Music Video(s) of the Week, part 29: Letter from Cowboys to Memories

Hello and welcome to another episode of Music Video(s) of the Week! This installment we have a solid set of videos lined up from that crazy island country in the northern Atlantic. That’s right, this week I give you three bands from good old Bri’in that reach across several genres to create their own variety of awesome. Sit back, get some popcorn and enjoy the show.

First up we have the Scottish electronic music duo Boards of Canada, with a slightly unconventional music video in the sense that it was pieced together from old documentary footage. I know this sounds like a horrible idea on paper, and normally I would agree with you—it takes a master editor to make existing footage fit a new sound. However, the director of this music video (whose name I sadly could not find on the video description nor the band’s website) has made an amazing final product. From space skydiving to shots of surfing the Hawaiian pipeline, “Dayvan Cowboy” is one of the best videos I have seen this year.

Next, we have a great song and video tandem from Dan le Sac v.s. Scroobius Pip, for their Radiohead sampling “Letter from God to Man” that proves the often ignored fact that music videos (even ones with larger budgets, like this one) do not have to try that hard to be good. This cheerful romp through an English city center directed by Steve Glashier is not ambitious in the slightest, but it is still thought provoking, extremely enjoyable, and very well done—and I’m pretty sure that you’ll enjoy it (if you can’t make out all the lyrics, I suggest watching this alternative video. The song is good enough that you don’t want to miss anything).

Finally, we have an incredible video from electro-rock trio Zoot Woman. Not only does it use the art of cell-shading ridiculously well and achieve the effect it is trying to give beautifully, it is also shot in the first person. I know this doesn’t seem like a big deal, but I’ve seen video after video (and a couple of movies) completely botch this effect—this is the first time I’ve seen it pulled off without any snags (Dark Passage is the only other thing I’ve seen come even close) and flow so amazingly. I hope you enjoy the awesome cinematographic work of “Memory.”