The 5 Best Videos Of The Week
Rancid have a new video out this week. It’s not on this list. I would be even more biased than I usually am if I put it on this list. The whole thing is just them playing in a garage, with subtitles. But Rancid were among the best music-video bands of the ’90s, and a ton of that had to do with how cool they looked. And as the “Ghost Of A Chance” video reveals, they are, at the very least, one of the most interesting-looking bands out there now. Tim Armstrong, for instance, has a crazy-person beard. He looks like an actual crazy man. I am delighted to know this. This weeks’ picks are below.
5. Migos – “Slippery” (Feat. Gucci Mane) (Dir. Daps)
This is an entirely standard rap video, with none of the formal inventiveness that Migos and Daps brought to something like the “T-Shirt” video. But something about the way the sunset hits the camera here reminds me of the way Tony Scott filmed sunsets in Top Gun and Crimson Tide. The mere sight of Offset half-crouching on that balcony with that sunset behind him is enough to get this video onto this list.
4. Triple H – “365 Fresh” (Dir. Shin Hee Won)
Do you think Triple H, the wrestler, knows about Triple H, the K-pop supergroup? And if he does know about them, if he somehow encountered this hyperviolent, Doom Generation-esque video while Googling his own name late one night, do you think he liked it? I bet he did.
3. Imagine Dragons – “Thunder” (Dir. Joseph Kahn)
Imagine Dragons put Dolph Lundgren in their last video. In their newest video, they have aliens doing bone-breaking street-dancing routines in architecturally interesting hallways. Are Imagine Dragons secretly a really great music-video band? Is that what’s going on here?
2. DJ Khaled – “I’m The One” (Feat. Justin Bieber, Quavo, Chance The Rapper, & Lil Wayne) (Dir. Eif Rivera)
Look at Justin Bieber here. Look at the confidence he displays. Imagine yourself as Justin Bieber, hanging out with some of the world’s biggest rappers while wearing nothing but a pair of weirdly-patterned shorts. It’s frankly beautiful.
1. Sorority Noise – “No Halo” (Dir. Kyle Thrash)
Music videos are very good, generally, at conveying a very small spectrum of emotions — things like excitement or horniness especially. Here, we have a kinetic, forward-moving video that conveys a whole bunch of different aspects of intense, soul-ripping, world-swallowing grief, and I honestly can’t think of another video that’s done anything even remotely comparable. Watch out for this Kyle Thrash guy. He’s got something.