As the title should imply, this is a list of some of the better music videos that debuted this year; one which was apparently marked by an efflorescence of color not felt in music for a long time. We could get used to this, though. The list starts out, appropriately enough, with the video for the new Daedelus single, Fairweather Friends. It begins in an animated world which has gone “101 Days Without Color” before sprouting into an extravagant spectrum. The colorful trend transcended genre boundaries, gracing everything from hip hop to indie rock with some much needed happiness. Let’s hope we haven’t seen the last of this.

Daedelus – Fair Weather Friends

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRJ2YvRv3N4[/youtube]

Daedelus’ catchiest song yet is an expression of joy unlike anything he’s offered up before.

Abe Vigoda – All Night And Day

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9Mcj4UXIyY[/youtube]

This year saw the emergence of several important releases from the LA underground scene. Bands like No Age and Silver Daggers (who are also included on this list) released albums on Fat Cat and Load. Abe Vigoda, originally from Chino and frequent Smell performers, are in the midst of recording a full length this very minute. All Night and Day is a track culled from the Animal Ghosts 7″, out on PPM. The video makes the list partially because it’s built on such an amazing song, but also because the video itself is so much fun. What face paint, fake blood, catholic iconography, and food have to do with each other I don’t know, but I’m not sure it really matters. Check out Abe Vigoda’s new songs.

Escort – All Through the Night

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqRDct1IDI8[/youtube]

You probably didn’t know that you needed to witness the entire extended cast of the Muppets take part in what might be the greatest disco extravaganza of our era, but until you do you couldn’t possibly understand.

Black Dice – Kokomo

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9WSNMKf_Vw[/youtube]

Black Dice are easily the most abstract band on the list and it comes as no surprise that their video is its most abstract contribution. The video for Kokomo, one of the more accessible tracks on the new Load Blown album, is comprised of collaged found footage from Saturday morning kids commercials and any number of other sources. The whole thing ends up looking like what you might expect to find if you stumbled in on a kindergarten class stuck in a transdimensional feedback loop.

Gia Janashvili – Favorite Georgian Pop

Dan Deacon – Crystal Cat

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFlBJ1xZK10[/youtube]

Dan Deacon became a household name this year (well, maybe not in everybody’s house) based on his spastic performances of a style of music which is entirely his own. He’s been often quoted describing his music as “the kind of music really cool six year-olds would make” and I couldn’t pin it any closer that. This video is all neon and as ADD as any kid who’s grown up on Firefox tabbed browsing. You should also see this video in which Dan Deacon improbably manages to perform a song of his on the Savannah, Georgia NBC affiliate morning news program. With his zipper down.

M.I.A – Boyz

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZv-G7IISgs&feature=related[/youtube]

Pretty much anything that can be said about M.I.A has already been said, so anything here would more than likely be superfluous pixel space. Suffice to say that Boyz is an amazing track with an amazing video. Ms. Arulpragasm is also the only artist to have more than one entry on this list.