On Friday, the experimental Manchester band Mandy, Indiana will release their intense, adventurous sophomore album URGH. Group member Scott Fair co-produced it with Gilla Band's Daniel Fox. I've heard the album, and it kicks ass. You probably already figured that out if you heard the early singles "Magazine" and "Cursive." Today, Mandy, Indiana share one last song before the album arrives, and it's a collaboration with one of the best rappers on the planet.
billy woods, the New York-based rapper who appears on Mandy, Indiana's new song "Sicko!," is one half of Armand Hammer and the guy behind the great label Backwoodz Studioz. Armand Hammer released their Alchemist collab Mercy a few months ago, and woods' solo album GOLLIWOG was one of last year's best records. In a press release, Mandy, Indiana say, "We wanted to create something with an artist we love, who’s been inspiring to us. woods is such a unique voice in hip hop, his words are so expressive and this track definitely adds a different dimension to the record."
"Sicko!" is a malfunctioning industrial techno track, and billy woods' presence adds to its general freaked-out intensity. Rather than making a standard music video for the song, Mandy, Indiana have put together clips from seven different filmmakers and shared an interactive carousel. Here's what they say about it:
Social media has changed the way we consume art and music, often meaning that we rarely see a full music video in the way it was intended to be experienced. For "Sicko!'," we wanted to try something different, leaning into the way people consume art on social platforms. We asked creators to make 30 second films based around "sickness" as a theme, drawing inspiration from the track. It was an experiment to see what a music video might be like if we present distinct, often conflicting, visual styles side-by-side. The videos were then matched with different sections of the track in a sequence that felt right. By moving through and watching each short, you will hear the full song.
But if you'd rather experience "Sicko!" as a regular music video, you can see the montage version below.
URGH is out 2/6 on Sacred Bones.
