LCD Soundsystem 'Tonite' music video invites fans to boogie in virtual reality

Brooklyn boogie outfit LCD Soundsystem has celebrated the launch of its latest comeback single, Tonite, with a music video experience built for modern virtual reality headsets, including Google Daydream, Oculus Rift and HTC Vive.

The WebVR experiment follows a floating dot through a series of technicolour rooms occupied by minimalist avatars of the band's fans performing dance routines.

The experience's low-fi rave visuals and VR interactions have been co-created by members of Google's Data Arts Team, which a press release described as "a specialized group within Google exploring the ongoing dialogue between artists and emerging technologies."

As the project is a WebVR experience, anyone can watch the video at the Dance Tonite website via a supported browser (Chrome is your best bet) which plays out from an isometric viewpoint.

Clicking on the dot or members of the dance entourage shifts the perspective to different camera angles, but the experience's real treats lie in wait for VR headset owners.

For those with Google Daydream or Cardboard kits, the action shifts to a stage with dancers partying around you, while anyone with a PC-powered headset with room-scale VR support, such as HTC Vive and Oculus Rift, can virtually join the shindig, throw some shapes of their own and add a 16-second recording of their performance to the project for all to see.

"VR headsets are represented as cones, controllers as cylinders," explains the FAQ. " Each room is made by a single person dancing to a specific portion of the song." To create a true party feel, each participant can add multiple versions of their virtual self to build layers of choreography in a single loop.

LCD Soundsystem joins a short but growing list of musical artists - from Björk to Coldplay - to embrace virtual reality as a new way of delivering innovative audio experiences. In a making of video (embedded below), electronica pioneer and frontman James Murphy explained that while he "didn't expect to enjoy it," the project eventually clicked.

"It's sort of like going to the beach," Murphy said. "If somebody says, like, 'We're going to the beach,' it's like, 'I don't wanna go to the beach.' Then you go to the beach and you swim around and you hang out and have a day off and it feels kinda great."

LCD Soundsystem recently announced that it is gearing up to release its first album since 2010's "This Is Happening" following an almost five year-long hiatus. "American Dream" launches on 1 September and includes singles "Tonite" and "Call the Police".