It’s time to take a look back at our favorite music videos of 2019. This year’s selection encompasses a wide-range of visual approaches so you’ll find everything from claymation puppets to sci-fi inspired 3-D animation here. With several of our favorite artists and labels releasing a slew of videos in 2019, it sure was difficult to choose!
John Dwyer’s Oh Sees, for instance, posted eight videos for their 2019 2xLP Face Stabber (Castle Face Records). And while they could have flooded the market with a bunch of half-baked efforts, the band’s collaboration with directors like Matt Yoka and the puppeteers Natasha and Leo Nicholson, to name a few, yielded results not soon forgotten. In fact, while their 20-minute video for “Henchlock,” directed by Matthieu Moerlen, didn’t make the list due to its length, it’s a must-watch too.
2019 also saw Kim Gordon release her first solo album, No Home Record (Matador). Additionally, the electronic duo Matmos returned this year with an LP entitled Plastic Anniversary (Thrill Jockey). For her part, Gordon teamed up with director Loretta Fahrenholz to deliver striking visuals for the tracks “Hungry Baby” and “Sketch Artist,” while Matmos made the list with a quirky treatment for “Thermoplastic Riot Shield” and Robert Syrett‘s animated offering for “Breaking Bread. “
Cutting-edge 3-D animation won the day, though, with our two favorite videos being Raveyards’ “Cid Com,” from the Belgian art trio Lion Beach, as well as Ross From Friends’ “Epiphany,“ directed by Theo Nunn. In both cases, an intriguing concept combines with a striking visual approach to set the bar high for video production in 2019.
Below, you can scroll through this year’s selection of videos to reach #1, or you can stream the YouTube playlist above and start with our favorite of the year!
30. Tzusing “Circa Taipei”:
Chinese-based techno producer Tzusing crafts gleaming techno with plenty of bass-charged atmosphere on this wicked cut “Circa Taipei.” Director Nathan Rickard follows suit with high-tech visuals. Uncanny urban atmospheres combine with enigmatic story details to create a mysterious narrative open to interpretation.
29. Oceans of the Moon “Blowing My Mind”:
Knowing that we’re all doomed to consume, Oceans of the Moon started this really rad Amazon store. The only thing I can’t find is their self-titled debut album out now on Castle Face Records.
28. Kim Gordon “Hungry Baby”:
Kim Gordon released her first solo LP No Home Record this year via Matador. Fearless experimentation and feverish creativity continue to be a hallmark of her career on this gripping new effort. Director Loretta Fahrenholz contributed several videos, including “Sketch Artist” further down this list. Here, she combines an eye feast of entomological images with retinal searing effects, and the visual results mirror “Hungry Baby“‘s dizzying qualities.
27. patten “Night Vision”:
UK producer patten released a new LP entitled FLEX this past September via his art collective 555-5555. “Night Vision” features 3-D animation as a camera pans around a strange assemblage of objects. A gleaming statue of a young man pulling a thorn from his foot is joined by a coke can, computer, and model of a human heart while beat triggered camera movements pan around to provide strange vantages on this hyper-real tableau.
26. METZ “Dry Up”:
METZ won’t have a new LP coming out until they’re “damn good and ready.” So, in the meantime, we had to sink our teeth into Automat (Sub Pop)–a collection of non-album singles, B-sides, and rarities dating back to 2009. “Dry Up” is off a We Are Busy Bodies Records‘ 7″ that included “Ripped on the Fence.”
The visuals for the track are directed by Alex Edkins with editing, animation, and compositing by Nick Sewell. Using a graphic style that animates a series of stills from the band’s live shows and tours, tweaked effects and tight editing made this one of our favorite videos of the year.
25. 999999999 “000000006”:
Stumbled upon this video via HATE, a great stop for anyone craving a daily fix of underground techno. 999999999 specializes in live, hardware-driven sets with plenty of Acid thrown in for good measure. “000000006” is a fine display of their minimal meets maximal approach with pounding kicks, k-hole breaks, and a totally absorbing bass throb making for a thrilling listen. Meanwhile, TLB‘s party visuals will have you flashing back to your days of candy flipping and pacifiers.
24. Oozing Wound “Tween Shitbag”:
Chicago thrash metal trio Oozing Wound released their High Anxiety LP via Thrill Jockey Records this past March. The band followed it up with a killer animated video for the album’s lead single “Tween Shitbag,” which first premiered via Adult Swim. The hand-scrawled black and white visuals are directed by Sam Nigrosh of Trash City Comix and edited by Megan Diddie. Starring one Froggy Rock Bottom, this grenade tossing protagonist is out for a night filled with debauchery until an ill-advised acid trip sends him through the looking glass.
