The 5 Best Videos Of The Week

James Blake - "Overgrown" video

The 5 Best Videos Of The Week

James Blake - "Overgrown" video

The best music videos that crossed my video screen this week — the top three on the list you’ll find below — are paranoid little masterworks of dread and disorientation and confusion. I have no idea what any of them are about, but all of them crept their way into my bloodstream and radiated menace in every direction. The other two videos on the list are cartoonish little bursts of joy. Music videos: They contain multitudes! Watch the picks below.

5. Paramore – “Still Into You” (Dir. Isaac Rentz)

Look, I’m sorry, but some things just get me. For instance, this: Paramore leader Hayley Williams has two-tone hair in this video, and those two tones are bright red and brighter pink. The 10th-grade version of me is still recovering.

4. Chance The Rapper – “NaNa” (Dir. Hannibal Buress)

$5,000 is, all told, not a particularly high budget for a music video. But Chance and the great stand-up comic Hannibal Buress make it look gigantic by spending it on the dumbest shit possible, and by having what looks like a pretty amazing time doing it. It’s like Blink-182’s “Rock Show” video, on a much smaller budget, with funnier people involved.

3. The Soft Moon – “Want” (NSFW) (Dir. Grant Singer)

Grant Singer knows what’s up. When someone gives you a clangorous, knife-edge instrumental postpunk soundtrack, you make a fucked-up little mini-movie about a dark hooded figure, high out of his brain, who commits some incalculable number of crimes and gets himself into some bad situations, all in four minutes. I probably wouldn’t be able to take much more of this, but it’s perfect for a quick jolt of the creeps.

2. MS MR – “Hurricane” (NSFW-ish) (Dir. Luke Gilford)

I don’t know what drugs could’ve inspired this nightmarish series of mostly-disconnected images, but I do know that I don’t want any of those drugs. Somehow, though, the green-skin/face-on-her-stomach look totally works for singler Lizzy Plapinger.

1. James Blake – “Overgrown” (Dir. Nabil)

When you see Nabil’s name on a video, you don’t think about it. You just click play. He makes these heavy, sensation-driven videos where you lose some of the effect if you read about any of what you’re about to see, so if you haven’t seen this one yet, stop reading already and just watch.

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