Jan van Nuenen’s Thorny Animation for Basement Jaxx
If you’re not going to any of Basement Jaxx’s European tour dates for their new album Scars (which drops today), you can at least simulate the experience by watching this old-school trippy “visual” (yeah we said it) that Dutch animator Jan van Nuenen made for their live show. His thorny cornucopia, seed tossing, crabby parasites and vicious carnivorous plants give Kelis’ chorus, “Kiss me when I wake up,” a totally different (scarier) context. Their shows will open with this video, so if you’re there and have indulged in any psychedelics hopefully you won’t already “be on your journey.” Check out van Nuenen’s other awesome videos here, which deal with nature usurping civilization and industrial malaise.
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posted on Oct 6, 2009 in ART+CULTURE VIDEO tags Basement Jaxx, Chipmunk, electronic/dance, Kelis, Meleka
Stream: Crookers f. Kelis, “No Security”
What with the epic “Scars” with Basement Jaxx and this sparkly dubstep joint from our Milano party brethren Crookers, we’re impressed by Kelis‘ sudden ubiquity, having just popped a kid and gotten divorced and all. As Annie Mac (that’s Annie Mac, right?) says on this radio rip, the new US mainstream’s interest in dubstep is kind of bazonkers, though we’re still waiting for that Jay-Z/Joker collabo. But then Ms Rogers has always been adventurous—you’ll recall her early work with Neptunes when they were the hottest shit in space—and we hear she’s been working on her new album with our beloved Switch, which sounds like one of the best ideas ever. Until that transpires, we’ll marvel at this YouTube rip of “No Security,” which Crookers put up on their own blog. That’s kind of funny, right?
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posted on Sep 14, 2009 in MP3 / STREAMS tags annie mac, Basement Jaxx, Benga, Crookers, dance/electronic, dubstep, Eve, Jay-Z, Joker, Kelis, Neptunes, Switch
Basement Jaxx f. Kelis, Meleka & Chipmunk, “Scars” MP3
It’s sort of like Basement Jaxx plugged prog, dubstep and Stankonia-era jeep beats in a blender for this one, but then Basement Jaxx have been their own feisty little Osterizers for a fiery minute now. More interesting is their constant impeccable/weird choice of vocalists you wouldn’t ever think of as pairing well, but who transcend clashing and end up complimenting each other in their own wild way, kind of like wearing something red with purple. In this case, iconoclastic alto Kelis links with higher-pitched UK R&B sensation Meleka, whose UK Funky track with Crazy Cousinz is impossible to stop listening to (and recently got a video). They mix like rum raisin. Add grime teen Chipmunk’s raps slithering easily through operatic sample and boingy sub-bass and it becomes an archetypal Basement Jaxx tumbler of textures and vivid quirks.
Download: Basement Jaxx f. Kelis, Meleka & Chipmunk, “Scars” (via Hattie Collins)
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posted on Sep 9, 2009 in MP3 / STREAMS tags Basement Jaxx, Chipmunk, Crazy Cousins, electronic/dance, grime, Kelis, Meleka
Video: Basement Jaxx, “Raindrops”
- story THE FADER
Summer of Love Alert! Besides antidepressant standbys Basement Jaxx making “Raindrops” a very pop-oriented, in-sync-with-lo-fi-movement explosion of joy, they employed some dancers for their video to don faux “tribal” body paint and interpret some post-Josephine Baker choreo-bananasosity. This is also in the lineage of Dee-Lite’s “Groove is in the Heart” video vs. Gang Gang Dance album art. The multitudes of cultural references! (Via P4K)
