152 posts tagged with music and documentary.
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Second Sunrise over New Mombasa

February, 2003: Following the smashing, console-defining success of Halo: Combat Evolved, developer Bungie was facing a conundrum. Fan and media interest in the long-anticipated sequel was at an all-time high, thanks to the release of an epic cinematic teaser in September. But despite a veteran team of top-tier designers bursting with new ideas, the game was not in a remotely playable state... and a real-time demo was scheduled for the high-profile E3 expo in May. So they buckled down, pushed their hardware to the limit, and produced EARTHCITY -- an ambitious, semi-scripted playable demo set to a majestic orchestral score that re-introduced the Master Chief and a host of innovative features in less than ten minutes. Played live in a private theater throughout the last day of the expo, the E3 demo was a massive hit with the press and the fans -- despite barely holding together through a series of last-minute hacks and visual trickery. For all its popularity, the demo's jankiness left it unsuitable for public release and languishing in the Bungie archives... until now. Thanks to the dedicated work of the Digsite crew of fan archivists, the original Halo 2 E3 2003 demo has been lovingly restored for re-release on the Master Chief Collection omnibus on Steam, just in time for Halo 2's 20th anniversary. You can download the files here, bask in a crisp HD recording, or watch one of the Digsite modders play through this and other unearthed gems live. [more inside]
posted by Rhaomi on Nov 9, 2024 - 5 comments

The Prince We Never Knew

Ezra Edelman has made a nine-hour documentary about the complicated life and passing of the musician Prince, but disputes with the late artist's estate over his portrayal may mean it might never be seen.
posted by They sucked his brains out! on Sep 8, 2024 - 10 comments

Together, we can get paid in full

"May the Lord Watch is the definitive story (1:40:06) of Little Brother, the North Carolina rap group composed of rappers Phonte, Big Pooh, and (formerly) producer 9th Wonder, the underground legends that bridged the gap between The Roots and Kendrick, Tribe and Cole, De La and Drake. The film follows the rise, breakup, and reunion of the preeminent 2000s rap group"
posted by cashman on Nov 27, 2023 - 4 comments

From ruins

If you've been to Budapest in the last twenty years you certainly encountered the famous "ruin-pubs". Now you can watch a five-part documentary about their history with English subtitles. New episodes are posted on every (Central European) Tuesday. First episode, Second episode. Narrated by Bori Péterfy.
posted by kmt on May 3, 2023 - 8 comments

Disney Channel's Theme: A History Mystery

In this DefunctTV special, Kevin investigates the origin of the four-note theme that has been used on Disney Channel for the past two decades. [92 min.]
posted by ob1quixote on Nov 21, 2022 - 14 comments

She is "one strong article," as we would say in Ireland.

Making the radical case for Sinéad O'Connor: She was right all along [ungated] - "Using extensive archival video — including footage from a wedding at which a teenage O'Connor sang 'Evergreen' — brief, stylized re-creations and interviews with O'Connor's friends, collaborators and contemporaries, 'Nothing Compares' traces O'Connor's meteoric rise from troubled teenager to Rolling Stone cover girl, and her even more precipitous fall from grace... Ferguson said that many of the screenings get rowdy and emotional. Young people come up to her 'with their eyes flashing, just incensed and inspired' by O'Connor's ordeal." Interview with Kathryn Ferguson on Nothing Compares (trailer; Rememberings previously).
posted by kliuless on Oct 15, 2022 - 69 comments

Electric Friends of Electric Friends

Electronic pop/dance flourished internationally: Be a Boy, Gina X Performance; Thrash, Cowboys International; Day Breaks, Night Heals, Thomas Leer & Robert Rental; Aurora B., Krisma; Chip 'N' Roll, Silicon Teens; I Need Somebody To Love Tonight, Sylvester; Faites le proton (Inst.), Casino Music; Kameari Pop, P-Model; Margherita (Inst. Hot Edit), Massara; The Visitors (Inst.), Gino Soccio; Alien (12" Disco), Nostromo; Underwater, Harry Thumann. Minimalism too: 1, Galen Herod; Ice Floe, Young Scientist; Have a Good Ride, Pyrolator; Sei Note in Logica, Roberto Cacciapaglia. Trash Theory's Before Are 'Friends' Electric gives a genealogy for high-profile British synth-pop of the year: Electricity (Version II), OMD; Are 'Friends' Electric? Tubeway Army; Cars, Gary Numan. And, technically, it was the year of The New Sound of Music (1979).
posted by Wobbuffet on Jun 18, 2022 - 8 comments

