Comments on: wrong, wrong, and terribly wrong.

wrong, wrong, and terribly wrong.

carsonb — Sat, 03 May 2008 23:32:06 -0800

Ultraviolence chic again in Justice video Stress. NSFW Justice previously on MetaFilter .

By: Leon-arto

Leon-arto — Sat, 03 May 2008 23:47:42 -0800

It just sounds like noise.

By: loquacious

loquacious — Sat, 03 May 2008 23:49:32 -0800

Hey, nice industrial techno. Like Daft Punk channeling Plasticman on a really bad trip. Wait, Kanye? Justice? WTF? Does this mean I'll be hearing "chopped-and-screwed" breakcore on Sucka Free Sundays in about a year? Because I'd be ok with that.

By: Bookhouse

Bookhouse — Sat, 03 May 2008 23:50:47 -0800

It's fun to do bad things. A pretty good video, overall. Even if you like this kind of music, it isn't always suited for videos, and pairing it with something this visceral is a good idea.

By: Bookhouse

Bookhouse — Sat, 03 May 2008 23:51:31 -0800

Oh, and the part where the toughs hear a snippet of Justice's poppier music and kick the radio was a nice touch.

By: Citizen Premier

Citizen Premier — Sat, 03 May 2008 23:57:21 -0800

That's not ultraviolence. Those punks ain't got nothing on the Gestapo.

By: Venadium

Venadium — Sun, 04 May 2008 00:07:49 -0800

Warriors, come out and playyeeeyyyayyyyyyyy *clink* *clink* *clink*

By: bigmusic

bigmusic — Sun, 04 May 2008 00:07:51 -0800

It just sounds like noise. No, that's industrialish em. Here's some noise.

By: Venadium

Venadium — Sun, 04 May 2008 00:11:34 -0800

On second thought, I should have gone with a GTA joke instead.

By: PostIronyIsNotaMyth

PostIronyIsNotaMyth — Sun, 04 May 2008 00:20:40 -0800

By: carsonb

carsonb — Sun, 04 May 2008 00:23:43 -0800

By: aqhong

aqhong — Sun, 04 May 2008 00:27:00 -0800

I liked it.

By: wendell

wendell — Sun, 04 May 2008 00:42:22 -0800

Okay, so that Justice logo isn't really a cross, it's a T for "Thug". A little long, but the ending was worth it, (*SPOILER*) when the JusThugs turned on their cameraman. And seeing the soundguy on fire was a chuckle.

By: liquorice

liquorice — Sun, 04 May 2008 00:51:21 -0800

That was terribly...good.

By: scodger

scodger — Sun, 04 May 2008 01:19:42 -0800

The block of flats at the start is the same as in come to daddy isn't it?

By: blacklite

blacklite — Sun, 04 May 2008 01:22:09 -0800

You don't have to (*SPOILER*) necessarily interpret it as they turned on their cameraman, wendell - you could think of it as they were trying to leave a message for Everyone Else, and spitting on them etc is what they think of them. And then they left the camera & tape on the ground for the police to find. (*END SPOILER*) Or whatever. Pretty interesting though anyway, and the music wasn't half bad, though I won't run out and buy it. If your kneejerk reaction is "IT SOUNDS LIKE NOISE", though... how did you find the internet?

By: blacklite

blacklite — Sun, 04 May 2008 01:29:11 -0800

Venetian Snares is usually a sure hit when I want to scare someone with music-as-noise but I can't find something good to link to at the moment to just be "here, this is noise!" But I want to link to this anyway: Szamar Madar (it's not an official video, it's not perfect, but it references Norman McLaren old school video/animation at the beginning, so that redeems it. It does something retarded in the middle, too. But anyway.)

By: dersins

dersins — Sun, 04 May 2008 01:31:36 -0800

Visceral, but pretty unoriginal. Anyway, I liked the Devo sample.

By: whir

whir — Sun, 04 May 2008 02:12:15 -0800

ZOMG, French gang members, so cute! Look at their little matching outfits!

