The wheel of time turns ever onwards, and so it comes to pass that another year has mostly come and gone. Our role is to document these times, that the lessons of our day do not pass into the shadow of times forgotten, comfort taken in the idea that perhaps some distant stranger, separated from us by the labyrinth of a history yet unwritten might find in them succor in their own time of woe.

Naw, I’m just playin’ with y’all. As with last year we have all kinds of Year End articles and lists and whatnots in the hopper, and, as bloggers often do when faced with a deadline and a splitting hangover, I’ve turned to Youtube (our saviour who art headquartered in San Bruno, California, hallowed be thy servers) for a super-easy fun way to get something out the door before the weekend. So kick back in your office chair, sip on that cup of coffee and get ready to minimize the window you’re reading this in if the boss happens by: it’s I Die: You Die’s Favourite Videos of 2012!

Laibach, “Under The Iron Sky”
I felt like Iron Sky didn’t have the juice to live up to its high-concept Space Nazi premise and mostly fell flat. That said, we got a frigggin’ rad Laibach video and song out of the deal, and who could front on that? I kind of feel like this is what would happen if Milan and Company did a Bond theme, just torchy as all hell. Best thing is that if you watch this, you get to see all the best bits of the movie without having to rent it or nothing. Bonus!

The Horrorist, “The Man Master”
Oliver Chesler makes weird, sexy/unsexy music from somewhere in the no man’s land between techno and electronic body music, so it seems only fitting that he draw from the classic visual tropes of those two genres for his videos. Feast your eyes the clip for single “The Man Master”, which features uniform fetishism, retro digital animation effects, and gruesome body horror that blurs the line between what we find physically appealing and repulsive.

Whiteqube, “Reverse Psychology”
Hey man, I just took some pills and I’m ready for the party! Whoa, who are these two guys doing the live PA? Cool lightshow, I wonder if they HOLY SHIT THEY JUST TURNED INTO UNICORNS AND KENNY LOGGINS IS HERE AND I THINK MAYBE I’M HAVING A SOME KIND OF SEIZURE OH GOD SOMEONE CALL MY MOM TO COME GET ME

Aesthetic Perfection, “All Beauty Destroyed”
I was pleased that this AP piano ballad got the single treatment, and doubly so when I saw the artfully made video. This was apparently done on a shoestring budget, but it looks great, suits the song, and shows what you can do when money is limited but motivation to do something that looks cool isn’t.

Henric de la Cour, “Grenade”
Henric de la Cour preſentſ a moſt excellent tale: a goth playſ a game of beach volleyball, loſeſ, crieſ. (Olde timey english jokeſ courteſy of Bruce, the long “ſ” appearſ courteſy of Canterburry Holdingſ limited.)

Volt 9000, “Meltdown”
I’m happy to have the opportunity to say this again before the end of the year: Volt 9000 is completely independent, and the album art, videos and general visual presentation of his weird, bloopy post-industrial material is light years ahead of pretty much everyone else in the game. Peep this little bit of Snog-esque commentary on the economic meltdown, and also go check out the album cover for his 2012 release Mutronix, and hell, buy the record while you’re at it.

Douglas J. McCarthy, “Hey”
Shot in lovely blacks and greys so as not to distract from how god damn cool Doug McCarthy looks just walking through a desert or something, this clip handily summarizes one of the reasons we like DJM so much; namely that homeboy acts his age, bringing some brooding dignity befitting an elder statesman of body music to the party. So fucking cool.

Monozelle & In Strict Confidence, “Blue Mone”
This exceedingly cute clip for the team-up between illustrator and remixer Monozelle and long-running electro-industrialist cum darkwave act In Strict Confidence has just the right amount of the sweetly sentimental to steer clear of becoming cloying. ISC always have pretty stylish looking videos, but this is a welcome switch-up to their usual steez, especially in a year when their big single featured just the silliest hat ever.

Legend, “Sister”
You can read a bit about this video and the awesome art and fashion project that it came from in our interview with Legend from last week. Or you could just watch the thing and enjoy the awesome results when a couple of different schools of art all get together and let it all hang out, literally in the case of Legend’s singer Krummi.

THYX, “Project Tape Evidence”
The side-project of mind.in.a.box’s Stefan Poiss put out a fun little record this year, but by far the neatest thing they did was “Project Tape Evidence”, a song composed by Poiss using sounds sent to him by fans. The video is just adorable, featuring a lego version of Stef (5 o’clock shadow and all) transforming into a crazy robot for the vocoded portions of the vocals. Love it, another great example of limited budget visuals that can be made to suit a song with some creativity.