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Continue reading Found videos from the 1990s
Tag: Indigenous Funk Company
Indigenous Funk Company “Squeeze My Lovin'”
Are you ready for some smooth jams? I thought so. “Squeeze My Lovin'” was Indigenous Funk Company’s third and final funded video. Mai FM supported the single and had it on heavy rotate. I always thought the frequently repeated piano bit sounded like something from an American daytime soap. It’s drama music, but then it seems to be a song about the kind of love that feels like a drama.
The video is a mix of boyband seduction poses and hip hop posturing. It’s low-budget and looks like it was shot with a cheap video camera, with some fake old film textures added to tszuj it up a bit.
Most of the vid is one of the Indigenous duo rapping, singing or staring at the camera. There’s a lot of staring. It’s probably intended to come across as seductive (oh yeah, girl) but when it goes on for too long, it gets really creepy. Like, stop staring me at me, ok!
We barely see the two dudes together (they give us a couple of smouldering looks at the beginning and end of the video), but there are a couple of chicks who show up in the video. At about the halfway point the rapping stops and the ladies start singing (obviously the seduction has worked).
The song goes on about a minute longer than it should, but perhaps this is a buffer. With the song’s seduction powers being so strong, that empty minute is a bit of breathing space, time to decide what to do with that lovin’.
The video ends with a wobbly zoom out of the full moon. Maybe by this stage, it is intended that the lovin’ is well and truly being squeezed so no one’s really going to be paying any attention to poor video production values.
Best bit: the lady singing in front of a glass brick wall, like the reception of a small business.
Next… can you feel her?
Indigenous Funk Company “Take A Flight”
The IFC deliver some smooth R&B, a perfect seduction soundtrack. The group were formed by producer Richie Campbell, previous of Ardijah. And that’s about all I can find about them – a short but smooth career.
The very first beat of the song starts with a “yeah-ee-eh” that momentarily tricks my brain into thinking it’s the opening of the “Neighbours” theme tune. That’s unfortunate but the song soon leaves that behind, with a combo of smooth vocals and lightning fast rapping.
The video takes place in an old empty warehouse. Except everyone’s there through the magic of green screen. There’s no pretence that it’s anything but green screen. It’s used as a layer, with rappers and dancers fading in and out over the top.
The video is grittier than the groove the song creates. Rather than a smooth urban romance, the video makes things feel like the slightly awkward seduction efforts of young New Zealanders.
Even the dancers feel less like video booty girls and more like a couple of local fitness enthusiast girls who just happened to end up in this video. There’s odd interaction between the guys and the girls, like the guys are too cool to be smooth seduction dudes. And the two dancers really seem to really be into each other more than the boys. (This sort of confusion would never happen in a Maree Sheehan video.)
Best bit: the super low bucket hat of one of the Company. Take that, LL!
Next… he was a skater boy.