Sep 27 2008
Musical Notes from the Outskirts: The Prodigy “Breathe”
Vocalist and emcee Maxim Reality lives up to his moniker!
Back in 1996, a brazen British band by the name of The prodigy (or just “Prodigy”) took their five years of rave-induced symphonic tribal beatblazing and brought it Stateside to a post-grunge America who now wanted to combine the angst of Alice in Chains with the beat-heavy brashness of the Wu-tang Clan. The Prodigy seemed to fill that void with their double platinum Fat of the Land album by marrying big beat electro with rock and hip hop in ways that have been barely seen or heard of since by a mainstream audience.
Their video of the same year for their single “Breathe” belongs to a seemingly Jungian version of MTV where the shadows that usually dominate only the unconscious mind are put front and center for the viewer’s entertainment. The video, directed by Walter stern, is set in a decaying, decrepit apartment wherein millipedes, roaches and crocodiles feel quite at home to peruse each and every bit of space with evil intent with creeping creatures giving the pulmonary percussion, tinny guitar, sword clashing sound samples and acidic vocal growls and screeches something different to accent at each frame. This along the with an eerily disarming punk-goth, “apocalyptic chic” wardrobe by the band’s vocalists Keith Flint and Maxim Reality make for a level of semi-abstract expressionism rarely seen outside of modern visual art.
Brrrreathe with me from the Outskirts!
