Lux Prima

April 5, 2019 12:22 PM

Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Danger Mouse have released an album called Lux Prima. The film clip for Woman, directed by Spike Jones and performed live on The Late Show. Full album on youtube.
posted by adept256 (19 comments total)

I'm curious what the dancers are talking about before they swarm Karen.
posted by adept256 at 12:26 PM on April 5, 2019

Wow. That was amazing.
posted by lazaruslong at 12:34 PM on April 5, 2019 [1 favorite]

Where can I sign up for Karen O's post-apocalyptic beehive cult?
posted by muddgirl at 12:41 PM on April 5, 2019 [12 favorites]

Good share! I'm all over this.
posted by Telf at 12:44 PM on April 5, 2019 [1 favorite]

I'm curious what the dancers are talking about before they swarm Karen.
Looked to me they were saying “I’m okay, are you OK?”, might be wrong, though.
posted by progosk at 1:04 PM on April 5, 2019

I’m okay, are you OK?
yea, that's what I got too, (my hearing is a little patchy sometimes so I'm pretty good at lip reading}

I loved the physical variety of he dancers, I get so tired of tall and thin being presented as the only kind of beautiful.
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 1:22 PM on April 5, 2019 [7 favorites]

JOY
posted by gwint at 1:33 PM on April 5, 2019 [2 favorites]

I loved the physical variety of he dancers

Mirrors the lyrics a bit

I'm a woman, what you see
What you see, ain't what I be
Ha!

Put that on a t-shirt
posted by adept256 at 1:45 PM on April 5, 2019 [4 favorites]

Hey, one of the dancers is Jonah Hill's sister, Beanie Feldstein. Cool. I can't imagine the amount of prep that went into the video, and the execution was super cool.
posted by droplet at 2:12 PM on April 5, 2019 [2 favorites]

Pretty neat. Is Jonze ever going to make another movie? It's been six years since Her.
posted by octothorpe at 3:56 PM on April 5, 2019 [1 favorite]

Danger Mouse and anyone is always great news. But this is a cool match up.
posted by es_de_bah at 4:18 PM on April 5, 2019

There is a behind-the-scenes for the video as well: How Spike Jonze Made A Music Video In One Take
posted by boost ventilator at 4:59 PM on April 5, 2019 [5 favorites]

I had the pleasure of listening to Lux Prima last weekend. I'm bad at describing music but I call it lofi modern retro trip hop.
posted by muddgirl at 5:00 PM on April 5, 2019 [3 favorites]

Watched it again, the choreography is just so well done in such a tight space.
posted by octothorpe at 5:32 PM on April 5, 2019

I'm curious what the dancers are talking about before they swarm Karen.

This is before they start messing with the men in the band--dragging one off stage and getting in the guitarist's face. It's like they are saying, "You ready? You still in? Let's do this!" before getting rid of the male presence.
posted by shortyJBot at 6:31 PM on April 5, 2019 [1 favorite]

When do we get a Janelle Monae/Karen O collaboration?
posted by kokaku at 5:31 AM on April 6, 2019 [6 favorites]

This is awesome -- I love the live-action video, with audience participation and everything! The variety in the dancers was fantastic. I liked how the bare feet (and using feet/hands as percussion) created a very primal feeling, straddling the line between joy and rage. Great share, thank you.
posted by Fig at 6:49 AM on April 6, 2019 [2 favorites]

This is before they start messing with the men in the band--dragging one off stage and getting in the guitarist's face.

That's Danger Mouse, by the way. One-half of Gnarls Barkley, one-half of Broken Bells, and creator of the Beatles/Jay-Z mashup The Grey Album.
posted by Ben Trismegistus at 7:41 AM on April 8, 2019 [2 favorites]

I was just reminded of a couple more Spike Jonze directed live dance sequences: Here's a look at what The Tonight Show audience saw in real-time in September 2017 taken from "Changers: A Dance Story" and adapted it into a live short film with Mia Wasikowska, Lakeith Stanfield and music by Run the Jewels. There is also a behind the scenes shot by Lance Bangs, Sam Levy and Ezra Hurwitz.

Back in 2013, Jones directed Arcade Fire's “Afterlife” performance with actress/writer/director Greta Gerwig at the YouTube Music Awards.

And these aren't live, but in 2016 Jonze directed a perfume commercial starring Margaret Qualley (The Leftovers/Nice Guys) with the song “Mutant Brain” by Sam Spiegel & Ape Drums featuring Assassin…which seems to have influenced/inspired/insert-allegation-here Taylor Swift's “Delicate”.

As well as some older school favourites, like Björk’s “It's Oh So Quiet” (1995), the Chemical Brothers' “Elektrobank” (1997 with Sophia Coppola) and Fatboy Slim’s “Weapon Of Choice” (2001 with Christopher Walken).
posted by boost ventilator at 9:28 AM on April 11, 2019 [1 favorite]