The Belgian band marcel diversifies its sound with ‘tǎng píng funk’ *, a new single that is as slow as it is menacing. This track announces a series of compositions designed as stylistic exercises to break free from the strict confines of post-punk. In this case, the jagged guitars of funk merge with the relentless rhythm of doom metal, while the lyrics increasingly call for a complete strike of the human race, or at the very least, its radical “greening.” By extension, marcel advocates for a world with fewer (or even no) industrious humans and more motionless trees. The band urgently implores people to stop “being men” and to remember that, like trees, they are made of rotting, perishable matter:
“Back up, man down, ‘til you can smell your feet.”
The clip of ‘tǎng píng funk’ was created by Ludivine Pommet, a young French artist who specializes in collage. Here, she has created a kind of apocalyptic shadow-play theatre, which directly references the huge forest fires that swept across Europe this summer, while politicians like Theo Francken (Belgium’s Minister of Defence) mocked the frightened population, telling them to “enjoy the summer with a beer by their swimming pools”, and bought F-35 fighter jets from the US government, even as schools, hospitals and other public services are left to bleed dry.
* ‘Tangping’ (躺平) or “lying flat” is a term that emerged in the People’s Republic of China in 2021. According to some researchers and authors, it denotes a Chinese counterculture. It refers to the attitude of some young people rejecting the social pressures tied to work culture. The term 躺平 originates from the expression 躺平任嘲 (tǎngpíng rèncháo), which means “to lie flat and let people mock you.”
marcel Live Dates
October
22 – DE Siegen @Vortex
23 – DE Saarbrücken @Karateklub Meier
24 – NL Rotterdam @V11 (Official Unofficial Left of the Dial)
25 – DE Osnabrück @Bocksmäuer
26 – DE Berlin @Schokoladen
27 – DE Kassel @Sandershaus
December
10 – DE Hannover @Nordstadtbraut
11 – DE Bielefeld @Forum
For more information on marcel please check their instagram.