The Best Music Videos of 2010

Hey kids, it's time to list the best music videos of 2010! What's that you say? "Music videos? What is this, 1987?" YEAH IT IS YOU DIRTY BEATNIKS, YOU! WOOOOOOOO!!!

First up is the Rube Goldberg machine version of "This Too Shall Pass" because Rube Goldberg machines are freakin' sick and decidedly cooler than marching bands.

Next up is a stop-motion video because stop animation is pretty sweet, but not quite as sweet as Rube Goldberg machines (note: dogs are cooler than everything) . This video is also cool because one of my friends helped film it.

Speaking of stop animation, here's a crazy video with claymation by Gogol Bordello. The claymation tells a pretty sweet story, I think.

Speaking of Gogol Bordello, here's another video by Gogol Bordello:

OK GO, GOgol Bordello, GOrillaz? I'm sensing a pattern here. This is a great video, a homage to car chase movies like Vanishing Point. Murdoc, 2D, and a robotic Noodle, looking worse for wear, tear across the desert in a beat-up Camaro. Soon though, homicidal hitman Bruce Willis is hot on their tail, chasing the beleaguered band in his El Camino. It's good that this video has some sweet action, because the song itself can feel kind of repetitive.

"On Melancholy Hill" starts off pretty sweet, showing a masked Noodle getting into some serious trouble. The the bullets and explosions are the perfect counterweights to the breezy 80's synth music. From there, the video picks ups where "Stylo" left off, with Murdoc and 2D in a shark sub. For some reason, Robo-Noodle is still and 3D and vomiting up one-eyed octopi. Whatever. Anyway, the video gets boring from there as the rest of it is basically cartoon versions of all the guest musicians featured on Plastic Beach. I get it, you got a bunch of famous dudes to contribute to your album. Get over yourself. At least now we know what the hell the lyric "Up on melancholy hill sits a manatee" is supposed to mean.

This video's on the list because I think they made Daley's submersible look really cool

I don't know how, but the infectious, text-only video that made Cee Lo's "Fuck You" a viral internet success, is just as good, if not better, than the official video:

In this well-executed video, The Black Keys combine their knack for humor with a classic story to compliment a great song:

Speaking of a classic story, electro/hip-hop duo LMFAO decided to go with an untimely Dodgeball parody for their song "Yes", adopting the TV setting to a curling tournament (Get it? Curling? Party Rock, rock, stone, curling?). The 10-minute epic has a couple laughs and a surprise guest star at the end but I much prefer the song's original bootleg video.

While we're on the subject of silly sports videos with famous guest stars, here's Vampire Weekend at a tennis match, joined by the RZA, a Jonas brother, Lil' John, and a very goofy Jake Gyllenhaal. Who said these guys were preppy?

Here's another video with Japanese themes and competition:

This video is the debut of Irish comedy hip-hop duo Rubberbandits. The makes the song as the silly lyrics are augmented wonderfully by frontman Blindboy Boat Club's dance antics.

You may have seen these guys in the last month doing holiday commercials for Hyundai but this spunky duo has been hamming it up on Youtube for quite a while now. I encourage you to go to their Youtube channel and check out their Video Songs. They do a great cover of Lady Gaga's Telephone, which is saying a lot. Because I hate Lady Gaga.

Then there's My Terrible Friend, which is a team-up between Pomplamoose's Nataly Dawn and Lauren O'Connell

Lauren O'Connell's got some cool stuff too:

Anyway, it's time to wrap this thing up. I want to round out the listen with Janelle Monáe, an inspired performer and creative dynamo. Her song "Tightrope" is a blast and the video is a lot of fun, combining some sweet dance moves with the freaky sci-fi fantasy elements she's developed a reputation for incorporating in her work (see: "Many Moons").

Stark and simple compared to her other videos (and all other music videos in general) Monáe manages to evoke something sublime here, relying solely on the strength of her music, her emotion and her subtle sexuality. Today's pop divas better be taking notes

So that's it! Say When? 2010! is almost done. The final playlist will be published tomorrow or the next day or the next day or never.

