DOC ROCK

2 March 2009

I am a music documentary junkie, too many favorites to name, and these new films have really piqued my curiosity. It is hard to make a truly compelling music documentary unless something riveting and completely unexpected happens along the way to ratchet up some level of tension and drama. These  films far apart but have a similar misunderstood sadness to them.  Both have career clocks whose alarms have either gone off long ago (while the snooze button continues to get hit) or have a clock ticking loudly throughout the film.

Check them below:

Here are 2 documentary films about a rap genre known as Nerdcore:

NERDCORE FOR LIFE

NERDCORE RISING

And last but not least is a documentary on a metal band named ANVIL that could not catch the break afforded so many of their peers at the time.

ANVIL THE MOVIE

Hollywood Baleout?

3 February 2009

I am pretty sure I would have danced to this at Medusa’s in Chicago in 1986 when I was head over heels for Thrill Kill Kult, Front 242 and Nitzer Ebb and my parents would actually drop me off there.

Taken from today’s much talked about Christian Bale tirade on the set of an upcoming film, reported here

28 January 2009

Giorgio Moroder came up a few times today, so I decided to post some great videos he made. The first is a Casablanca Records promotional video, where he is shown recording the album E=MC2. His studio was based in Munich and looks not unlike DFA’s except like in every way actually. Holy shit, I want to spend months in those rooms making music, or at least watching people make music. According to the narrator his closing statement claims it is a level of technology “not even Nasa can match”. In 1969 NASA helped in some vague way to fly humans to the moon and Giorgio released a single called “Looky Looky”. So that part is not true. Cocaine makes you exagerate and it was called CasaBLANCA for a reason.

the promo video

and this is the official video for the song From Here To Eternity, taken from the album of the same name. One of my favorite LP’s ever, highly recommended.

Further Hipgnosis

8 January 2009

So, as a supplement to the below post, here is info on an anthology of artwork from Hipgnosis. The book, entitled “For the Love of Vinyl: The Album Art of Hipgnosis”, is published by the consistently wonderful Picturebox Publishing, who DFA alumni Black Dice put out their collaborative art book Gore through and have published everything from The Wilco Book to Paper Rad and Gary Panter.

More information on the Hipgnosis book is found here.

Watch this amazing interview with one half of the collective, Aubrey Powell.

Peter Gabriel & Hipgnosis

21 December 2008

I have been getting into both Peter Gabriel, he of Genesis and many solo albums, and Hipgnosis, famed UK design collective. The album covers Hipgnosis designed for Peter Gabriel’s first 3 solo records after leaving Genesis (and the sunflower costume) are really striking especially next to each other as a collection. Not to mention the albums themselves.

The Floaters

20 December 2008

The Floaters made a few fantastic full LP’s in the seventies. I am particularly fond of Float Into The Future. No complete albums have been reissued on CD as far as I can tell, just a few OK comps.

The group’s best known track remains “Float On”, a song which if I was to believe everything my computer tells me, went to #2 in 1977. They edited a 11 + minute album track to a radio single edit and scored. Very impressive. Equally impressive is this video of “Float On”, which is actual live footage of them, not lip-synched. And thanks to their nebulous effects tastefully employed, they appear to be actually “floating”. They are not though – you cannot dance that good on a cloud. I have tried.

Ralph, Charles, Paul, Larry…….

also, a vinyl shop in London playing the 12″ version:

Pitchfork Seems To Like Us

16 December 2008

DFA artist Hercules & Love Affair scored the #1 single of the year on Pitchfork today, which admittedly felt kinda cool. We also scored #3 with Hot Chip’s “Ready For The Floor” and #20 with the Juan Maclean’s “Happy House”.

Last year we also grabbed Pitchfork’s #1 single with “All My Friends” by LCD Soundsystem.

So here they are in all their crap youtube glory:

and last year’s winner:

Thanks Pitchfork!

Wally Badarou

10 December 2008

Wally Badarou is a cool somewhat unknown musician who was a big part of the Island Records recording scene in the late 70’s / early 80’s. He had his own recording studio in Nassau, Bahamas (so did Sly and Robbie, recently anthologized on the amazing compilation Funky Nassau:The Compass Point Story)

Wally played keyboard with many bigger names, including Joe Cocker, Black Uhuru, Grace Jones, and steadily in brit-funk band Level 42.

His album Echoes is a really cool ez listening caribbean new age dance record. Really.

Here is a great video from the record, for the song Chief Inspector.

Adriano Celentano – Disco Milanese

27 November 2008

Adriano Celentano is one of those celebrities that is massive in his own country and virtually unknown elsewhere. He has had #1 pop songs, movie roles, variety shows and a hot wife who had her own #1 song, singing about the love affairs of her famous husband. Now that’s amore!

This video is gaining legendary status among music fans and kitsch variety show enthusiasts alike. The combination of horn stabs, thunderous drumming and a proto-rap delivery makes this sound like Tom Jones singing over a Theo Parrish loop, and the synchronized Broadway-style choreography only helps. The unique rhythm track has not been lost on DJ’s and the nu-disco scene.

Check the original TV clip and a new(ish) version from UK edit legend Greg Wilson below.

Download the Greg Wilson edit:

prisencolinensinainciusol-greg-wilson-re-edit-1

Buy the Greg Wilson Ruff Edit 12″ single here

From A NY Nicks Fan

22 November 2008

I am a little obsessed with Fleetwood Mac. Their lengthy and unpredictable career, from the blues / dreamy days of Peter Green and a song like Albatross to the daze of Buckingham and Nicks. I stay with them 100% all the way through Tango In The Night. That is just how I roll.

This below video clip is a new obsession, just discovered. The actual LP version, from the Stevie Nicks solo LP, is quite corny, but this demo/acapella/improv session of the song “Wild At Heart” during a pre-show hair and makeup prep is just the stuff you tube dreams are made of.

And, cause i cannot just post one clip, here is Stevie taking a “hot steam facial sauna” on the advice of Boz Scaggs backstage from the Rumors tour. Last time I took advice from Boz Scaggs I ended up with a time share swindle for real estate in Scottsdale Arizona. He still owes me $10,000.00.

As a bonus, here are a few clips from documentary footage taken during the making of the Fleetwood Mac LP “Tusk”.