1
SPACE IS THE PLACE
featuring Sun Ra and his Arkestra
(1972, released 1974)
Stream VHS 63' version HERE
In 2003, the movie was re-released in its entire 82-minute format on DVD, after a heavily-edited 63-minute version on VHS. The original cuts were requested by Sun Ra, which director John Coney attributed to Sun Ra's prudishness.
The scenes indeed follow a racy "pimps and hos" narrative that is not entirely congruous with the rest of the film, and there was a notable backlash from fans of the original film.
The fact that the director inserted these scenes without the consent of Sun Ra does in fact leave room for scrutiny, considering the absence of Sun Ra in the scenes themselves. [wiki]
2
INTERPLANETARY MELODIES
THE SECOND STOP IS JUPITER
ROCKET SHIP ROCK
Originally released in the 1950s by Alton Abraham's El Saturn Records in Chicago.
Read about El Saturn Research and the Astro-Black Mythology here
0
Freestyle Frenzy, Liberty Grooves 12" vinyl promo's
quote from Rekordz On Wheelz:
"Freestyle Frenzy were a series of limited edition freestyle compilations highlighting some stellar live on air segments from my radio show on KCR. I believe it is the first of its kind, and predates a slew of future releases that captured unofficial recordings. To give you a little insight into how novel this record was, when Ghostface was in record store in Virginia, someone played for him a 12" that was a bootleg of the Meth/Ghost freestyle off of Freestyle Frenzy. When he got back to NYC, he went straight to Loud Records and was ready to flip. It was a little unpleasant because I was on Loud's payroll as a frelance A&R man. While I believe he was enjoying the drama, and making it seem worse than it was, Steve Rifkind was acting like the sky was about to fall, full of panic, certain that Saholin was about t wreck Loud's offices and cause me bodily harm. It turns out I saw Ghost later that month, and he really had very little idea what I was talking about when I tried to explain what the record was. To this day I don't know what really happened, but it was a bit controversial for a minute because no one could tell if it was a good thing for the artists or if it was a bootleg. Keep in mind this before the digital revolution." Stretch Armstrong
Vol.1 (1994)
Large Professor & O.C. - Freestyle (Nov 93)
Nas & Six Nine - Freestyle (Oct 93)
Das EFX - Freestyle (Nov 93)
Big L - Freestyle (Oct 93)
UMC'S - Freestyle (Oct 93)
Souls of Mischief & Kurious - Freestyle (Nov 92)
Q-Tip & Mad Skillz - Freestyle (Apr 94)
Method Man & Ghostface Killah - Freestyle (Apr 94)
Akinyele - Freestyle (Nov 93)
Black Moon & Smif-N-Wessun - Freestyle (Jun 93)
Prince Poetry - Freestyle (Jun 92)
Vol.2 (1995)
MC Serch & O.C. - Freestyle (Aug 94)
Mobb Deep - Freestyle (July 94)
Brand Nubian - Freestyle (Oct 94)
Organized Konfusion - Freestyle (May 93)
Lord Finesse - Freestyle (Sep 94)
Mad Skillz - Freestyle (Oct 94)
Scientifik - Freestyle (Sep 94)
Craig G - Freestyle (July 94)
Common Sense - Freestyle (Oct 94)
Around '93/'94 I used to buy my hip-hop vinyl from Trax Records (or was it Bass Generator?) back in Newcastle... hardcore/techno upstairs and hip-hop in the a cupboard sized basement. It was the only place for 100 miles to buy decent stuff, i'd call in everyday if possible, 2 days of the week at most i might have been armed with 10 quid (if i was lucky). It was on the ball for the time, they got stuff a week or two after vinyl was released in the States, along with alot of bootleg white labels too. Anyway that's where i bought Freestyle Frenzy Vol.1 on clear vinyl. I sold it a few years back for a meagre 10 pounds when i was broke... i think i only bought a meals worth of ready to cook food from Marks & Spencer and enough left to chip in for a bottle of stinkin' High Commissioner whiskey? Hope you still have it Jesse!
[I posted the version from Stretch's Konstant Kontact a while back but the link is dead. Lot's of tracks from Zoo York Mixtape, these vinyl versions have most of them too, although shame it doesn't feature the first appearance on the show from a young Busta Rhymes which i can't find anywhere.]
