Karmacoma (music video)
Encyclopedia
"Karmacoma" is a single by British trip-hop collective Massive Attack
, released as a single from their second album Protection
in March 1995. It is a rap
featuring vocals from band member 3D
and guest artist Tricky
. Tricky also recorded his own version of "Karmacoma," renamed "Overcome" for his debut studio album, Maxinquaye
.
by Russian composer Alexander Borodin
, and also includes a sample of Tuvan throat singing used by The KLF
in "Dream Time in Lake Jackson". The bass line sample featured is the same bass line used by Serge Gainsbourg
in the song "Melody" from his 1971 album Histoire de Melody Nelson
. The "Napoli Trip Mix" of the song contains samples from Roberto Paci Dalò
's record "Napoli", released in 1993.
.
, Daddy G, and Tricky are all dressed in uniforms that say "Texmex" on the front. Mushroom is sitting on the couch with a hand on his stomach, where he apparently has been shot and his shirt is bloody.
The rest of the occupants are shown intermittently throughout the video, and are all engaging in eccentric activities. Some of the scenes cross over from being weird to being supernatural and magical.
's film The Shining
, including the eerie twins, the obsessive typing of a single phrase and the shots of long, eerie hotel corridors. Also, the suited woman with the black bob is reminiscent of Mia Wallace, Uma Thurman
's character in Pulp Fiction
, particularly with the inclusion of the nosebleed. The man at the typewriter resembles Henry, Jack Nance
's character in David Lynch
's "Eraserhead
" - particularly with his haircut, although aspects of his scenes also recall the Coen Brothers
film Barton Fink
. The boy covering one eye is probably a reference to David Lynch
's TV series Twin Peaks
, which includes multiple scenes of a mysterious young boy with an older woman (the young boy often covers his face), and a hand over one eye is also a symbol for the Bookhouse Boys secret society and for One Eyed Jack's.
Massive Attack
Massive Attack are an English DJ and trip hop duo from Bristol, England consisting of Robert "3D" Del Naja and Grant "Daddy G" Marshall. Working with co-producers, as well as various session musicians and guest vocalists, they make records and tour live. The duo are considered to be of the trip...
, released as a single from their second album Protection
Protection (album)
-Sound:Protection was featured in the top ten of Rolling Stone magazine's 'Coolest Albums of All Time List,' calling it "great music for when you're driving around a city at 4 am," due to the 'chill out' nature of the album...
in March 1995. It is a rap
Rap
Rap may refer to:*Rapping, performance in which rhyming lyrics are used, with or without musical accompaniment ; while an MC performs spoken verses in time to a beat/ melody**Hip hop subculture**Hip hop music...
featuring vocals from band member 3D
Robert Del Naja
Robert Del Naja , also known as 3D, is an English artist and musician. Initially gaining notoriety as a graffiti artist and member of the Bristol collective known as "The Wild Bunch", Del Naja went on to become a founding member of the band Massive Attack where he is active to this day.-Music:Del...
and guest artist Tricky
Tricky
Tricky is an English musician and actor. As a producer and a musician, he is noted for a dark, rich and layered sound and a whispering sprechgesang lyrical style. Culturally, Tricky encourages an intertwining of societies, particularly in his musical fusion of rock and hip hop, high art and pop...
. Tricky also recorded his own version of "Karmacoma," renamed "Overcome" for his debut studio album, Maxinquaye
Maxinquaye
Maxinquaye is the debut album of the English musician and actor Tricky, released in 1995. Expanding on the sonic template of fellow Bristolians Massive Attack, and featuring then-girlfriend Martina Topley-Bird on vocals, Maxinquaye is a dark, mysterious album featuring a combination of hip-hop,...
.
Samples
The melodic refrain (e.g. 0:54) is taken from the opera Prince IgorPrince Igor
Prince Igor is an opera in four acts with a prologue. It was composed by Alexander Borodin. The composer adapted the libretto from the East Slavic epic The Lay of Igor's Host, which recounts the campaign of Russian prince Igor Svyatoslavich against the invading Polovtsian tribes in 1185...
by Russian composer Alexander Borodin
Alexander Borodin
Alexander Porfiryevich Borodin was a Russian Romantic composer and chemist of Georgian–Russian parentage. He was a member of the group of composers called The Five , who were dedicated to producing a specifically Russian kind of art music...