The Beat-Alls: Get Back

21 years ago this month, Cartoon Network aired a very special episode of The Powerpuff Girls. Though nominally a harmless kids series about three adorable kindergarten superheroes, creator Craig McCracken attracted an unexpectedly diverse audience (50% male, 25% adult) by sneaking in a surprising amount of violent mood whiplash and adult in-jokes -- and on that last point, this particular episode was king. Broadcast on the 37th anniversary of their debut on the Ed Sullivan Show, "Meet the Beat-Alls" was an extended and sophisticated metaphor for the rise and fall of The Beatles, cramming more than forty song references and dozens of visual jokes into only ten minutes of animated allegory. Catch the original episode here or read the transcript, but for the full effect, watch this remarkable YouTube mash-up (playable via the Wayback Machine!) that splices the referenced song clips directly into the audio track. Want more PPG goodness? You can start with the special "Powerpuff Girls Rule!!!", a sly, hyperkinetic celebration of the show's tenth anniversary directed by McCracken himself that features every character (and totally subverts an important one). But as far as weirdness goes, it's hard to top Powerpuff Girls Doujinshi, a long-running fan-made webcomic which stars the trio alongside Dexter, Samurai Jack, Invader Zim, and tons of other network icons in an unusually dark manga adventure. Oh, and don't forget your plate of beans. [more inside]
posted by Rhaomi on Feb 23, 2022 - 27 comments

Look at this stuff. It was airtight.

Almost Everything by Kirby Ferguson was a web series featuring a good-natured Canadian geek who used slick, fast-paced video presentations to comment on the world's ills. Highlights: Trajan is the Movie Font - Slumdog Controversy - Talent is Hard Work. Ferguson would soon perfect his craft with the sprawling pop-cultural project Everything is a Remix [website - transcripts] -- described in a 2011 Atlantic interview as a "sweeping, four-part series asserting that all creative work is a recombination and transformation of existing elements" that is "as much a philosophical odyssey as a documentary series" -- as well as This is Not a Conspiracy Theory, "a documentary about where conspiracy theories come from, what they reveal about all of us, and the real quest to discover the hidden forces that shape our lives." [more inside]
posted by Rhaomi on Feb 12, 2022 - 11 comments

The T.A.M.I. Show

The T.A.M.I. Show [more inside]
posted by y2karl on Jan 12, 2022 - 30 comments

Finding Fukue

Three years ago, Canadian musician Jessica Stuart tried again to find a lost friend in Japan. The resulting twenty-minute short film about her quest is a touching story of brief childhood friendships that echo through a lifetime, the experience of being an outsider, memories meeting the present, how and why we fall out of touch, and what that means for us. Last year Stuart and the filmmakers came together remotely to reflect on the film and its reception.
posted by rory on Oct 9, 2021 - 7 comments

25 Playwrights and their Plays, 1700-1799

Mary Pix (1666-1709): Manchester Metropolitan University recently posted a complete performance (production credits) of Mary Pix's comedy, The Beau Defeated (1700). The play was also adapted by the Royal Shakespeare Company under the title The Fantastic Follies of Mrs Rich (trailer), reviewed by Aparna Gollapudi: "Pix's successful play ... features two wealthy widows search of new husbands--Lady Landsworth pursues the disenfranchised younger brother, Younger Clerimont, to assure herself that he is indeed as honest as he is handsome, while Mrs. Rich is determined to marry into aristocracy ... The play includes many classic elements of Restoration comedy, such as the amorous widow, the bumbling country squire, and the extravagant fop; but it also looks forward to eighteenth-century comedy in its valorization of sober moderation, moral behavior, and economic prudence." [more inside]
posted by Wobbuffet on Aug 22, 2021 - 13 comments

