Ask the average 99 percenter what they think the soundtrack to the Occupy movement might be, and you’re likely to hear something along the lines of “drum circle,” plus maybe a snort and a crack about personal hygiene. This new video for “Police Song” by Black Pus — a fuzz-and-groove project from Brian Chippendale, (slightly) better known as the drummer for beloved Providence noise duo Lightning Bolt — offers an entirely different kind of music for the movement. Although it is firmly rooted in drumming. And according to Chippendale himself, it is called “Police Song” not to allude, critically or otherwise, to law enforcement, but because of the track’s “melodic reference to a Police song” (which one we’re not sure).
But in the way of the best music clips, this one adds a new dimension to the song. It was shot by a biker making his or her way through the streets of downtown Providence, Rhode Island, starting on Federal Hill, a strip of semi-fancy restaurants with working class Italian- and increasingly Latin-American surroundings; briefly following a — yes — police cruiser; passing the ice skating rink at the foot of the state’s various banking headquarters; and ending among the tents of Occupy Providence. The picture, shaky as hell, might give you motion sickness, but the video constructs a narrative all the more elegant for having been created with literally no budget. Go ahead and count yourself among the dozens to embrace its charms.