From lo-fi to high concept, 2014 was another good year for the music video, as the medium's flexibility allowed it to thrive and online venues allowed its continued relevance as an art form. Amidst the wealth of audio-visual riches from the Great White North this year, we've assembled 10 videos that moved us the most.
Watch them below, and go to our 2014 in Lists section for more Year-End coverage.
Top 10 Canadian Music Videos of 2014:
10. Timber Timbre
"Beat the Drum Slowly"
(Directed by Chad VanGaalen)
Chad VanGaalen was tasked with fitting the gloomy Hot Dreams strummer "Beat the Drum Slowly" with some animated visuals, and damned if he didn't capture the uneasiness of Timber Timbre's woozy blur of California country and film noir sounds with this creepy clip. The surreal vision of the "phantasms fantastic" that haunt the video run anywhere from ghouls with ever-melting flesh, hot rodders with glandular problems and good old-fashioned murderers. A final car crash ushers us out with a cartoony explosion of sinew, cigarettes, smashed glass and a sense of dread. (Gregory Adams)
9. PUP
"Mabu"
(Directed by Menno Versteeg)
First, Toronto punk band PUP wrote a love song to singer Stefan Babcock's car, Mabu, then they created the perfect tribute for his beloved vehicle in a music video. In this berserk send-off, the four members of PUP destroy Babcock's car, pimp the ride with spray paint, cereal and reptiles, and subsequently take it to its final destination: a demolition derby. Zany antics aside, though, this is truly a love story between a man and his car, and the outro funeral is as heartfelt as the rest was entertaining. Side note: You can hire Gallows frontman Wade MacNeil to be your funeral conductor. (Melody Lau)
8. Lowell
"The Bells"
(Directed by Norman Wong)
Lowell's one-shot video for "The Bells" joins the ranks of other artists who have tackled such an arduous task before her, including Feist, OK Go and Vampire Weekend. The camera follows Lowell as she runs around a football field followed by guys in ghostly makeup, cheerleaders and roller derby girls, all in a choreographed frenzy. Consider it a whimsical mix of Britney Spears and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, an outlandish wonderland where Lowell is the Queen Bee who reigns with a baseball bat. (Melody Lau)
7. Fur Trade
"Same Temptation"
(Directed by Kheaven Lewandowski)
Tabloid-famous tot "Bat Boy" has been a fixture of scandal rags for years, but how did his infamy begin? That's the conceit West Coast Hot Hot Heat/Mounties offshoot Fur Trade take in the video for their self-titled debut's dusky "Same Temptation." Turns out the little long-eared guy had a horrible home life, with his abusive mother more comfortable clipping his wings, literally, than letting him be a kid. While exploited and taunted by neighbourhood kids with cameras, his ray of light is a blind boy that blissfully sees past his buddy's unorthodox appearance. "Cool fucking ears," the pal says lovingly mid-video before the pair start smashing up a junkyard. Cool fucking ears, indeed. (Gregory Adams)
6. Gold Zebra
"Drift Away"
(Directed by La Barbe Rousse)
Gold Zebra gave the most elegant of ice sports a spooky makeover in their video for dreamy synth-pop piece "Drift Away." Based on '80s horror flick Curtains, it finds a young female figure skater doing a series of spot-on spins and manoeuvres for a group of stodgy judges, only to be joined in the rink mid-routine by a masked figure with a scythe and a notable lack of Bauer blades for an impromptu doubles performance. The judges never reveal their final thoughts, but the mix of slasher film aesthetics and salchow culture made for a high scoring entry on our list. (Gregory Adams)
5. Arcade Fire
"We Exist"
(Directed by Arcade Fire)
Never ones to shy away from big statements, Arcade Fire cast The Amazing Spider-Man star Andrew Garfield in their music video for "We Exist" as a man struggling with his gender identity. While critics have questioned the band's decision to choose a cisgender white male over a transgender person to play the role (look up Against Me!'s Laura Jane Grace's comments), Butler firmly stands behind his actions, asserting the importance for "a gay kid in Jamaica to see the actor who played Spider-Man in that part." The payoffs are there in Garfield's powerful portrayal, whether it was correctly cast or not. (Melody Lau)
4. Johnny de Courcy
"Wind Chimes"
(Directed by Owen Ellis)
