Post-war Britain rebuilt itself on a wave of scientific and industrial breakthroughs that culminated in the cultural revolution of the 1960s. It was a period of sweeping change and experimentation where art and culture participated in and reflected the wider social changes. In this atmosphere was born the Electronic Music Studios (EMS), a radical group of avant-garde electronic musicians who utilized technology and experimentation to compose a futuristic electronic sound-scape for the New Britain.
Archive for the 'Music' Category
What the Future Sounded Like (2007)
30/05/2012BBC: Eurovision’s Dirty Secret (2012)
25/05/2012Reporter Paul Kenyon finds out how the contest has been used as a tool of intimidation: viewers have been interrogated for voting for the nation’s long-term enemy, Armenia; a protest singer has been told to flee before Eurovision or he will be thrown in jail; and dozens have had their homes bulldozed to make way for the Eurovision event itself.
The US embassy in Baku has compared the ruling family to the Mafia. The regime has held onto power through a combination of rigged elections, jailing opponents, and by irregular control of the country’s vast oil wealth. So, why did the organisers of the world’s best-loved music event agree to host it in Azerbaijan?
BBC: Synth Britannia (2009)
16/08/2011Documentary following a generation of post-punk musicians who took the synthesiser from the experimental fringes to the centre of the pop stage.
In the late Seventies small pockets of electronic artists such as The Human League, Cabaret Voltaire and Throbbing Gristle were inspired by Kraftwerk and J G Ballard to dream of the sound of the future against the backdrop of bleak, high-rise Britain.
Сколько лиц у дискотеки (1980)
02/06/2011О лучших дискотеках в СССР – в Москве, Риге, Новосибирске, Дубне и т.д., с комментариями зам. министра культуры СССР Голубцовой Г.В., доктора исторических наук И.В.Бестужева-Лады.
1/2 youtube.com
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Copyright Criminals (2009)
11/04/2011Copyright Criminals examines the creative and commercial value of musical sampling, including the related debates over artistic expression, copyright law, and (of course) money.
This documentary traces the rise of hip-hop from the urban streets of New York to its current status as a multibillion-dollar industry. For more than thirty years, innovative hip-hop performers and producers have been re-using portions of previously recorded music in new, otherwise original compositions. When lawyers and record companies got involved, what was once referred to as a “borrowed melody” became a “copyright infringement.” The film showcases many of hip-hop music’s founding figures like Public Enemy, De La Soul, and Digital Underground—while also featuring emerging hip-hop artists from record labels Definitive Jux, Rhymesayers, Ninja Tune, and more.
The Archive (2008)
08/03/2011Paul Mawhinney was born and raised in Pittsburgh, PA. Over the years he has amassed what has become the world’s largest record collection. Due to health issues and a struggling record industry Paul is being forced to sell his collection.
Discovery: How Vinyl Records Are Made (2006)
06/03/2011Foli: There Is No Movement Without Rhythm (2010)
27/01/2011Life has a rhythm, it’s constantly moving. The word for rhythm ( used by the Malinke tribes ) is FOLI. It is a word that encompasses so much more than drumming, dancing or sound. It’s found in every part of daily life.
Touch the Sound: A Sound Journey with Evelyn Glennie (2004)
12/01/2011A documentary which explores the connections among sound, rhythm, time, and the body by following percussionist Evelyn Glennie, who is nearly deaf.
It Felt Like a Kiss (2009)
06/01/2011The story of America’s rise to power starting in 1959, it uses nothing but archive footage and Amercia pop music. Showing the consequences on the rest of the world and in peoples mind.
BBC: Krautrock: The Rebirth of Germany (2009)
27/12/2010Documentary which looks at how a radical generation of musicians created a new German musical identity out of the cultural ruins of war.
Between 1968 and 1977 bands like Neu!, Can, Faust and Kraftwerk would look beyond western rock and roll to create some of the most original and uncompromising music ever heard. They shared one common goal – a forward-looking desire to transcend Germany’s gruesome past – but that didn’t stop the music press in war-obsessed Britain from calling them Krautrock.
Making Contakt (2010)
01/12/2010In 2008 the Minus bandwagon embarked on a tour of proportions previously unheard of in electronic music. Celebrating the 10th anniversary of Richie Hawtin’s genre-defining label, the CONTAKT tour visited nine cities on three continents over the course of a year.