3
Lobos Fiser: Valerie and Her Week of Wonders soundtrack (1970)
Jaromil Jireš' Valerie a týden divů (Valerie and Her Week of Wonders, Czechoslovakia, 1970) is one of those haunting, dream-like films that once seen is difficult to forget. The sexual awakening of adolescent Valerie (Jaroslava Schallerová) provides the major theme, ornately rendered as a symbol-soaked gothic fairytale. Elements drawn from the horror genre operate in conjunction with the type of gentle soft-core art imagery that can be found in other European sexual initiation films of the 1970s, such as Emmanuelle (1974), Bilitis (1977) and The Story of O (Histoire d'O, 1975).
This heady generic mixture is well-suited to the film's focus on the ambiguous status of various thresholds and the mysteriousness of awakening sensuality, conflicting desires and duplicity. One of the seductive attractions of Valerie a týden divů is its magical trance-inducing quality. The carefully-crafted sets, the hypnotic harpsichord, flute and choir-based music, and the predominance of thematically significant white in the colour co-ordinated palette all add to the film's particular audio-visual ambience of artifice. In addition to the use of elliptical editing, the crystalline quality of the photography is simply stunning, capturing in some scenes the beauty of early summer light sparkling on water and illuminating the pastoral landscape, which is set against dark, decaying, cobweb-strewn crypts... more
watch
6
Rabid Dogs (1974)
I'm off to Rome for 2 months so it's possible there may be even less posts than of late and if there is some, then it will most definitely be music but until then i'll leave you with this classic Italian B-movie to chew on.
Audi 5000
(oh and thanks Michele)
6
The Firm (Alan Clarke, 1988)
Originally made for TV, directed by Alan Clarke and written by Al Ashton. The film is based on the activities of the Inter City Firm, football firm of West Ham United during the 1970's and 1980's although in the film the firm's name is changed slightly to become the Inter City Crew (ICC).
info
3
Hurlyburly (1998)
"In the Middle Ages everyone really had to worry about Witches and Goblins, but what we have is stuff eating at us. We've got stuff we don't even... I mean, why do you think that all the warlords of the world are so anxious to get their own personal little stash of chemical weapons. They call them weapons of mass destruction, but they're not. They're very *very* selective about what they destroy. They annihilate people and preserve *things*. They love things. You and I would be dead, gas... puke... gone. Whereas, you know, other earlier older people - the ancients - could look to the heavens, which in their minds was inhabited by this thoughtful, meditative, you know, maybe a trifle unpredictable and wrathful, but nevertheless up there - this divine onlooker. We've got Anchorpersons and Talking Heads. We've got politicians who decide life and death issues on the basis of their media concerns. That's what we've got."
Blah-blah-blah-blah-blah
2
A PBS documentary made in 1982 about an East Oakland Chicano gang called Barrio 60's and the Parkin family. Check out Oakland's Chicano Cholo and Lowrider culture of the early 80's, this is what the town used to be like back in the days.
Children Of Violence (PBS, 1982)...
Take an ordinary Detroit car, customize it inside and out, and lower it to the ground. The focus of a Mexican-American social scene that includes cruising on weekend nights, car shows and hopping contests. The car is driven slowly, the better to be appreciated. It is art. Not museum art, but street art, living art, folk art.
Low 'N Slow: The Art Of Lowriding (PBS, 1984)...
Some history
4
From her recordings, it is apparent that Jenkins had little sense of pitch and rhythm and was barely capable of sustaining a note. Her accompanist can be heard making adjustments to compensate for her tempo variations and rhythmic mistakes. Her dubious diction, especially in foreign language songs, is also noteworthy. Nonetheless, she became tremendously popular in her unconventional way. Her audiences apparently loved her for the amusement she provided rather than her musical ability. Critics often described her work in a backhanded way that may have served to pique public curiosity.
Despite her patent lack of ability, Jenkins was firmly convinced of her greatness. She compared herself favorably to the renowned sopranos Frieda Hempel and Luisa Tetrazzini, and dismissed the laughter which often came from the audience during her performances as coming from her rivals consumed by "professional jealousy." She was aware of her critics, however, saying "People may say I can't sing, but no one can ever say I didn't sing."
