In the latest edition of release roundup, we’re looking at dance videos. No, not EDM or happy hardcore namgers! We’re talking about the latest music videos featuring the art of dancing.
Jozem – Youth and young dancers
Matt Epp – Dance videos are snow joke
Ulrich Forman featuring Bergmann and Days – The distance between us
Personal Trainer – By name, by nature
Valleyheart – Rain dance
The Slaughter House Band – Don’t feel like dancing?
Friendmaker – The last dance?
Liv Austen – Here’s where the story ends
Jozem – Youth and young dancers
Jozem felt compelled to shoot the video for Youth in Kenya, where he grew up. He collaborated with dancers from a ballet school in the Kibera slum in Naibori, connecting with their shared outsider status.
I was brought to tears watching the kids persevere and make the best out of their circumstances as they learned a completely foreign art form in an environment that did not encourage or facilitate it, to say the least. It resonated strongly with me, that feeling of being different but learning to march in one’s own truth.
Matt Epp – Dance videos are snow joke
From the sublime to the endearingly ridiculous, Matt Epp earned his place on this list by dancing a playful striptease outside in a Canadian winter!
Ulrich Forman featuring Bergmann and Days – The distance between us
French songwriter, producer, and composer Ulrich Forman settled on dance to express the emotion and distance in the lyric “wish I had the guts to go, wish I’d loved you more.” Each character gets a signature sound, and the eventual disintegration of French rapper Days‘ voice matches the state of their relationship. The video is equally tender and unsettling.
Personal Trainer – By name, by nature
Amsterdam’s Personal Trainer live up to their name with an aerobics style synchronised dance video to accompany Rug Busters which exhorts us to dance in pretty much every situation. Sounds like they’ll be dancing for joy about their UK tour from May 4 to May 17, 2022.
Valleyheart – Rain dance
Valleyheart announced their forthcoming second album Heal My Head (out June 3 on Tooth & Nail) with a sweet new single. Your Favourite Jacket sees the Boston Music Awards’ Rock Artist of The Year winners metaphorically and literally learning to dance through the rain.
“We never expect nature to be sunny and hot all the time, or cold and snowy and rainy. So when mental shifts happen, why are we so hard on ourselves and confused? It’s about reckoning with the changes.”
The Slaughter House Band – Don’t feel like dancing?
Next, we flip the script as vocalist Raz Hyland confronts a completely motionless man – “I don’t see you dancing, it upsets me” – so takes over the dancing duties himself. Eventually, the distinctive vocals and insistent beat have the desired effect.
“I Don’t See You Dancing is a bitter and judgmental howl into one’s own ear. It’s that little voice in your noggin that tells you to put down the Wotsits, put your Crocs on and do something. It’s critical, it’s cruel and it’s confusing but it pours the diesel onto your creativity.”
Friendmaker – The last dance?
Irish band Friendmaker subverts the usual dancing video trope. Instead of featuring interpretative dance or party dancing, they’ve included a classic waltz on a beach, with the dancers wearing elaborate shrouds.
Liv Austen – Here’s where the story ends
Although we aim to showcase new music in our release roundup series, it’s nice to dig back into the archives to celebrate past examples. Apparently, being an excellent singer, songwriter, actor (Humans, Thorntons), model, podcaster, and food writer wasn’t enough for Liv Austen. It turns out she’s also a dancer. As well as Detour and Whole Heart both being devastatingly poignant songs, one video starts where the other left off (if our eyes don’t deceive us)!
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