Insightful, captivating and genuinely funny at times, ‘MAKING CONTAKT’ is a tribute to the spirit of constant technological and artistic innovation that drives the Minus label and its creative mastermind, Richie Hawtin. The cinematic format of the tour documentary might be a well established genre in rock music, but with ‘MAKING CONTAKT’ Hawtin and Demirel have created the benchmark road movie for the techno generation.
Lessons of Darkness (1992)
27/04/2010This film shows the disaster of the Kuwaitian oil fields in flames. In contrast to the common documentary film there are no comments and few interviews. What must have been the hell itself is presented to the viewer in such beautiful sights and beautiful music that one has to be fascinated by it.
The ABC’s of DADA (2007)
18/03/2010The Dada movement was a protest against the barbarism of World War I, the bourgeois interests that Dada adherents believed inspired the war, and what they believed was an oppressive intellectual rigidity in both art and everyday society. Dada was an international movement, and it is difficult to classify artists as being from any one particular country, as they were constantly moving from one place to another.
Dada was not art – it was “anti-art”. It was anti-art in the sense that Dadaists protested against the contemporary academic and cultured values of art. For everything that art stood for, Dada was to represent the opposite.
Scratch (2001)
30/11/2009A feature-length documentary film about hip-hop DJing, otherwise known as turntablism. From the South Bronx in the 1970s to San Francisco now, the world’s best scratchers, beat-diggers, party-rockers, and producers wax poetic on beats, breaks, battles, and the infinite possibilities of vinyl.
DJ Qbert’s Wave Twisters (2001)
29/11/2009Wave Twisters (2001) is a completely animated film, also known as the first turntablism-based musical. It is based on DJ Q-Bert’s album of the same name.
Home of the Brave: A Film by Laurie Anderson (1986)
22/11/2009Famed performance artist Laurie Anderson both directed and starred in the 90-minute concert film Home of the Brave. While the film refuses to “explain” Anderson to those unfamiliar with her work, it serves as a valuable primer, encouraging the uninitiated to do their own further research. Anderson’s non sequitur combinations of music and visuals can be very funny at times, but don’t make the mistake of dismissing her as a mere court jester. The film’s litmus test is its middle section; you’ll either revere or despise Anderson after experiencing this lengthy segment. Among the peripheral personalities in Home of the Brave is legendary self-destructive novelist William Burroughs.
The following pieces are performed in the film:
1. Good Evening (instrumental)
2. Zero and One (spoken word)
3. Excellent Birds
4. Old Hat (spoken word)
5. Drum Dance (instrumental)
6. Smoke Rings
7. Late Show (instrumental with vocal sample by William S. Burroughs)
8. White Lily (spoken word)
9. Sharkey’s Day
10. How to Write (instrumental with spoken word introduction by Won-sang Park)
11. Kokoku
12. Radar (instrumental with wordless vocalizations by Anderson)
13. Gravity’s Angel
14. Langue D’Amour
15. Talk Normal
16. Difficult Listening Hour (spoken word)
17. Language is a Virus
18. Sharkey’s Night
19. Credit Racket (instrumental)
Darkbeat: An Electro World Voyage (2006)
18/11/2009Darkbeat: An Electro World Voyage aims to recognize the genre of music known as Electro. The film exposes the passion it takes to create and preserve this form of music by the artists, DJ’s and small communities around the world that support this underrated scene.
Good Copy Bad Copy (2007)
16/10/2009
Good Copy Bad Copy
A documentary about the current state of copyright and culture. It features interviews with many people with various perspectives on copyright, including copyright lawyers, producers and artists.
Dub Echoes (2007)
14/05/2009
Dub Echoes
“Dub Echoes” is a documentary that traces the origins of the Jamaican dub music and it’s influence on the development of hip hop and electronic music.The film shows how the Jamaican invention called dub ended up influencing much of the music we hear today, from electronic music to hip-hop, transforming the studio in a musical instrument and giving way to all of sonic experiments.
