Harlem Shakes Releases “Strictly Game” Vid – A Must Watch

In January when Brian, James and I dove headfirst into the Citizen Dick venture, our expectations were probably larger than they should have been.  Between August and December of last year, all three of us (along with Taylor, our genius web designer) basically neglected our day jobs and exerted all spare energy toward this blog.  We’d like to think our output is solid and worthy of your time, but this is ultimately up to you to decide.  Truth be told, we just like to write and we love music even more.  The difficult part of this enterprise is more about the unknown than the known.  When a PR company leaked Harlem Shakes’ March release, Technicolor Health, to us in early January we were simply sick with excitement.  I remember discussing with Brian, “You mean they just give us entire albums months in advance and trust us not to spread it around?”  Of course, we quickly learned this to be the commonplace practice in the business, but we were fairly certain that we were the only blog in America that had that album so early.  The first single, “Strictly Game,” could only be streamed from their myspace when we got the full album advance.  We were confident, but still couldn’t put a finger on why exactly a PR company would send it to our fledgling blog over the biggies so soon into our blogging careers.

We’d like to think it’s because we know how to write and people notice that, but now, six months later, I’ll just chalk it up as someone out there giving three verbose mf’ers a shot.  Since this time, we’ve grown big time, and plenty of album advances later, we still have a spot in our heart for the album that “popped our cherry,” to use the parlance of our times.  You can read our very first full-length review of Technicolor Health by clicking here.  We also hit their live show, where the fellas in the band salvaged a disaster and turned it into pure gold.  Tokyo Police Club had to cancel their headlining appearance because of illness, but Harlem Shakes remained on the bill and put on a hell of a show.  You can read that review here.  What really sealed the deal for us as bloggers was Jose, the band’s bassist, giving us a hug after the show and describing the band’s gratitude for our review.  “You were the first review of this album that we worked so hard for years to put together,” he said.  It all made a little more sense to us then.

So, to make a long story only semi-long, the band released the video for “Strictly Game” and it’s absoutely hysterical.  It’s a parody of sorts, mimicking thousands of other snapshot videos you might see floating around the interwebs.  One thing’s for certain, and that’s that these guys keep one foot in the artistry and one in the chicanery.  Not only is the track an ass-shaker, but the video is unique enough to warrant plenty of buzz.  Harlem Shakes is a band we feel a strong connection with, and while we know they’re going to go on to bigger and better things, it’s nice to see all of it come together for them.  Enjoy the video for “Strictly Game” and also the MP3 below.  If you haven’t spun the album yet, pick it up and you won’t be disappointed.  I’m a rock kinda guy, but as far as pop albums go, it’s one of 2009’s finest.

Harlem Shakes – “Strictly Game”

Buy Technicolor Health at Insound Now!