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Over the past few years it seems like the art of video making has become popular again, although now it’s very unlikely that you will watch them on your television – who would have thought? This year there were so many creative and distinctive clips that narrowing it down to just 11 winners was tough. Here’s what we ended up with.
What’s not to like? From this year’s album, Wasting Light, The Foo Fighter’s pay homage to Michael Douglas film, Falling Down, and picked themselves up a 2011 MTV VMA for Best Rock Video.
One of this year’s most powerful earworms also had a fun video. No point in even fighting it; white-girl rapper / DJ Kreasyshawn went viral with this one.
Indie / blog favorite Dirty Beaches made quite a name for himself in 2011. Always moody, this creepy clip plays like a short film. What’s going on here? Wait for it.
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German producers Modeselektor teamed up with Radiohead’s Thom Yorke for this first single from their new album Monkeytown. Understated. Dark. Zombies.
Photographer and director Yoann Lemoine has worked in fashion, music, and film. The force behind haunting musical act Woodkid, he is also a singer and songwriter. The video is a showcase to his outrageous talents and is a stunning piece of video art.
The incredibly fun duo of A-Trak and Armand Van Helden make up Duck Sauce and got everyone’s attention last year with the uber catchy and celeb heavy clip for “Barbara Streisand“. Recently they dropped this gem, and the concept is really just sorta out there. NSFW…maybe?
Atlanta-based metalheads Mastodon teamed up with Adult Swim for this fantastic clip. Extreme. Puppet. Madness.
LA’s favorite post-punk indie duo released this clip for their 2010 album Everything In Between. A simple but clever video, it’s a one-shot wonder of absent-minded destruction.
Here’s the first video that set off one of this year’s biggest music stories: Tyler, The Creator and the whole Odd Future gang. Simple, disturbing, this clip won Tyler the 2011 MTV VMA for Best New Artist and gained him a whole lot of press. The hype may be blown out at this point, but the video is still a winner.
Battles’ Gloss Drop might be one of 2011’s most underrated albums, but this clip, from The Creators Project, got lots of attention: four minutes of a man falling down (up?) an escalator. Oh yeah, and that’s Gary Numan. Wicked.
Arcade Fire blew everyone’s mind with their interactive video for The Wilderness Downtown and continued to raise the bar with this new clip. Here is the traditional version, but you should check out the interactive video as well.