I've featured a massive number of videos here over the past few years, many have been excellent, but here are five that particularly struck me.
I could have course listed many, many more, but without much thought I was able to list these five as favourites.
Some had bigger budgets than others, some are by better known artists than others, but each video remains an outstanding piece of work.
Stromae: Formidable
Quite simply one of the finest videos of the past few years. A simple idea, executed to perfection. I thought at the time the idea would be "borrowed" by UK or US artists, but I reckoned without Stromae becoming so massive that any attempt to replicate it would be recognised as an inferior copy. Hats off to the MaeStro
Lescop: La Nuit Americane
A video that came out in 2013, illustrating a track from Lescop's self-titled debut album. A perfect visualisation for the music, the artist as outsider , located somewhere on the desolate fringes of the punk rock spectrum in the interzone inhabited by Joy DIvision and Iggy Pop.
The video - more a short film - was directed by Sylvie Verheyde from an original idea by Mathieu Lescop.
Alain Bashung: Variations Sur Marilou
This could have been a disaster. Two iconic and respected artist, a double posthumous release. That the source material is one of Gainsbourg's more complicated, lesser known and more erotic works makes it more complicated yet. But this video tapped into the pioneering and iconoclastic spirit that informed both Bashung and Gainsbourg, finding an entirely new way to interpret both artists.
The Enchanted Wood: Death is Knocking at your Door
Like the best music videos, this took a simple idea and developed it to the absolute conclusion. It's cinematic but referring a much older, much richer cinematic craft than that word usually implies
Christine and The Queens: Saint Claude
A video that is as sophisticated as it is apparently simple. Put a singer on a plain stage, have them dance along to their song. What could be simpler? But her theatrical background is apparent, and her performance utterly compelling, while the director effortlessly messes with reality so subtly that you almost don't notice until the end.
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