23. Oh Sees “Gholü”:
Natasha and Leo Nicholson are some ultra-wicked puppeteers from South Wales. This past September they created a gory and grisly video for the Oh Sees‘ track “Gholü” off of Face Stabber (Castle Face Records). Like this track isn’t scary enough, now you have some cannibal puppets to haunt your nightmares!
22. Uniform & The Body “Day of Atonement”:
“May 10th. Thank God for the rain which has helped wash away the garbage and the trash off the sidewalks. I’m workin’ long hours now. 6:00 in the afternoon to 6:00 in the morning, sometimes even 8:00 in the morning. Six days a week, sometimes seven days a week. It’s a long hustle, but it keeps me real busy. I can take in 300, 350 a week, sometimes even more when I do it off the meter.
All the animals come out at night…Sick, venal. Someday a real rain’ll come and wash all this scum off the streets. I go all over. I take people to the Bronx, Brooklyn, I take ’em to Harlem. I don’t care. Don’t make no difference to me…”
21. Kas:st “Hell On Earth”
Kas:st is a techno duo from Paris and they also run the label Flyance Records. “Hell On Earth” is an electronic tour-de-force and its cinematic scope makes it the perfect soundtrack for Louis Herbeuval‘s excellent video treatment. The video production here is top-notch, and it features a moralistic tale in which one bad decision leads to a whole slew of ’em.
20. !!! (Chk Chk Chk) “Couldn’t Have Known”:
!!! (Chk Chk Chk) returned this past August to release their Wallop LP via Warp Records. The visuals for the track “Couldn’t Have Known” were directed by the Taiwanese animation artist Cheng-Hsu Chung, and they follow the psychedelic exploits of a curious pink blob. This horny trip includes a variety of mind-melting vignettes including a NSFW visit to a futuristic bondage club–and much more! Meanwhile, “Couldn’t Have Known” provides the perfect soundtrack as the group channels their mutant funk into a House-fueled fever dream.
19. Matmos “Thermoplastic Riot Shield”:
The diabolical electronic duo Matmos continue to combine high concept with their unique brand of musical production on the 2019 LP Plastic Anniversary out now on Thrill Jockey Records. Using sounds created from various plastic sources, M. C. Schmidt and Drew Daniel rub, tap, and beat their molded polymers into a panoply of recycled sound. Plastic reaches its problematic apotheosis in the “Thermoplastic Riot Shield,” but it’s no match for this pair’s wicked humor.
18. Boy Harsher “LA”:
The Boy Harsher track “LA” is off the synth-wave duo’s upcoming LP Careful due out February 1st via their label imprint Nude Club Records. The visuals for the cut are directed by Kathleen Dycaico and Jill Ferraro, and they star Dycaico alongside Tara-Jo Tashna. After stocking up on rifles and ammo at a local gun shop, this amorous couple embarks on a downward spiraling adventure until their voyeuristic escapades dead-end somewhere in an abandoned field. You just had to know this wasn’t gonna end well…
17. Jenny Hval “Accident”:
The “mysteries of life” crash up against the “economic constraints of life” in Jenny Hval‘s moving video for “Accident.” Directed by Zia Anger, who also performs musically with Hval, the visuals star Anger’s mother Barbara. Choosing a “meta” approach to this meditation on motherhood and labor in a post-industrial economy, Anger starts this video with a letter to the musician saying: “Dear Jenny, I can no longer do this work.”
16. Xiu Xiu “Pumpkin Attack on Mommy and Daddy”:
Xiu Xiu‘s “Pumpkin Attack on Mommy and Daddy” was the second installment of a 3-part video series running in anticipation of the group’s 2019 LP Girl with Basket of Fruit (Polyvinyl Records). The visuals were directed by band member Angela Seo, as well as Anna Lian Tes, and it features appearances from performance artist Elliot Reed and veteran body artist Ron Athey.
The track is inspired by TOILETPAPER–the bi-annual magazine from the Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan and photographer Pierpaolo Ferrari, Boyd McDonald–the creator of the long-running x-rated gay zine Straight to Hell, as well as Korean mythological drawings and alcohol. The visuals follow suit with a dream-like logic that draws inspiration from performance art, as well as ancient ritual and mythology.
