Videos of the Year (Year of the Rock Accordionist?)

Is the music video a dying art (or even a dead art)? Perhaps, since MTV and VH1 haven't played them in years... Still, this short list of my faves in this medium from 2014 reassures me, slightly...

1. "The Writing's on the Wall" - OK GO - The first release from their new album raised the bar in their tradition of escalation of all-in-one-take videos. I must give them the respect they deserve for playing with a lot of optical illusions.
2. "Digital Witness" - St. Vincent - My favourite videos have always tended toward the slightly surreal. St. Vincent has always incorporated that into her videos in spades. Bonus for a cool color palette. David Byrne must be proud.
3. "Agora" - Bear Hands - Here's a cool take on a lyric video that also captures what i imagine would be the living quarters of an agoraphobic.
4. "Do You" - Spoon - Who's destroying the city? Spoilers: giant rampaging toddlers.
5. "Dangerous" - Big Data - Is it the shoes that make you kill people by explosive head butts? Or is it just a clever marketing scheme? This video kind of scares me... Or is it just really, really meta? In any case the baseline is mesmerizing.
6. "When You Were Mine" - Night Terrors of 1927 (featuring Tegan and Sara) - Interpretive dance and cool splicing effects create an interesting video.
7. "Come With Me Now" - Kongos - I want to be a bearded rock accordionist... or a rock banjo player.
8. "Coming Home" - Kaiser Chiefs - Vignettes along the road...and another rock accordionist!?!?
9. "After the Disco" - Broken Bells - Sorta like "Groundhog Day"?
10. "Shia LaBeouf" - Rob Cantor - Weirdy goodness...
11. "I Wanna Get Better" - Bleachers - Best video about therapy with cool cameos.
12. "Every Other Freckle" - alt-J - Girl Version | Boy Version - These videos perfectly capture the almost sinister mood of the song... Do you think it might be about carnal desire?
13. "Holy Branches" - Radical Face - This video made the song for me. A bit creepy, but perfectly atmospheric.
14. "Daughters" - We Were Evergreen - Imagine the challenge of choreographing this. Cool result.
15. "Snug as Fuck" - Liam Finn - WTF? Don't forget to kiss the rat on Jubilancy Day

Andrew's Top 120 - Favourite Songs of 2014

Interesting tidbits about this list: 4 songs about home or coming home, 4 songs about some kind of high, 3 or 4 bears and a cub, 3 or 4 ghosts, 2 houses, and 2 hummingbirds...

1. “Every Other Freckle” – alt-J
2. “Paris” – Magic Man
3. “Dangerous” – Big Data
4. “Holy Branches” – Radical Face
5. "Quartz" – TV on the Radio
6. “Digital Witness” – St. Vincent
7. “Oblivion” – Bastille
8. “No Sugar in My Coffee” – Caught a Ghost
9. “Ghost Story” – Coldplay
10. “Left Hand Free” – alt-J

11. “Lazy” – Margot and the Nuclear So and So’s
12. “Slippery Slopes” – Jenny Lewis
13. “Do You” - Spoon
14. “Euphoria” - Blondie
15. “Another Set of Issues” – OK Go
16. “The Epilogue” – Crosses
17. “Got to My Head” – Waters
18. “If” – Armand Margjeka
19. “Time Between” – Bear in Heaven
20. “After the Disco” – Broken Bells

21. “Sparklers” – Gemini Club
22. “So Now What” – the Shins
23. “Come with Me Now” – Kongos
24. “Long Way Down” – Robert DeLong
25. “First” – Cold War Kids
26. “When You Were Mine” – Night Terrors of 1927 feat. Tegan & Sara
27. “Happy Idiot” – TV on the Radio
28. “I Wanna Get Better” - Bleachers
29. “Agora” – Bear Hands
30. “Flashed Junk Mind” – Milky Chance
31. “House on Fire” – Matt Alber
32. “Harder Than Stone” – City and Colour
33. “Time Go” – Caught a Ghost
34. “Love Without Fear” – Dan Wilson
35. “Red Hand” – Owl John
36. “Coming of Age” – Foster the People
37. “Sirens” – Pearl Jam
38. “Rise in the Wake” – the Trews
39. “Black Soap” – Ex Cops
40. “Quicksand” – We Were Evergreen

