Scion AV released over 42 music videos this year, in collaboration with a huge pool of directors and musicians from the worlds of electronic music, hip-hop, and metal. We’ve selected some of our favorite clips from the bunch, from the artsy and esoteric to the just plain hilarious.
1. DANNY BROWN “GROWN UP”
A breezy Brooklyn day is the backdrop for this awesome video, featuring a mini-Danny Brown causing a ruckus in the library, the schoolyard, and all over. Director Greg Brunkalla captures the essence of the track—a nostalgia for long, summery days and the easy swing of early ’90s A Tribe Called Quest—and even reveals the story of how Danny messed up his teeth.
2. REVOCATION “THE GRIP TIGHTENS”
Metal doesn’t have to be super serious all the time, as North Carolina’s Revocation prove with this goofy video. The three-piece envision what it would be like to thrash the nursing home with a nonstop barrage of heavy riffs and hot alt-nurses mixing up the daily fiber. Never say die!
3. MESHUGGAH “DEMIURGE”
Director Anthony Dubois uses clever editing and cool camera angles to convey all the madness and sheer brutal force of being at a Meshuggah show. Travel down the neck of Fredrik Thordendal’s guitar, watch from behind Tomas Haake’s massive drum kit, and have Jens Kidman screaming so close to your face you can almost feel his spit fly. A perfect live rock video with class and style for Sweden’s premiere extreme metal dudes.
4. WHITECHAPEL “I, DEMENTIA”
Famed metal director David Brodsky takes the highly graphic style of White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army” and the psychedelic layering of Red Hot Chili Peppers’ “Give It Away Now” and applies them to a video for Knoxville deathcore stalwarts Whitechapel. Doing away with metal clichés, this video adds a striking dimension to the band’s raw riffs, and the endless loop of headbanging that begins around the two-and-a-half-minute mark is particularly compelling.
5. POOLSIDE “ONLY EVERYTHING”
A late-night car ride through Downtown LA turns into a neon fever dream of childhood fantasies, with hypercolour birds and stallions racing through the streets while track reminds you that “Everything’s a dream.” A fresh and technological take on the duo’s classic disco sound whose jewel tones make an interesting juxtaposition against Poolside’s soaring piano melodies and posi-core acid lines.
6. THE SHRINE “FREAK FIGHTER”
Venice, California punks The Shrine keep it super real on this sick vid, inspired by classic Bones Brigade skate flicks and epic videos from SST Records bands like Black Flag and Minutemen. This black-and-white opus is 1980s SoCal to the core, with dudes shredding the bowl and plenty of funny pranks interspersed with rad live footage of these Teepee Records allstars. Skate and destroy suckers!
7. FLINCH FEAT. HEATHER BRIGHT “LIGHT IT UP”
Dillon Francis, LA Riots, Reid Speed, and the SMOG crew are among the big-name DJs who make cameos in this video—a dubstep love story set in Flinch’s native Los Angeles. The story begins with a couple (played by DJ Corey Biggs and his girlfriend) having a morning afterparty on the beach, and backtracks through their wild night out, all to the sounds of Flinch and Heather Bright’s huge-but-sweet bass-heavy banger.
8. SOUL CLAP FEAT. BABY PRINCE & THE FAM “THE CLAPPING SONG”
Soul Clap are repped by a pair of Crank Yankers-style puppets in this fun clip directed by GabeMA, that plays like a lost Sesame Street episode that never aired. The puppets careen around Miami hitting the hotel poolside, the boat and the club, all to the soundtrack of this fun and funky song. If only Miami Winter Music Conference was this light-hearted!
9. NICK HOOK FEAT. EL-P & ROOD “SIRENS”
Have you ever imagined what El-P’s rapping would sound like coming out of a young Asian girl’s mouth? Yeah, well, neither had we but this video makes it real. No sign of either the Def Jux superstar or producer Nick Hook in this Ryan Staake-directed video, just a possessed camper and the demons clawing at her tent which, when you think about it, is pretty apropos given El’s subject matter.
10. ANALOGUE MONSTA “CONVERSION THEORY”
A trio of girls flies, dances, and sings through space and time in this video for Analogue Monsta, the project of Jill Scott-esque vocalist Suzi Analogue and Brainfeeder first lady Tokimonsta. A festival of bright colors and footage that compliments the soulful boom-bap of this tune.
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