15. Pharmakon “Devour”:
Pharmakon’s Margaret Chardiet has a photograph on the wall above her bed of Sigmund Freud and Carl Young engaged in a Pro-wrestling cage match to the death. Staged late in their careers, the physical contest was a last attempt by the two to settle the score on the long-brewing battle between the intellectual heavyweights. At stake was the Unconscious itself, and whether this Wild West would be tamed by Jung’s Baby Boomer-friendly Archetypes or forever haunted by Freud’s libidinous vision. In the photograph, a masked Sigmundo the Great can be seen holding Carlito the Último in a pile driver, while Freud’s saggy wrestling trunks barely contain a pair of nuts inconveniently resting on his former acolytes’ chin.
14. Daughters “Less Sex”:
Daughters 2018 LP You Won’t Get What You Want (Ipecac Recordings) was a masterful return for the noise rock titans! The 2019 video for “Less Sex” was directed by former Daughters’ member Jeremy Wabiszczewicz. Filmed in black and white, like all the visual offerings from this album, the video features a tensely coiled and electric performance from Daughters’ frontman Alexis Marshall, while model Christine Adams‘ daunting presence stars alongside hair raising cameos from a wolf and snake. Discussing the video with Rolling Stone, Wabiszczewicz explained: “”Less Sex” is a juxtaposition of human beauty and ugliness.”
13. Kim Gordon “Sketch Artist”:
Like a lot of musicians and artists these days, Kim Gordon supplements her income driving for Unter–but it’s a tough gig. As Travis Bickle once said, “It’s a long hustle, but it keeps me real busy.” All the sickos come out at night, and with comedian Abbi Jacobson also hitching a ride in this Loretta Fahrenholz directed video, it looks like the daytime is no better!
12. Matmos “Breaking Bread”:
When you can sum up the plight of humanity with an allegorical cartoon featuring cute animals, you are afforded Master of the Universe perks. Let’s hope Robert Syrett spends his enjoying French baguette, Café au lait, and Matmos on vinyl in some dimension far away from these rapacious and horny critters.
11. Black To Comm “Double Happiness in Temporal Decoy”:
What happens when our limited, everyday reality brushes up against a vision of our Idealized Self. The Super Human you long to be looking into the mirror to find only a tattered plastic cape. And what happens if that Idealized Self is projected back on to you by a dominating culture as a way of saying, “This is what you can never be.” That is the kind of despair that seems to hang over Jan Van Hasselt‘s brilliant video for Black To Comm‘s “Double Happiness in Temporal Decoy.”
10. Steve Hauschildt “Nonlin”:
Steve Hauschildt‘s video for “Nonlin” is directed by the amazing Canadian artist Sabrina Ratté. Her work often explores how architecture inscribes geometry on the urban landscape and the implications of that process. Here, her forms are more suggestive of the natural landscape itself. Lines trace the curved forms of hills and valleys in a blackened three-dimensional space while glitched patterns and refracting forms bubble underneath. Whether we seek to control our environment by inscribing cartography or architecture onto our surroundings, the implication seems to be the same as Ratté shows the uncontainable “realities” lying just beneath the surface of these systems.
9. Qasim Naqvi “No Tongue”:
The video for Qasim Naqvi‘s track “No Tongue” was directed by Christina Burchard and it stars the dancer Matthew ‘ET’ Gibbs. Bouchard discovered Gibbs on Instagram and was a huge fan. The director reports that the dancer is a “bone breaker,” explaining that this style of movement “involves mostly arm contortion, an optical illusion that makes it appear he is breaking his body to create new shapes.”
Feeling that Gibbs’ style of movement fit perfectly with Naqvi’s music, Bouchard also chose a haunting location for the “No Tongue” video shoot. The director contacted a gentleman in East LA that owned three World War II bunkers and used one of them for the video’s location. Coupled often with eery red lighting, these visuals create a spellbinding mood not soon forgotten.
8. Oh Sees “Captain Loosely”:
Videographer Matt Yoka returns to do the honors for John Dwyer‘s Oh Sees project in this grim missive from the Texas/Mexico border soundtracking “Captain Loosely.” While it is hard to believe this is the America we live in, Yoka is brave enough to stare it in the face. The images he brings back are deeply disturbing–but critically vital and moving nonetheless.
7. Blanck Mass “Love Is a Parasite”:
The video for the Blanck Mass track “Love Is a Parasite” was directed by Craig Murray. This spoof of an infomercial gone awry provides a hilarious behind-the-scenes on the set of a low-budget shoot hocking beautiful green apples. Hilariously droll in its portrayal of commercial culture, the video shows that the things we crave might not just be “empty,” but instead, insidious to the core.
