It was only last week that Big Grams released an a very bizarre animated video for Born To Shine/Run For Your Life, the animation courtesy of Adult Swim, the network that brought you such twisted hits as Robot Chicken and Aqua Teen Hunger Force.
Now, the collaborative project from Phantogram and Big Boi are back at it with the live action accompaniment to Drum Machine, off their incredible self-titled debut album, released last year.
The video, directed by Outkast video co-colloborater Bryan Barber, begins with an anime inspired opening sequence, before cutting to a scene with a bunch of rambling hobos and trolleys. A furry costumed wolf (‘Red Wolf’) emerges from a broken down car and proceeds to go cause havoc in what looks like downtown LA and Hollywood.
Frolicking among other street performers, the wolf attempts to grope women before ‘Dabs’ the squirrel appears to suck down some smoke from a vaporiser. Then some weird thing called ‘Purp’ proceeds to steal the car of a man entering a club. While Red Wolf is unsuccessful in gaining entry into a club, Purp has no such trouble.
The eureka moment comes when all the animals remove there masks and turn out to be Phantogram’s Sarah Barthel, Josh Carter, and Big Boi. Then the video again cuts to big, colourful cartoon letters saying ‘Next week on Big Grams’, showing a bunch of lazy and inept cops eating donuts and generally doing nothing. A sneaky little reference about Skrillex comes when the two cops start to beat up ‘Sonny Panda,’ referencing his real name, Sonny.
The video gives an interesting glimpse into the gritty streetlight of LA and its clubs, as well the maltreatment of misbehaving furry animals.
Image: vevo.com