High Tech Soul (2006)
25/04/2009
High Tech Soul
HIGH TECH SOUL is the first documentary to tackle the deep roots of techno music alongside the cultural history of Detroit, its birthplace. From the race riots of 1967 to the underground party scene of the late 1980s, Detroit’s economic downturn didn’t stop the invention of a new kind of music that brought international attention to its producers and their hometown.
Modulations: Cinema for the Ear (1998)
24/01/2009
Modulations: Cinema for the Ear
Director Iara Lee explores the evolution of techno and electronica music throughout the 20th century in this illuminating musical documentary. Interspersing footage of revolutionary German pre-techno group Kraftwerk, modern avant garde composers like John Cage, European dance dj’s, and specific cultural phenomenons like the Prodigy and Afrika Bamambaataa, MODULATIONS is comprehensive and innovative. A must have for technophiles, ravers, and the digerati, this video features dozens of the best electronic musicians of the 20th century.
Kraftwerk: Minimum – Maximum (2005)
28/12/2008This 20 track 2-DVD set is the first ever offical document of Kraftwerks’ legendary live show. Included are 2 hours of visually stunning live performances from the band’s 2004 world tour, filmed and recoreded with their legendary precision.
Koyaanisqatsi: Life Out of Balance (1982)
16/12/2008
Koyaanisqatsi: Life Out of Balance
This movie was designed to have no plot. Meaning is to be created by the viewer, and only the viewer can give value to the images and music. That said, there is a central idea behind the movie, and according to the director it is this: The greatest event in the history of mankind has occurred recently, and has been largely missed by both the media and academia. Beyond the headlines and every day crises of international events, a deeper shift in human affairs has occurred: Humanity no longer exists in the natural world, we are no longer connected to it. It is not that we are now users of technology, but rather that we exist within technology, we are part of it and it is part of us. The natural world now exists only to support the artificial one in which we live.
Bobby McFerrin: Spontaneous Inventions (2005)
12/12/2008This 1986 completely improvised one-man show at the Aquarious Theatre in Los Angeles is the essence of McFerrin’s magic. Using only his pliable voice and his body as percussion, McFerrin lets his fertile imagination and vast musical knowledge run in free-association overdrive. Also included are two music videos McFerrin made in support of his Simple Pleasures album.
Music for One Apartment and Six Drummers (2001)
29/11/2008A gang in a Volvo have staked out a flat; when its occupants leave to walk their dog, the six break into the place. One keeps his eyes on a stopwatch: they have only ten minutes before the couple returns. Instead of stealing things, the gang goes from room to room making fascinating percussive music with found objects: first in the kitchen, then the bedroom, the bathroom, and the salon. Cabinet doors, pot lids, light switches, a pill dispenser, a lamp, books, and a vacuum cleaner hose all add to the suite in four movements. The drummers keep the first three rooms tidy, but what will the flat’s occupants make of the hurricane that hits the living room?
Music Is the Weapon (1982)
17/11/2008Fela Kuti was a world music legend, with a career sadly cut short due to an untimely death from AIDS in 1997. This fascinating documentary offers an overview of his career, shot in 1982 it highlights Fela’s political leanings (he once harbored dreams of becoming Nigerian President), as well as the sheer delight of his music and concert performances.
Bruce Haack: The King of Techno (2004)
03/11/2008A look into the underground world of Bruce Haack, a genius whose past work continues to garner recognition with time. The homespun musician couldn’t have done it without the support of his family, friends, lovers, and the neighborhood kids he called “starchildren,” all of whom paint the big picture of Bruce’s life legacy and so-called dimension of imagination. In addition, various musicians of many genres have joined in today showing worldwide support, thus contributing to Bruce’s objective, “Sure it’s nice to be famous, but I’m more interested in obtaining a telepathic following.” As for the music world, history’s future king is coming from the past.
Notes on Breakcore (2006)
03/11/2008A statementvideo on one of the most progressive music scene.
Sun Ra: A Joyful Noise (1981)
02/11/2008This video represents a good range of Sun Ra’s many musical moods. Ra was among the first person of any musical genre to use electronic keyboards. Here, the venerable titan of the jazz avantgarde performs tunes including “Astro Black,” “Calling Planet Earth,” “Organ Solo,” “We Travel the Spaceways,” “Ankh,” and other seriocomic chants and jingles.

























