The early days of MTV were all about epic narratives and the dazzle of rapid fire cuts, but the more my life and average workday starts to look like something out of Minority Report— constant clicks from browser tab to browser tab; imploring IMs and Gchats and email prompts— I have noticed a shift in what I consider to be a good music video. I still want to escape, but escaping looks different now. Maybe this is why a lot of my favorite videos from the past couple of years— Robyn’s “Call Your Girlfriend”, Grimes’ “Oblivion”, Tyler the Creator’s “Yonkers”, Zebra Katz’ “Ima Read”, Beach House’s “Wishes”, Kanye West’s “Power”, Jessie Ware’s “Wildest Moments”, and of course Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies”— feel either suspended in slow motion or brazenly low-concept. Slow and simple becomes rebellious in a world that’s anything but.
—Lindsay Zoladz considers the past, present, and future of the music video in her latest Ordinary Machines column. (via pitchfork)