Summer of Soul

In 1969 Harlem, a Music Festival Stuns [ungated link] - "Stevie Wonder, Mahalia Jackson, Mavis Staples and others shine in a documentary about the Harlem Cultural Festival from Questlove." (via) [1,2,3; fanfare] [more inside]
posted by kliuless on Aug 11, 2021 - 37 comments

Ike White, a combination of lies and truths, held together by his music

Ike White had the kind of life that sounds too outrageous to be true. Given a life sentence for murder at the age of 19, he spent his time writing songs with his fellow prisoners and was soon discovered by Jerry Goldstein, a record producer and affiliate of Jimi Hendrix. They managed to record Ike’s debut album, Changin’ Times (YouTube playlist), from a mobile studio in prison in California in 1974. By 1978, Stevie Wonder had caught wind of the socially conscious, funky record and secured a new attorney for White, who petitioned for his release that year. Set free, White was poised for stardom and had just had a child with his new wife – Goldstein’s secretary. Then he disappeared. Murder, mystery and a hit record: the unbelievable story of Ike White (Ammar Kalia for The Guardian) [more inside]
posted by filthy light thief on Jun 9, 2020 - 2 comments

"If anybody wants to keep creating, they have to be about change."

Miles Davis - The Birth Of Cool [trailer] documents the life of the horn player, bandleader, and innovator. "Elegant, intellectual, vain. Callous, conflicted, controversial. Magnificent, mercurial. Genius. The very embodiment of cool. The man with a sound so beautiful it could break your heart. [...] Featuring never-before-seen archival footage, studio outtakes and rare photos, this film tells the story of a truly singular talent and unpacks the music and the myth of the man behind the horn." [official site] It also includes new interviews, and Davis’ own words, as voiced by actor Carl Lumbly (Alias, This Is Us). Streaming now on Netflix, BBC iPlayer (UK) for the next 5 months, and on PBS for Passport members. [more inside]
posted by filthy light thief on Apr 14, 2020 - 6 comments

"...it’s about feeling vibrations and frequencies.”

A Sonic Pulse [Vimeo, 07:23] explores D/deaf people’s experience of electronic music from a visceral, communal and scientific perspective. [more inside]
posted by youarenothere on Jan 7, 2020 - 5 comments

Cuba Feliz

The 2000 documentary/musical road film Cuba Feliz follows singer/guitarist Miguel Del Morales "El Gallo" from Havana around Cuba and back again, and is directed by Karim Dridi. In Spanish with English subtitles. (Variety|NYT)
posted by Orange Dinosaur Slide on May 29, 2019 - 1 comment

Bate Bola, the noisy, clown-costumed cousin to Rio de Janeiro's Carnival

On the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro during its world famous Carnival, far from the beach and the touristic clichés, there is an explosive contest between neighbourhoods. This old form of carnival features teams of futuristic gladiators that are a surreal mixture of play and menace. A tradition that has its roots in ancient European carnival traditions and in African rituals, they look like visitors from another planet. [...] A love letter to Brazil, in all of its beauty and all of its pain, this film is a joyous celebration and battle cry from the heart of Rio's forgotten neighbourhoods. This is the Rio Carnival that you have never seen before. This is Bate Bola. (YouTube, 16 minutes; Beija Films Bate Bola webpage) [via Atlas Obscura] [more inside]
posted by filthy light thief on Mar 8, 2019 - 1 comment

Teach the Children, Save the Nation

"They tried to ban, censor and erase Indian culture from rock and roll history but Native American influence is wrapped into modern music’s DNA. RUMBLE: The Indians Who Rocked the World (1:25:29) is an electric look at Native American influence in popular music, going deep into the Indigenous foundations of rock." [more inside]
posted by cashman on Feb 2, 2019 - 11 comments

“Nobody has ever made head or tail of ancient Greek music,”

