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Watch K-X-P’s ‘Magnetic North,’ a Drunk-Driving PSA Gone Awesome

K-X-P

Finnish electronikraut crew K-X-P have a far-out rhythmic ripper on their hands with new album II, out now on Los Angeles indie powerhouse Manimal Vinyl. The band chants, grinds, bangs, and clangs their way through the 12 songs contained therein, originally written while main man Timo Kaukolampi was on sabbatical in Berlin, then recorded within converted movie theaters (and studios) in Helsinki. The new platter is a step up from the group’s 2010 eponymous debut in terms of both aggression and ambition, and “Magnetic North” offers a compact window into that shift. The song’s driving vibes and playful psychedelic inclinations are well matched by the video above, which begins with a man drunkenly stumbling out onto the street from a local watering hole. He’s initially swinging wildly at something only he can see, but soon we can see it too — all of it: the green-skinned mud witch that teases him, the alien camel creature that lumbers past his car, and the hitchhiking polar bear he picks up en route to nowhere in particular. The clip is fantastically surreal and even more so when you learn that it’s sourced from a 1986 Finnish drunk driving PSA that was scrapped because it made the offense in question look awesome.