Our Year in Music 2011 coverage has already featured our Listener's Poll Top 100 Spins, published yesterday. "Take Your Medicine" by The Quick & Easy Boys was voted number one, and in case you missed it, you can link back to the articles.
Top 100 Spins of 2011
Today we will list our Top 10 Music Videos, and later this month we will post our Top 50 Albums, Top Ten Live Events, The Year in Photos and (MY FAVORITE) the Best & Worst Album Covers of the year, along with our list of Top Compilation and EP releases of the year. This year I will also add my personal Top 50 songs of the year.
Thanks for reading, and have a wonderful and musically enriched New Year. I thank you for listening to Jivewired Radio and for supporting indie music, and I hope you will continue to listen throughout the new year.
And now, on to the Top 10 Videos of 2011... sorry, no Lady Gaga, no Kanye West, and as much as I am physically desirous of Katy Perry, she didn't make the list either.
Honorable Mention: Song Most Likely To Wind Up In An iTunes Commercial:
Awkward by San Cisco
A simply effective song from Australian Indie Rockers San Cisco that almost feels like the Apple Publicity Department penned it for them. Simple, but catchy, and a decent enough video that I had to give it proper due. Not top ten worthy, but it makes the team photo in the honorable mention category and will help Apple sell a jillion more iPods in 2012. That is, if Apple is smart enough to sign San Cisco to a promotional deal.
10. Piranha's Club by Man Man
Were I in the fourth grade, this would easily be my favorite video of the year. As an adult, it's still good enough to make this year's top ten.
What’s great about this video is that the kids get to be bad-assed in a way that sets them outside the usual, “kids will be kids” narrative. These kids are little street punks, and we love them for it.
I'll give the Black Keys and their video for Tighten Up credit for starting a trend that has become widely prevalent in video production this year.
Still, West Side Story wishes it was this cool.
09. Raw Meat by Black Lips
The cops are punks and rock their aviators. The hooker has a great ass, and the dark, noir feel to the video is accentuated by the retro punk sound and theme. What more would you want in a video? How about the lascivious use of the baton and caution tape? Well, implied anyway.
Use your imagination. Oh baby.
08. Kaputt by Destroyer
Remember when MTV aired nothing but cool videos that combined 70's soft rock with 80's synth-love that oozed bad-hair sexuality?
Remember how cool it was to discover bands like Squeeze, Haircut 100, Men At Work and Split Enz?
Remember how bad those videos actually were? I'm talking to you "Black Coffee In Bed".
And yet we loved them anyway. Kaputt gives a nod to those glory days of yesteryear when video production was as good, if not better than the songs they represented.
Funny how music can be so cyclical. This video would have been in heavy MTV rotation circa 1982 and the song would have been a monstrous hit, at least until it caught on with the more popular kids, which would have then caused it to be shunned by the pretentious music geeks who initially popularized it. Some things never change.
07. The Greeks by Is Tropical
Obviously this year's music video trend is to use children as the main characters to emphasize the video storyline. I don't know, but my guess is that it's simply because they work cheaper and the complimentary lunch buffet can consist of PB&J's and single-serving cereal boxes rather than sushi, steak and made to order omelets. Anyway, this video incorporates some cool graphic work that makes this gun fight the mother of all water-blaster showdowns.
Check out when that one kid gets his head blown off at 3m 10s -- EPIC.
And really, ketchup on chicken? Kids really do put ketchup on everything, don't they?
06. No Future Part Three: Escape from No Future by Titus Andronicus
I'm not usually a fan of the "check-out-how-cool-it-is-where-I-live-don't-you-wish-you-were-me" theme in video production but I'll make a solid exception in this case.
First and foremost, it's a great song, and that should logically count toward it's consideration as an entry in this top ten list.
Then there are the cool Jersey hang outs, such as The Stone Pony - where Bruce Springsteen got his start, and The Pine Barrens, home to many a Sopranos adventures - Adrianna La Cerva getting whacked by Silvio Dante, Pauley and Christopher chasing the crazy Russian through the snow, and AJ getting a little grab ass with his eating-disordered model wannabe girlfriend while his SUV burst into flames in the series finale.
Just a side note here if I may, the name Adrianna La Cerva just sounds sexy, doesn't it?
So does Titus Andronicus, who promised to show us "real Jersey", and after five seasons and 50+ episodes of the hot mess that is Snookie, et al, this video is a welcome respite.