By: protorp

protorp — Sun, 04 May 2008 02:17:23 -0800

Although some of Venetian Snare's music is crazy noise, and some of it is just downright eurgh, I've managed to convert more people (including a surprising number of anti-techno-ites) to the joys of breakcore through his (slightly) less crazy stuff such as Hajnal. It's great to keep a few breakcore / gabba mp3s on your mobile phone, then if gobby teenagers start playing tinny R&B on public transport you have the ability to make them fully aware that you can play the antiscoial dickhead better than they could ever aspire to . . . For those who like a more melodious take on crazy music, check out some Sumoisaundi, Luomuhappo's track Greatest of Blessings from the brilliantly titled album Pog-O-Matic Pogómen 3000000 is one of my favourite examples.

By: empath

empath — Sun, 04 May 2008 02:40:54 -0800

You really have to see Justice live and loud to appreciate how awesome a track like that is.

By: googly

googly — Sun, 04 May 2008 03:03:17 -0800

So much hate.

By: Stunt

Stunt — Sun, 04 May 2008 03:30:40 -0800

Yeah, for some reason I was certain that bigmusic's noise link was going to be Venetian Snares. Although I have to say that the majority of his linked work in this thread is fairly accessible. Actually, I'd say that Rossz Csillag Allat Született is overall easier to listen to than damn near everything else he's done, certainly more so than any of the older work he put out. Ah, yeah, the video. Interesting video. I liked it, although it's not exactly wholesome good timey fun so I'm sure there are a lot of people who really won't. Justice is definitely growing on me.

By: StickyCarpet

StickyCarpet — Sun, 04 May 2008 04:05:52 -0800

sickkk joint!!!

By: redteam

redteam — Sun, 04 May 2008 04:08:37 -0800

Ultraviolence chic again? Where can I find more of this ultraviolence chic?

By: fearfulsymmetry

fearfulsymmetry — Sun, 04 May 2008 05:20:49 -0800

Decent track but that video really needs some of the old Ludvig Van

By: cyclopticgaze

cyclopticgaze — Sun, 04 May 2008 05:41:54 -0800

Amusing. One night in an American jail and those hip gangster wannabes won't feel so badass.

By: Chocomog

Chocomog — Sun, 04 May 2008 05:52:11 -0800

I just saw this video last night and liked it. This doesn't mean I support "a bit of the rape and ultraviolence", but it was a well done video. I admit I do like Justice and the other videos they've done for the album that I've seen (D.A.N.C.E. and DVNO) are well done also. In beofre your favorite bands sucks, techno sucks, blah blah blah.

By: caddis

caddis — Sun, 04 May 2008 05:53:01 -0800

It's better than lice.

By: mattoxic

mattoxic — Sun, 04 May 2008 06:03:26 -0800

Alll together... cause this is thriller, thriller night, And no ones gonna save you from the beast about strike You know its thriller, thriller night....

By: krautland

krautland — Sun, 04 May 2008 06:17:21 -0800

nice look but rather pointless. reminds me of the NYC subway in the late eighties.

By: Frikki

Frikki — Sun, 04 May 2008 06:24:46 -0800

Is this multiplayer Grand Theft Auto?

By: mattoxic

mattoxic — Sun, 04 May 2008 06:36:56 -0800

Amusing. One night in an American jail and those hip gangster wannabes won't feel so badass. I suppose French jails are full of intense beret wearing intellectuals drinking absinthe and discussing Sartre.

By: Forktine

Forktine — Sun, 04 May 2008 06:47:50 -0800

ZOMG, French gang members, so cute! Look at their little matching outfits! That was my reaction -- that "ultraviolence" wasn't very ultra, more infra really. Minor hoodlumism, more than anything, plus the silly outfits. Real ultraviolence has a lot of krovvy being spilled, bad things happening. Kicking car mirrors? Puhlease. Had those kids come around a corner and met a bunch of Russian mafiosi or a wound-up of drunk soccer fans, they would have gotten their matching-outfitted asses kicked faster than you can blink. Color me unimpressed. The music was ok, though, in that background music kind of way.

