Hall of Awesome: Top 5 Music Videos of 2008

Just hit play in the YouTube player below and enjoy all of my music video picks for '08, from five to one! Descriptions and critiques are to follow:



5. Mogwai, "Batcat" (dir. Dominic Hailstone)
Mogwai took a decidedly different direction for their lead single off 2008's The Hawk is Howling, even going so far as to hire Chris Cunningham-protégé Dominic Hailstone for the terrifying video. It makes up for Cunningham's video hiatus, and it stands up very well on its own as an unsettling distortion of a Brothers Grimm fairy tale.

4. Radiohead, "House of Cards" (dir. James Frost)
Eyebrows were raised when Radiohead announced their new video for "House of Cards" was made without a camera, but instead with a series of lasers and motion capture techniques that captured Thom Yorke's face, among other things, making for a cool-looking video for an excellent song. But props must also be given to all the animators and directors who worked on videos for Radiohead's contests, my favorites being "Nude" by James Houston, "Weird Fishes" by Tobian Stretch, and "Reckoner" by Clement Picon.

3. Justice, "Stress" (dir. Romain-Gavras)
Even though '07 was the year Justice released their self-titled debut, '08 was the year for them to deliver on the hype surrounding that release. They had a wildly successful tour, a killer live CD/DVD, and two new videos: the awesome "guess-that-logo" video by So-Me, "DVNO," and "Stress." Heavily influenced by the 1995 French classic La Haine, with its gritty, documentary style camerawork and controversial subject matter, the video follows a nameless group of delinquents (decked in jackets with Justice's cross logo emblazoned on the back) as they cause all methods of mayhem and chaos, from assault to vandalism to carjacking. The directors raise the question "Is this for real?" by including nice touches like having the gang wait for the sound guy before they take off in their stolen car, or in the video's finale, where the gang turns against the cameraman and break bottles over his head.

2. Gnarls Barkley, "Who's Gonna Save My Soul?" (dir. Chris Milk)
What hasn't been said about this amazing video? Evolves from a somewhat corny breakdown of post-relationship depression to a fascinatingly surreal performance piece as an animated heart with the voice of Cee-Lo Green sings into a piece of broccoli, while the diner's customers and employees (including Cee-Lo and Danger Mouse) look on in shock. I never get tired of that ending either.

1. Björk, "Wanderlust" (dir. Encyclopedia Pictura)
Back when Michael Jackson ruled the airwaves of MTV, the debut of a new music video would often be hailed as an event that was not to be missed. Björk and the geniuses over at Encyclopedia Pictura brought a little bit of that magic back when they announced the debut of a new, eight-minute odyssey set to Volta highlight "Wanderlust." They held a premiere screening, gave away tons of 3D glasses to eager fans, and posted 30-second "sneak previews" of the video on Björk's YouTube page. Luckily for them, the video surpassed the hype, as "Wanderlust" takes the viewer on a journey through a world seemingly made out of animated strings of Play-Doh, as Björk and her herd of buffalo travel down a steady river and do battle with a water god and a clay doppelganger that grows out of Björk's backpack. Yeah, it's pretty fucking weird.