The old adage “writing about music is like dancing about architecture” (it’s stupid etc.), loses some of its impact when architecture becomes the backdrop for both music, and dancing. Ever since video killed the radio star, famous houses, quirky spaces, and history’s great buildings have provided beautiful, unique and dramatic settings for music videos of all types. So which of 2017s music videos have capitalized on the wonderful world of architecture?
Thespaces.com have compiled a list of the best music videos for architecture lovers for 2017. Here are a few of our favorites and a few additional videos we think deserve a mention.
The Weeknd – ‘Secrets’
Raymond Moriyama’s Toronto Reference Library is beautifully presented in this video of The Weeknd’s synth-pop hit. The incredible atrium space, the cylindrical elevators and the striking contrasts set up between red and white, hard and soft, and curved and rectilinear support the plot of the video but fundamentally steal the show.
The XX – ‘I Dare You’
Frank Lloyd Wright’s Sowden House is the monolithic masterpiece and school-ditcher’s getaway in The XX’s “I Dare You.” The dramatic house, set between shots that seem to encompass contemporary Los Angeles, is the perfect setting for teenage drama and aloof band members playing poolside.
Regina Spektor – ‘Black and White’
Regina Spektor brings to life 1920’s Uptown Theatre in Chicago, closed since 1981. Designed by Rapp and Rapp the theatre’s haunting and exquisite interior provides an ideal backdrop for Spektor’s similarly haunting song.
St Vincent – ‘Pills’
Surreal sets and doll-like dancers are juxtaposed alongside Superstudio-style video collages, making this one for the architectural collage fan.
Tierra Whack – ‘Mumbo Jumbo’
With its stark red and white settings, Bauhaus inspired furniture, and symmetrical framing, Tierra Whack’s video is one for the minimalists, gradually descending into madness and then from the heavily controlled interior to the chaos of the outside world.
Chelsea Jade – ‘Life of the Party’
In an austere warehouse setting Chelsea Jade explores the potential of the beautifully simple, plywood-clad, timber frame wall. The walls become a key driver of the movement of the dancers, sometimes boxing them in, sometimes framing their limbs, sometimes carrying them across the concrete floor.
Leonard Cohen – ‘Leaving the Table’
Released after Leonard Cohen had, tragically, left the table, this beautiful video sees a paper cut out of Cohen drift through collaged cities, putting a focus on small things, balconies, statues rising out of the greenery, signs in shop windows. There’s a kind of surreal voyeurism in the Google Earth and satellite imagery of city buildings, and in watching collage-Cohen at a typewriter through a bay window.
Kesha – ‘Praying’
A song about empowerment, Kesha’s “Praying,” while not traditionally architectural, features a few must-visit spots for any architect or artist in the California Desert. Slab city – an off-the-grid “snowbird” camp of permanent and temporary residents, Salvation Mountain – a strange and wonderful painted hill, and East Jesus – a sculpture park by the residents of Slab City, constructed mostly out of recycled materials found in the desert, are all fascinating examples of desert occupation and production.
OK Go – ‘Obsession’
And finally, OK Go’s latest video masterpiece might speak to (or help provide some relief) to the architect’s tense relationship with the printer – a wholly necessary tool and a constant source of frustration. The spatial conditions generated by the careful curation of 567 printers are truly remarkable. Printer facades anyone?
News via: The Spaces.