WATCH CAREFULLY AND YOU WILL SEE YOURSELF
Scratch
A 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
Wave 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
Famed 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
Darkbeat: 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
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
“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
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
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
This 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
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
This 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
A 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
Fela 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
A 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
A statementvideo on one of the most progressive music scene.
Sun Ra: A Joyful Noise
This 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.
Rockers
A crime syndicate is making things very difficult for struggling reggae musicians. Artists and songs include: Inner Circle – “We a Rockers,” Maytones – “Money Worries,” Peter Tosh – “Stepping Razor,” Burning Spear – “Jah No Dead,” and many others.
Ten Minutes Older: The Cello
Collection of short films the summaries of which include; a foreign man moving to Italy, getting married and having a child; a four split scene short involving plot-less images of old people with television sets for heads, a beautiful woman having sex, and overall confusion; and an old man reminiscing over his youth.
