Welcome to FACT’s 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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Björk
‘Black Lake’
Dir: Andrew Thomas Huang
Björk reveals another visual component of Vulnicura, continuing her explorations of Icelandic nature as metaphors for “pain, perishing, and rebirth.” The 10-minute video is the most visceral and cinematic of her recent offerings.
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Vic Mensa feat. Kanye West
‘U Mad’
Dir: Grant Singer
Vic’s post-Yeezus anthem ‘U Mad’ finds the Chicago upstart escaping a straight jacket so that he can start a mosh pit, bathed in red lights, sparks and strobes. Kanye makes a cameo, but as with everything, police ruin the day.
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KAEB
‘When We Fall’
Dir: Alex Garland & Rob Hardy
Geoff Barrow re-teams with Ex Machina collaborators Alex Garland and Rob Hardy for ‘When We Fall’, a video that turns nostalgic home movies into sun-soaked projections with the kind of lens glare that would make J.J. Abrams jealous.
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Saul Williams feat. Emily Kokal
‘Burundi’
Dir: Kivu Ruhorahoza
Rapper-poet-activist Saul Williams unveils a glimpse of new album MartyrLoserKing with his latest polemic, splicing together found footage of police violence, political unrest, WikiLeaks documents and satellite surveillance that turns into microchip architecture. The camera-as-gun image is a bit heavy-handed, but the middle finger candle works.
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Shura
Three Years (Performance Film)
Dir: David Terranova
UK pop upstart Shura weaves together singles ‘2Shy’, ‘Indecision’ and ‘Touch’ for a short-film that is equal parts performance, travelogue and traditional music video, all with a dusty, Instagram-filtered look befitting her hazy ’80s-facing jams.
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Open Mike Eagle feat. Gold Panda
‘Ziggy Starfish (Anti-Anxiety Raps)’
Dir: Kris Merc
Open Mike Eagle works through his anxiety by rapping in a smoke-filled club. Lovers find and lose each other across the crowded room; don’t miss Hannibal Buress’ second music video cameo of the year.
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Cadenza feat. Stylo G & Busy Signal
‘Foundation’
Dir: Anna Ginsburg
London producer Cadenza enlists heavyweights Stylo G and Busy Signal for his summer-ready reggae jam ‘Foundation’, and the video adds some animated overlays to all the requisite body wining, in the vivid primary colors you’d expect.
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Spice
‘Baby I Love You’
Dir: Xtreme Arts
Dancehall star Spice tries out reggae, forgoing the sexually-charged style of previous videos for a traditional take on rasta love, giving her lover the “romantic treatment” and working through whatever she found on her phone.
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Young Thug
‘Halftime’
Dir: Be El Be & Young Thug
Budding style icon (“every time I dress myself, it goes motherfuckin’ viral”) Young Thug co-directs his video for woozy Barter 6 cut ‘Halftime’, dancing and tweaking while on a break from tour. Who loves orange soda? Thugger loves orange soda.
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Kacey Musgraves
‘Biscuits’
Dir: Marc Klasfeld
While a little outside of FACT’s usual purview, don’t sleep on Kacey Musgraves. The Same Trailer Different Park star gives her live-and-let-live ‘Biscuits’ the hipster Hee Haw treatment. “Pissing in my yard ain’t gonna make yours any greener” — best lyric of the year?
