Some new dance moves for next year's prom!

August 5, 2009 7:52 AM

Major Lazer "Pon de Floor" (SLVimeo, NSFW)

Directed by Eric Wareheim of Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!, who has become the hot shit music video director of our time.

posted by fungible (62 comments total)

I'm never getting those two minutes back, am I?
posted by Pragmatica at 7:57 AM on August 5, 2009 [2 favorites]

Holy shit that video was crazy.
posted by chunking express at 8:00 AM on August 5, 2009

That's an incredibly well done video. The camera work, color, and graphics were innovative and spectacular.

The music and choreography were...interesting. The acrobatic elements were amusing, though the repetition of motif grew dreary.
posted by Xoebe at 8:01 AM on August 5, 2009

Kids TV is getting really far out these days.
posted by jettloe at 8:05 AM on August 5, 2009 [2 favorites]

rock.
posted by brevator at 8:06 AM on August 5, 2009

So, cartoonish sexism designed to trigger epileptic fits is where we've set the bar for greatness now?

Yeah, I can see that.
posted by mhoye at 8:07 AM on August 5, 2009 [1 favorite]

Incroyable.
posted by phaedon at 8:10 AM on August 5, 2009

Fuckin'eh?
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 8:10 AM on August 5, 2009

I saw this the other day and wondered if it was directed by the same guy who did that Flying Lotus video a while back. Now I know.

(Yes it was)
posted by Dr-Baa at 8:12 AM on August 5, 2009

Oh yeah- previously
posted by Dr-Baa at 8:12 AM on August 5, 2009

I can't condone this.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 8:12 AM on August 5, 2009

So, cartoonish sexism designed to trigger epileptic fits is where we've set the bar for greatness now?

I'm a little conflicted. I love some of the Major Lazer tracks -- they're the kind of silly, bombastic self-parody that I can dig sometimes. This video feels like it's shooting for the same vibe, with over-the-top ha-ha-isn't-it-stupid aping of hiphop video cliches. Like most parody of something offensive, though, it can sometimes be unclear whether they're mocking the stupid or just being stupid.
posted by verb at 8:14 AM on August 5, 2009

This video. It vibrates.

(But I think I prefer the Hold The Line videos)
posted by bhance at 8:19 AM on August 5, 2009

I'd like to see you repost that comment with your sockpuppet, Verb :-)
posted by Reverend John at 8:20 AM on August 5, 2009

You know, my boyfriend really likes Tim and Eric and I read about how brilliant they are and I really, really try to be open minded when I watch them and the stuff they do. But screw it. I'm just going to give up. I don't get it. And I accept that. This also applies to "The Room".
posted by spec80 at 8:23 AM on August 5, 2009

Nifty graphics; terrible, terrible music. I mean, just terrible.
posted by Dr. Wu at 8:23 AM on August 5, 2009

I can't really comment on the video, since it's marked as NSFW, and I am at W. However, I really despise Tim and Eric, and wish Cartoon Network would just banish live-action from their airwaves. It just never is as good as their animated fare. The only exceptions are Space Ghost, which is a strange technicality of their guests, and The Mighty Boosh, which isn't a CN original anyway.

I guess I shouldn't thread-shit, but between T&EASGB! and Tom Goes to the Mayor, I just don't get what people see in those guys.
posted by explosion at 8:28 AM on August 5, 2009

Oh thats parody? Thanks, I didn't get that subtle distiction, I thought I was watching crude sex pantomime set to grating and ugly music. In that case, it was reminiscent of the Beatles' psychedelic animation.
posted by longsleeves at 8:28 AM on August 5, 2009

I blame M.I. A.
posted by hermitosis at 8:32 AM on August 5, 2009

Subtle.
posted by nosila at 8:33 AM on August 5, 2009 [1 favorite]

Erm...is that like hip hop meets acid rock and discovers cheap video effects?

Also, SLVimeo FAIL. Really, you don't need to mark your post as a single link if there is more than one link ;)
posted by Salvor Hardin at 8:34 AM on August 5, 2009

These people sure do enjoy miming the act of sexual intercourse in extravagant, acrobatic and preposterous ways.

I enjoyed the moments of random mania. The lady talking to a ski boot like it was a telephone, the guy spinning his necklace like a hula hoop, the goofy faces everybody kept making, the surreal brightly colored objects that appeared for no seeming reason.

But really, dry humping that much becomes kind of boring when you aren't a teenager anymore and you can just go someplace private and have sex. I am guessing the next big dance is going to consist of giving someone a handjob. Not miming one, mind you, but straight up jacking off and finger banging partners on the dance floor, but it's a dance.
posted by idiopath at 8:39 AM on August 5, 2009 [1 favorite]

I am prepared to think this is foolish but I'm pretty sure that that tim and erics peculiar aesthetic of no budget, cable access, unbeautifully average people, combined with infusions of obvious and self consciously self indulgent cgi, will come to be the it look for the next decade.
posted by I Foody at 8:44 AM on August 5, 2009

But there was that one part where the guy plays her ass like a keyboard! Hilarious! Oh, wait, no, wrong word. I meant to say "excruciating."
posted by Skot at 8:51 AM on August 5, 2009

FYI these are all pretty normal dances for dancehall--if anything it's kind of tame compared to what you might see in Jamaica.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 9:00 AM on August 5, 2009 [1 favorite]

That was bonkers!
posted by cazoo at 9:00 AM on August 5, 2009

Forgot to mark that ^^^ youtube video NSFW. It probably is.