, and also includes a sample of Tuvan throat singing used by The KLF
The KLF
The KLF were one of the seminal bands of the British acid house movement during the late 1980s and early 1990s....
in "Dream Time in Lake Jackson". The bass line sample featured is the same bass line used by Serge Gainsbourg
Serge Gainsbourg
Serge Gainsbourg, born Lucien Ginsburg was a French singer-songwriter, actor and director. Gainsbourg's extremely varied musical style and individuality make him difficult to categorize...
in the song "Melody" from his 1971 album Histoire de Melody Nelson
Histoire de Melody Nelson
Histoire de Melody Nelson is a 1971 concept album by French songwriter Serge Gainsbourg. The Lolita-esque pseudo-autobiographical plot involves the middle-aged Gainsbourg unintentionally colliding his Rolls Royce Silver Ghost into teenage nymphet Melody Nelson's bicycle, and the subsequent...
. The "Napoli Trip Mix" of the song contains samples from Roberto Paci Dalò
Roberto Paci Dalò
Roberto Paci Dalò is an Italian composer and musician, film and theatre director, visual artist.After musical, visual, and architectural studies in Fiesole, Faenza and Ravenna, in 1993 he has been recipient of the “Berliner Künstlerprogramm des DAAD” Fellowship...
's record "Napoli", released in 1993.
Music video
The music video for the song premiered in May 1995 and was directed by Jonathan GlazerJonathan Glazer
Jonathan Glazer is an English director of films, commercials and music videos.-Biography:After studying theatre design at Nottingham Trent University, Glazer started out directing theatre and making film and television trailers, including award-winning work for the BBC...
.
Description
The video shows a hotel corridor and the occupants of the rooms along the corridor. The band are in one of the rooms accompanied by Tricky and an actress. 3DRobert Del Naja
Robert Del Naja , also known as 3D, is an English artist and musician. Initially gaining notoriety as a graffiti artist and member of the Bristol collective known as "The Wild Bunch", Del Naja went on to become a founding member of the band Massive Attack where he is active to this day.-Music:Del...
, Daddy G, and Tricky are all dressed in uniforms that say "Texmex" on the front. Mushroom is sitting on the couch with a hand on his stomach, where he apparently has been shot and his shirt is bloody.
The rest of the occupants are shown intermittently throughout the video, and are all engaging in eccentric activities. Some of the scenes cross over from being weird to being supernatural and magical.
- A man is in the corridor, holding a gun in one hand and a plastic bag with something in it on the other. He's walking backwards and pointing the gun at everything he sees, in a clear state of paranoia and distress. He's sweating and mumbling under his breath, desperately attempting to memorise the room numbers for reasons unknown. At several points he is menaced by two mysterious, identical twin girls (an homage of the 1980 film The ShiningThe Shining (film)The Shining is a 1980 psychological horror film produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick, co-written with novelist Diane Johnson, and starring Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, and Danny Lloyd. The film is based on the novel of the same name by Stephen King. A writer, Jack Torrance, takes a job as an...
), who, at one point, hold up the missing letter 'k' from another tenant's typewriter. And at one point he glimpses a double of himself, pointing a gun at him. - A man with long, unkempt hair and beard is sitting in his room (actor Olegar FedoroOlegar FedoroOlegar Fedoro is a Ukrainian-born former Soviet performer who later became a Spanish and then English actor.He started with a work for Andrei Tarkovsky's Stalker...
), staring directly into the camera and speaking in a dazed manner. "I am a... dangerous person," he announces at one point. Later: "All those guys I killed... nothing personal." (He bears a strong resemblance to the man with the gun from the corridor, although it is unclear if they are actually intended to be the same person.) At the video's end he tells the camera, "I want to be free... and I am free." - A man in one of the rooms is covered with oil among cameras and mirrors, apparently performing some sort of bizarre artwork. The oil comes from his navel, apparently, and his finger goes impossibly deep into it to extract the oil.
- A middle-aged man with a moustache is in a room with two women dressed in red satin robes. He asks "Who's gonna be a bad girl, then?". One of the women answers apathetically, "I am".
- A man is seen with a typewriter, writing "Karmacoma" over and over again on a sheet of paper, though the letter 'k' does not appear. When the man in the corridor realises the two girls have the 'k', it immediately cuts back to the man with the typewriter, who does not look at another man who appears in his room, burning sheets of paper.
- A boy watches tv news in which the journalist covers his half face with his hand. The boy repeats what he sees. As this is happening, a woman dressed in campy, old-fashioned clothing is talking on the phone about the boy.
- A man plays golf in the corridor.
- A man attempts to drown a miniature copy of himself in a bathtub.
