The Daily Swarm

The Toxic Avenger “Toxic Is Dead”

Here’s a lovely little video to kick start your Halloween. It’s a simple little story of a masked man and his woman – oh yes and it starts with a suicide. It’s a beautifully shot somewhat bizarre update of the story of Bonnie & Clyde. Sadly there’s no torture porn.

Girls “Lust for Life (Director’s Cut)”

Apparently nudity is still not allowed on TV, who knew! You know what does really scare the shit out of me though? 1960’s hippie culture, which is the sort of nudity on full display in this video. That childlike, communal, free love shit that is one of the many, many things that makes Boomers absolutely unbearable. Hippies are all trick, no treat. By that measuring stick, this may be the scariest video all week.

Sea Wolf “Wicked Blood”

Special guest star alert! That’s Shannyn Sossamon playing the very worried looking “girl.” The whole video is a very Hollywood nod to the silliness of old horror movies that grow less and less scary the more editions of the “Saw” franchise you watch.

Fan Death “Reunite”

It’s a “Where’s Waldo” video, except every Waldo is a representation of MTV‘s golden years of rock stars pre-1996. It turns out having a mystical experience with the ghosts of pop-stars past on the side of the road when your car breaks down is just as scary as the Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

Zola Jesus “Clay Bodies”

They say the eyes are the windows to your soul. There’s something oddly perverse about covering your eyes for an extended amount of time while you sing. It’s made doubly so if your video aesthetic is akin to “The Blair Witch Project” starring the Virgin Mary. Basically this is a Joy Division video mixed with an episode of Ghost Hunters, minus any annoying reality TV commentary.

Follow columnist Courtney E. Smith on Twitter or read her blog.

Nah Right:

Chunklet:

Kanye West and Spike Jonze “We Were Once a Fairytale”

Obviously the biggest video/short film/art experiment to hit the Internet this week was the Kanye West and Spike Jonze collaboration on “We Were Once a Fairytale.” The project was originally scheduled to be released on iTunes back on September 8 but was delayed for production purposes. Then Kanye’s legendary VMA appearance/Internet meme happened on September 13 and the short film’s release was indefinitely delayed while Kanye checked out from society. Interestingly, Kanye himself leaked the video on his blog this week and then promptly pulled it down. Ladies and gentlemen, can you differentiate between Kanye West pretending to be a jackass (aka ACTING!) and Kanye West actually being a jackass?

Also of note: yes the little furball at the end is an unused Wild Things prop.

Fever Ray “Stranger Than Kindness”

Andreas Nilsson may be the most interesting music and image creating mind not just in Sweden but in the entire world alive right now. He’s one half of The Knife and one hell of a director, serving as the mind behind not only their videos but those of several Swedish artists. This Fever Ray cover of an old Nick Cave track is no exception. He’s consistently able to take his own aesthetic, which generally involves day-glo paint and lasers, and throw more dimensions on top of it to create a similar but different visual with each of his videos—each more haunting than the last.

Warpaint “Stars”

Do you remember the Bananarama video for “Venus,” where the girls danced around in circles and wore various costumes? This Warpaint video is, at least, inspired by that idea but the original idea had to have come from the witches in MacBeth. There’s something about three women dancing around in circles outdoors (or around a fire, or around a cauldron) that instantly invokes the idea of witchcraft.

Lily Allen “Who’s Have Known”

A word to the wise: if you’re thinking of going to sit in a guy’s room to wait for him he’s probably using the time you’re passed out to meet other girls. At least, that has been my experience. Also: it is rather hard to win the full affection of a gay man, as he doesn’t want to have that kind of sex with you and your boobs have no attraction other than idle curiosity.

The Black Ryder “Sweet Come Down”

Damn. “No Country For Old Men” was a really great movie. If only there were more modern day murder ballads so we could re-create the best, most violent visuals from it in music videos…