Welcome to FACT’s newest feature: the weekly video round-up.
As we note at the end of every year, music videos have never been better. But too often, music videos — along with documentaries, live sets and interview clips — get lost in the shuffle of news and new music.
With that in mind, FACT is doing what it does for mixes, mixtapes, vinyl and more: rounding up the internet’s best videos on a weekly basis. And to remove our bias, we won’t be including our own content — you’ll have to stay tuned to FACT TV for all your Against The Clock, FACT Freestyle and Big Narstie needs.
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ALLIE X
‘CATCH’
Dir: Jérémie Saindon
Canadian newcomer Allie X uses stop-motion and GIF-styled animation for the type of pop body horror found in Miley Cyrus’ striking ‘We Can’t Stop’ clip: eyeballs in mouths, piles of corpses and anatomical models contrasted with saccharine synth-pop.
RYAN HEMSWORTH feat. ALEX G
‘Too Long Here’
Dir: Alex Girav
Selfies come to life in this narrative clip for Ryan Hemsworth’s emotronica ‘Too Long Here’, which reimagines the dilution and loss of identity as stalker clones and occult rituals. “Technology is really allowing us to enhance our self-obsession and vanity – to the point of self-worship,” he says. “(Selfies are) not the most dangerous or horrible thing to happen, but it’s one chapter from a bigger, much scarier story.”
MARIE DAVIDSON
‘Balade Aux USA’
Dir: Kaspar’89
The Montreal electronic artist mines the tropes of sci-fi and horror B-movies with heavy doses of VHS effects and 2D graphics that come from the same time and place as Davidson’s darkly-hued synth-pop. We’d call in to that number but we’re not sure what’s on the other line.
NOVELIST x MUMDANCE
‘1 Sec’
Dir: Simon Halsall
A subtle video for Novelist and Mumdance’s latest grime anthem-in-the-making. This one uses shadows and the absence of light in the same way that the song uses white space, hinting at the menace of hooded goons.
CHARLI XCX feat. RITA ORA
‘Doing It’
Dir: Adam Powell
While we’re still confounded by the addition of Rita Ora to Charli XCX’s new single, the video makes the most of the pairing: Charli-Rita are Thelma and Louise in a technicolor, bubblegum-grindhouse take bad girl adventure.
LIL BIBBY
‘Dead Or In Prison’
Dir: PhillyFlyBoy
Bibby offers a literal interpretation of ‘Dead Or In Prison’, one of the highlights of Free Crack 2. Nothing we haven’t seen before, but the cinematic slow motion looks great and the song bangs; stick around for the “It Was All A Dream” ending.
JANE JUPITER x CHAPMAN
‘Stargazing’
Dir: Jeff Tomcho
The artist-formerly-known-as Kid Sister unveils the black-and-white video for her SBTRKTish ‘Stargazing’; instead of stars, Melisa Young and collaborator Chapman stare at desert expanses, miles away from the ultraviolet visuals of her mid-aughts Kid Sis project.
KEHLANI
‘First Position’
Dir: David Camarena
One of the R&B artists to watch in 2015, Cali singer Kehlani shares a flickering, late-night video for ‘First Position’, the most adult moment on her excellent Cloud 19 mixtape. The song’s sapphic fantasy (“stop messing with those boys, get you a lady”) comes to life in the backseats of cars, in the bathtub and in the dark.
CHILLY GONZALES
Pop Music Masterclass on ‘Tuesday’
Editor: Jochen Schliemann
Musical renaissance man Chilly Gonzales continues his Pop Music Masterclass series, using musical theory to explain why we can’t get iLoveMakonnen and Drake’s ‘Tuesday’ out of our head.
NICKI MINAJ
My Time Again
Dir: Michael John Warren
This 40-minute behind-the-scenes documentary has all the flaws of MTV reality shows, but it still offers glimpses into the life and times of Nicki Minaj as she readied last year’s excellent The Pinkprint.
