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Ten of the Best Colorado Music Videos of 2014

As artists find more and more creative ways to deliver their music to fans, music videos have left MTV (left it completely, in fact) and become the territory of local creative communities. The medium is much richer for it, as tons of clips produced this year in Colorado prove. A...
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As artists find more and more creative ways to deliver their music to fans, music videos have left MTV (left it completely, in fact) and become the territory of local creative communities. The medium is much richer for it, as tons of clips produced this year in Colorado prove. A few (but by no means all) of our favorites are below.

See also: Twelve People Who Made Denver's Music Scene Great in 2014

Alphabets -- "Raptor Jazz" Fireworks, ski masks and jugs of Carlo Rossi all make cameos in Colin Ward's (a.k.a. Alphabets) video for "Raptor Jazz." Another exceptional look inside Denver's DIY warehouse world, Alphabets creates a party on-screen that perfectly matches the music he makes -- inviting but still strange enough to keep viewers/listeners curious as to what is really going on in his mind/art. The clip was filmed by Jeromie Dorrance and Pete Bell and directed and edited by Colin Ward. --Bree Davies

Cop Circles -- "Cowtowwn" The video for "Cowtowwn" encapsulates what is so great about Luke Leavitt's project, Cop Circles: his devotion to total weirdness. Set in the more industrial underside of a city gentrifying at the speed of light, "Cowtowwn" features Leavitt partying with other local musicians and artists in fields, parking lots, warehouses and living rooms. It was directed by Trevor Jahner and Anna Winter. --BD

Gregory Alan Isakov -- "Amsterdam" The visual accompaniment to Gregory Alan Isakov's "Amsterdam" is a wonder. The stop motion animation, created by Laura Goldhamer, creates a detailed world, where our tiny hero paddles and walks and flies through an elaborate world of paper flowers and cotton-ball clouds. The video demonstrates the creativity and patience Goldhamer has been bringing to her work for years. -- Kiernan Maletsky

Lily Fangz -- "Preservation" In typical Lily Fangz fashion, the video for "Preservation" is laid-back and includes plenty of free-styling. She adds her own flair to the Jamaican backdrop and hypnotizes the viewer with her larger-than-life personality. -- Mary Willson

Michal Menert -- "Your Ghost" Michael Menert does not hold anything back in the emotionally charged, black-and-white video for "Your Ghost." He explores concepts of substance abuse, his fathers death and his personal journey as a musician in the deepest endeavor we've seen from him. --MW Running Niwot -- "Future Finder" This dystopian trip-out by Eamonn Wilcox (a.k.a. Running Niwot) is a familiar visual trek down Brighton Boulevard for anyone who has frequented spots like Rhinoceropolis and Glob over the last decade. Spliced with clips from WWE that are also sort of projected onto a green screen-like mask Wilcox wears in the video, "Future Finder" feels as fun, freaky and dark as the track sounds. It was directed by Chris Miller. --BD

Sara Century featuring Crab Lab -- "Raw" Sara Century's handwritten electronic ballad gets an equally jarring visual companion in this video for "Raw" as the anti-folk hero crawls about a house donning a pink wig and, at times, bound by marionette strings. A prolific songwriter, painter, comic artist and filmmaker, Century (who also directed the video) has added another piece to the mysterious canon of her self-reflection as art. --BD

Shatterproof - "Cookie Cutter Life" The debut video by Shatterproof was created entirely by people under the age of 21. The director, Hudson Bloom, the band, Shatterproof, and the video support used incredibly limited resources to deliver a polished, stunning visual for "Cookie Cutter Life." --MW

Trev Rich -- "They Say" It's been a good year for Trev Rich, who became the first Colorado artist on the 107.5 FM Summer Jam bill in years. He proved his position as a leader of the hip-hop scene with dazzling verses (check out his installment of the 32 bar "Controversy") and earworm hooks. You'll find both on "They Say," the lead single from the Rain In the Summer LP. The clip, directed by Trev Rich himself and Leland Schmidt, is set in a barber shop makes exceptional use of long tracking shots and stark lighting contrasts. --KM

Wheelchair Sports Camp -- "Dance Off" Main Wheelchair Sports Camp emcee Kalyn Heffernan went glam for this all-gold everything visual version of her dance party jam "Dance Off." The screen heats up with cameos from local musicians QKnox and Turner Jackson, plus Heffernan's live band members Josh Trinidad, Gregg Ziemba, Everai and more. Chris Bagley, local videographer and one of the visionaries behind the 2008 documentary Welsey Willis's Joy Rides, also filmed "Dance Off". BD

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