Another Major Lazer comedy collabo: w/ Andy Milonakis. Also probably NSFW because of curses and grodyness.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 9:06 AM on August 5, 2009

What the hell?
posted by jquinby at 9:08 AM on August 5, 2009

So, uh.. The dancingdale video.. does anyone know who the actress is in that? Cuz, I kinda think she's hot for some reason, and uh... wouldn't mind seeing... more of her... work.
posted by symbioid at 9:13 AM on August 5, 2009

Ya know... if there's anyone who just might be able to take CrabRock to the next level... It might be Eric Wareheim.
posted by symbioid at 9:18 AM on August 5, 2009

I blame M.I.A.

She's not part of this group. Major Lazer is Diplo (Wes Pentz) and Switch (Dave Taylor), and M.I.A. doesn't seem to be on this album. If you don't like this track but don't hate everything to do with reggae and hip-hop, you might want to check the rest of the album out. Some tracks are equally misses for me, but I think some other tracks are fantastic.

/musicgeek
posted by filthy light thief at 9:19 AM on August 5, 2009

Must.. resist.. the snark.
posted by gallois at 9:22 AM on August 5, 2009

To his credit Diplo has spent quite a bit of time in the third world, discovering local treats. As someone who really loves Afro-Peruvian Classics: The Soul of Black Peru (compiled by David Byrne!), I really appreciate a lot of the work that Diplo puts out. His blog, Mad Decent usually deserves a visit every couple of weeks.

It is sort of interesting though, how dance has slowly evolved into a stylistic recreation of sex. I doubt dancehall moves will catch on with your typical weekend frat types at the club though. Or at least I say half hoping I won't see a short haired CPA trying anything shown in the video. If that day comes I'm officially retiring from the world and never leaving the house.
posted by geoff. at 9:29 AM on August 5, 2009 [1 favorite]

what you might see in Jamaica

I bet the parents who were chaperoning this dance are going to be in hot water. I could be wrong, but I think I saw some boys and girls who were not maintaining the required separation when they were dancing.
posted by digsrus at 9:32 AM on August 5, 2009

I thought it was a send-up of the rump-shaker school of hip-hop video, myself, and I really dug the animation and graphics.
posted by Mister_A at 9:46 AM on August 5, 2009

Yeah, I don't think it's really parody or a send-up. This is pretty standard dancehall style. The clothing, the dancing... Straight outta Jamaica, mon. Very consistent with the whole Major Lazer project vibe.
posted by mr_roboto at 9:55 AM on August 5, 2009

I was working on some dance moves like these, but my dance partner bit me when I started playing his tail like a keytar. Guess it's back to the couch cushions until I heal up.
posted by orme at 9:57 AM on August 5, 2009

I'd like to see you repost that comment with your sockpuppet, Verb :-)

You know who else liked parody music videos? Yeah. That's right.

;-)
posted by verb at 9:59 AM on August 5, 2009

I enjoyed that.
posted by everichon at 10:06 AM on August 5, 2009

Like most parody of something offensive, though, it can sometimes be unclear whether they're mocking the stupid or just being stupid.

I have an increasingly hard time believing that people's motivations for laughing at things somehow excuse them. Sure, you can laugh at it because it's an over the top parody or you can laugh because you're an uncultured jackass, but that's still a woman getting donkey-punched. You can even watch the whole thing "ironically" instead of "authentically", but when you're done, you've still watched a bunch of crappy video.

If all you have to offer is a novel way of consuming the same crap, well, good luck with that. But I'm pretty much out of time and excuses for shit like this.
posted by mhoye at 10:13 AM on August 5, 2009 [1 favorite]

If you liked that, here are some other Tim and Eric videos.
posted by Hume at 10:26 AM on August 5, 2009 [1 favorite]

It is sort of interesting though, how dance has slowly evolved into a stylistic recreation of sex. I doubt dancehall moves will catch on with your typical weekend frat types at the club though. Or at least I say half hoping I won't see a short haired CPA trying anything shown in the video. If that day comes I'm officially retiring from the world and never leaving the house.

