Music Videos: Oddities and Curios

by Nick Kaye on April 4, 2014

Posted in: Music

Worthwhile music videos can be hard to find. Nowadays, artists like to throw washed-out, sepia tone Instagram filters on mundane footage and call it good. Real ingenuity is missing. Here’s a short list of music videos that are clever and weird enough to demand your attention.

Toe Jam – The BPA feat. David Byrne and Dizzee Rascal

The endearing weirdness of David Byrne is strong with this video. Naked men and women dance on screen, and the censor bars that cover them form different words and shapes. Brilliant. The song itself is also a surefire source of happiness/dancing.

Zodiac Shit – Flying Lotus

Concocted by Adult Swim and a director known only as “Lilfuchs,” this is some serious animal-morphing madness. It’s perfectly executed psychedelia in the style of a 90s cartoon. The only disappointment here is how quickly the song and video end.

King Rat – Modest Mouse

Little known fact: Heath Ledger was working on a music video with Modest Mouse at the time of his death. A film and music company called The Masses took up the blueprints of Ledger’s vision and created the above product. In a strange, uncomfortable and eye-opening reversal, cigar-smoking whales harpoon humans and turn them into seal food.

Wishes – Beach House

The video for “Wishes” is directed by Eric Wareheim of Tim & Eric, but it feels more like something David Lynch could’ve created. Ray Wise–whom fans of Twin Peaks will know as Leland Palmer–belts out the song’s distinctly female vocals. This is the perfect surrealist scene for one of Beach House’s dreamy tunes.

Hooked on a Feeling – David Hasselhoff

No explanation necessary for this one. Sit back and allow David Hasselhoff to work his magic with the help of some cutting edge blue screen technology. You’ll never look back.

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