By: localroger

localroger — Sun, 04 May 2008 06:53:59 -0800

What fearfulsymmetry and Forktine said -- this is really a very tepid riff on A Clockwork Orange. The violence doesn't seem very ultra without a drop of blood or square inch of indecently exposed skin. For that matter, it's not even all that NSFW.

By: podwarrior

podwarrior — Sun, 04 May 2008 06:56:18 -0800

There was no joy in their acts and the music echoed the morose banality. Ultraviolence should be fun. Clockwork taught us that.

By: Forktine

Forktine — Sun, 04 May 2008 07:15:19 -0800

Whoops, make that "a wound-up group of drunk soccer fans."

By: adamdschneider

adamdschneider — Sun, 04 May 2008 07:23:09 -0800

Seriously, where are all the ultraviolence chicks? While I also find that calling it ultraviolence is overselling it, being more realistic and "it could happen here" makes it a bit more chilling than it would have been were it more over the top. Even if it does play like I would imagine the opening credits to Banlieue 13-2 would.

By: Mick

Mick — Sun, 04 May 2008 07:23:13 -0800

Make me want to get a conceal/carry license

By: False Jesii Inc.

False Jesii Inc. — Sun, 04 May 2008 07:26:44 -0800

Breakcore? BREAKCORE!? This is breakcore! I always find videos, and electronic singles, like this a bit weird. Electronic music taken out of the context of the dj tends to leave a bad taste in my mouth. A lot of electronic music is kinda boring, because it is meant to be a building block within something larger. This track is not one I want to listen to from start to end by itself. That being said, boring video.

By: curlyelk

curlyelk — Sun, 04 May 2008 07:31:26 -0800

Good music, but the video was over the top. Real punks use their hands to take off side view mirrors.

By: jeffmik

jeffmik — Sun, 04 May 2008 07:36:41 -0800

Reminded me more of Man Bites Dog than A Clockwork Orange.

By: oddman

oddman — Sun, 04 May 2008 07:36:43 -0800

I am bemused that some people see fit to complain that the actions of the gang aren't really violent enough.

By: fungible

fungible — Sun, 04 May 2008 07:51:10 -0800

I like the video, but over on Antville they had this big discussion (among the usual idiot rants about "originality") about how this is kind of a conservative National Front wet dream video, where the immigrant kids are out of control and we've got to stop them. And then someone else pointed out that maybe it's more a critique of how the media sells this message, since the camera people are so much a part of it. And I thought they both had a point. I'm just happy when any music video in this day creates discussion at all.

By: Nelson

Nelson — Sun, 04 May 2008 08:05:59 -0800

Wow, you all had the opposite reaction to this video that I did. I found it very upsetting and disturbing. I wonder if we have any Parisian MeFiers who can comment on how it struck them. Paris has a real problem in the suburbs with violent, hopeless young men. It wasn't long ago that there were major riots going on for weeks, and there was real fear the city would lose control when Sarkozy was elected. This video is like every rich Parisian city-dwellers' nightmare. Gang of tough "dark" kids coming into the city, to Sacre Coeur, to the brasserie, and fucking people up? Fighting in the metro? This video is quite a contrast to the shiny irony of the DVNO video. I don't think Justice is posturing that they're tough gangbangers, I think they're playing out the chilling anti-fantasy of their Paris audience. At least, that was my reaction.

By: Seamus

Seamus — Sun, 04 May 2008 08:48:02 -0800

Ha! Mick, my first impression was that this was a Pro-CCL video. Crowd of thugs violently attacks one person while a crowd of pants-pee-ers stands by, turning away so as to not draw attention to themselves. The mighty individualist doesn't look away, is targeted for the next attack, draws but does not fire and the little children run screaming from the scene probably breaking more mirrors. But then, this isn't an Amurkin video. It made it more entertaining to watch imagining the GOA Re-mix.

