Die Antwoord on Letterman (and Letterman on Die Antwoord)

[Video Link]. “Well...by God...” —David Letterman.

Die Antwoord's new album, TEN$ION, is out today.

Boing Boing editor/partner and tech culture journalist Xeni Jardin hosts and produces Boing Boing's in-flight TV channel on Virgin America airlines (#10 on the dial), and writes about living with breast cancer. Diagnosed in 2011. @xeni on Twitter. email: xeni@boingboing.net.

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http://spitfashion.blogspot.com/ mouse

going to see them saturday!! :)
http://profiles.google.com/murso74 Matthew Urso

just got L.A. Style flashbacks

yeah, i’m old
grimc

People like to bash Letterman, but which of the other late night talkies would bring Die Antwoord to Middle America?
- Rex Sundstrom
  
  Hopefully none of them.
http://www.tumbleweed.net/ tyger11

Die Antwoord and Girls Generation on Letterman in the span of a week. His head must be reeling. :)
esquire

I thought they were freaky, but I liked them a lot.
chaopoiesis

Note the grimace at 0:13 – he clearly has no appreciation for hyper-intelligent pop clowns from the antipodes.
- exoskeletor
  
  nah, just old man Letterman’s dentures acting up.
Antinous / Moderator

HuffPo called them ‘shock rappers’.
- awjt
  
  In 10 years, it’ll seem like classical music.
Brandon Williamson

I’m going to the show on Sunday, and I’m pumped. They looked a little out of place in the video. I don’t know if the audience wasn’t feeling them or what, but hopefully they’ll be playing to a more loving crowd. Perhaps it was nerves, too. I don’t know. Glad to see this.
http://www.facebook.com/RoachMcKrackin Roach McKrackin

I really, really want to like Die Antwoord…
- http://insight.pinkonbrown.org/ Dr P Fenderson
  
  Maybe you will like any of their other acts? Just look up MaxNormal.TV, The Constructus Corporation, and Fucknrad. Check the music video for MaxNormal.TV’s track “Total Fuck Up” at around 3:24, where Watkin (Ninja) describes how he will become Ninja…years before Die Antwoord surfaced. The Constructus Corporation, with its amazing comic, was such a good meshing of musical styling with creative storytelling…hard to match. Fucknrad which they did with Simon Ringrose (Sibot) and Spoek Mathambo, is fantastic as well.
- ryuchi
  
  Roach, you know Daisy (McKracking)?
- ialreadyexist
  
  They were probably forced to do the show by their promoters. They changed a lot of their lyrics, cut the song short, and weren’t really in their element. They probably disliked being on Letterman as much as Letterman disliked having them on.
  - Marktech
    
    They changed a lot of their lyrics, cut the song short, and weren’t really in their element.
    
    Presumably the show’s taped: the advantage of live television is you don’t have to do what they tell you to.
    - ialreadyexist
      
      You do if you want to get invited back or invited onto other shows.
      - Marktech
        
        You do if you want to get invited back or invited onto other shows.
        
        Of course. The musician I linked to didn’t get invited back for twelve years; I can well understand if artistes wouldn’t want to take that sort of risk.
- http://twitter.com/nothingsmonstrd nothingsmonstered
  
  I think “like” is beside the point. I don’t know if I *like* Die Antwoord, but I stand in awe of their ability to be genuinely weird. When Madonna is performing where Up With People used to work, the bar for being truly odd is high.
  
  – Maybe I don’t like them a lot, but I sure fink dey freaky.
- Tim Drage
  
  go for it, it’s pretty easy.
spacemunky

Really great exposure for them, really bad venue for their style of performance.
Sterno Dare

I’m not sure I really want to like them, but I really can’t help it!
TimmoWarner

Letterman was the last place I expected Die Antwoord to show up! Hopefully it picks them up a bunch of new fans.

It was strange hearing the self-censored different lyrics.
- http://insight.pinkonbrown.org/ Dr P Fenderson
  
  It was certainly interesting to see that – although I’m glad that they just went with translation censoring rather than “bleeping” it out, or omitting the profanity completely.
Jeb Adams

There were hundreds of kids sitting at home with their jaws on the ground after this. The world just got a little smaller for some of the sheltered youngins in America.
- ialreadyexist
  
  And it got a lot smaller for those who went and watched their official Freeky video.
ryuchi

â|wâýs |ìkë sëëìñg sñëâký |ìëfdë Frëëký -wë ârë ø|d søµ|s før â|wâýs
Sam Ley

Most performers don’t do nearly as well in the restricted format of TV. Everyone is supposed to sit down and be quiet during the performance, the audio is hugely compressed (acoustically, not file size) for broadcast, and they only get to play one song – no warm ups, no rocking crowd, no energy, etc.

