Video Magic :: stunning anarchrist edition

Spoek Mathambo :: Control

dir. by Pieter Hugo & Michael Cleary

I realize I’ve been relatively silent on this blog recently, but perhaps that is because I was waiting for something that I felt really warranted talking about. and behold! I’ve found that something!  As it is perfectly put on his website, “Spoek Mathambo is a slippery post-Apartheid glam-rap prince from Soweto who is descended from distant African royalty, or Jewish, or both.”Control, which is the fourth single off the debut full length Mshini Wam, is a brutal voodoo dark house rendition of Joy Division’s song of the same title. It is a grimy, groovy, and incredibly eerie take on the classic and does the original no harm or foul.

Pieter Hugo and Michael Cleary’s vision for this is the perfect compliment, shooting the neighborhood kid created dance group Happy Feet on location in abandoned warehouses in Langa, Cape Town. The black and white is stark, and the use of dripping paint to create contrast is reminiscent of the Sam Brown directed video for Jay-Z’s On to the Next One, though beyond that this is one of the most original, dark, and awesome music videos I’ve seen in ages. Pieter Hugo most recently gained attention for his photo essay called The Hyena & Other Men, which involved, well, men and their hyenas. Michael Cleary is a cinematographer who has done extensive commercial and independent video work.

The end result is an art piece of epic and goose bump inducing proportions.