By: MUD

MUD — Sun, 04 May 2008 09:31:52 -0800

Both the music and the visuals do a lot to evoke the titular stress. Good job.

By: mkn

mkn — Sun, 04 May 2008 09:34:28 -0800

It just sounds like noise. MY FAVOURITE MUSIC GENRE IS BETTER THAN YOUR FAVOURITE MUSIC GENRE. Anyway, it's a good thing that this post wasn't about a Merzbow video cause then you'd be really shitting your pants. As for the Justice video, *I* think it's pretty great. To me it's a kind of three minute mashup of the essence of "La Haine" and "Man Bites Dog". The fact that the documentary crew is so prominent, especially the deeper they get into the rampage, is what a lot of people that decry it as "gratuitous violence" really miss. I wrote about this in my weblog (in my profile) so I won't go at length about it, but I liked it. And I'm not even that big a fan of that French electro sound (though the album does have some moments).

By: Kwine

Kwine — Sun, 04 May 2008 09:36:26 -0800

I was also upset and disturbed by the video, Nelson.

By: patr1ck

patr1ck — Sun, 04 May 2008 10:04:54 -0800

Great video. Loved the self-reference to D.A.N.C.E. when they kicked in the radio in the car.

By: tiger yang

tiger yang — Sun, 04 May 2008 10:38:37 -0800

This video sucks. So now the French are co-opting and commoditizing US gang culture and black impoverishment ala MTV in an attempt to sell shitty music to suburbanites. Back at home, white nerds rejoice the video as revolutionary. This is boring, predictable and highly elucidates the virtual blood lust among privileged young consumers who have the play fantasy-world with others’ misfortune and penury.

By: suedehead

suedehead — Sun, 04 May 2008 10:42:03 -0800

Justice - DVNO. Totally awesome!

By: asok

asok — Sun, 04 May 2008 10:46:21 -0800

The crowd at that fishhead gig are really getting down! Just like crowds at aphex twin gigs do. Kind of makes one suspicious about the whole intelligent dance music monicker. Using 'electronica' makes more sense to me. The video for the Justice song is well made and effective. I concur with fungible.

By: billyfleetwood

billyfleetwood — Sun, 04 May 2008 10:53:19 -0800

Despite the kanye Blog's bullshit claim of "exclusive!" there's a hi-res version here, for those who wish. loquacious, The Kanye-Justice connection can be explained thusly...He's got this reverse-cultural appropriation schtick going where he picks up on things the indie kids were into a year ago and presents it to the hip hop kids as if he discovered it. Which would be awesome if he weren't putting his special brand of "this is cool because I say so" on it. I find it to be quite annoying.

By: paddysat

paddysat — Sun, 04 May 2008 10:57:13 -0800

Is there a sequel where they are caught, sent to prison and are ass-rapped by inmates much bigger and tougher than they are, all to the sweet sounds of Enya?

By: [NOT HERMITOSIS-IST]

[NOT HERMITOSIS-IST] — Sun, 04 May 2008 11:08:09 -0800

Is there a sequel where they are caught, sent to prison and are ass-rapped by inmates much bigger and tougher than they are, all to the sweet sounds of Enya? Because that would be an appropriate punishment, or because that would make for an equally "offensive" video?

By: Kraftmatic Adjustable Cheese

Kraftmatic Adjustable Cheese — Sun, 04 May 2008 11:10:11 -0800

So now the French are co-opting and commoditizing US gang culture Ah yes, because only Americans can run in gangs.

By: suedehead

suedehead — Sun, 04 May 2008 11:20:53 -0800

Ah yes, because only Americans can run in gangs. Didn't you get the memo? Violence is an America-only thing; so is capitalism, consumerism, mass media, pop culture.

By: False Jesii Inc.

