The Current

Great Music Lives Here ®
Listener-Supported Music
Donate Now
Local Current Blog

Friday Five: Lizzo, Har Mar Superstar, and more new Minnesota music videos

by Cecilia Johnson

May 13, 2016

Lizzo, "Good As Hell"

Get ready for an instant mood boost. Celebrating black women and self-love everywhere, Lizzo and director Calmatic pair her Barbershop: The Next Cut jam "Good As Hell" with footage of ladies celebrating their hair (and each other!) in a dream salon. If Lizzo and the rest of GRRRL PRTY play this song at Rock the Garden, go ahead and try not doing your hair toss and checking your nails.

St. Paul Slim, "Fade Away (feat. Slug)"

Local MC St. Paul Slim and Atmosphere's Slug are solo patrons at an empty bar, contemplating existentialism alone — until glitchy images of themselves and other patrons appear. In the song, Slim delivers poignant words about a car accident; the video is "dedicated to the loving memory of Kirk 'Bro Sun' Washington, Jr.," a local artist who passed away in a crash last month. This video's rhymes are tight, and its message is heavy. (Heads up: this video contains strong language.)

tiny deaths, "the gardener"

Made as a tribute to Minneapolis, this video splices performance footage from tiny deaths's concert at the Walker (in collaboration with the Joshua Light Show) with clips shot in the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden.

Dan Israel, "Lonely Too"

Dan Israel visits one of Minneapolis's most recognizable landmarks, Minnehaha Falls, in his video for "Lonely Too." The video also makes its way through miles of asphalt; the city is gorgeous, full of light and life, in time-lapse sequences shot from a car's dashboard.

Har Mar Superstar, "It Was Only Dancing (Sex)"

Coming off the April 15 release of his new album, Best Summer Ever, Har Mar Superstar treats viewers to the best '80s video ever made this decade with "It Was Only Dancing (Sex)." Wielding a kitchen towel and Patrick Swayze-style dance moves, Har Mar mops, punches, and pinches his way to victory over an up-to-no-good dance posse. The video's secret weapon? A sax solo by Nelson Devereaux (Hustle Rose, Adam Meckler Orchestra). This music video (directed by Isaac Gale and David Jensen, who have worked together on videos for Bon Iver, Poliça, and Dessa) is fun from the opening Grumpy's Bar exterior shot to the freeze-framed fistpump (yup) at the end.

 

Clean Water Land & Legacy Amendment
This activity is made possible in part by the Minnesota Legacy Amendment’s Arts & Cultural Heritage Fund.