Here are a trio of videos that have caught my eye, presented in order from most cinematic to least.
Lykke Li accompanied the video release for dream pop ballad “Sadness is a Blessing” with a poem, a brief message that the clip illustrates beautifully.
Father,
I know I Broke
Your heart, it was never
My intention, all I
Ever wanted was to
Dance…
Former graffiti artist Tarik Saleh, who also directed “I Follow Rivers,” brings the same Nordic restraint to this video. Stellan Skarsgård stands in for Lykke’s father; a bit of Swedish casting by number. Lykke is as charismatic as she is on the record, drinking vodka and finding her muse in a staid restaurant.
Buraka Som Sistema is back with babytalk kuduro banger “Hangover (BaBaBa).” The video features animation reminiscent of M.I.A.’s GIF-shifting promos for MAYA, matching the song’s jacked up energy factor with frenetic visuals. Throw in some daggering and hypercolored graphics and you’ve got yourself a video.
Saving the most disturbing for last, Salem returns with “Sick,” a video for one of the finest examples of goth trap house on King Night. A YouTube collage of gang fights, bedroom freaks, BMX riders, and the band’s own performances, the video doesn’t have the intensity of “Skullcrush.” Still, it keeps Salem knee deep in “some evil shit,” as the detuned rap by Jack Donoghue promises.
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