Whitey's doing allright.
posted by filthy light thief at 10:32 AM on August 5, 2009 [1 favorite]

I have seen the future and I like it.
posted by gyusan at 10:35 AM on August 5, 2009

You know, I think there's an interesting discussion about cultural appropriation to be had here. Of course, skinny white boys have been playing and playing with Jamaican music for decades now, but Major Lazer is on a whole other level than Op Ivy or The Specials or The Clash. It seems to be an attempt by these guys to make authentically Jamaican music. They've even got a black Jamaican cartoon character as the "face" of the project. Now, I know that there are tons of problems with the idea of authenticity in music, and I'd generally rather ignore it altogether, but I think it opens some interesting issues with the developed/developing world and black/white interface that's going on here.
posted by mr_roboto at 10:39 AM on August 5, 2009

If all you have to offer is a novel way of consuming the same crap, well, good luck with that. But I'm pretty much out of time and excuses for shit like this.

I want to make clear that I wasn't saying, 'Hur, if you don't like it you don't get the meta-genius' or something like that. My 'It's hard to tell the difference between ironic meta-stupid and real stupid' comment was actually me being annoyed, not me praising the video. It might work as a comedy sketch but it does leave me 'meh' as an actual music video.
posted by verb at 10:40 AM on August 5, 2009

Did you see that part where the lady does the flying jump mount on the dude sitting in a flimsy-ass folding chair? How that didn't turn in a "meat-and-chair IUD" is beyond me.
posted by Stonestock Relentless at 10:49 AM on August 5, 2009

Animation and editing by the fatalfarm guys.
posted by infinitewindow at 10:59 AM on August 5, 2009

shit just got real crazy. AT 2:17 THE GIRL USED HER SHOE AS A PHONE.
posted by molecicco at 11:06 AM on August 5, 2009

Hmm. I didn't watch the whole thing (I actually found it kind of boring) but how exactly is this sexist? It's just people pantomiming sex moves. Are certain sexual positions sexist now?
posted by delmoi at 11:48 AM on August 5, 2009

Love it! badmantime...
posted by frankbooth at 12:12 PM on August 5, 2009

meh
posted by OHenryPacey at 12:34 PM on August 5, 2009

what's wrong with being sexy?
posted by skullbee at 12:34 PM on August 5, 2009

that music was so intensely bad that not even this intensely bad video could bring it out of its Badcave.
posted by Lipstick Thespian at 1:27 PM on August 5, 2009

a visual tour de force
posted by sswiller at 4:23 PM on August 5, 2009

I would say that those who have a viscerally strong reaction against 'pon de floor' probably have such a different set of musical tastes than I do that there is little communication to be had. (I mean I get it if you sort of don't like it's participation in the bombastification of some dance music of the past five years via nu rave-Ed Banger-'blog house'-ravestep-and-on-and-on. But that's a more quiet dislike. And I actually think the minimalism and economy of means of this track (lessons well learned from recent Angolan kuduro as much as dancehall) kind of ameliorates even some of that criticism.)

however, this video really irritated me. i've always felt very ambivalent about diplo. on the one hand, he has tried, to a degree, to help the careers of artists in brazil, angola, south africa etc. that he has liked. on the other hand, he is part of a larger feverish search for the most authentic third-world music and its consumption as something more visceral, more intense, more raw than anything in the first world. (and this search is just the most recent iteration of a much broader phenomenon that stretches beyond earlier 20th century primitivism and is grounded in the roots of modern colonialism) this video seemed to take that exoticization, primitivization of the third world subject and magnified it without effectively satirizing it or criticizing it. and it just brought my attention once again to my deep ambivalence about the ongoing 'global ghetto bass' music scene.

(and btw, in other contexts, i actually like a lot of what tim and eric do. when they send up the fringes of American pop culture with same extremism it reads very differently and can often be quite smart and funny, imho.)
posted by huffa at 7:02 PM on August 5, 2009

writing about this video is like singing about metafilter, which is meh

but pon my soul i like everything about this

but most specially the !!!!! sound!
posted by humannaire at 8:32 PM on August 5, 2009

While obviously directed by Eric, the animation is by the team who did Lasagna Cat, previously.
posted by Sticherbeast at 8:33 PM on August 5, 2009

"the hot shit music video director of our time"

We live in different times, you and I.
posted by pkingdesign at 11:36 PM on August 5, 2009

I hate anyone who says "meh." Fuck that, come up with some original criticism. God damn it, you fuckers piss me off.
posted by traver at 2:14 AM on August 6, 2009 [3 favorites]

Seconding the confusion about how sexual = sexist. I thought it was fun/funny. No heavy analysis required.
posted by molecicco at 5:59 AM on August 6, 2009

I hate anyone who says "meh." Fuck that, come up with some original criticism. God damn it, you fuckers piss me off.

Posts like that make it way too fun to say 'meh.'
posted by verb at 11:03 AM on August 6, 2009

this video, and that flying lotus one, confuse me... i can't tell if i like it or not but i can't look away... is it good like a car crash or good like good?

not so into the music, but i don't like dancehall so it's not really their fault.

animation seems pretty tight anyhow. perhaps i am a prude for feeling uncomfortable at all the dry humping. GET A ROOM PEOPLES
posted by jcruelty at 7:25 PM on August 6, 2009