As festival season draws to a close, we ask top designers and illustrators to share their pick of 2014’s most creative music videos.
What has been your favourite music video so far this year and why? Lisa Hassell, Inkygoodness It has to be Pools by Glass Animals. Zaba has been a permanent fixture on my playlist since I discovered Glass Animals a couple of months ago. Created entirely with plasticine and stop motion special effects, the music video for Pools takes the viewer on a surreal, psychedelic trip, transforming a forest into a swirling, animated painting. Strange creatures, dancing plants and bizarre, magical encounters unfold before your eyes. Captivating and utterly brilliant. inkygoodness.com
VIDEOBen O’Brien
It may be a simple production, but I think my favourite video so far in 2014 is Disco//Very by Warpaint. I was a fan of the song already, it’s real, ‘no faking’ music, and then this video comes along and hangs out in perfect harmony with the song. In a time of Photoshopped pop star smashes and PR car crashes, THIS is what people need. It’s a breath of unsullied, honest cool, grungy around the edges, dappled sunlight and just lets the band (and the viewer) be themselves.
bentheillustrator.tumblr.com
Ryan Doyle and Mark Edwards, DR.ME
Dream Lovers - Brasil. The first time we saw this video we couldn't take our eyes away from the screen for the full six minutes thirty seconds, while our jaws got a little wider each minute. Regardless of whether you like football or not, you can't deny the pure talent and dedication on show, sound-tracked perfectly by the music which is amazing in its own right. Cut perfectly, at times some of the moves seem as if they had been choreographed to the music and you forget you are watching a man playing with a football but instead see some kind of interpretative dance.
dr-me.com
Jamie Ellul, Supple Studio
OK Go – The Writing's On The Wall. OK GO’s music videos have totally eclipsed their music since Here It Goes Again (The Treadmill Video). As an aside, I'd love to know whether people actually buy their music or just watch it on YouTube. They could have slipped into repeating themselves, but somehow they've managed to reinvent the continuous shot trick here with a series of mind-boggling and beautifully graphic anamorphic installations. This video is really quite a feat – I particularly love the fact one of them shaves half their beard off between appearances. That's commitment to your art.
www.supplestudio.com
Dominic McKenzie
It is difficult to imagine listening to an OK Go song without one of their playful videos. Their June single The Writing's On the Wall is no exception. Working with a simple idea and modest budget, the band again managed to produce a fantastically creative response to their song, which is less a promo video, more a visual complement to their catchy indie pop. I like that the band recognise the shift we have made towards consuming music via the visual mediums of computers and the internet. Another stunning video from this forward thinking-band.
dommckenzie.com
Sarah Tanat-Jones
My favourite video of the year so far is by Ichi, a Japanese artist who builds his own instruments. He's married to Rachel Dadd, also a musician, and together they live in Bristol and are part of a really creative DIY scene there. I saw Ichi play at a tiny festival called Howlin' Fling on the Isle of Eigg a few weeks ago. He was really terrific, and the audience were spellbound. His final action was to make a party popper explode from his hat. This video sums up his attitude to making music – it should be, above all, fun.
sarahtanatjones.com
Kyle Bean I think my favourite music video so far this year is Arcade Fire’s We Exist . I may be biased since I am friends with the director of the video, David Wilson, however I think he has really outdone himself by producing a video that works on many levels. The video is both flamboyantly stylish and well choreographed while being a very heartfelt story of an individual struggling with gender identity. In my book, sending out this powerful message of equality sets it above many other videos I have seen in recent months. kylebean.co.uk