Download
Liner notes
6
Wu Tang Clan - Mystagogue Vol. I & II
Heres a couple of old Wu mixtapes, they've been floating around for a while... i don't have a clue about Vol I, could easily be an old Rza demo that got labeled wrongly on the net although it seems to be accepted as this on the Wu-Tang forum plus it makes sense seeing as theres a sequel, its got Raekwons 'Ice Cream' track on there so it could be from '94 or '95... fuck knows and so what, still some fairly early Rza? Vol II came free bagged with 'Slap' skate mag back in '96.
"Word is bond, Im comin to get my Culture Cipher god"
2
Michael Rother - Fernwärme (1982)
After issuing his classic third album, Katzenmusik, the first real anthemic electronic trance record and the culmination of everything Rother had worked on with Flammende Herzen and Sterntaler, a change in direction was necessary. First was the separation from his production alliance with Conny Plank and drummer Jaki Leibzeit. For the first time, Rother delved deeper into the keyboards than he did his guitars, and there has been no turning back since. While simple rhythmic structures still dominate the album, they are muted and deeper in tone. It's as if the bass drum was put under a pillow and programmed; the guitars slip into the background as atmospheric color and the keyboards themselves multiply and become not only the primary textural elements, but the primary chromatic and timbral ones as well. This is, by and large, extremely meditative music; it exists in the dark tones of black and gray and feels more opaque in its constructions. Gone are the soaring melodies of Katzenmusik that threatened to come right through the speakers and bust open the listener's heart with their optimism and emotion. They are replaced with fragments, smaller ideas that echo and turn in on them as they develop. When the guitars do present them, they stay far from the Motorik rock & roll of earlier recordings and become instead the pillars of a framework whose ambiguity lies solely in its lack of distinguishing one track from another. In other words, Fernwärme is a tapestry of instrumental songs whose theme is far greater than the sum of its parts, with the possible exception of "Erikonig," which offers glimpses of the Motorik sound and the twin guitar flanges, but even here, it's in a minor key, its effect is more subdued and reflective, even somber. Does this make it a bad record? Far from it. Fernwärme is a beautiful recording, a move away from convention and into invention, and one that marks a real transition in German rock music in particular. Welcome to the darkness. [Allmusic]
wiki
2
John Fahey teaches "In Christ There Is No East Or West"
Leo Kottke - "Machine Gun Rockpalast Medley"
Martin Carthy "Byker Hill" with Dave Swarbrick
Davey Graham - "All Of Me" in 1981
more Davey Graham
Dock Boggs - "Country Blues" Newport, Rhode Island, 1966
Roscoe Holcomb - "Little Birdie"
John Fahey teaches "Poor Boy A Long Way From Home"
Elizabeth Cotten - "Spanish Flang Dang" and "A Jig" on the "Guitar, Guitar" TV show in 1969
Lightnin' Hopkins "Hurricane Beulah" and "Baby, Scratch My Back" 1960
Nigerian one-string
6
Human was the musical partnership of Lee Grainge and Hazel Bligh. As far as I know they only released these 2 EPs, The Island Life in 1997 and Confused Moods in 1998. I was acquainted with Lee as he worked in the wonderful Fat Cat records in Covent Garden, where I spent all my money while I was at art school nearby (what was the Hip Hop place they shared the basement with called?). As for Hazel Bligh, I know nothing...
Anyway, the music is beautifully lush and timeless melodic techno.
Human / The Island Life EP (1997)
A1: Skating On Thin Ice
B1: Evil Knevil
B2: Winter
Human / Confused Moods EP (1998)
A1: Tick Tock
A2: T.A.P.
B1: Cigar
B2: Battersea Fumbler
Discogs
Download
Human was the musical partnership of Lee Grainge and Hazel Bligh. As far as I know they only released these 2 EPs, The Island Life in 1997 and Confused Moods in 1998. I was acquainted with Lee as he worked in the wonderful Fat Cat records in Covent Garden, where I spent all my money while I was at art school nearby (what was the Hip Hop place they shared the basement with called?). As for Hazel Bligh, I know nothing...
Anyway, the music is beautifully lush and timeless melodic techno.
Human / The Island Life EP (1997)
A1: Skating On Thin Ice
B1: Evil Knevil
B2: Winter
Human / Confused Moods EP (1998)
A1: Tick Tock
A2: T.A.P.
B1: Cigar
B2: Battersea Fumbler
Discogs
Download
