DJ Lag has been pioneering the Gqom sound for quite some time now, collaborating with equally influential creative forces to bring new ideas to life. Upon teaming up with choreographer Mette Towley and director Bon Duke on ‘Switz’, strong reviews have come in, highlighting the final track off the Stampit EP‘s ability to connect across black diasporas and beyond, in a powerful marriage of music and movement. Watch the video here, and click through below for the reviews!
“Free expression, non-verbal communication, ritual movement and collective power find their full form in the visual directed and filmed in New York by the photographer and director Bon Duke.”
— GRIOT
“As Lag’s minimal rhythms stretch and recede, they hint at a club music born of a drum machine’s dream. Meanwhile, the camera follows Towley around Brooklyn, dancing in Williamsburg parks and by the river, meeting up with a dance crew on the street, before moving into a loft space for a series of quick cuts of both solo and group choreography. The moves are closer in vibe to Brooklyn and Jamaica than to South Africa. Then again, one of the beauties of such moments of cultural exchange is how the origins get all tangled up, and each communication starts to produce more originals.”
— AFROPUNK
“The last single off DJ Lag’s exemplary Stampit EP entitled ‘Switz’ embraces the way that music and movement come together to stir both body and spirit, on an international scale.”
— Ill Society
“Highly aesthetic shots alternate between contemporary and urban dancing, echoing the popular origins of the music style as well as its stripped-down sonorities. It also highlights the powerful link between Gqom and dance, the music style being essentially made for the dancefloor. The director’s touch and his keen eye on fashion can be felt both in the dancer’s looks and in the global aesthetic of the video.”
— Pan African Music