05. Midnight Midnight by The Potbelleez
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you your New Years Eve 2012 party anthem.
And yet, this video is so much more than an obvious and cliched attempt to cash in on a seasonal celebration.
Actually, Blue MC's over-the-top sex appeal and Ilan in the Tigger Sport Coat clinched it for me, but there are some amazing subtleties at work here that you may not catch unless you replay the video a few times.
Here are some clues: Fetishes, fetishes and more fetishes; fat bottom girls; dude in a Gold Lamé dress and fishnet stockings; Johnny Sonic pretending like the band would actually let him sing; one dude hooking up with the other dude who is wearing the Gold Lamé dress and fishnet stockings; a bitch slap in three languages; don't worry, what you saw was actually chocolate mousse despite the S&M innuendo; and last but not least, a fine example of microphone brutality.
Plus there are English and Asian subtitles, despite the fact that The Potbelleez are from Australia.
As for me, I'll just try to stay focused on the over-the-top sex appeal of Blue MC. Yeah, baby.
04. The Golden Age by The Asteroids Galaxy Tour
If only this blatant Heineken advertisement wasn't the most overplayed commercial in 2011, The Golden Age probably would have been my choice for top video of the year. Yes it oozes over-pretentiousness, and despite the fact that it was jammed down my throat about two hundred times a day, I have to admit I still love this video.
Mette Lindberg's effortless vocals and hip-shaking B-52s send-up is actually a refreshing change amidst all of the low key and emotional music permeating the airwaves this past year.
It's more fun than you want to admit, and though Lars Iversen comes on a little too strongly as the "star" of this video, you cannot deny that both song and video are truly catchy. The unsung co-stars who provide counterpoint throughout this video provide the most entertainment. No matter how many times I see this, I still root for the cowboy dude to win the invisible draw and gunfight.
How about an ice cold Heineken? Did you catch those Sour Patch Kids? I'm craving those, buddy.
03. Whirring by The Joy Formidable
I am trying not to be biased because I met The Joy Formidable at Fun Fun Fun Fest and they are as amazing in person as they are on stage and in the recording studio. So I almost didn't include this video anywhere in the top ten list. In fact, I was prepared to select "Sadness Is A Blessing" by Lykke Li but that made everybody's top ten list and I really don't care for the video. It's okay to be biased as long as my bias presents a legitimate offering for my third favorite video.
Mission accomplished.
This video is amazing. It's trippy, and fits well with the song, and when Whirring escalates into it's amazing Cranberries-on-speed crescendo, the video keeps pace with every furious, frenzied step. Yes, you are seeing everything via a cat's eye view that creates a sort of Sigmund Freud-John Carpenter amalgamation if that makes any sense. Yes, it darts back and forth, that's how a cat would view things, but the song does likewise and the concept is original and it works. The video is nothing short of an excellent representation of the song, one which I loved before I actually met The Joy Formidable.
02. Midnight City by M83
Yet another video that conforms with the child actor video theme as well as the current synth-pop musical trend. But the video for Midnight City has a wicked cool, M. Night Shyamalan supernatural feel to it. Plus it's a truly great song that is catchy and addictive. Academy Award worthy filmography and video production makes this video our runner up for best of the year.
01. Dum Dum Dah Dah by The Nghiems
I really love this video. On production value alone, it's our favorite video of 2011. Plus the song is so damn addictive.
The retro arcade graphics kick ass, the stop motion technology is first rate and the song leaves an indelible imprint on your brain. That is to say, you hear it once, and you catch yourself walking around singing it all day long. Infectious? Dum Dum Dah Dah is the very definition of infectious, and despite the mundane mannerism and everyday feel of the song title, the video lends itself to an entirely different creation that is anything but mundane or boring. SCORE!
An aside: Stop motion technology is becoming so widespread that people are using it in their Facebook statuses for crying out loud. To wit:
- Best. Girlfriend. Ever.
- Most. Annoying. Parents.
- Chocolate Maker. Cookie Baker. Elf.
You. Get. The. Picture.
But I digress.
At least The Nghiems get it right, and after seeing this video, you'll find yourself dum-dum-dah-dah-ing and shuffling down to the nearest arcade with a pocket full of quarters. Gotta save the Princess and all, you know?
Video. Of. The. Year.
Of Similar Interest: Top Ten Videos Of 2010
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