Ancient Greek music: now we finally know what it sounded like by [The Conversation] “...the sense and sound of ancient Greek music has proved incredibly elusive. This is because the terms and notions found in ancient sources – mode, enharmonic, diesis, and so on – are complicated and unfamiliar. And while notated music exists and can be reliably interpreted, it is scarce and fragmentary. What could be reconstructed in practice has often sounded quite strange and unappealing – so ancient Greek music had by many been deemed a lost art. But recent developments have excitingly overturned this gloomy assessment. A project to investigate ancient Greek music that I have been working on since 2013 has generated stunning insights into how ancient Greeks made music.” [YouTube][Documentary][15:39] [more inside]
posted by Fizz on Aug 6, 2018 - 39 comments

Ten Guitars & the Māori Strum

How an Engelbert Humperdinck B-side became New Zealand’s unofficial national anthem. The Secret Life of Ten Guitars (RNZ, 24’11, radio programme) [more inside]
posted by Start with Dessert on Feb 5, 2018 - 10 comments

"Some of the Most Moving, Touching Lyrics Ever Put To Paper", John Lydon

The Bee Gees; they’re more than a flourish of falsettos. They’re not just teeth, tans, & tight trousers. There’s so much more to The Bee Gees than Saturday Night Fever & office parties. Look beyond the white suits & satin, The Bee Gees are pop royalty. Back in the ‘60s, The Bee Gees were pop balladeers, they were heartbreakers. From Pop to Soul to Disco, we walk the line between the nafness, the genius, and yes, The Joy of The Bee Gees.
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey on Jan 23, 2018 - 13 comments

"1959 was on another level; That's all you can say"

In 1959, four major Jazz albums were made that changed music forever: Miles Davis' "Kind Of Blue", Dave Brubek's "Time Out", Charles Mingus' "Mingus Ah Um", and Ornette Coleman's "The Shape of Jazz To Come"
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey on Jan 15, 2018 - 27 comments

Vorsprung Durch Techno

We Call It Techno! A documentary about Germany's early techno scene and culture [more inside]
posted by fearfulsymmetry on Jan 12, 2018 - 6 comments

"Kate Bush is more like Keats."

"Byron once said about Keats, 'Keats writes about what he imagines; I write about what I live.' And most Rock & Roll people write about their lives in some way. Kate Bush is more like Keats in that she writes about what she imagines." -Steve Coogan
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey on Jan 2, 2018 - 20 comments

30 Years (give or take) of Acid on Wax

2017 marks 30 years since acid was put on (commercial) wax, if* you're crediting Phuture's Acid Tracks as the first Acid (House) song/EP. BBC Radio 1 recently celebrated this history with the first Essential Mix of 2017 by DJ Pierre, one third of Phuture, the Chicago group that recorded an epic 12 minutes of Roland TB-303 knob-twiddling and spread the acid madness via Ron Hardy in The Music Box. For more acid in the mix, B. Traits preceded that set and played a 2 hour set acid, with a 3rd hour by Luke Vibert, who stated (via a track title) "I Love Acid." [more inside]
posted by filthy light thief on Jan 21, 2017 - 17 comments

The rhythm of the one

The Story of Funk - One Nation Under A Groove is a 2014 BBC documentary about the birth and evolution of funk music. [SLYT]
posted by Room 641-A on Nov 4, 2016 - 31 comments

A trip to the mythical Isle of Tiki, Polynesian Pop and A/C Eden

The bizarre rise and fall and resurgence of tiki bars and cocktails is an interesting history that starts with two men, Donn Beach and Victor Bergeron, who traveled to the South Pacific and brought back some "island culture" to the United States with them in the 1930s, continuing on with the craze really booming after WWII vets returned from tours overseas. With the ebbs and flows of popularity, the cultural appropriation in "Tiki culture" has often been overlooked, as to the Māori mythology and meaning behind Tiki carvings and imagery and Hawiian culture of leis and luaus. Let's talk Tiki bars: harmless fun or exploitation. [Soundtrack: Les Baxter's Ritual Of The Savage ( 1951) and Martin Denny's Exotica (1957)] [more inside]
posted by filthy light thief on Sep 9, 2016 - 60 comments

