The 5 Best Videos Of The Week

The 5 Best Videos Of The Week

I wrote the last one of these columns almost a month ago, so this is really the five best videos of the last three weeks. Don’t worry, though. Not that many videos came out during the holiday, and most of the ones that did come out weren’t that good. Some of them were, though, including a few big-budget ones from some very big names. (Apologies to the Mogwai video with the documentary footage of the small-time racecar driver, cut at the last moment. That was a good mid-budget video from a vaguely big name.) This week’s picks are below.

5. Open Mike Eagle – “Hymnal” (Feat. Sammus) (Dir. Brent Bishop)

It’s low-hanging fruit, sure, but Mike Eagle and Sammus’ parody of televangelist-infomercial aesthetics is just perfect, right down to Sammus’ eyeliner running down her face in dark rivulets when she cries.

4. Björk – “Arisen My Senses” (Dir Jesse Kanda)

It’s as long and indulgent and static and knowingly weird as all of Björk’s recent videos, but it might also be the best of them, if only because the slight of moth-lady Björk and S&M nymph Arca bowing to each other in the glow of the sunset on an alien world is so beautiful.

3. Run The Jewels – “Call Ticketron” (Dir. Brad & Brian Palmer)

It really says something that Run The Jewels’ reaction to a massive and catastrophic alien invasion is vague annoyance and that this seems exactly true to their characters.

2. Jay-Z – “Family Feud” (Dir. Ava DuVernay)

I like how Jay-Z isn’t even really pretending to make music videos anymore. He’s just recruiting acclaimed filmmakers, giving them huge budgets to make all-star short films, and then letting them know that he’s happy to lip-sync for a few seconds or put his family members in there. Looking forward to Blue Ivy Knowles-Carter saving the world.

1. Bruno Mars – “Finesse (Remix)” (Feat. Cardi B) (Dir. Bruno Mars)

There are two possibilities here. One is that the old In Living Color set is still standing somewhere and that Bruno Mars just simply used it to film a music video. The other is that Bruno Mars had the old In Living Color set rebuilt, just so that he could shoot a video for his revivalist new jack swing jam there. Honestly, I don’t care which is true. Both make me way too happy. God bless In Living Color.

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