These are brain candy. But it’s gourmet brain candy.

Broken Social Scene - All to All (taken from Forgiveness Rock Record)

When we were kids, my two sisters and I would stand at the top of the stairs, pretend to have a slow-motion fight where one of us would punch the other, who would then fall down the stairs, also in slow motion. The faller would get back up, charge up the stairs (again, still in slow-motion) and punch the other person down. We could cycle like this for hours.

Ratatat - Drugs (taken from LP4)

Just say maybe.

Aeroplane - Superstar (taken from We Can’t Fly)

Fashion has a price. If you’re going to be boring, you may as well be naked.

Holy Fuck - Red Lights (taken from Latin)

Cats are badass and you know it.

It’s not over yet…

We love our stuff. If you think that’s not true, try watching Hoarders or MTV Cribs sometime.

Wax Taylor (feat. Charlie Winston) - I Own You (taken from In the Mood for Life)

Actually, we kind of love our stuff a little too much. Umm… anyone wanna go Ghandi with me?

Boy Eats Drum Machine - Hoop + Wire (taken from Hoop + Wire)

Jason Sivers imagines a world where it’s not our computers & cell phones that unite and achieve sentience, but rather our boxes of tapes, Ataris and alarm clocks that we forgot to clear out from our parents’ attics.

OK Go - This Too Shall Pass (Rube Goldberg version) (taken from Of the Blue Colour of the Sky)

As I said the other day about the marching band version of this song, OK Go have been so generous to pour themselves into these videos to remind us that anything is possible, even a two-story Rube Goldberg machine synced to a pop song.

The end is near…

These three, because of their depth, simplicity and beauty, stood alone from some of the sillier categories I created.

Harper Simon - Berkley Girl (taken from Harper Simon)

I have to say this every time I mention Harper Simon, but I didn’t discover his 2009 debut album until a year after it had been released. It wasn’t for lack of paying attention, it simply had barely been reported on in the indie music press. Which is criminal, because not only is Harper the son of Paul Simon, but the album is completely amazing. So, quit jumping the shark with this Wavves and Sleigh Bells crap and start doing your jobs again in 2011, ok guys?

Jena Malone stars as the girl Harper loved and lost (except for as a friend).

El-P - Time Won’t Tell (taken from Weareallgoingtoburninhellmegamixxx3)

Children can be cruel, and so can poverty, but the human spirit still triumphs.

Black Prairie - Red Rocking Chair (taken from Feast of the Hunters’ Moon)

If you’re not a parent, you may feel some bafflement as to how parents can feel such deep love for these tiny creatures who can barely eat by themselves, usually smell like food and/or poop and have ruined their sleep, social and sex lives. But I can tell you, something, like an embedded microchip you didn’t know was there, switches on when you have a child, and the love you feel for them transcends any feelings you’ve had for anyone, ever.

So, to lose a child is probably the most heartbreaking thing that could ever happen to a person. Portland’s Black Prairie tell this story with grace, using only a few instruments, words and scenes.

Keep on ridin’…

As we close in on the final, more specific categories of the year’s best videos, the number of videos that fit into those categories is getting smaller and smaller. Despite the fact that the dream that you’re back in high school and are completely unprepared for your finals because you’ve forgotten to attend class all semester is pretty much universal, the number of good music videos that take place there are still relatively slim.

There’s something that happens in the brain during adolescence that makes colors look brighter, food tastes better, time seems infinite and music feels like it could carry you out of the solar system. Our nostalgia for this feeling is a big factor in the success of GLEE—a show I also enjoy, though I often wish it relied less on autotune & slick, overcompressed production.

Foals - Blue Blood (taken from Total Life Forever)

Here’s a scene I’d like to see on GLEE in the new year: A freshman, bearing a strong resemblance to a young Corey Feldman or Dominic Monaghan, develops a crush on a teacher and gives her an uncomfortably intense serenade at the school talent show.

Free Energy - Bang Pop (taken from Stuck on Nothing)

GLEE’s creators flirted with the idea of taking over the school via the PA system in their Madonna-themed episode, but failed to achieve the potential blissful anarchy they could have because (1) it was a teacher who put the music on the PA in the first place and (2) there is a limited amount of anarchy you can achieve with Madonna as your soundtrack.

She & Him - In the Sun (taken from Volume Two)

Or, picture this: Zooey Deschanel guest stars on the show as a new student or something, and they come up with a flimsy plot excuse to perform this pretty much identically to how it is here.

Well, I should probably stop thinking like this. GLEE is, after all, on the same network that killed Firefly, Arrested Development and Dollhouse for being too good.

Stay in school, we’re not out yet…