EMI: the inside story of Britain's biggest music company

Electric & Musical Industries was formed in 1931, initially releasing classical music, but went on to launch the Beatles, who changed the record label's operations and funded the company for years and years. The label's recording rules were further broadened by Queen and Pink Floyd. EMI ushered punk into the mainstream with Sex Pistols, and then embraced the New Romanticism and the polished excesses of Duran Duran. They made music videos big with Pet Shop Boys and made Brit Pop a thing with Blur, and were home to Radiohead. This is the inside story of EMI, one of the greatest British brands in recording history, as told by people involved with the record label's storied history, augmented by company and performance footage. [more inside]
posted by filthy light thief on Aug 5, 2016 - 11 comments

A plate of Björk and beans

In 1997, Björk interviewed musicians Alasdair Malloy, Mika Vainio, Tommi Grönlund, and Arvo Pärt in a two-part BBC documentary entitled Modern Minimalists - part I | part II
posted by a lungful of dragon on Jun 28, 2016 - 3 comments

The art of . . .

The Art of Conducting: Great Conductors of the Past - The Art of Conducting: Legendary Conductors of a Golden Era - The Art Of Piano: Great Pianists Of The 20th Century - The Art of Violin [more inside]
posted by flug on Jun 12, 2016 - 7 comments

DylanTube - All Videos: Live, Documentaries, Films, Ads,

DylanTube [more inside]
posted by y2karl on Jan 29, 2016 - 9 comments

Rock and Roll High School

For two days in 1975, rock band KISS took over the town of Cadillac, Michigan, and played at the Cadillac High School Homecoming. [SLYT] What started as a football coach looking for a way to inspire his players ended up bringing the entire town together in the name of rock and roll. [via]
posted by Room 641-A on Jan 3, 2016 - 6 comments

DU BIST KLIEN IN DER HOSEN!

The Story of Technoviking. July 8, 2000. Matthias Fritsch put down the camera on his lap on the back of a DJ van at Berlin's Fuckparade. Unknowingly, he recorded a dancer that became one of the first massively popular internet video memes, at a time downloading stamp-sized MOV and RM files was still norm. But TECHNOVIKING was not pleased, and a lawsuit left Fritsch bankrupt. This is the full story, as told by the creator of the original video with guest artists, sociologists and lawyers, how he (and Technoviking) lost control of their images, the implications of remix culture, the propagation of internet memes, and the impact of the internet on privacy rights. (Slightly NSFW censored private bits, 5 minutes in.)
posted by lmfsilva on Oct 20, 2015 - 27 comments

Remembering the Palomino, the legendary North Hollywood honky-tonk

On February 19, 1987, it was just another night at the Palomino, with Taj Mahal and The Graffiti Band playing some folk, soul, blues and maybe a bit of jazz. It wasn't unusual for some more major musicians to be in the crowd, but this night George Harrison, Bob Dylan, John Fogerty, and Jesse Ed Davis joined Taj and jammed, with Fogerty playing "Proud Mary" at the prompting of Dylan. But if you want to visit this iconic club today, you'll find yourself in front of Le Monge banquet hall. The Palomino is no more, but you can visit the Valley's legendary honky-tonk with an oral history of The Palomino, and a fan-made VH1 "Behind the Music" style documentary that includes some vintage clips and photos. [more inside]
posted by filthy light thief on Sep 30, 2015 - 9 comments

They're very expensive-sounding sounds

Skrillex, Diplo, and Justin Bieber collaborate on a song and talk about the process in this NYT mini-doc.
posted by swift on Aug 25, 2015 - 83 comments

surviving in a hungry sea of white noise

Brooklyn's Afropunk festival has gone from a small gathering of friends celebrating an underground documentary to a massive, celebrated boutique fashion and mainstream music cornucopia. Some say they have sold out. But in Pitchfork, author Hanif Abdurraqib, (previously) makes a case that it still represents something very real and important to black youth culture.
posted by Potomac Avenue on Aug 21, 2015 - 9 comments

JK Rowling: "[he] has sat in a darkened room and been witty on paper..."