Censorship
Some of the scenes in the video were censored in some countries and a second copy of it was made that excluded them.- The man with the moustache stands on top of a mattress and sticks his tongue out. He has a big pointed piercing in his tongue.
- The actress that accompanies the band is resting her head on 3D's shoulder. She then lifts her head, looks straight into the camera and blood spills from one of her nostrils.
- The man with the gun passes along another version of himself, the second man points the gun at the first. Cut to a different angle, where the first man is alone and pointing the gun where the second man was a second before.
- The man covered in oil is shown with his index finger stuck inside his stomach. He slowly removes it until it's all out, without leaving a wound or a hole of any kind.
Homages
The video is full of homages to other filmmakers, particularly Stanley KubrickStanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick was an American film director, writer, producer, and photographer who lived in England during most of the last four decades of his career...
's film The Shining
The Shining (film)
The Shining is a 1980 psychological horror film produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick, co-written with novelist Diane Johnson, and starring Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, and Danny Lloyd. The film is based on the novel of the same name by Stephen King. A writer, Jack Torrance, takes a job as an...
, including the eerie twins, the obsessive typing of a single phrase and the shots of long, eerie hotel corridors. Also, the suited woman with the black bob is reminiscent of Mia Wallace, Uma Thurman
Uma Thurman
Uma Karuna Thurman is an American actress and model. She has performed in leading roles in a variety of films, ranging from romantic comedies and dramas to science fiction and action movies. Among her best-known roles are those in the Quentin Tarantino films Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill...
's character in Pulp Fiction
Pulp Fiction (film)
Pulp Fiction is a 1994 American crime film directed by Quentin Tarantino, who co-wrote its screenplay with Roger Avary. The film is known for its rich, eclectic dialogue, ironic mix of humor and violence, nonlinear storyline, and host of cinematic allusions and pop culture references...
, particularly with the inclusion of the nosebleed. The man at the typewriter resembles Henry, Jack Nance
Jack Nance
Marvin John Nance , known professionally as Jack Nance and occasionally credited as John Nance, was an American actor of stage and screen, primarily starring in offbeat or avant-garde productions...
's character in David Lynch
David Lynch
David Keith Lynch is an American filmmaker, television director, visual artist, musician and occasional actor. Known for his surrealist films, he has developed his own unique cinematic style, which has been dubbed "Lynchian", and which is characterized by its dream imagery and meticulous sound...
's "Eraserhead
Eraserhead
Eraserhead is a 1977 American surrealist film and the first feature film of David Lynch, who wrote, produced and directed. Lynch began working on the film at the AFI Conservatory, which gave him a $10,000 grant to make the film after he had begun working there following his 1971 move to Los Angeles...
" - particularly with his haircut, although aspects of his scenes also recall the Coen Brothers
Coen Brothers
Joel David Coen and Ethan Jesse Coen known together professionally as the Coen brothers, are American filmmakers...
film Barton Fink
Barton Fink
Barton Fink is a 1991 American film, written, directed, and produced by the Coen brothers. Set in 1941, it stars John Turturro in the title role as a young New York City playwright who is hired to write scripts for a movie studio in Hollywood, and John Goodman as Charlie, the insurance salesman who...
. The boy covering one eye is probably a reference to David Lynch
David Lynch
David Keith Lynch is an American filmmaker, television director, visual artist, musician and occasional actor. Known for his surrealist films, he has developed his own unique cinematic style, which has been dubbed "Lynchian", and which is characterized by its dream imagery and meticulous sound...
's TV series Twin Peaks
Twin Peaks
Twin Peaks is an American television serial drama created by David Lynch and Mark Frost. The series follows the investigation headed by FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper , of the murder of a popular teenager and homecoming queen, Laura Palmer...
, which includes multiple scenes of a mysterious young boy with an older woman (the young boy often covers his face), and a hand over one eye is also a symbol for the Bookhouse Boys secret society and for One Eyed Jack's.
Track listing
- "Karmacoma" – 5:21
- "Karmacoma" (Bumper Ball Dub) – 6:01
- "Karmacoma" (The Napoli Trip Mix) – 6:10
- "Karmacoma" (Portishead Experience Mix) – 4:03
- "Karmacoma" (Ventom Dub Special) – 6:08
- "Karmacoma" (UNKLEUNKLEUnkle are a British musical outfit founded in 1994 by school friends James Lavelle and Tim Goldsworthy. Originally categorized as trip-hop, the group once included producer DJ Shadow and have employed a variety of guest artists and producers.-First incarnation :Lavelle and Goldsworthy were joined...
Situation Mix) – 5:42