The 5 Best Videos Of The Week

straight2video

The 5 Best Videos Of The Week

straight2video

There were so many music videos this week. It was out of control. I could just barely watch all of them, and that glut means that fascinating things like MGMT’s alien-abduction dance party and Kirin J Callahan’s upside-down command performance didn’t make the list. Half the bands in our Twitter feed had to make their own Halloween-themed horror movies, of course, and at least one of those was transcendent. (Check #1!) But beyond even the Halloween stuff, this was just a great, great week for music videos. Sometimes, those happen. Check out our picks below.

5. Devendra Banhart – “Für Hildegard Von Bingen” (Dir. Isaiah Seret & Devendra Banhart)

A nun dreams of becoming Grace Jones, or Martha Quinn. Devendra plays Greek chorus. And for reasons that are hard to parse, the whole thing is just beautiful.

4. Dirty Projectors – “Impregnable Question” (Dir. Adam Newport-Berra)

Beyond the obvious health reasons, why do people go running? As someone who cannot bring himself to do that shit for more than a block, this has always confused me. This video presents an acceptable answer: So that they can have amazing and beautiful oxygen-deprivation hallucinations.

3. Bill Callahan – “Small Plane” (Dir. Bill Callahan & Hanly Banks)

A last-half-hour SNL skit, done as a silent movie, done as a Bill Callahan video. Wheels within wheels. Callahan’s smiling-in-public-sometimes period is proceeding nicely.

2. Okkervil River – “Stay Young” (Dir. Sean Dunne)

It would seem that the residents of the New Hampshire boonies have discovered ways to have fun that the rest of us can only imagine, methods that involve snowmobiles and lakes and beer. I wouldn’t have expected an Okkervil River video to convey this information to me, but it’s impossible to know where you’ll discover magic. You just have to be open to it at all times.

1. Portal – “Curtain” (Dir. Zev Deans)

Look at these creepy motherfuckers.

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