Music You Should Listen To: Jack Conte

So this guy is pretty cool. He has gained quite a following on Youtube doing VideoSongs, music videos with two rules, according to Conte:

1. What you see is what you hear (no lip-syncing for instruments or voice).

2. If you hear it, at some point you see it (no hidden sounds).

He's got a lot of stuff up on Youtube and a lot of it is pretty sweet, going far beyond the novelty of the medium the medium it's presented in. He's a good songwriter, a great musician, and he works in a lot of different styles. He pretty much rocks hot socks. Here are links to some of my favorites on Youtube:

"Gulf" by Jack Conte

"Eat" by Jack Conte

"Bloody Nose" by Jack Conte

Check out more of his music in his music store at jackcontemusic.com

Music You Should Listen To: THOMAS

The first time I saw Thom Gill was at a Final Fantasy concert. He was doing back-up for violinist/wizard Owen Pallett, playing guitar, percussion, and back-up vocals. I have recently discovered that Gill has his own band, called THOMAS.

The music that this band makes sounds churning blend of soul, funk, jazz, and electronic influences. The constant experiment in genre-mashing is propelled by skillful guitar work and soulful vocals. Their first single "Don't Think, Just Hate", sounds like a strange mash of 90's guitar rock and 80's pop crooning. To say the least it will be very interesting to see what this band comes up with.

Check out Thom Gill's sweet dance moves in the video for "Don't Think, Just Hate" and check out THOMAS on their Myspace page.

Music You Should Listen To: Company of Thieves

If you're not listening to Company of Thieves, you might want to start. When I first learned about the Chicago-based trio it was from a poster in my dorm. Regrettably I just passed it by (that was in January when their debut album was released) and I didn't see anything about them again until they showed up as an ad on my Facebook page. The link brought me to the video for their first single, "Oscar Wilde". The video, based off the movie Rushmore, definitely caught my attention (Facebook knows me so well!)

So shortly after watching the video I bought their album Ordinary Riches off iTunes. The album, which contains 12 songs plus 3 acoustic tracks on the bonus version, is only $5.99 which, at a time when iTunes is raising its prices, makes it one of the best values on iTunes. Ordinary Riches is a solid album, containing well-crafted, thoughtful, catchy pop gems. Songs like "Old Letters", "In Passing", and "The Tornado" are filled with interesting melodic ideas that give the record a lot of variation and hold the listener's attention, while songs like "Pressure" and "New Letters" serve as more straight-forward rock songs. Genevieve Schatz is a talented singer and her stylish and often spunky delivery is accompanied perfectly by Marc Walloch's flexible guitar playing which borrows influences from everything from funk to latin music. Drummer Mike Ortiz holds it all together with his adaptive playing.

Overall, Company of Thieves is a talented group of musicians with a lot of potential. This promising young group is definitely one to keep an eye on.

Company of Thieves' website

Oscar Wilde music video

Pressure music video

Music You Should Listen To: She & Him

Actor Zooey Deschanel teams up with musician M. Ward to form She & Him, a duo determined to create old-time folk mixed with modern pop sensibility. Listen to "Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?"  from their debut album. It is extremely catchy and musically interesting.

http://www.last.fm/music/She%2B%2526%2BHim

Music You Should Listen To: Shivaree

Today I have chosen to highlight one of my favorite groups, a group that is widely unknown and unappreciated. Today, on an adventure to Newbury Comics I was lucky enough to score a copy of Shivaree's I Oughtta Give You a Shot in the Head for Making Me Live in this Dump for only $3 (along with a vinyl copy of OK Computer for $25). Released in 1999, their debut features their most popular song Goodnight Moon, which was featured in Kill Bill Volume 2. Led by Parsley Ambrosia, my favorite female vocalist, Shivaree makes music that sounds like a film noir soundtrack mixed into pop music. Their songs can be mysterious, gentle, and beautiful, dramatic, sinister, and dark, or bouncy, witty, and funky. Highlights of the album include Bossa Nova, I Don't Care, Goodnight Moon, Daring Lousy Guy, and Idiot Waltz.

Also be sure to check out I Close My Eyes (which I suggest that you buy the Breach EP version from iTunes because the album version on Youtube and Last.fm aren't as good) and Little Black Mess on Who's Got Trouble and Flycatcher on Rough Dreams.

Shivaree also has a new album entitled Tainted Love: Mating Calls and Fight Songs 

which is a collection of covers available for streaming here.

 http://www.last.fm/music/Shivaree

Good Music You Haven't Heard Yet

From the green depths of New Hampshire comes Indie-Folk songwriter Kyle Oppenheimer, a friend of one of my new college friends. Oppenheimer's compositions boast multiple instruments and sound like a mixture of Neutral Milk Hotel and I'm From Barcelona. Go to his myspace and check out some of the songs and the video of Yuri Gagarin Stole My Thunder. You'll enjoy it, I promise.

get some!