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.
Loading Video…
FKA twigs
‘Glass & Patron’
Dir: FKA twigs
Whenever Tahliah Barnett releases a video, it’s sure to be in the video round-up; twigs’ visual aesthetic is as captivating as her music. Her self-directed clip for offcut ‘Glass & Patron’ sees her give birth (we’ll never look at a magician’s scarf trick the same way again) and oversee an otherworldly vogue battle on a haunted forest runway. The fact that it’s her most traditional music video speaks volumes about her oeuvre. (This is one of three YouTube Music Awards videos that made the cut this week.)
Loading Video…
Father feat. Slug Christ & KCSB
‘Suicide Party’
Dir: Sia of BluntGutsNation, Mike Ellwood and Father
There’s always been a dark, foreboding energy to Awful Records, but leave it to Father to outdo his crew in that regard. Literally hanging above his balaclava-clad gang, he asks, “It’s a suicide party, who’s tryin’ to die first?” KeithCharles SpaceBar play-acts a murder-suicide for his horrorcore verse, and the clip ends with a late-night beatdown. As Who’s Gonna Get Fucked First? makes clear, the Awful lifestyle isn’t all fun and games.
Loading Video…
QT
‘Hey QT’
Dir: Bradley & Pablo
The highpoint of PC Music-styled dance pop finally receives a video treatment that lives up to the project’s conceptual underpinnings. QT enters the Minority Report-esque formula testing lab for her eponymous energy drink, dances in a pink-hued virtual reality and appropriates Beats product placement and normcore Gap ads. Music videos are essentially advertisements; leave it to QT to make that explicit.
Loading Video…
Charli XCX
‘Famous’
Dir: Eric Wareheim
When he’s not working alongside comedy partner Tim Heidecker, Eric Wareheim directs music videos in his twisted, absurdist style for the likes of Major Lazer, Flying Lotus and more. His latest effort takes Charli XCX’s ‘Famous’ to a social media hell of hipster zombies, where a confrontation with the Mojo of selfie sticks leaves the protagonist dead in a pool of emojis.
Loading Video…
Tink
‘Ratchet Commandments’
Dir: Dave Meyers
Tink preaches her ‘Ratchet Commandments’ in her first major label video, directed by Missy Elliott regular Dave Meyers. The Timbaland protege shows off some dance moves as she raps her way through the self-righteous track, trying out metallic church garb, thunderdome gear and a Afrofuturistic look.
Loading Video…
Mahaut Mondino
‘Lie To Me’
Dir: Jean-Baptiste Mondino
The latest video by French singer Mahaut Mondino (who was featured on Supreme Cuts’ Divine Ecstasy LP) plays like the comedown to Jlin’s ‘Unknown Tongues’. In a tight one-shot, a blacklit Mondino sings and dances her way through the soulful ‘Lie To Me’. The video was directed by her father, Jean-Baptiste Mondino, a French fashion photographer and music video director who has worked with Madonna, David Bowie and more.
Loading Video…
Migos
‘One Time’
Dir: Ninian Doff
Apparently, Migos party so hard that they damage the space-time continuum. As they survey the damage left in their wake (a trashed cop car, a man on fire, Workaholic Blake Anderson, etc), director Ninian Doff doubles down on copy-and-paste, as if capturing the Atlanta rap trio in four dimensions.
Loading Video…
tUnE-yArDs
‘Wait For A Minute’
Dir: SNEAL
tUnE-yArDs delivers the video for Nikki Nack standout ‘Wait For a Minute’, turning squelchy synths and throwback vocal melodies into a hyperactive mix of video effects and found footage. Merrill Garbus is in there somewhere, you just have to watch closely.
Loading Video…
Jamie xx feat. Romy
‘Loud Place’
Dir: Simon Halsall & JB Babenhausen
The xx pair revisit halcyon days of skateboards and youthful introspection in the video for Jamie’s ‘Loud Places’, the confetti explosion of its climax a nod to the artwork and theme of his forthcoming album In Colours.
Loading Video…
Dan Deacon
‘When I Was Done Dying’
Dir: Jake Fried, Chad VanGaalen, Dimitri Stankowicz, Colin White, Taras Hrabowsky, Anthony Schepperd, Masanobu Hiraoka, Caleb Wood and KOKOFREAKBEAN
For the accompanying video for ‘When I Was Done Dying’, which features on his recent Glass Riffer album, Dan Deacon teamed up with Adult Swim to deliver a suitably psychedelic interpretation of the song. No less than nine animators take it in turns to contribute; Deacon’s music has always been joyfully chaotic, and the resulting video reflects that perfectly.