False Jesii Inc. — Sun, 04 May 2008 11:28:06 -0800

asok, that is so not IDM and 'electronica' was never more than a marketing term. You'll hear EDM, electronic dance music, tossed about sometimes. I linked to it, because that's the scene Venetian Snares got his start in. This is more like the Snares I know and love. Good ol' Midwest breakcore.

By: paddysat

paddysat — Sun, 04 May 2008 11:47:55 -0800

Is there a sequel where they are caught, sent to prison and are ass-rapped by inmates much bigger and tougher than they are, all to the sweet sounds of Enya? Because that would be an appropriate punishment, or because that would make for an equally "offensive" video? Neither. I just said it so that someone would get their panties in a bunch and ask me a loaded question like that one. I just like sequels and Enya is well overdue for a radical makeover.

By: tiger yang

tiger yang — Sun, 04 May 2008 11:55:32 -0800

Ah yes, because only Americans can run in gangs. This entirely misses the point of what I’m saying. This isn’t about gangs at all, it’s about consumer habits. And certainly America’s knack for packaging violence and the misfortunes of others for the consumption of privileged consumers is not solely ours (though our brand of it is certainly imitated). It’s our inability to see the branding campaign behind the product; the blind brine of white dorks that will flock like pigs to the trough any time the market gives them a consumable good that allows them to peek into the misfortunes and sufferings of a pre-packaged version of a culture that is not their own. But don’t mind me. Purchase away.

By: Iax

Iax — Sun, 04 May 2008 12:12:45 -0800

I thought it was kind of nice that the gang was racially integrated. At the beginning I thought it was going to be black vs white, but it ended up rich vs poor, which is atleast a small step up.

By: SageLeVoid

SageLeVoid — Sun, 04 May 2008 12:17:48 -0800

I would have brush it off as irony but Romain Gavras, the director, is a notorious rich white kid plagued with an obsession with ghetto imagery, he's Costa Gavras son. It's a pretty common condition amongst rich people kids these days in France. Sarkozy's son has it, Jean-Pierre Cassel's two kids as well. Let's hope research will find a cure soon...

By: Kraftmatic Adjustable Cheese

Kraftmatic Adjustable Cheese — Sun, 04 May 2008 12:18:57 -0800

tiger yang, I'm not certain I fully understand what you're getting at, so maybe I'm wrong to point this out, but I'm not sure how this particular piece of pop culture supports your ideas as it's got very little to do with the U.S. at all. It's a video made in France of a particular Parisian social problem supporting a track by a French band, and the video references a Belgian movie (Man Bites Dog) and a British movie based on a British book (Clockwork Orange).

By: facetious

facetious — Sun, 04 May 2008 12:39:09 -0800

So they're dicks? That's it? I was thinking they should maybe get bunions. Or a dental condition that would require wearing headgear. Chumps.

By: Uther Bentrazor

Uther Bentrazor — Sun, 04 May 2008 13:09:43 -0800

From an aesthetic standpoint, the music went with the video well. However, I didn't much care for it. I know that when I say that I found the imagery disturbing and sad someone's going to pop out and say "that's the point MAN it's shocking and jarring and all in your face reality!" or how violent rap music and imagery is already pervasive and call this video disturbing is to pretend that gang activity such as this doesn't exist. Different subculture, but it reminds me of when I was in high school and they sold "Psych Ward " inmate style shirts at Hot Topic that the dopier goth kids would wear; It's only cool to you because you've never been institutionalized. The people who wear those legitimately (as in, people committed in a psychiatric ward) are in a sad situation they most likely find neither glamorous or fashionable. Likewise, kids like the ones in the video are the end result of a long string of unfortunate circumstances, environmental factors, bad parenting, etc. It's a testament to the shortsighted nature of 'thug' culture that they so often idolize Scarface without remembering how that movie ended. There is a possibility that were these children born into affluence, hope, and guidance, they would see fit to pack together and set out on a campaign of juvenile terror and posturing, but in most cases it's a modern cowboy fantasy played for laughs and sold at a premium between rich kids, all the while protected from the very real human tragedy their everyday halloween costumes are based on.

