Ohmpark’s Top 10 Music Videos of 2009

Davy Minor — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 21:10:58 +0000

Before I begin awarding the sounds of 2009, I wanted to give a little props to the best eye-candy I’ve seen. These ten videos clearly stood out to me above the rest of this year’s offerings. They are definitely all a million times better than that garbage from Beyonce and Taylor Swift. So, enjoy:

10. Of Montreal: “An Eluardian Instance”

This video has just got a really nice, fun vibe to it. The special effects are utilized just right and the whole thing matches up with the music beautifully.

9. Untied States: “Unsilvered Mirrors”

There are so many neat little video tricks in this one and the whole thing captures the mood of the song expertly. I love when it snaps into the end section with the band playing.

8. St. Vincent: “The Strangers” Lake Fever Session

This video wins solely on the rarity of capturing St. Vincent playing an acoustic, stripped down version of one of the year’s best songs. Totally gorgeous.

7. The Flaming Lips: “Watching the Planets”

Yeasayer tried their best to up the ante on nudity with their recent experimental video, but having a clothing-less mob feeding a naked Wayne Coyne to a vagina monster pretty much trumps anything. Warning, it’s very NSFW.

6. Mastodon: “Divinations”

I loved Mastodon‘s science fiction video for “Oblivion” too, but this one got the edge due to how brutal Brent Hinds is as a caveman.

5. Clues: “You Have My Eyes Now”

This one is just simply hilarious.

4. Grizzly Bear: “Ready, Able”

Grizzly Bear have a ton of amazing videos this year, both official and fan made. But this weird claymation vid is easily my favourite.

3. Here We Go Magic: “Fangela” Black Cab Session

Taking bands and having them perform stripped down versions of their songs in various settings is all the rage these days, and one of the best in the business right now are the Black Cab Sessions. This version of “Fangela” is just pure magic.

Here we go magic from Black Cab Sessions on Vimeo.

2. Bibio: “Top Soil”

Bibio has such a distinct sound, and this video matches his audio style with the perfect visual enhancements.

1. Thy Mighty Contract: “Conjugal Freelance”

I laugh my ass off every time I watch this. I absolutely love everything about this video and it was an easy choice for my best of the year.

© Davy Minor for Ohmpark, 2009. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Best of 2009, Clues, Flaming Lips, Grizzly Bear, Here We Go Magic, Mastodon, Of Montreal, St. Vincent, Thy Mighty Contract, Untied States

A Canadian Hottness Returns: Clues

Davy Minor — Mon, 25 May 2009 21:18:58 +0000

Photo by Yannick Grandmont

Lately I had been pondering about where the best music this decade, and especially recently, had been coming from internationally. For most of the history of pop music, the UK has been the dominant country in producing the new hits. But around the time Nirvana and Seattle blew up in the ’90s, the tide began to turn, although even that decade still saw plenty of great acts spring up from the UK (i.e. Radiohead) to compete. Now as this decade begins to close, it is hard not to agree that while the US’s dominance may be waning in terms of economic power and such, we have become the empire of new quality music. There is still plenty of good new music coming from the UK worth checking out, but I wouldn’t even put them in the #2 spot anymore. America’s hegemonic musical dominance is now being challenged right across the border to our north, as Canada has become second in the world now when it comes to producing stellar tunes.

Certainly The Arcade Fire and Broken Social Scene are owed a lot to helping give Canada the cred they needed to become our partners in this indie music revolution, but a little, now defunct band named The Unicorns may be the most important band in Canada’s ascension to indie greatness. Unfortunately, the flash of brilliance that was The Unicorns didn’t last very long and the band broke up shortly after releasing their instant classic Who Will Cut Our Hair When We’re Gone? Nick Thorburn and Jamie Thompson (briefly) went on to start Islands and Thorburn has enjoyed success from that as well as plenty of other side projects, but there was another genius in that band that I hadn’t heard anything from until a few weeks ago. The new self-titled debut album from Clues sees Alden Penner return from obscurity again, and this time he is joined by a new cast including Brendan Reed, who happened leave his older band, The Arcade Fire, just in time to miss their meteoric rise to fame and glory with Funeral.

Whether you were a Unicorns fan or not, there is a lot to love on this new Clues album. I put it up there on the same level as the new releases from veterans like Grizzly Bear, Sonic Youth, Dirty Projectors, and St. Vincent as far as being one of the best records to come out in this Spring/Summer release season. Certainly those familiar with Penner’s previous work are going to hear obvious connections, but Clues is much more than Unicorns 2.0. It seems he has been able to mature as a songwriter without completely growing up and abandoning the magic that made him a superstar in the first place.

So I urge you to jump on the bandwagon with me now, and don’t forget that Clues will be at the Drunken Unicorn June 12th.

Clues : Perfect Fit

Clues : Cave Mouth

Buy Clues

Clues website

Video for “Haarp”:

“Remember Severed Head”:

“Perfect Fit”:

Bonus, here is some Unicorns jams:

CONTINUE READING A Canadian Hottness Returns: Clues (8 words)

© Davy Minor for Ohmpark, 2009. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Clues, Islands, The Hottness, Unicorns