"Music videos are dead!" Or so says the asshole who is too old to understand how the internet works. Yes, MTV is dead, but that does not mean that the backbone of its original format is dead. Sure, TRL is long gone, and no one spends millions on shoots anymore, but in the age of the viral society, the music video is alive and well for one reason, and one reason only.
That reason is that a video made on the cheap trending online is worth much more in terms of money than an endless amount of emails to a critic, or hell even local radio play. Here are the best local music videos of the year. Watch and share the ones you like. You owe'em that much.
See also: The Best Dallas Albums of 2014 The Best North Texas Songs of 2014
Oil Boom - "The Sneak Tip"
Earlier this year we described videologist Sara Mosier's video for Oil Boom's "'The Sneak Tip' as featuring aggressively mulletted youths in cutoff shorts and wildly bad dance moves, it makes the video edit of Taylor Swift's 'Shake It Off' set to '80s aerobics dancers look quaint." Yeah, that sums it up.
MAYTA - "Pa Comer (Live at Two Bronze Doors)"
Sometime you have to drop all the bullshit and just record a live performance. It's worked for countless bands, and it works for MAYTA, who have no business sounding as good as they do at a house venue. But if you are going to sound that good in someone's living room you might as well film it and give it to the world.
Son Of Stan - "Loseyomind"
Man, all that time spent in L.A. sure is starting to give Jordan Richardson's Son of Stan some Hollywood shine, and nothing shows that off more than the video for "Loseyourmind." It's part Clan of the Cavebear, part Swingers, part 1980s workout video parody. It's slicker than anything else in Dallas, and well, what can you expect from someone who's tearing up the music world and winning Grammys?
Sam Lao - "Nirvana"
Repeat after me: Sam Lao is the most talented rapper in Dallas. Sam Lao is the most talented rapper in Dallas. Sam Lao is the most talented rapper in Dallas. Sam Lao is the most talented rapper in Dallas. Now watch this video, and repeat endlessly till she hits it big and you get to brag about being on that wagon first.
Old 97's - "Let's Get Drunk & Get It On"
Hey, the most Dallas nightlife song of all time has a video! And it's very OK Go with its split narratives ending in a giant performance, so that's cool. What's really cool is the glimpse it gives us into 70-year-old Rhett Miller's nightly routine.
Centro-matic- "Salty Disciple"
Do you like one of the most important North Texas bands of all time? Do you like throwbacks to '90s-era music video design, which makes use of a love for early film sci-fi noir work? Man, does Centro-matic ever have a video for you.
Jessie Frye - "Shape of a Boy"
You need a cold shower after watching this video. Frye's unstoppable sexuality takes over this cloying video about, well, yeah. Dropped during another blazing hot summer, but shot during a rather chilly winter, this video is not only the female empowerment version of the "Wicked Game" video, it's a clear statement that Frye knows who she is, and she's going to use it to throw you off balance every chance she gets.
DISASTER from Pageantry Band on Vimeo.
Pageantry - "Disaster"
"This song is really rad, lets make a video." "What should we do?" "Fuck it, let's give people seizures." We're 99% sure that's how the discussion around Denton-based Pageantry's excellent "Disaster" video went down.
Blackstone Rangers - "Frozen Echo"
Blackstone Rangers went full-on late-'80s chic with this artsy, lo-fi video: It sounds like a Stone Roses B-side, looks like it was dubbed on a VHS recorder, and rightfully should have been put out to the old school late-night MTV broadcasts. In another universe, perharps -- which, coincidentally, it exactly where this video feels like it came from.
Danny Diamonds - "Hot Summer"
Steeped in long-gone-by technology (the film is all instant film, the editing is stop motion), this wonderful Danny Diamonds videos shows what can be done when Dallas creatives gather to create something utterly unique. Yeah, you could have seen a band playing the song, but isn't watching two beautiful people go all out to experiencing the best and the worst of a Dallas summer much more interesting?
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