For "Wind Chimes," Vancouver rocker Johnny de Courcy and filmmaker Owen Ellis put together a powerful visual metaphor for the pains of love. "Wind Chimes" finds de Courcy and his love (from previous video "Alien Lake") dead and in need of resuscitation from a group of mad scientists. Tipping its hat to Rocky Horror and the idea of eternal love, the video for the cranked-amp anthem is a never-ending tearjerker. (Gregory Adams)
3. Kiesza
"Hideaway"
(Directed by Kiesza, Ljuba Castot and Rami Samir Afuni)
Similar to Lowell, electro-pop artist Kiesza also capitalized on a single-shot video this year with the viral success of "Hideaway." The video follows the choreographed steps of Kiesza throughout the streets of Brooklyn as she pirouettes, pop and locks and runs around on her own and with the help of a slew of backup dancers. This video also brilliantly combines a colourful '80s aesthetic with a distinct '90s sound, all culminating in the perfect gif goldmine for the Tumblr generation of today. "Hideaway" is the ultimate introduction to Kiesza as a talented singer, dancer and overall performer (as proven with multiple iterations of this video live). (Melody Lau)
2. Owen Pallett
"Song for Five And Six"
(Directed by Jeff Scheven)
"Song For Five and Six" is one of the most visceral tracks on Owen Pallett's latest album, In Conflict, so it's only fitting that it received a video treatment that's just as instinctual. Choreographed by Robert Binet (Pallett scored his ballet, Unearth) and performed by students of Canada's National Ballet School, the athleticism displayed here perfectly matches the robust nature of the song's muscular electronic loops, vigorous melody and agile rhythms. It's a visual triumph in which the dance enhances the music and vice versa. (Melody Lau)
1. Grimes
"Go"
(Co-directed by Roco-Prime (aka Claire and Mac Boucher))
Grimes' steady ascent towards the pop mainstream continued in 2014 with "Go," an EDM-spiked ballad she and Blood Diamonds originally wrote for Rihanna. The video likewise sets its sights big, mixing mystic journeyman scenes with all the way turnt up club antics.
The epic video features shots of Grimes and Blood Diamonds hanging out in the club, making their way through sandy plains with weapons in tow and flexing their moves in a fish-eyed vortex of flashing lights. A Dante quote, swordplay, and dune-set choreography scenes collude to make this another hypnotic video classic from Claire Boucher. (Gregory Adams)
Watch them below, and go to our 2014 in Lists section for more Year-End coverage.
Top 10 Canadian Music Videos of 2014:
10. Timber Timbre
"Beat the Drum Slowly"
(Directed by Chad VanGaalen)
Chad VanGaalen was tasked with fitting the gloomy Hot Dreams strummer "Beat the Drum Slowly" with some animated visuals, and damned if he didn't capture the uneasiness of Timber Timbre's woozy blur of California country and film noir sounds with this creepy clip. The surreal vision of the "phantasms fantastic" that haunt the video run anywhere from ghouls with ever-melting flesh, hot rodders with glandular problems and good old-fashioned murderers. A final car crash ushers us out with a cartoony explosion of sinew, cigarettes, smashed glass and a sense of dread. (Gregory Adams)
9. PUP
"Mabu"
(Directed by Menno Versteeg)
First, Toronto punk band PUP wrote a love song to singer Stefan Babcock's car, Mabu, then they created the perfect tribute for his beloved vehicle in a music video. In this berserk send-off, the four members of PUP destroy Babcock's car, pimp the ride with spray paint, cereal and reptiles, and subsequently take it to its final destination: a demolition derby. Zany antics aside, though, this is truly a love story between a man and his car, and the outro funeral is as heartfelt as the rest was entertaining. Side note: You can hire Gallows frontman Wade MacNeil to be your funeral conductor. (Melody Lau)
8. Lowell
"The Bells"
(Directed by Norman Wong)
Lowell's one-shot video for "The Bells" joins the ranks of other artists who have tackled such an arduous task before her, including Feist, OK Go and Vampire Weekend. The camera follows Lowell as she runs around a football field followed by guys in ghostly makeup, cheerleaders and roller derby girls, all in a choreographed frenzy. Consider it a whimsical mix of Britney Spears and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, an outlandish wonderland where Lowell is the Queen Bee who reigns with a baseball bat. (Melody Lau)
7. Fur Trade
"Same Temptation"
(Directed by Kheaven Lewandowski)
