Best Videos

Costa Rica. Directed by Marlón Villar.

When the Indian-american director Tarsem made the “Losing My Religion” video for R.E.M. in 1991, he drew inspiration from the Italian painter Caravaggio and Russian filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky. And as result, the clip is contemplated as a big beautiful moving painting. That same artistic idea led Marlón Villar to portrait the beloved surreal paintings from Belgium’s René Magritte in 424’s “Al Hueco” video.

The clip is not only among the best videos made in Costa Rica, but one the best in the history of the subcontinent. In the past five years Costa Rica has proven in taking leadership proposing music of international weight and height. And those proposals had to be sustained by good videos and sound production.

As the work of the painter, this video is challenging the observers’ preconditioned perceptions of reality putting seemingly unrelated objects together in juxtaposition. It is a union that suggests the essential mystery of the world. And as the Magritte himself says: “Art for me is not an end in itself, but a means of evoking that mystery”.

(Jeziel Jovel)

424 on Tumblr, Facebook, Twitter, Bandcamp, Instagram.

Hungary. Directed by Nándor Lőrincz & Bálint Nagy.

Boglárka Csemer, also known as Boggie, is a Hungarian female singer-songwriter who’s addicted to music and singing since she was a little girl. In 2011, after many years of singing, she won the Hungarian Jazzy Radio’s song contest and her career has been consistently on the rise ever since.

“Parfüm” (Perfume) is the lead single off her recent album, “All Is One Is All”. It’s a veiled social criticism emphasised by an impressive video, which was a great success worldwide with over 7 million people having watched the clip already.

While it’s not the first Photoshop-effect clip done yet, it’s certainly among the best ones.

(Bence Bodnár)

Boggie on www, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter.

Tunisia. Directed by Gianluigi Toccafondo.

C’mon Tigre is one of the most interesting things that happened in 2014. They are a collective of musicians (including Jessica Lurie, Henk Jaap Beeuwkes, Eusebio Martinelli, Dipak Raji, and Enrico Fontanelli – keyboardist of Offlaga Disco Pax who died in 2014, and to whom this video is dedicated to), led by two anonymous creators.

Their aim is to recreate, through a modern composition, the sounds and atmosphere of the Mediterranean Sea. The video “Federation Tunisienne de Football” is created and directed by the Italian artist Gianluigi Toccafondi and is composed of 5000 hand painted frames, without filters or post-production.

(Gianluca Erra)

C’mon Tigre on www, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter.

Puerto Rico. Directed by José “Quique” Rivera.

Calle 13’s latest, “Multiviral”, was perhaps the Puerto Rican duo’s most divisive record yet. However, the band’s marvelous video for album closer “Así de grandes son las ideas” (That’s how big ideas are) is something we can all easily get behind.

A collaboration between singer René “Residente” Pérez and stop-motion animator Quique Rivera Rivera, the clip quite literally breathes life into Residente’s existential lyrics about a “time surgeon” with “telescopic vision, turtle skin, a chameleon’s tongue, and a caterpillar’s sense of smell”, giving us the pleasure of enjoying the narrative in exquisitely vivid form.

(Alfredo Richner)

Calle 13 on Soundcloud, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, www.

Italy. Directed by Zavvo Nicolosi.

“Maledetti Italiani”, literary “Damn Italians”, is the lead single from the new album “Egomostro” by Colapesce. In an interview the artist explained that all Italians are basically “Damn Italians” because they are perpetually attached to a strong national identity, while their sense of community is extremely weak.

The video directed by Zavvo Nicolosi, a member of the Catanian film collective Ground’s Oranges, is a kind of exorcism to this, in which a child acts an iconoclasm of all the main symbols of Italian culture – from Leonardo da Vinci to Dudù, Berlusconi’s dog.

(Gianluca Erra)

Colapesce on Facebook, Tumblr.

Brazil. Directed by Denis Kamioka.

Criolo’s third album sees him even more mature and his diverse musical references even more united than previously. As a result, “Convoque seu buda” is a collection of extremely powerful songs accompanied by lyrics filled with sharp criticism.

This clip is a 10-minute film with two songs, “Duas de Cinco” and “Cóccix-ência”, as its soundtrack. This science fiction video directed by Denis Kamioka – also known as Cisma – is set in the year 2044 in Grajaú neighborhood, in São Paulo.

Although young people commit crimes using drones and 3D-printed weapons while surrounded by holograms, this clip is obviously not (only) about the future.

(Lafaiete Junior)

Criolo on www, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Soundcloud.

Peru. Directed by Mikael Stornfelt & Mona Herbe.

There’s a saying in Peru, “Para chuparse los dedos”, which literally means “licking fingers”, and it’s used when something is superb. Probably it was the motto behind this music video by Mikael Stornfelt and Mona Herbe.

Elegante & La Imperial’s “Puro comer” (“Full eating”) tries to connect the sensual pleasure of eating with femme eroticism. And don’t forget the neo-cumbia aesthetics (bright colors, dance and joy) that is a leading trend during the last couple of years in South America. Everything in less than 4 minutes.

(Jose Luis Mercado)

Elegante & La Imperial on Soundcloud, Facebook.

Norway. Directed by Kenneth Karlstad.

“Au” is to be found on the first album of the Norwegian singer-songwriter Kaja Gunnufsen. Her lyrics are outspoken and mainly expose a young woman’s inner thoughts about love, loneliness, emptiness and, well, life! Kaja offers dreamy folk-pop, and in this song uses essentially piano chords.