6. Yves Tumor “Lifetime”:
“Lifetime” is off the Yves Tumor 2018 LP Safe In The Hands Of Love (Warp Records). The 2019 video for the track is directed by Floria Sigismondi and it stars the enigmatic musician in various striking guises. Initially bejeweled in a fiery red wig, as the song heats up Sean Bowie takes on the appearance of a horned devil. With several shadowy figures attempting to leash and restrain him, “Lifetime”‘s lyrics: “Hold me back/I can not breathe/I swear it’s torture” take on new levels of meaning when coupled with this powerful imagery.
5. Kelly Moran “Love Birds, Night Birds, Devil-Birds”:
Visual artist Cassie McQuater designed the cover for Kelly Moran‘s “Origins” EP (Warp Records), and she also created this sumptuous visual feast for the track “Love Birds, Night Birds, Devil-Birds.” Describing the artist’s work, Moran explains:
“There’s always an incredible level of depth in everything Cassie creates – if you look at a single screenshot of her work, there are so many intricate details you can get lost within. The layers contained within her digital landscapes are really evocative for me as a composer because I can draw upon several aspects of her designs as inspiration.”
4. Dan Deacon “Sat By A Tree”:
Discussing director Daren Rabinovitch‘s beetle-filled video for “Sat By A Tree,” Dan Deacon speculates that “heaven is filled with bugs.” This comes after the reminder that there was a “hellish” time on earth when there was no fungus to biodegrade dead plant matter, and all that organic detritus piled up like so much garbage until it was eventually pressed into coal millions of years later. Part of a larger discussion on accepting death as a process in life, the video’s director adds to this by explaining:
“Our film echoes the buzzing energy of Dan’s music by capturing the time-lapse activity of flesh-eating beetles. We worked with comedian Aparna Nancharla to create a protagonist who watches with strange bemusement as their body is broken down into compost by thousands of insects. Dancing playfully around the song’s themes of death and decay, the underlying message is that openness towards mortality can make it more possible to enjoy this precious life.”
3. TSHEGUE “The Wheel”:
Tshegue is a duo that joins the Congolese-born singer Faty Sy Savanet and the French-Cuban percussionist/producer Nicolas “Dakou” Dacunha. Following up on their 2017 EP “Survivor,” this year the pair returned with a brilliant new single entitled “The Wheel” (Ekleroshock Records). The video for the cut was shot in the Congolese city of Kinshasa by Renaud Barret, and it features the daring escapades of the Club Etoile Rollers.
Skating the highways of the city by hitching rides on cars, trucks, and motorcycles, this mixed-gender collective of kids, some as young as thirteen years old, skirt danger at every turn as they seek the death-defying thrills of the open road. Discussing the video, Barret explains:
“An ordinary day in Kinshasa. I’m in a taxi on Lumumba Boulevard, when suddenly I’m in the middle of this gang of kids slaloming between cars. We exchange thumbs up, signs of complicity, rolling side by side for a moment. One of them spots my camera, and comes closer to shout, “Hey sir! Do you wanna shoot something crazy?” I couldn’t refuse. This is the magic of a limitless city where each and every day brings incredible spontaneous possibilities. Now as I watch the beaming faces of these kids, thrown at full speed on their crumbling rollers, almost out of control, intoxicated by danger and only protected by their faith in good luck, I can only see a metaphor for the Congo’s situation. But also a middle finger to a society trying to maintain an illusion that everything should be controlled, supervised. These free riders remind us that life must be lived in the present.”
2. Raveyards “Cid Com”:
The Belgian art trio Lion Beach delivered an amazing video this year for the Raveyards’ single “Cid Com.” A poignant animated tale with multiple levels of relevance, the video’s opening text explains: “Around one million years ago an object humans deemed worthless trash left earth’s orbit.” This migrating piece of space garbage eventually lands on the remote planet of Cid Com five galaxies away where it goes on to be worshipped by local inhabitants. Hmmmm.
- Ross From Friends “‘Epiphany”:
Ross From Friends dropped a 12″ entitled “Epiphany” this past August via Brainfeeder. With the producer inspired by the desire to create the sense of a “desolate physical and social landscape,” director Theo Nunn followed suit with some amazing visuals. Leading us on an after-hours tour of an empty lab space called the Bardo, there’s evidence of human activity all around–but not a person in sight. Describing this tour, the director explains:
“Through our journey, we follow the traces that chart the transformation of a culture, it’s abandoning of scientific conventional progress and the evolution of a musical enlightenment and psychedelic renaissance.”