By: kid ichorous

kid ichorous — Sun, 04 May 2008 13:55:39 -0800

The perfect antidote/chaser to this gangster-fab aesthetic is Aphex Twin's Windowlicker [NSF... just about anywhere].

By: katillathehun

katillathehun — Sun, 04 May 2008 13:55:58 -0800

When you're a JusThug, you're a JusThug all the way from your last cigarette 'til you're in with Kanye.

By: regicide is good for you

regicide is good for you — Sun, 04 May 2008 13:59:40 -0800

Immediate, gut reaction - it's like La Haine, but shitty, and with no context. Hooliganism packaged for buying and selling (insight in to causes and repercussions sold separately). The disaffection and anger among abandoned suburbanites is a really complex and crucial issue that needs to be addressed, but my immediate instinct is that this video contributes nothing except providing sexual harrassment with a rousing soundtrack. Down with this sort of thing. And I'm usually the one arguing for the value of this sort of thing. Call me when there's a music video of these tossers doing something constructive with their downtrodden blueballs, like looting supermarket chains and distributing the groceries. Until then this is a glorification of poverty, packaged for the voyeuristic delight of those contributing to or benefitting from that poverty - whatever the intent might have been.

By: kid ichorous

kid ichorous — Sun, 04 May 2008 14:02:00 -0800

I suppose French jails are full of intense beret wearing intellectuals drinking absinthe and discussing Sartre. Mostly, but you forgot Antoine Doinel, Jean Valjean, and the Man in the Iron Mask.

By: Pastabagel

Pastabagel — Sun, 04 May 2008 17:17:24 -0800

This video is like every rich Parisian city-dwellers' nightmare. Gang of tough "dark" kids coming into the city, to Sacre Coeur, to the brasserie, and fucking people up? Fighting in the metro? 24 miles (36 minutes) from Compton to Beverly Hills. The matching jackets are cute, though.

By: saysthis

saysthis — Sun, 04 May 2008 20:30:38 -0800

All I can say is like...that's some great hood rat stuff. I bet the people who made this video smoke real cigarettes.

By: KoobieKitten

KoobieKitten — Sun, 04 May 2008 22:59:50 -0800

God that was sexy. MORE. NOW.

By: citron

citron — Sun, 04 May 2008 23:07:41 -0800

I like it. that is what it feels like in some of the parts of Paris and the suburbs imho. Not that kind of violence regularly but the feeling that something violent is about to happen.. it's just around.. I could sense it.. things are tense, just anger looking for a target sometimes. A guy pushed me, hard, out of the door of a metro once for no reason, I saw another man haul off and slap a woman straight in the face twice, on a crowded train (I don't think they were acquainted it was just a minor disagreement and.. instant reaction). That is real, and is the isolation and miserable conditions in some of those areas, the HLMs, the lack of opportunity and alienation from mainstream society that is really affecting people and I don't know what will happen, but I sort of understand why cars get torched a lot. I notice his film company is "Kourtrajmé" which if I catch the meaning right would be making a street slang word of the phrase "court métrage" eg "short film." ha..! Anyway it seems to me actually pretty thoughful and engaged, not at all just shock violence for violence's sake.

By: toddbass10

toddbass10 — Mon, 05 May 2008 03:59:13 -0800

I'd rather find a chic that was down for the old in out in out.

By: turgid dahlia

turgid dahlia — Mon, 05 May 2008 05:10:53 -0800

That was pretty cool.

By: The Monkey

The Monkey — Mon, 05 May 2008 07:20:06 -0800

Great stuff.

By: The Monkey

The Monkey — Mon, 05 May 2008 07:20:41 -0800

I'd rather find a chic that was down for the old in out in out. No time for the old in-out, love.

By: FatherDagon

FatherDagon — Mon, 05 May 2008 09:08:44 -0800

By: zardoz

zardoz — Wed, 07 May 2008 05:30:28 -0800

brilliant. wrong and reprehensible, but that's the point. just brilliant.

