Sixty40’s Mark Simpson directs new “Out In the Street” music video for Africa Hitech debut

Mark Simpson from Sixty40 has directed the clip for “Out In the Street”, a single from Africa Hitech’s brilliant debut LP “93 Million Miles” that is tearing it up around the world (out now on Warp Records).

Inspired by the glitchy voice sampling from the original Ini Kamoze lyric and hard hard-hitting rhythm of the song, the clip shows a dystopian future where robots are facing a serious existential crisis.

VIEW THE CLIP

“Out In The Street” integrates 3D robots seamlessly into background footage crowd-sourced globally from cities including Tokyo, Dubai, LA and Sydney, which presents the robot crisis as occurring around the world. Simpson and Sixty40 attempt to push music videos into the realms of short film by working with the artist to create a remix of the track that works as a score to the film. Meanwhile the action in the film works as a sort of dance sequence, the robots shaking to the beat as they approach the end of their warranty. It mixes themes of future-mindedness with the paradoxes of recycling and robot consciousness.

“It’s not a traditional music video by any means (though there is some dancing in there – mainly by doomed robots). Like our last clip for Harmonic 313, Battlestar, it’s just a short concept film that expands upon the music’s themes. This isn’t new by any means, but what makes it really pop is how Africa Hitech tore into the track, re-editing it and layering film score elements throughout allowing the music and the film to meet in the middle,” explains Mark Simpson.

The clip is receiving good attention internationally: “…while many critics have argued that they don’t even have a place in the industry anymore, music videos like this one for Africa Hitech’s “Out In The Streets” do indeed attract attention, and should the concept be as great as this one, will more than likely go viral.” FRANK N BEATS

Credits:

Additional Sound Design:
Africa Hitech