I have said it before. I am saying it again: If there’s one thing I’ve learned from running Tinnitist, it’s that people love music videos. Here’s the proof: The videos below — the most popular clips on the site so far this year — have amassed tens of thousands of views. And there’s plenty more where they came from: Just click the Video Premiere and Sponsored tags at the bottom of the page to see tons of others clips that have debuted and screened here. Now, on to the countdown:
1 | The Underbites | Good Girl
The Underbites would like you to meet the best kind of Good Girl — one who’s still a little bad — in their catchy pop-punk single and video. Reminiscent of fellow New Yorkers The Ramones and delivered with the foursome’s trademark combination of humour and punch, Good Girl introduces you to a heroine who has given up “everything except weed and sex.” One of several lifelike characters who inhabit the band’s fittingly titled upcoming EP, Four Songs About Girls, Good Girl’s protagonist is personified in lovely colour in a celebratory rooftop dance in their new video.
2 | Sultans Of String & Northern Cree | Nîmihito (Dance)
Sultans Of String and Northern Cree are right in step on their single and video Nîmihito (Dance). A collaboration between Juno-nominated, CFMA-winning Sultans and the Grammy-nominated Northern Cree — a pow wow and round dance group from Treaty 6 territory who have released more than 50 albums over their 40-year history — Nîmihito (Dance) is also the first single from the upcoming Sultans Of String album Walking Through The Fire. Due Sept 22, the release aims to be the most important project of their career: A CD and concert of collaborations with First Nations, Metis, and Inuit artists from across Turtle Island.
3 | Rebel Kicks | Electrophoria
Rebel Kicks are caught between a hard drive and a hard place on their hard-hitting, arena-sized dance-rock single and video. The title track to the N.Y.C. band’s brand-new EP, Electrophoria is a darkly paranoid, groove-centric track that examines the relationship between humanity and artificial intelligence. To reflect that concept musically, the band combined their indie-rock sensibilities with an electronic soundscape, creating an alluring, shadowy and danceable track. “It’s a song about the decision to accept or deny the inevitable, feeling like you are trapped in a situation that you can’t get out of, while slowly realizing that you may never want to actually leave,” the band explain.
4 | Sherri Harding | Lady Of The House
Sherri Harding shares her love for the Lady Of The House in her beautiful and heartfelt single. The latest single from the Ottawa blues-rocker’s debut album A Million Pieces, Lady Of The House beautifully captures Sherri’s deep emotional connection to her family and pays tribute to her strong female role models. It’s just one of 10 tracks on the album that showcase Sherri’s extraordinary range of musical styles, featuring memorable and attention-grabbing rock tracks and soulful ballads.
5 | Jane Bunnett & Maqueque | Tomorrow
Jane Bunnett and Maqueque remind you there’s nothing to fear from Tomorrow in the haunted and homespun video for their single. “We are extremely pleased to present the first video from our new CD Playing With Fire,” Toronto jazz veteran Bunnett says in a press release. “The piece we chose is Tomorrow as it has an uplifting narrative. It features our violinist, 20-year-old Daniela Olano, the newest member of Maqueque as the actor. The second star of the video is me, playing the apparition. The mask l am wearing is from the Embera people, the indigenous people in Panama on the Chagres River. This came about when we were playing at the invitation to Danilo Perez’s Panama Jazz Fest.
6 | Sherri Harding | Don’t Tell Me How I Feel
Sherri Harding urges you to walk a mile in her shoes in her soulfully bluesy single and video Don’t Tell Me How I Feel. The first single from her debut album A Million Pieces — recorded with an all-star cast in Muscle Shoals — the song and the accompanying video make it clear the Ottawa singer has paid her dues. After years on the road in various bands, playing everything from juke joints in the Northwest Territories to Armed Forces shows in Bosnia and the Middle East, home beckoned, and she finally returned to Ottawa. Eventually, like many in a government town, she ended up in the public service, but lived a double life, often having her guitar under her desk, ready to head out to a gig directly after the 9-to-5 grind.
7 | Don Ross | Three Views Of A Secret
Don Ross sets his sights on Jaco Patorius’ Three Views Of A Secret with the help of Michael Manring and The Atlantic String Machine in new single and video. The second track from the Canadian guitarist, singer and composer’s newly released album Water, Three Views Of A Secret features an awe-inspiring display of Ross’s virtuosic solo guitar skills, beautifully complemented by the inimitable bass of Manring and the rich orchestration of ASM.
8 | Gary Edward Allen | Final Surprise
Gary Edward Allen watches life deal out its Final Surprise in his darkly compelling folk-rock single and lyric video. A steady drum beat, laid-back guitar riffs and Allen’s relaxing vocals open the song with a contemplative vibe strongly reminiscent of Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers. This is enhanced by the song’s introspective lyrics about how things have changed since the singer last saw someone.
9 | Sultans Of String & Marc Meriläinen | A Beautiful Darkness
Sultans Of String and Marc (Nadjiwan) Meriläinen become the light in A Beautiful Darkness, a collaborative single and futuristic video. A Beautiful Darkness is the second single off the upcoming Sultans Of String album Walking Through The Fire, due Sept. 22. Referencing the title, Meriläinen explains “We were just getting through COVID, and lockdowns, and of course, being in isolation … everyone had that feeling that this was an extra-long winter, because when we started COVID, it was still in the wintertime. And then, sure, we had spring and summer, but those seasons just blew right by, it seems. And we’re back in winter again, back into COVID.”
10 | Mister Wawa | Amina, Amina
Mister Wawa yearns for love and connection with his upbeat single and lyric video Amina, Amina. Set to a steady afrobeat rhythm that blends a light undercurrent of drums with dashes of pop, electronica, and jazz, the Berlin producer’s latest song combines a prayer-like vibe and mantra-like lyrics to create an atmosphere that is simultaneously soothing and sensual, relaxing and reverent. Soft whispers of “Amina, Amina, peace” open the song before lead vocals plead for love to come and cure his restlessness.
