6 New Videos You Need To See

Sextile - Visions of You

Directors: Sextile and Jesse Kelly

The subtitle above isn’t really giving full credit to the creators – Sextile and Jesse Kelly actually shot and edited this too, and filmed it entirely on VHS.

“We simply wanted to create something that resembled music videos we love and at the same time, particularly fitting to our sound visually,” the group told Clash. “The video was also shot on VHS as it just seemed more visually appealing to us. It made sense.”

“My inspiration was to visually recreate the dirty aesthetics and sound of Sextile,” added Kelly.

Be mesmerised by the power of analogue in the video above. The song’s excellent too.

Mykki Blanco - Coke White, Starlight

Director: Tristan Patterson

The good folks over at Dazed have premiered Mykki Blanco’s brand new seven-minute sonic assault Coke White, Starlight this week.

The track is an uncompromising slice of noise, punk and hip-hop and its video is equally bonkers. The clip sees Mykki drugged in a more-than-slightly dodgy looking hotel before embarking on a wild adventure in Greece which takes in clear blue seas and a deadly encounter with an octopus.

“I felt like setting Mykki against the birthplace of western civilization was a potentially interesting juxtaposition,” explains director Tristan Patterson. “But I was also just really excited and curious about this unique moment in her life as an artist and where she was going to take it. I arrived in Athens with no plan, no agenda. We’d shoot all day and talk all night and somehow through this intense, insane creative process, we made a film together that I think captures this really personal experience we shared in such a crazy, cinematic way.”

Dazed also had a fascinating chat with Mykki about the video. See that here.

David Bowie - Blackstar

Director: Johan Renck

Bowie’s back and he’s returned to his interstellar roots in an intense, epic ten-minute video for his forthcoming album’s title track, ★, this week. A blindfolded Dave, a deceased astronaut in space, scarecrows that come to life all feature and plenty more strange (and probably cryptic) imagery.

“Most things like this are for the eyes of the beholder, you know?” Johan Renck told Noisey. “You make of it whatever you want. What I can say, on one side of things there is no deliberate, underlying, firm quest to have any references to past times. On the other side of things, a lot of these ideas have been conglomerative of David and I chatting. David sent me drawings and I sent him shit back, we’d been bouncing things like that.”

Cross Record - High Rise

Directors: Emily Cross and Dan Duszynski

Welcome to the uncanny valley. Emily Cross’ breathy vocals sound twenty times more sinister when they’re complemented by her form sheathed in a nude body stocking while wielding a chainsaw, but it’s difficult to look away.

“I had this idea for dressing up like nobody,” Cross explained to Stereogum. “Or like everybody — like every human in the world. Basically just making myself into kind of a blank slate, you know what I mean? I also wanted it to look a little weird.”

The husband and wife duo that make up Cross Record took up an 18-acre ranch in tiny Dripping Springs, Texas, thirty minutes west of Austin, making their backyard the perfect setting for this creepy slice of Southern life.

Arca - Front Load

Director: Jesse Kanda

Is it a penis? Is a tongue? Is it a pomegranate? Just three questions you might ask yourself while viewing the NSFW video for Arca’s airy synth number that was taken down off YouTube this week for its flagrant use of nudity. Shocking.

Proof that the Arca and Kanda artistic relationship is still going strong, and that YouTube’s attitudes towards nudity are still a lot less progressive than we might like.

Wiley - 25 MCs

Director: Matt Walker

Released as part of his #8 series which introduces one new single each week for eight weeks, this banger was shot backstage at one of the iconic Eskimo Dance events (specifically in Bristol’s O2 Academy).

Cameos from grime mainstays like Jammer and Rude Kid in their natural habitat complete the perfectly captured hype. The Academy never looked so good.