41. “Invisible” – U2
42. “Big Ideas” – Francisco the Man
43. “Agape” – Bear’s Den
44. “Always” – Panama
45. “Hold On” – Blitzen Trapper
46. “Hummingbird” – the Both (Aimee Mann & Ted Leo)
47. “Aviation High” – Semi Precious Weapons
48. “Changing of the Seasons” – Two Door Cinema Club
49. “Habits (Stay Hight)” – Tove Lo
50. “Be Ready When I Say Go” – Emperors
51. “Careful You” – TV on the Radio
52. “Unkinder (A Tougher Love)” – Thumpers
53. “The Writing’s on the Wall” – OK Go
54. “Lanterns” – Birds of Tokyo
55. “I Wish We Were Leaving” – Bright Light Bright Light w/Elton John
56. "Control” – Broken Bells
57. “I’m Only Joking” – Kongos
58. “All the Rage Back Home” – Interpol
59. “Coming Home” – Kaiser Chiefs
60. “Budapest” – George Ezra
61. “Leave the Party” – Happyness
62. “The Mute” – Radical Face
63. “Rent I Pay” - Spoon
64. “Blue Eyes” – Ladyhawke
65. “Tonight” – Magic Man
66. “Sprinkles” – We Are Scientists
67. “Desole Pt. II” – the Gromble
68. “Blue Moon” – Beck
69. “Parallels” - eels
70. “Take It or Leave It” – Cage the Elephant
71. “Balance” – Opus Orange
72. “Shipwreck” - USS
73. “Erosion” – Cymbals
74. “Castles” – Armand Margjeka
75. “When You’re Gone” – Margot and the Nuclear So and So’s
76. “Counting Stars” – One Republic
77. “Mile High” - Blondie
78. “Riptide” – Vance Joy
79. “Not the End of the World (Even As We Know It)” – Faded Paper Figures
80. “Coming Home” – Blitzen Trapper
81. “Warm Foothills” – alt-J
82. “Be Not So Fearful” – A.C. Newman
83. “Underwater” – Joshua Radin
84. “Best Friend” – Foster the People
85. “Days” – the Drums
86. “Daughters” – We Were Evergreen
87. “Holding on for Life” – Broken Bells
88. “What’s Fair Is Fair” – the Trews
89. “Hot Coals” – Cold War Kids
90. “It Was Like That When We Got Here” – Camper Van Beethoven
91. “Waves” – Sleeper Agent
92. “Hummingbird” – Armand Margjeka
93. “Out of Mind” – Magic Man
94. “Bright as Your Eyes” – OK Go
95. “Knock Knock Knock” - Spoon
96. “Home” - Dotan
97. “High” – Young Rising Sons
98. “One Minute More” – Capital Cities
99. “Black Out Days” – Phantogram
100. “Snug as Fuck” – Liam Finn
101. “Winter” – TV on the Radio
102. “I Don’t Know You Anymore” – Bob Mould
103. “Sugar on the Side” - Blondie
104. “Picking Up All the Pieces” – Strange Talk
105. “We’re the Future” – Fanfarlo
106. “They Want My Soul” – Spoon
107. “Magic” – Coldplay
108. “Age of Miracles” – the Trews
109. “All This Could Be Yours” – Cold War Kids
110. “Thunder Clatter” – Wild Cub
111. “Flying Saucer Blues” – Margot and the Nuclear So and So’s
112. “Giants” – Bear Hands
113. “House of Gold” – 21 Pilots
114. “Wants What It Wants” – Andrew Belle
115. “When We’re Fire” – Lo-Fang
116. “Lost Stars” – Faded Paper Figures
117. “Just One of the Guys” – Jenny Lewis
118. “Helena Bonham Carter” – Liam Finn
119. “Classy Dames and Able Gents” – Camper Van Beethoven
120. “Made for Ending" - Jukebox the Ghost

Note: some of these may have been released earlier, but I became aware of them in 2014. My list, my rules. Deal with it. Ha ha!

Favourite Albums of 2014

1. TV on the Radio – “Seeds”
2. Spoon – “They Want My Soul”
3. Armand Margjeka – “Hummingbird”
4. Magic Man – “Before the Waves”
5. alt-J – “This Is All Yours ”
6. Blondie – “Ghosts of Download”
7. Broken Bells – “After the Disco”
8. Caught a Ghost – “Human Nature”
9. Margot and the Nuclear So and So’s – “Sling Shot to Heaven”
10. OK Go – “Hungry Ghosts”
11. St. Vincent - "St. Vincent"
12. We Were Evergreen – “Towards”