Yup. Exactly. Echo's promo video has this strange feeling to it. It's almost as if it's a satire (or horror) disguised as your boilerplate technology product marketing video put out by one of the well-monied firms.

I think it's because the acting and dialogue are so unbelievable, but perhaps there really are greater forces at play...

It's a pretty standard tactic of ad agencies for years now to deliberately make TV adverts slightly hallucinatory and weird, to make the viewer jerk out of their coma and lay down some memories. These people are not stupid.

TIL there's a very logical reason that ads have gone for the "random awkward humor" vibe in recent years. Cool.

Here's a classic example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrMD_z_FnNk

This was a massive hit with students and the like, and spawned many online techno remixes, before that was a thing.

(BTW I'm not an advertising executive or anything, but I was told this by someone who works in print media.)

I really thought it was satire too. It wasn't until there was like 10 seconds left in the video that I realized, "there's not enough time left to make it funny, it must be serious!"

Agree. This really seems like it could be the start of a futuristic, dystopian horror movie.

I think what makes it even more unsettling is that the people's voices are recorded naturally (the microphone several feet away) while the device sounds like it is coming from your computer directly.

Not to mention these people are in bed together while this HAL-like robotic cylinder is listening to everything they are doing with a blue ring lighting up...

To quote my friend, "at NSA they probably call it Amazon Echelon".

nf nf nf nf "What are you doing, Dave?"

The context here, which I haven't seen mentioned, is that De La Soul cannot release much of their catalog digitally given the way their contracts are structured. As a result, all material before Grind Date (2004) is not available on digital stores/platforms like iTunes, et al.

De La negotiated their contracts well before Internet distribution and revenue was germane. Oddly, this is sometimes described as distribution "throughout the universe". This is actually not an uncommon problem for artists from this era who relied heavily on samples (i.e., hip-hop).

Would they have cleared samples used on their albums "in perpetuity", giving De La the widest distribution license available (read: for use forever), we would not be talking about De La Soul releasing music for free online. We'd be buying it on iTunes and they'd be compensated for it. End of story.

Instead, De La makes most of their money off CD sales and touring, which is a tough spot as CDs are entering obsolescence and touring, especially at their age, must be grueling. On the flip side, the good news here is De La Soul and early hip-hop pioneers are seeing a resurgence (IMHO well-deserved) and getting the music out there by any means necessary is a crucial step to be heard. Go see them on tour, buy their gear or even a CD (ha) if you're feeling it.

Absolutely. As more people crave for personal experience, their live shows will mean more. Plus, if you've never been to a De La show, you're missing out on life. One of the best show's I've ever been to, hands down.