We’re back like a vertebrae. From here on out the videos get stranger. Today’s roundup includes vampires (both literal and figurative), a jail break, and so much murder. Put on your old jeans because we’re about to get dirty.
30. “Biblical Love,” Flower Face
I’ve been obsessively wallowing in Christian fundamentalist YouTube channels lately, and Flower Face perfectly captures the twisted nausea that watching cult members tear themselves apart for faith. She is tied up between two ropes in a dim church, looking like a combination of crucified martyr and marionette. The whole video is just her interpretive dance as she sings about the unholiness of “Biblical” relationships, but it is mesmerizing. This video hurt to watch.
29. “B.P.E.,” anais and Grupo Cosmo
Directed by anais, Ronan Mckenzie, and Tayo Rapoport, “B.P.E.” is a poignant tribute to heritage and home. Anais shows the way history is passed down through generations, weaving simple scenes of hair care and family dance parties in with documentary news footage to highlight the link back through antiquity. The black and white footage adds a nice touch that makes it feel timeless.
28. “Fight, Fight, Fight,” Worhol
Houston’s melodic metal act Worhol has always put out epic music videos. This year, the band has been spending time in Los Angeles making full on short films revolving around their songs. This is the first of those to get released, and if it’s any indication next year will be very impressive for Worhol.
27. “Long Long Row,” Cody Belew
“Long Long Row” is simply delightful. Cody Belew escapes prison, leads a pair of cops on a merry chase, and then exacts a little revenge. Did you think O Brother, Where Art Thou? would have been better if it was only three minutes long? Here you go.
26. “Young Girl (Illusion),” Sofie Royer
Sofie Royer (who shares directing credit with Grégoire Léon-Dufour) shows up to a party dressed as a Playboy bunny, but she’s the only one in a costume. Still, she quickly becomes the center of attention, which sparks another woman to come after her with a sword. Royer wrote the song as an exploration of what the pop industry demands of female artists and how unfair those demands often are. The video’s darkly comedic tone highlights the absurdity and viciousness of the world, epically when it comes to young girls.
25. “K&C,” The Drowns
This video suggestion came from one of my longtime indie music dealers, Mick Cullen of Subterranean Radio, and it’s a total earworm. A man in a middle finger mask causes havoc throughout the Seattle area until he can finally settle down with some ketamine and cola. Never have I seen my own diseased brain process portrayed so accurately on the screen.
24. “…where the suffering never ends (Anatomy Remix),” Portrayal of Guilt
The stock footage in drug commercials is disturbing. There is something so unwholesome about watching someone push a child on a swing while a narrator tells you a pill might make you think about killing yourself. Portrayal of Guilt turns that unease way up, intercutting the banal footage with murder scenes, pagan priests, and butchery. It’s a cheap trick, but extremely effective.
23. “Cauldron of Thorns,” Twin Tribes
Twin Tribes always delivers deliciously gothic music videos, and “Cauldron of Thorns” is no exception. Trinity Woodward stars as an appropriately doomed heroine making her way through a dreamlike masquerade ball that may or may not be the recruiting center of a pagan cult. It’s a bit corny, but in a grand sort of way that resembles Meat Loaf’s “I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That).” The spooky abides, amen.
22. “Obsession,” Thornhill
Long-time readers know the official motto of the Houston Press is “don’t keep sinister women in fishtanks full of blood on your dirty bathroom floor.” Thornhill did not listen, but “Obsession” is a pretty good music video anyway. As for Jordan Hallewell, who plays the aforementioned woman, you are terrifying, ma’am.
21. DeathbyRomy, “XXXhibitionist”
The line between horny and disturbing is very thin, and Romy Flores snorts that line. “XXXhibitionist” is a stark look at the meat market of modeling, running beautiful women through an assembly line of poses in a way that looks uncomfortably like a coke addict going through their entire stash without even realizing it. Shades of Manson, shades of Gaga, and a bit of The Substance to top it off, the video is definitely a chemical rollercoaster worth ending the day’s roundup on. See you next time!
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2024.
