Funkadelic and Boston production duo Soul Clap enjoy a casual Corvette cruise and confront the horrors of unmitigated oil consumption in the surreal live-action/claymation clip for "In Da Kar."
Recorded during the pair's 2013 sessions — and featuring a rare appearance from Sly Stone on keys — "In Da Kar" boasts a slick, smooth, understated groove while Clinton's crackly voice roughens up the edges. It's an undeniable driving song, and the video fittingly opens with the Soul Clap guys, decked out in flamboyant Seventies-style outfits, pulling up to a gas station in slow motion to refill the tank of their black Corvette.
The clip takes a quick turn, however, as the camera plunges into the gas tank and emerges on a stop-motion scene in which a fisherman finds himself in the midst of an oil spill. Back in the real world, Soul Clap pull up to a fish joint and receive a meal that's been slathered in crude.
Soul Clap's journey continues to cross with increasingly darker claymation vignettes: A man is kidnapped in front of his son while making signs to protest the oil conglomerate, after which the DJ duo glide past a group of fellow dissenters being beaten by authorities.
Later, a brutal battle in front of an oil field ends in mutual destruction, and Soul Clap find themselves stranded on a dusty road with an empty tank. The pair approach a man in a nearby field and ask if he knows where they can top off. George Clinton lifts his clay-mated head, growls, "Over there, my brother," and points to the dystopia in the distance.
"In Da Kar" was directed by Gabe Munitz-Alessio, while Hillary Barton provided the animation. The song appears on Soul Clap and Funkadelic's four-track EP of the same name, which saw release in May.
In a recent interview with Billboard, Soul Clap's Charlie Levine recalled meeting Clinton at What? Studios in Tallahassee, Florida, as well as their encounter with the enigmatic Sly Stone. "Eli was standing outside the studio white in the face like he’d scene a ghost," Levine recalled. "In the studio was Sly Stone dressed in all red velvet and a black hat with a feather coming out. It was so surreal. No one really knew what to do. But we could tell Sly and George were old friends and they were loose with each other, so we got loose too and bam next thing you know we were all jamming."