"He probably finds himself the most attractive person that you could possibly meet." James O'Briend, friend of Morrissey, in the documentary, The Importance of Being Morrissey (2003) [SLYT]. From the video details: "UK TV Documentary Narrated by Christopher Eccleston, With contributions from Johnny Marr, Alan Bennett, Kathy Burke, Noel Gallagher, Nancy Sinatra, Linder & others."
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome on Aug 11, 2015 - 10 comments

A T O M I C !

Top Of The Pops - The Story 0f 1980 [SLYT]
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome on Jun 27, 2015 - 29 comments

“It is an artist's duty to reflect the times.”

What Happened, Miss Simone? [YouTube] [Trailer] Helmed by Oscar-nominated director Liz Garbus (Bobby Fischer Against the World, Killing in the Name), the fully authorized doc incorporates concert footage, archival material, and interviews taking place over three decades. The movie will be available on Netflix June 26. [more inside]
posted by Fizz on Jun 23, 2015 - 15 comments

The Best Band You've Never Heard Of

Tell Me Do You Miss Me - A Film About Luna is a strangely fascinating 2006 documentary about the indie band's 2005 farewell tour. It often seems more like a vacation souvenir home video than a documentary, surprisingly intimate and personal, with obvious affection, tension and rehashing of old arguments between band founder Dean Wareham and guitar player Sean Eden. Surprisingly open and honest, it's a slice of life we rarely get to see, we're so used to tour films being about really famous bands, not smaller bands who may be able to make a living from their music, but who are only going to make money on tour if they sell enough merchandise (that gets lost by the airline). Really worth a watch, and available in its entirety on YouTube. [more inside]
posted by biscotti on May 28, 2015 - 30 comments

"I made it so she wanted to sleep with me, which was totally a lie..."

She came from Greece she had a thirst for knowledge
She studied sculpture at Saint Martin's College, that's where I caught her eye.
She told me that her Dad was loaded
I said in that case I'll have a rum and coke-cola.
She said fine, and in thirty seconds time she said,
I want to live like common people I want to do whatever common people do,
I want to sleep with common people I want to sleep with common people like you.
Well what else could I do – I said I'll see what I can do. [more inside]
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome on Dec 13, 2014 - 52 comments

"I don't understand the attitude of not playing your hit, or whatever"

Bose has made a three video series in which musicians talk about making one of their signature songs:
posted by Going To Maine on Dec 9, 2014 - 16 comments

Greil Marcus and Don DeLillo discuss Bob Dylan and Bucky Wunderlick

The following conversation took place in 2005 in front of an audience at the Telluride film festival in Colorado, after a screening of Martin Scorsese’s documentary, Bob Dylan: No Direction Home.
posted by Lorin on Nov 19, 2014 - 5 comments

"This is it, baby. Hold me."

A decade after Halo 2 (and a day before the MCC), enjoy this loose timeline of essential Halo fandom: Halo.Bungie.Org / Halo at Macworld '99 / Red vs. Blue / The Halo Trilogy in 5 minutes / The Cortana Letters / HBO's cutscene library and dialog databank / Main Menus / Kitty Cat / Warthog Jump (and BOLL's Warthog Launch game) / How Not To Be Seen / Fan Art / Panoramas / The Music of Marty O'Donnell (prev.) / Video Games Live: Halo / Analysis by Stephen Loftus / Who was Brian Morden? / I Love Bees and the ARG radio drama / Halo 2 Trailer / Halo 2 E3 '04 Demo / Full Halo 2 making-of documentary / Voice acting / Conversations from the Universe / The Beastiarum / Surround Sound Test! / Geography of New Mombasa / This Spartan Life / The Solid Gold Elite Dancers / Creepy Guy at Work / Gameplay May Change / Master Chief Sucks at Halo / Another Day at the Beach / '06 Bungie Studios Tour / Halo 3 Trailer / Starry Night / Believe / HALOID / No Scope Was Involved / 100 Ways to Die / "Bungie Favorites" gallery / Mister Chief / OONSK / OneOneSe7en / 2553 Civilian 'Hog Review / Griffball / ForgeHub / 405th Cosplay / Neill Blomkamp's Landfall / Weta's Real-life Warthog / Halo Legends anime anthology / List of Halo novels / Halopedia / Halo 3 Terminal Archive / DDR Dance / Animatronic Elite project / HBO's "Guilt-O-Lantern" contest / Keep It Clean / We Are ODST / Sadie's Story / Halocraft / "A Fistful of Arrows" fan comic / RvB Animated (and CGI) / Project Contingency / Halo Zero / Halo 2600 (prev.) / Reach Datapad Transcripts / The last Halo 2 player on Xbox LIVE / Bungie's Final Halo Stats Infographic / Key & Peele: Obama on Halo 4 / Top 10 Halo Easter Eggs / Behind the scenes of Halo 2 Anniversary
posted by Rhaomi on Nov 10, 2014 - 35 comments

