Chicano Batman – Pink Elephant (Music Video)
There’s something about California and the West Coast that helps create some of the funkiest, grooviest music. Maybe it’s the high amounts of sunlight, proximity to the ocean, or the lifestyle that encourages letting loose and feeling the notes bounce through the air and the surrounding bodies.
Whatever it is, L.A. funk four-piece Chicano Batman capture the je ne sais quoi of the West Coast and throw it into a blender of funk, synthesizers, blues, and bass lines. Set to release their fourth album Invisible People on May 1st, Chicano Batman have shared their new psych-pop single “Pink Elephant”.
You can almost feel the ocean breeze flowing across the top-down convertible as the bass groove dances through the speaker, with a femme fatale character in the passenger seat as the opening lyrics hit:
“She’s a pink elephant in the room / she’s a mercenary with perfume / just like in the movies she kills for fun / decapitating heads like the shogun”.
It begs to be heard cruising through Hollywood in a freshly cleaned whip. Which makes sense, since the original demo version was titled “40 Dollar Carwash”, inspired by none other than bassist Eduardo Arenas’ freshly washed car. The band explains:
“On his birthday, Eduardo got [a carwash] and the freshness of his whip reminded him of his West Coast roots listening to hip hop growing up in 90’s L.A” .
That feeling of invincibility and carefreeness on a sun-kissed evening drive goes down like a delicious smoothie of The Gorillaz, Dr. Dre and Unknown Mortal Orchestra.
Maintaining the unpolluted, freshly trimmed inspiration, the music video shows the band in the studio. For a song built on the idea of “less is more”, the studio session just feels like the right thing to do.
Enjoy it below and visit their website to pre-order Invisible People.
You can hear “Pink Elephant” on our March 2020 Spotify Playlist.
