Silvan Strauss shares music video for track from footwork-inspired album

Hamburg-based drummer and producer Silvan Strauss has dropped the video for ‘Moskitos (Fliegen)’, a track off his third album ‘SPRINTING’.

The video, choreographed by Bangkok-based artist Toppy, follows someone drifting off to sleep only to be pulled into a nightmare, with heavy, restricted choreography capturing the feeling of sleep paralysis; a sense of running and getting nowhere while something unseen closes in.

The track began as a remix of percussionist Samuel Wootton's 'Seven Works for Percussion and Electronics'. Strauss then asked a friend to tell him a humorous story about Finnish insects, live-dubbing it with effects as it was told.

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It's part of a bigger picture on ‘SPRINTING’, an album shaped by Strauss's long-running fascination with Chicago footwork. He first got into the genre through Traxman's 'Da Mind of Traxman', and came back to it last year after a clip from drummer Vante Carson sent him down the rabbit hole again, this time via Traxman's 'Da Mind of Traxman 3'.

Strauss took footwork's fast, programmed drum patterns and worked out how to play them live, borrowing Traxman's approach of building from a single sample and squeezing out every variation instead of relying on a full studio setup.

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Dance runs through the whole project: after studying footwork pioneers like DJ Rashad, DJ Spinn and DJ Manny, Strauss reached out to dancers worldwide, from Bangkok to Brussels, to create videos for the album.

The album will be performed live on two October dates in Berlin, and a headline show at Ernst Deutsch Theater in Hamburg on October 18.

Amira Waworuntu is Mixmag Asia’s Managing Editor, follow her on Instagram.

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