I’m not a huge Letterman fan, but I have an odd respect for his attitude, probably developed long ago, of “I will never understand any of this, and I won’t try. I’ll just let it happen.”
millie fink

Always a good thing to leave Dave speechless.
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  They were less shocking than Drew Barrymore in 1995 when she pulled up her shirt and gave Dave a peep show.
  - Felton / Moderator
    
    Or Crispin Glover nearly kicking him in the head.
    - ablebody
      
      going to see him and his “what is it?” film on thursday!
    - http://pulse.yahoo.com/_KCLCVZW7OGIJZL3HYOZ33A6TTM E C
      
      Wow that’s awkward television. Crispin is hilarious.
hypersomniac

Dave’s viewership were wondering when Gary Sinise would show up.
markjamesmurphy

Xeni, you should come up to Seattle and see them at the Showbox on the 20th. It’s gonna be ZEF HIJINKS
leo

Judging on the responses:

Die Antwoord : Middle America :: David Lettermen : Boing Boing audience
twodimensionalme

Two things:

- I don’t really get why BB posts every single news about Die Antwoord.

- They LOOK so cool, but the music is crap. I mean, really. I consider myself to be a very open minded person; I listen to Mozart, Prodigy, Bjork, Radiohead, Frusciante, Johanna Newsom, but this band… this band is crap.

I didn’t want to offend someone. To me it’s pretty clear. Musically/technically speaking, they’re as crap as Justin Biebier or the Sex Pistols.
- awjt
  
  twodinemsionalme, I think you are freaky, too, and I like you a lot.
  - twodimensionalme
    
    You know what, I was about to update/edit my comment.
    I’ve been watching videos of these guys and I think they’re talented.
    I’m not appreciating they’re music, but I do love their art.
    
    They’re very talented communicators. I still think their music is kind of crap, but in order to appreciate their… how can I say… their style, their visual art, their… well, this phenomena, I really NEED to listen to their music.
    
    So, yes, they’ll be on my iPod, and if I get the chance, I’ll go to one of their concerts. :)
    - Milo
      
      I’m convinced that Die Antwoord is a project in cultural therapy, with music as their guise. ‘I Fink U Freeky’ the song is one thing; the music video is where they really start saying something. And they do this in all their videos: using dissonance and ambiguity to disrupt our conscious framing, then smuggling into our limbic brain a feeling that’s unifying, endearing, human, and yes, freaky. And that, I like— a lot.
      - twodimensionalme
        
        This kind of feeling is not that new to me.
        I’ve been listening/watching to a lot of Japanese music/arts and this is very common there.
        
        In fact I’m pretty sure they’re inspired by some Japanese bands, especially when it comes to the singing of Yolan… forgot the name. Well, the girl.
- huskerdont
  
  I was with you all the way until your last two words. Now I don’t understand anything anymore.
  - twodimensionalme
    
    I can’t take the Sex Pistols seriously if we talk about music.
    I do LOVE them, but it’s more about how they look and what they did/said on stage than what the played.
    
    I can’t say Sid Vicious was a great bassist… you know what I mean, I think.
    Same for Die Antwoord. I don’t think people appreciate their rapping skills.
    
    Some bands are simply visually greater than musically. [hard to express this concept with a good English, sorry.]
    - TimmoWarner
      
      I greatly admire Ninja’s rapping skills.
- Mister44
  
  They are musical geniuses compared to the dubstep posted here.
  
  That said, I genuinely like their song. Video is neat too. I have a feeling one or more of the heads just love this as their pet band. I am the same way with KMFDM and if I had a blog I’d post ever time Sascha took a shit.
Ashen Victor

Why?
Just look at Yo-Landi Vi$$er´s eyes and tell her.
She will rip you fooken hart!
emo hex

BARNHARDT
(studying her for a
moment)
Tell me, Hilda — do those black eyes
frighten you — do they make you
feel insecure?

HILDA
Yes, sir — they certainly do!

BARNHARDT
(nodding with a bland
little smile)
That’s good, Hilda. I’m glad.
vonbobo

Kimmel brought Antwoord to middle america back in 2010. And before that, they were called Chemical Brothers back in the 90s. I know it’s not that the coasters are now just catching up, so what’s with all of the hype?
photodawg

Boy, they don’t write songs like that anymore !!