Tabloid-famous tot "Bat Boy" has been a fixture of scandal rags for years, but how did his infamy begin? That's the conceit West Coast Hot Hot Heat/Mounties offshoot Fur Trade take in the video for their self-titled debut's dusky "Same Temptation." Turns out the little long-eared guy had a horrible home life, with his abusive mother more comfortable clipping his wings, literally, than letting him be a kid. While exploited and taunted by neighbourhood kids with cameras, his ray of light is a blind boy that blissfully sees past his buddy's unorthodox appearance. "Cool fucking ears," the pal says lovingly mid-video before the pair start smashing up a junkyard. Cool fucking ears, indeed. (Gregory Adams)
6. Gold Zebra
"Drift Away"
(Directed by La Barbe Rousse)
Gold Zebra gave the most elegant of ice sports a spooky makeover in their video for dreamy synth-pop piece "Drift Away." Based on '80s horror flick Curtains, it finds a young female figure skater doing a series of spot-on spins and manoeuvres for a group of stodgy judges, only to be joined in the rink mid-routine by a masked figure with a scythe and a notable lack of Bauer blades for an impromptu doubles performance. The judges never reveal their final thoughts, but the mix of slasher film aesthetics and salchow culture made for a high scoring entry on our list. (Gregory Adams)
5. Arcade Fire
"We Exist"
(Directed by Arcade Fire)
Never ones to shy away from big statements, Arcade Fire cast The Amazing Spider-Man star Andrew Garfield in their music video for "We Exist" as a man struggling with his gender identity. While critics have questioned the band's decision to choose a cisgender white male over a transgender person to play the role (look up Against Me!'s Laura Jane Grace's comments), Butler firmly stands behind his actions, asserting the importance for "a gay kid in Jamaica to see the actor who played Spider-Man in that part." The payoffs are there in Garfield's powerful portrayal, whether it was correctly cast or not. (Melody Lau)
4. Johnny de Courcy
"Wind Chimes"
(Directed by Owen Ellis)
For "Wind Chimes," Vancouver rocker Johnny de Courcy and filmmaker Owen Ellis put together a powerful visual metaphor for the pains of love. "Wind Chimes" finds de Courcy and his love (from previous video "Alien Lake") dead and in need of resuscitation from a group of mad scientists. Tipping its hat to Rocky Horror and the idea of eternal love, the video for the cranked-amp anthem is a never-ending tearjerker. (Gregory Adams)
3. Kiesza
"Hideaway"
(Directed by Kiesza, Ljuba Castot and Rami Samir Afuni)
Similar to Lowell, electro-pop artist Kiesza also capitalized on a single-shot video this year with the viral success of "Hideaway." The video follows the choreographed steps of Kiesza throughout the streets of Brooklyn as she pirouettes, pop and locks and runs around on her own and with the help of a slew of backup dancers. This video also brilliantly combines a colourful '80s aesthetic with a distinct '90s sound, all culminating in the perfect gif goldmine for the Tumblr generation of today. "Hideaway" is the ultimate introduction to Kiesza as a talented singer, dancer and overall performer (as proven with multiple iterations of this video live). (Melody Lau)
2. Owen Pallett
"Song for Five And Six"
(Directed by Jeff Scheven)
"Song For Five and Six" is one of the most visceral tracks on Owen Pallett's latest album, In Conflict, so it's only fitting that it received a video treatment that's just as instinctual. Choreographed by Robert Binet (Pallett scored his ballet, Unearth) and performed by students of Canada's National Ballet School, the athleticism displayed here perfectly matches the robust nature of the song's muscular electronic loops, vigorous melody and agile rhythms. It's a visual triumph in which the dance enhances the music and vice versa. (Melody Lau)
1. Grimes
"Go"
(Co-directed by Roco-Prime (aka Claire and Mac Boucher))
Grimes' steady ascent towards the pop mainstream continued in 2014 with "Go," an EDM-spiked ballad she and Blood Diamonds originally wrote for Rihanna. The video likewise sets its sights big, mixing mystic journeyman scenes with all the way turnt up club antics.
The epic video features shots of Grimes and Blood Diamonds hanging out in the club, making their way through sandy plains with weapons in tow and flexing their moves in a fish-eyed vortex of flashing lights. A Dante quote, swordplay, and dune-set choreography scenes collude to make this another hypnotic video classic from Claire Boucher. (Gregory Adams)