As they say on the street in Charing Cross, the shortlists for the inaugural UK Music Video Awards were announced last week. A good crop of videos, as I think you'll agree:
Best Pop Video:
Duffy, "Mercy"
Goldfrapp, "Happiness"
Kate Nash, "Foundations"
The Hoosiers, "Cops & Robbers"
The Hoosiers, "Worried About Ray"
The Ting Tings, "Shut Up And Let Me Go"
Dyn-O-Wright: This is a tough category with all excellent choices, including MusicSnobbery faves Kate Nash and the Ting Tings. I don't have Chris's amazing powers of prediction, so I don't know who wins, but in any case, "Happiness" is my favorite video.
Best Rock Video:
Arctic Monkeys, "Fluorescent Adolescent"
Kaiser Chiefs, "Love's Not A Competition, But I'm Winning"
Radiohead, "House of Cards"
Sigur Ros, "Gobbledigook"
Supergrass, "Bad Blood"
The Horrors, "She Is The New Thing"
All worthy videos, and I really dig that Kaiser Chiefs clip, but "House of Cards" was so groundbreaking (Radiohead being groundbreaking? I'm shocked!) and easily the best use of survey equipment in the whole list.
Best Indie Video:
Bat For Lashes, "What's A Girl To Do"
Bjork, "Wanderlust"
Emily Haines, "Our Hell"
Flight of the Conchords, "Ladies of the World"
Hot Chip, "Ready For The Floor"
The Liars, "Plaster Casts Of Everything"
The NFC East of all these video categories, each video is visually interesting and each tune is snappy. This was the hardest for me to decide a personal favorite, but in a minor upset, "What's A Girl To Do" is the winner.
Best Dance Video:
The Chemical Brothers, "Salmon Dance"
The Chemical Brothers, "Midnight Madness"
Groove Armada, "Get Down"
RJD2, "Work It Out"
The BPA (featuring David Byrne and Dizzee Rascal), "Toe Jam"
Utah Saints, "Something Good"
That "Toe Jam" video is a lot of fun, and so is "Work It Out", but "Get Down" is easily my favorite of the bunch.
Best Urban Video:
Dizzee Rascal, "Sirens"
Estelle, "American Boy"
Example, "Me And Mandy"
Flobots, "Handlebars"
Kano, "Hustler"
Wiley, "Wearing My Rolex"
As previously seen on MusicSnobbery, this "Sirens" video is sharp and perfectly captures the tension in the lyrics. One of my favorites of all the shortlists.
Best Budget Video:
Autamata, "Need You Sunshine"
Example, "Me And Mandy"
Jape, "Floating"
Lise Westzynthius, "Childlike Curves"
The Teenagers, "Make It Happen"
These New Puritans, "Elvis"
Most of these videos were okay, "Childlike Curves" was definitely not a winner for me, but "Floating" had some visual interest for me in its impact photography. Did he really get pelted with produce? Splat!
Best International Video:
Animal Collective, "Peacebone"
Gnarls Barkley, "Who's Gonna Save My Soul"
Justice, "Stress"
MGMT, "Time To Pretend"
Weezer, "Pork And Beans"
zZz, "Grip"
Some good choices here. I thought the Gnarls Barkley clip would be my favorite, until I watched the zZz one. Wow.
The People's Choice Award:
Adele, "Chasing Pavements"
Duffy, "Mercy"
Estelle, "American Boy"
The Hoosiers, "Goodbye Mr. A"
Leona Lewis, "Bleeding Love"
Mark Ronson, "Valerie"
Sam Sparro, "Black And Gold"
Sonny J, "Handsfree"
The Ting Tings, "Shut Up And Let Me Go"
Will Young, "Changes"
The Ting Tings is this Person's Choice. Now I'll shut up and let you go.
You can check out the rest of the shortlists at the UK Music Video Awards website.
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