Rick Was Here, a short film on the NYU dorm room where Def Jam started

30 years ago, Rick Rubin was a college student, living in NYU's Weinstein Residence Hall, room #712. It was there that Def Jam Records was formed, shifting the focus of hip-hop from the MCs to promote the DJs, too. Rubin and his label quickly outgrew the dorm, and he hasn't been back since. Recently he returned, and the adventure was captured and put into context by Rolling Stone Film's mini-documentary, Rick Was Here. New footage rolls alongside old, with some animations to bring a few audio-only stories to life. [more inside]
posted by filthy light thief on Oct 20, 2014 - 13 comments

Spacedrum and Hang, evolution of the steelpan drum

This solo performance of "New Moon" on a Spacedrum by Yuki Koshimoto is mesmerizing, but without much context. Who is she, and what is her instrument? This blog post has a bit more on Yuki, and here is some information on Metalsounds' Spacedrum and other similar metal instruments. If you want more background on the instrument, here's a documentary on the PANArt Hang, something of the predecessor to the Spacedrum, both of which have evolved from the steelpan or steel drum. Going back further, here's Toshi and Pete Seeger, documenting the making of a steel drum, in 1956.
posted by filthy light thief on Sep 28, 2014 - 8 comments

Don't Follow Me (I'm Lost)

Born to Nashville music royalty. Grew up next to George Jones and Tammy Wynette. Had a #2 record on the country charts at age eight. Had a minor alt-rock hit for the same major label as Korn and Incubus in his 30's. His mentor was Shel Silverstein. One of his bands, The Young Criminals Starvation League has featured members of My Morning Jacket, Lambchop, ...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead, Clem Snide, and myriad others. His other band Is She Weird? Is She White? plays Pixies and Breeders covers on weekends in Nashville. Unless he's opening for Guided by Voices or playing someone's living room. Or delivering lost luggage to pay the bills.

It's a hell of a life singer-songwriter Bobby Bare, Jr. has had. It's only makes sense that someone went and made a movie about him: Don't Follow Me (I'm Lost). Sample the trailer. [more inside]
posted by DirtyOldTown on Sep 24, 2014 - 17 comments

For Kate I wait: BBC documentary and first live show in 35 years

Last night, Kate Bush performed her first concert in 35 years at London’s Hammersmith Apollo. She last toured in 1979, following the release of Lionheart. "Not since the surviving members of Led Zeppelin reunited for a one-off show in 2007 has there been such hype over a comeback." - The Guardian. Last week, BBC 4 released an hour-long documentary called The Kate Bush Story: Running Up That Hill that reflects on Bush’s long and enigmatic career. It features appearances from Peter Gabriel, Elton John, Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour, Tori Amos, Annie Clark, Big Boi, Bat For Lashes’ Natasha Kahn, and more. Vimeo link. Guardian review.
posted by porn in the woods on Aug 27, 2014 - 52 comments

Dancehall in Japan

Dancehall in Japan. A short mini documentary from the Scene Unseen project at #ListenForYourself. [more inside]
posted by chunking express on Aug 20, 2014 - 5 comments

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