Hall of Awesome: The Top 5 Music Videos of 2009

I had a hard time narrowing down my list of favorite music videos for this year to just five. Also, I decided I was sick of dealing with embedding issues with YouTube, so for this list, I turned to my new favorite video provided, Vimeo, for this playlist of clips, which are as follows:

5. Coldplay, "Life in Technicolor II" (dir. Dougal Wilson)
No stranger to the Hall of Awesome, Dougal Wilson returns with a decidedly more lighthearted video featuring an overly elaborate Coldplay puppet show, ending with one of the funnier gags I've seen in music videos this year.

4. Justice + Lenny Kravitz, "Let Love Rule" (dir. Keith Schofield)
I've already waxed poetic about the awesomeness of director Keith Schofield, but I can't stress it enough: the guy knows his shit. Not only did he put out a killer Charlotte Gainsbourg/Beck video a month ago, he made this glorious gem pairing '80s kitsch with end credits meta madness.
(UPDATE: Now available with director commentary!)

3. Bodies of Water, "Under the Pines" (dir. Andy Bruntel)
This video made an appearance in my annual Scary Music Videos list, and it reappears here for two reasons. One, the video hasn't been making a lot of lists considering it came out all the way back in January, and so most people have forgotten about it. Second, every element of this video, from production design to costumes to the aged look of the film contribute to the eerie Grimm fairytale vibe of its story. It's a story that seems utterly ridiculous on paper, but works as an effective visual companion to the propulsive song it's set to.

2. Ramona Falls, "I Say Fever" (dir. Stefan Nadelman)
Oh. My. God. Such a great video. Scary, gorgeous to watch, perfect pairing of song and visuals. So many things I could say about this clip, but it really speaks for itself.

1. U2, "I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight" (dir. David O'Reilly)
First, an explanation. I don't like this song. Musically, it's pretty mediocre, a desperate revival of U2's standard pompous stadium rock. Lyrically, it's abysmal, with Bono stumbling through lines like "Every beauty needs to go out with an idiot" as if he decided to scribble them down at the last minute and not bother asking anyone if they were good or not. Thankfully, animator and Best Short Film of 2009 shoo-in David O'Reilly was brought in to direct a video and it more than makes up for U2's lax songwriting. In fact, it almost works to the video's advantage that the song is so forgettable, because it makes the visuals that much easier to pay attention to.



Honorable Mention:
Bob Dylan, "Beyond Here Lies Nothing" (dir. Nash Edgarton)
Charlotte Gainsbourg and Beck, "Heaven Can Wait" (dir. Keith Schofield)
Depeche Mode, "Wrong" (dir. Patrick Daughters)
Fever Ray, "If I Had a Heart" (dir. Andreas Nilsson)
Matt & Kim, "Lessons Learned" (dir. Taylor Cohen and Otto Arsenault)
N.A.S.A. feat. Sizzla, Amanda Blank and Lovefoxxx, "A Volta" (dir. Logan)
They Might Be Giants, "Meet the Elements" (dir. Feel Good Anyway)
UNKLE, "Heaven" (dir. Spike Jonze and Ty Evans)

Hall of Awesome: Best Albums of 2008

10

Sigur Rós

Með Suð Í Eyrum Við Spilum Endalaust

9

Fleet Foxes

Fleet Foxes

8

She & Him

Volume One

7

Gnarls Barkley

The Odd Couple

6

Girl Talk

Feed the Animals

5

Death Cab for Cutie

Narrow Stairs

4

R.E.M.

Accelerate

3

Spiritualized

Songs in A&E

2

Coldplay

Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends

1

Bon Iver

For Emma, Forever Ago

2008 was a year of rediscovery for me, a time to take in all the music I'd been missing out on for the last few years. I fully absorbed In Rainbows and if I could take back my Best of '07 list, it would be at the top. I took advantage of Amazon.com's daily discounts on MP3s, snatching up The Shins' Oh, Inverted World, Guided By Voices' Bee Thousand, Broken Social Scene's You Forgot It In People, M.I.A.'s Kala and others. Also, to celebrate the election, Ryan Catbird gave away everything his label had released for free, so I'm still taking in the vast quantities of music he's supplied me with (thanks again, man, and let me just say Manishevitz' East to East is fantastic). So, I'm surprised I was able to cobble together ten albums I actually got around to listening to this year, and some of them I didn't even hear for the first time until a few weeks ago. I only recently decided to include Fleet Foxes on my list, even though I had their song "Blue Ridge Mountains" on my 2008 Mixtape, thus breaking one of the few rules I give myself. I really don't feel like getting into the specific reasons why I picked each album, other than to say that I didn't expect new albums by R.E.M. and Spiritualized, two acts I felt had become irrelevant in recent years, to make my list but there you have it. Also, Bon Iver not only wins the best album of the year award, but also the best album to listen to during a drive through a rainstorm in the middle of the night award. Anyway, click on the album titles to stream them, courtesy of La La.

Honorable Mentions:
Ben Folds, Way to Normal
Conor Oberst, Conor Oberst
The Explorers Club, Freedom Wind
Flight of the Conchords, Flight of the Conchords
Jeff Hanson, Madam Owl
Oasis, Dig Out Your Soul
The Raconteurs, Consolers of the Lonely
Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, Pershing
Neil Patrick Harris, Nathan Fillion, Felicia Day and Others, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog: The Soundtrack

Coldplay's Christmas Wish (with Simon Pegg)

Coldplay gave their fans an early Christmas present with a free download of the Thin White Duke remix of "Viva La Vida," as well as this video of the band performing "Jingle Bells" with dueling harmonicas by Chris Martin and special guest Simon Pegg:

The new Coldplay album cover + more!

Coldplay's official website just released a bunch of updates about their new album, including the cover art:


I gotta say that I'm impressed. It was getting to the point where it didn't feel like the band was putting any effort into coming up with album art, so even though it looks like all they did was splatter the title over a pre-existing painting, kudos for being different this time around.

Their website also says that on Tuesday at 12:15pm UK time (that's 6:15pm here on the east coast), they'll have a free download of their first single "Violet Hill," and that the May 7 issue of NME will come with a free 7" of the new single, plus b-side "A Spell A Rebel Yell". You can already pre-order the issue online (it'll set you back about $25 if you want it shipped to a US address).

Finally, Coldplay will be playing two free shows, one at the Brixton Academy in London on June 16, and one at Madison Square Garden on June 23. Details on how to obtain tickets for these shows will be posted soon.

The new album, Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends will be released stateside on June 17.

UPDATE: More info on the origin of the painting on the cover, courtesy of Sleevage.