The melodic melancholy of “Au”, which is the Norwegian word for “Ouch”, was paired with the video made by Kenneth Karlstad, a talented filmmaker based in Oslo. The result simply grasps the listener-viewer’s attention at once.

(Alice Berntsen)

Kaja Gunnufsen on Soundcloud, Facebook, Twitter, www.

Greece. Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos.

Weird Greek cinema pervades Leon of Athens’ third single and video from his recent album, “Global”. The young Athenian musician, whose wonderful “Lifeline” was presented on beehype a few months ago, released “Baby Asteroid” in June.

While the song is influenced by 90’s indie rock and Brit pop of the same era, the short film was directed by London-based Yorgos Lanthimos. He’s mostly known for his incredible drama “Dogtooth” nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 2011 Oscars, and fairly won numerous awards worldwide.

Sweet, romantic, provocative and shocking at the same time, the video will definitely leave you with some questions.

(Ares Buras)

Leon of Athens on www, Soundcloud, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube.

Ukraine. Directed by Vladimir Shklyarevskii.

Dmitry Shurov aka Pianoboy (Pianoбой) paired his extremely moving single called “Родина” (Rodeena), which means “Motherland”, with an equally dramatic video. Both song and clip are impregnated with devotion and sorrowful tenderness to the singer’s home land, and the director Vladimir Shklyarevskii seems to sympathize with this feeeling.

“Let all the rivers dry up to the last drop, let all the money fade away to the last cent, let all the birds fly away to the last nestling, I will never betray you, for you are dear to me,” sings Shurov accompanied by his gentle, faithful piano. Watch this one to the last second and be prepared to shed some tears.

(Vlada Grygorova)

Pianoboy on www, Soundcloud, VK, Facebook.

Mexico. Directed by Jorge Crehueras.

Like several other videos on this list, “Don Jacinto” from Guadalajara indie rockers Pumcayó is a celebration of senses. But what’s unique about this clip is that the group and the director Jorge Crehueras didn’t even bother to hide their intent behind some kind of story.

Virgin fabric of all colours coming through some terribly rusty machinery. Hammers and nails. Red, orange, black paint. Bright light illuminating shadowy workshop. And then out for a festival, feeling grateful you have eyes.

(Asfaltos)

Pumcayó on www, Soundcloud, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook.

Japan. Directed by Jun Tamukai.

“I wanted to make a video no one could understand, but everyone would enjoy anyway. I am glad to hear people say it’s eccentric or incomprehensible,” the director Jun Tamukai (田向潤) said about his clip for Quruli’s single “Liberty & Gravity”.

The director, who has also made unforgettable music videos for Kyary Pamyu Pamyu (きゃりーぱみゅぱみゅ), was inspired by the song’s lyrics. For example, if Quruli sing about a mad doctor who has leg-fetish, he made girl legs grow from a wall. He also got ideas from Quruli’s members. Like dancing girls, foolish behavior, or squeezing a mayonnaise like a champagne. “I want a fish”, he heard from one of the musicians. Thus, tuna fish appears in the video.

Fish are free from gravity when they are alone, but they lose liberty when they make a crowd – that’s the philosophy hidden in “Liberty & Gravity”. If we can’t understand, maybe that’s even better.

(Toyokazu Mori)

Quruli on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, www.

Iceland. Directed by Bowen Staines.

Sólstafir’s fifth album, “Otta”, was one of the most remarkable albums of 2014 and Bowen Staines of Don’t Panic Films matched the music quite impressively with this video for the amazing album opener, “Lágnætti”.

Staines, a New Hampshire native relocated to Iceland, has done film projects with musical powerhouses ranging from Dolly Parton and Leonard Cohen to Ólafur Arnalds and now Sólstafir. In his spare time he works as cinematographer and still photographer for National Geographic, freelance journalist, musical composer, Foley artist, graphic designer, editor, as well as being a sponsored skateboarder.

(Peter Krogholm)

Sólstafir on Bandcamp, Facebook, Twitter.

India. Directed by Misha Ghose.

Misha Ghose has been working in the television and promo industry for a while now. Over her career, she has effectively created multimedia content that encompasses different genres – including stuff for kids, music, and reality based stuff amongst other things.

The video for Your Chin’s “Who Would Have Thought” was commissioned by Red Bull India, and was animated by Bombay Design House – who were in a way the real stars of the music video, alongside the art director Aanandita Kamani.

(Naman Saraiya)

Your Chin on Soundcloud, Facebook, Twitter.

Taiwan. Directed by Much Chen.

Much Chen is a director famous for commercial ads and music videos. He has worked for pop stars such as A-Mei, Mayday, and Show Lo. Owning a studio called “Grassjelly”, he has won at Golden Melody Awards for the best music video.

“Play” is the first single from Pop Queen Jolin Tsai’s same name new album. Muh Chen turned the video into a simulation game, with Jolin performing with different characters and showing our pompous social problems.

(Cheng-Chung Tsai)

Jolin Tsai on www, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook.

Spain. Directed by Tomás Navarro & Humanproduce.

Elegant, balanced, bold. Maybe the best attributes a music video can have. While Boreals create a poetic universe in their single “Nage”, the video – “jumps in suspension” – act like a tribute to movement and body.

The clip is a collaboration between Tomás Navarro and Humanproduce (Iker Iturria and Mandre), and it speaks for itself. Not just images trying to explain something. “Nage” is a sensation on its own terms. One of minimalistic exercises of those creative video-makers based in Barcelona.

(Yeray S. Iborra)

Boreals on Facebook, Twitter, Soundcloud, Bandcamp.