretch and it’s a blast going along for the bizarre ride.
Snoop Dogg
‘Peaches N Cream’ ft. Charlie Wilson
Dir. Aramis Israel and Hannah Lux Davis
Notice how for all the squabbling over who is the best rapper, people rarely fight over most charismatic? That is because Snoop Dogg is alive. With neon trees, giant peaches, and strange computer animation this video shouldn’t work, but Snoop pulls the whole thing together like a THC-powered magnet.
