Synopsis

Soulwax perform in a deliberately awkward, surreal setting, miming and air-drumming while oversized inflatable globes roll through a park. The clip's stiff poses, theatrical gestures, and deliberately artificial staging turn the band into figures trapped inside a bizarre promotional spectacle. Beneath the humor is a pointed image of people playing with symbols of the world while appearing powerless within it. The result is an absurdist satire of commercial culture that matches the track's mechanical electro-rock energy.

Factoids & Trivia

• The video was released in 2005 through Play It Again Sam, with production by Gorgeous Enterprises in the UK.

• The clip is a parody of Pink Floyd's Belgian performance film for "See Emily Play," made for the television program *Tienerklanken*. Soulwax specifically echoed Nick Mason's famous air-drumming, with Steve Slingeneyer performing the same gesture in "NY Excuse."

• A 2006 short-film festival catalog described the video as a response to the "perverse logic of capitalism." The inflatable globes function as a visual joke about global commerce, while the band members seem both complicit in and helpless before the system.

• The song features vocals by Nancy Whang of LCD Soundsystem. Stephen Dewaele and Whang were dating at the time, and the track's title came from the practical reason for writing it: giving Soulwax an excuse to send Stephen to New York.

• James Murphy reportedly suggested calling the song "NY Excuse" because that was essentially what the trip was. Soulwax recorded the vocals in New York, then substantially reworked the track back at their studio in Belgium.

• "NY Excuse" was one of three singles from Soulwax's 2004 album *Any Minute Now*. It reached No. 35 on the UK Singles Chart.