Those two points of comparison make for a more apt amalgam than one might imagine.

At first glance, Echo Park-based dance.music project We Are the World is a thing of high art — costumed and cryptic, much like the work of filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky (Holy Mountain, El Topo).

But equally important, and of no less cultural merit, is the fact that this is high aesthetic — a gothic-black world sound-tracked by industrial clang and provocative lyrics. Like Fever Ray performing under a dazzling marquee.

The latest clip from WATW features beautifully designed garments and aggressive choreography (both, we assume, courtesy of co-mastermind Ryan Heffington) that simultaneously recall the Aymara people of the Andes and the terrifying “Beautiful People” from 1999.

Important note: WATW are their own dancers.

We Are the World have an eponymous album out on Manimal Vinyl. Read more about it, and the group, here.

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