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Sluka

Iko Iko (music video)

Review by Gary Hill

This is a new video from an artist I have reviewed quite a bit. In fact, I actually reviewed the song itself on its original album, Ready to Connect. For the sake of consistency, here's what I said about the song in that review.

This is a cover of a song that people might know from performances of it by the Grateful Dead. Actually the original title of the cut was "Jock-A-Mo," but there is a rather contested story beyond the original rendition and title that's best left for discussion elsewhere. Several artists have had hits with it over the years under the  "Iko Iko" title. The song in this version starts in a folk meets punk kind of approach. It grows out later into a more powered up jam that has an AOR turned post punk vibe to it.

With that bit of a reminder out of the way, let's have a look at this new video. There are a couple different visual themes here. First, we get footage that has an almost caveman vibe. The band is set up in front of some rock structures, playing the music. They are wearing glow in the dark make up that looks very tribal. There is another concept that involves flag bearers in tall vegetation, which is, of course, a call back to the lyrics. We get some other footage that has a more modern feeling, but still set in nature, with the band members looking more in line with the contemporary ear, just sort of running around amongst the natural elements. Finally, the stone-backdrop setting also gets turned modern with lighting you would expect in a show of today. Those scenes are all interspersed in snippets throughout the video. We even get a few shots showing Covid masks that really bring it up to date. All in all this is sort of a hybrid artistry meets live performance party video that works well.

This review is available in book (paperback and hardcover) form in Music Street Journal: 2020  Volume 6. More information and purchase links can be found at: garyhillauthor.com/Music-Street-Journal-2020.

 
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