The Spirit Was Gone

In this videoclip for ANTONY AND THE JOHNSONS, the famed Japanese Butoh dancer KAZUO OHNO is resurrected via archival footage. Mr. OHNO, who appeared on the cover of ANTONY's 2009 album THE CRYING LIGHT, is given a fitting memorial here.

VCR by The xx

How rare is it that a new music video is actually worth watching?

One of my favorite new bands THE XX has released a stirring video to accompany one of their best songs, VCR. The clip was directed by MARCUS SÖDERLUND, and uses surprisingly sumptuous (mostly) black and white photography, and captures the spirit of the song and the young band better than anything I've seen from them yet.

"My Purple Past" by Deerhoof

Made by ASHA SCHECHTER, this music video for art rock faves DEERHOOF is an investigation into the different methods of home listening. One of the more successful fusions of rock video and structualist cinema.

Sound is architecture is cinema.

Sometimes by MIKE MILLS

Music video by MIKE MILLS for the 1999 song SOMETIMES by LES RYTHMES DIGITALES.

BARR: First song

Artist BRENDEN FOWLER'S spoken word project BARR performed last night at the New Museum, NYC, where he also has work in the YOUNGER THAN JESUS generational exhibit up now.

This video was made by DAVID HORVITZ.

The Crying Game

Take Time

One of the prevailing features in the music of avant-garde pop-collagists THE BOOKS is laughter. The sense of wonder and play might be one of the reasons they're not taken seriously, in a form that applauds grim seriousness and esoterica.

The proof to the importance to THE BOOKS, I believe, lies in their self-produced music videos. Since the band had always used audio samples in their music from found video clips, it made sense to source a lot of that audio back to its original video for visual accompaniment when playing live. When I saw the band play live along with this clip, I was completely floored. THE BOOKS manage to take on all of experimental video, found footage, and collage art, and come out on top with one of the most strange, uplifting, and joyful pieces of cinema I've ever seen.

TAKE TIME is certainly one of my favorite little movies ever. This, and more by THE BOOKS are collected on the PLAY ALL DVD.

KEECHIE by No Age

Ever since I saw ANDY BRUNTEL's music video for BONNIE 'PRINCE' BILLY's CURSED SLEEP, I have been paying attention to his every move. Unlike most promos made by bands and labels, BRUNTEL approaches the music video as a distinct art form, somewhere between a short film, and experimental video. He brings his surrealist visions to the small screen with impeccable set design and cinematography, and with an incredible consistency among various projects.

This clip, of one of the noisier tracks from your little brother's favorite band NO AGE, is a good argument for the re-consideration of the possibilities of the music video among artists.

Epilepsy is Dancing

This is what happens if an epileptic walks near the WACHOWSKI BROS's warehouse...

The press release accompanying this music video for ANTONY AND THE JOHNSON's current single asks you to "enjoy the fruits" of this "San Francisco art party."

M83 remixes something...

The teen drama-obsessed, (graciously) self-serious French electronica band M83 remixes the song SET IN STONE by electro newcomer FIRES OF ROME, thus highlighting all that is tense and necessary about the song, while leaving the rest behind. (The chorus is ditched in favor of the surreal turns of the verses, now completely out of hiding, and the overstuffed distorted electronic backing is replaced with a minimal piano and strings score.

The dramatic alteration to the song arrives via a "remixed" music video, the entire package of which being appealingly WTF-friendly.

Call it a zeitgeist

Now it's KANYE WEST's turn to use the DVD-codec-destroying effects pioneered by video artist TAKESHI MURATA. Due respect given to WEST for what looks like the most vivid and meaningful use of the style, as well as using his star power to highlight new forms of underground art, shortening the link from Chelsea art galleries to MTV.

Brooklyn band cops Takeshi Murata

Brooklyn based CHAIRLIFT employ the trippy digi-fail effects used by video artist TAKESHI MURATA in their new video for the song EVIDENT UTENSIL. It works.

Click the corner menu to see in HD. (Not sure why YouTube doesn't allow embeds to automatically appear as HD.)

Kids Run Wild

Among the current crop of new hipster synth bands, THE PRESETS stand out for their attention to sonic details and a serious gothic streak. This new music video for the song IF I KNOW YOU shows what happens if kids run wild on the streets of L.A. with dancing on their minds.

The results are much sweeter than what could happen in France, if you remember JUSTICE's infamous STRESS clip:

NITE JEWEL is not an alien, or maybe

This is one of those lo-fi druggy vids that just stick in my mind. The syrupy groove to NITE JEWEL's dance track ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE is irresistible. It's the kind of thing that, at first, you think it's a joke—until you realize that Ms. JEWEL is just from another planet.

The NITE JEWEL record is out now on ITALIANS DO IT BETTER.

Some company on the dancefloor

A little slice of Swedish backwoods dancefloor heaven. THE KNIFE, famously reclusive in performance, cast Sweden's most public transvestite to act as the artist in their clip for PASS THIS ON. The actual band members, a real-life brother and sister duo, can be spotted in the crowd. (The narrow-eyed dancer is THE KNIFE's OLAF). A masterpiece of setting and mood (and dance moves), this video rewards repeat viewings.

The clip for this song turned out so well, in fact, that they recreated it for a "live" television performance. Everybody dance:

All I Need

When I think about my favorite music videos of all time, I think back to filmmaker and artist MIKE MILLS' inspired experiments with the band AIR. The clip for 1998's ALL I NEED reminds of when I actually watched MTV, and the brave, borderline wonky, open-heartedness, along with MILLS' breaking into the audio of the song make it stand out.

And speaking of MTV, they apparently teamed up with RADIOHEAD for their new video for their song, um, ALL I NEED. The result is somewhere between an art video and a public service announcement. Good message:

God Only Knows, Claire Denis

CLAIRE DENIS is a master, sensualist filmmaker. Her camera lingers on faces and skin in sometimes grotesque intimacy. This simple scene of a French bartender catching the attention of a passing American sailor from NENETTE ET BONI is a good example of her style.

God only knows what I'd do if VINCENT GALLO looked at me like this.

Here, she gets all telefoto on SONIC YOUTH for her music video of their recent INCINERATE:

WHAT IS HAPPENING?

This video clip, from the sweet-toothed pop band ALPHABEAT, was supposedly the third most watched video on YouTube a couple days ago. Charming, for such scrappy up-and-comers.

It reminds of this video, from GARY JULES' update from DONNIE DARKO, of the '80s classic MAD WORLD:

There will be cake

The Minnesota band LOW has been making stomach churning anthems for years, but their spare and stark video for last year's BREAKER marks the first time the complex intensity of their music has been matched visually. That is to say the surreal, palpable intensity which is conveyed without the obvious signifyers of doom and gloom, darkness, or slow-motion.

It's hard to watch, but this may be one of the strongest pieces of experimental music videos I've seen. LOW play tonight in NEW YORK CITY, and tomorrow in BROOKLYN.

Total Eclipse of the Heart

The previous clip from BÉLA TARR may describe a total eclipse of the sun, but that doesn't begin to describe what might happen if you were an 80's power balladeer in love with a bright-eyed school boy.

A legendary music video that gloriously pulls out all stops... By popular request, here is the great BONNIE TYLER. Enjoy.