Music Video Monday #19: Radiohead’s “No Surprises.”

Such a simple video, which despite the title, has lots of little surprises. Thom Yorke’s little smirk at the end is kind of unnerving, but this song is just so beautiful.

Happy Monday!

Music Video Monday #18: Broken Bells’ “The Ghost Inside.”

I love the concept of this video. The internal and physical ramifications of failure; the disappointment of illusions; wanting so badly to get somewhere, having everything go wrong and being forced to give up more than you’re able to to get there: it’s a situation I can relate to. And the vibrance of the dream is such a powerful contrast to the drab grayness of reality. Christina Hendricks is in top form, as per usual, and I love that she doesn’t play a typical video vixen, but a woman with depth and drive and desire for something other than a man. Kudos, James Mercer and Danger Mouse, on a video well done.

Music Video Monday #17: Dirty Projectors’ “Stillness Is The Move.”

Llama + Hipster garb + choreographed dancing in the forest = GOLD.

Music Video Monday #16: Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit.”

My CD player in my car is broken, so my en route music consumption has been relegated to radio. The station I listen to, 94.7, has a few bands that they play in excess—The Killers, Sublime, and Pearl Jam, to name a few. One of the bands they play the most often, though, is Nirvana. I guess maybe it’s a Pacific Northwest pride thing? Continually hearing some classic gems from the Seattle grunge band called to mind their video for “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” one of the most iconic music videos of the 90′s, if not of all time. It so encapsulates a movement and a generation: the long hair and head-banging, the flannel and the fog, the tattooed cheerleaders leading the pep assembly from hell, where order descends into chaos. It’s anthemic. The lyrics of the song may be garbled, but the dark imagery of the video speaks for itself.

Music Video Monday #15: Fiona Apple’s “O Sailor.”

And to think, I had almost forgotten how much I loved Fiona Apple! I love the theatricality of this video, how it has all the makings of a hazy, eerie dream: elaborate costumes, choreographed dancing, fog machines, etc. And the lighting is excellent.

And, as an added bonus because this is my 200th post (!), here is another Fiona video from 2005 co-starring a pre-The Hangover Zach Galifiniakis. It’s such a light-hearted and funny video for the usually melancholy Ms. Apple, but let’s be honest, what could be serious if it has Zach Galifiniakis in it?

Music Video Monday #14: The White Stripes’ “The Hardest Button To Button.”

I would say that I like this video solely because of my deep love and appreciation of all things stop-action, but truth be told, The White Stripes always have pretty amazing music videos. This one is just among their more amazing vids because it uses stop-action filming. Pretty ingenius.

[sidenote: I love how happy Meg White always looks when she's drumming.]

Music Video Monday #13: R.E.M.’s “Losing My Religion.”

I was only obsessed with this song and video when I was in middle school (for obvious reasons). I like this video because it’s like a giant amalgam of time periods and cultures and colors and Michael Stipe’s weird but hypnotic dancing, and it all makes perfect sense somehow, at least to me. And on re-watching it after many years, I’ve realized that there is so much good mise-en-scene at play here. Most older music videos are kind of laughable, but I think this is one of the rare music video gems from the early nineties.

Music Video Monday #12: Janelle Monae’s “Tightrope.”

I saw this video last week posted on Rumination Reading Room and absolutely fell in love with it.

The clothes! The moves! The hair! This video is so stylistically crisp and thematically cohesive. I love Janelle Monae’s genre-bending sound, and I love that she has a huge presence even though she’s a small lady (she’s only five feet tall). And you can bet I’ll be tippin’ on the tightrope next time I’m dancing.

Music Video Monday #11: My Chemical Romance’s “Helena” and The XX’s “Islands”

Oh, yes. Another double-whammy Music Video Monday!

Something got me thinking about My Chemical Romance the other day, and it made me remember how much I loved their music video for “Helena” in high school. I pretty much lived and breathed MCR’s first album my sophomore year of high school, but their second album was a big disappointment. The only thing that semi-redeemed it was this video.

The “theatrical funeral” music video concept is nothing new (Guns N Roses’ “November Rain,” anyone?) but I think what made me love this video is the choreography, which is about as theatrical as you can get. I also love the red and black color scheme, because it makes it feel like a sinister funeral. And as weird as I think Gerard Way is, the part toward the end where he’s carrying the coffin gives me the chills every time, because I believe that he’s mourning and destroyed by Helena’s death. (Interesting fact: the guy who directed this video is Marc Webb, who also directed (500) Days of Summer.)

The XX have not yet failed to impress me with their music videos. The simplicity of the setting and clothing makes the movement the main focus. And again, the choreography really makes the video: the subtle changes that happen in each take build up slowly until it all starts to disintegrate at once. Metaphor for a relationship? I think so. And in typical indie fashion, the XXers lay around looking bored, even when things start burning up. Metaphor for a relationship? Probably. This is by far my favorite video of the year thus far.

Music Video Monday #10: MGMT’s “Flash Delerium.”

I know I’m probably in the minority, but I actually like MGMT’s new album, Congratulations. It’s certainly a lot different from their first album, but I think the amped-up psychedelia is wonderful. And this music vid is so like a David Lynch movie… Inland Empire, anyone?