By: fearfulsymmetry

fearfulsymmetry — Thu, 08 May 2008 01:09:43 -0800

Analyzed in The Guardian. "They mainly seem to have a problem with Parisian buskers. Look at those bongos go! Not that I'm advocating violence against certain people, of course. That would be dreadful. I'm not saying it's OK to target dreadful buskers. I could NEVER get away with saying that here. But, you know - bongos? Go on my son."

By: Neiltupper

Neiltupper — Thu, 08 May 2008 21:45:35 -0800

"Is it interesting? Yes. Is it different? Yes. Is it well made? Yes. Do we like? That's another question."

By: Neiltupper

Neiltupper — Thu, 08 May 2008 21:47:26 -0800

Oops. Missed your link, fearfulsymmetry. Terrific article

By: carsonb

carsonb — Wed, 14 May 2008 13:15:32 -0800

Official Press Release from Justice re Stress:

La vidéo de STRESS est née d’une idée : offrir un clip indiffusable en télé à un titre indiffusable en radio. Sans la contrainte de réaliser un clip diffusable, nous avons pris toutes les libertés avec ce support. Pas pour choquer gratuitement : juste pour ouvrir le débat, susciter des questions, comme le font régulièrement le cinéma, la littérature ou l’art contemporain. Avec cette liberté viennent des risques : être mal interprétés, voire instrumentalisés. Nous ne l’avons à l’origine confié qu’à un seul site web, certains que ce clip trop long, trop violent et aussi peu consensuel ne pouvait exister qu’en dehors des schémas habituels. Nous étions conscients que le clip était sujet à controverse. Nous n’imaginions pas un instant que le débat irait si loin, que nous nous retrouverions à devoir nous justifier sur des sujets aussi graves. Mais la récupération massive de ce clip, en quelques heures seulement, nous a rappelé à quel point il est difficile aujourd’hui de contrôler la destination des images et l’intégrité de leur propos. Nous n’avons ni l’intention ni la légitimité de parler en profondeur des problèmes de société. Ce film n’a jamais été envisagé comme une stigmatisation de la banlieue, comme une incitation à la violence ou, surtout, comme un moyen larvé de véhiculer un message raciste. Cette vidéo n’a jamais été censurée. Nous avions pris dès le départ la décision de refuser systématiquement toute diffusion télévisuelle afin de ne l’imposer à personne. Nous avons donc toujours laissé au spectateur le choix de la voir ou de l’ignorer sans jamais tenter d’orienter sa pensée, conformément à l’idée que nous nous faisons de l’art et du divertissement. Gaspard & Xavier, JUSTICE.

Babelfish translation [with some help from me]:

The video for STRESS was born from an idea: to offer a clip as inappropriate for TV as the track was for radio. Without the constraint to produce a TV-acceptable clip, we took all freedoms with this support. Not to shock freely: just to begin the debate, to cause questions, as the cinema, the literature or the contemporary art do it regularly. With this freedom come from the risks: to be badly interpreted, even instrumentalized. We in the beginning entrusted it only to one Web site, some that this too long clip, too violent one and also not very consensual could exist only apart from the usual diagrams. We were conscious that the clip was prone to controversy. We did not imagine a moment which the debate would go so far, that we would find ourselves having to justify ourselves on such serious subjects. But the massive popularity of this clip, in a few hours only, reminded us of the point that it is difficult to today control the destination of the images and the integrity of their matter. We proffer no legitimacy to speak in-depth about the societies' problems. This film is forever under consideration as a stigmatization of the suburbs, an incentive to violence or, especially, like a larval means to convey a racist message. This video will be censured forever. We began with the decision to refuse any televisual diffusion systematically in order to not impose it on anybody. We thus always let to the spectator the choice see it or be unaware of it without never trying to direct its thought, in accordance with the idea that we have art and entertainment.

via