Next Stop Soweto

"By the 1930s, the Johannesburg suburb of Sophiatown had grown into a vibrant and vital hub for black urban culture. It was here that the cyclic sounds of marabi and big band swing had fused to create the progressive foundations of African jazz, and where flamboyant but dangerous sharp-suited gangs with names like The Americans and The Russians ruled the dance. As Gwen Ansell explains in her essential book Soweto Blues, when Drum magazine asked its readers what they wanted the answer was: 'Give us jazz and film stars man! We want Duke, Satchmo and hot dames. Yes brother, anything American. You can cut out this junk about kraals and folk tales and Basutos in blankets.'"
Mondomix, YouTube - Next Stop...Soweto Trailer, SOWETO VOL 2. trailer, SOWETO VOL 3 trailer
Next Stop... Soweto Township Sounds from the Golden Age of Mbaqanga
amazon: Vol. 1 - Township Sounds From The Golden Age Of Mbaqangwa; Vol. 2 - Soultown, R&B, Funk & Psych Sounds from the Townships 1969 - 1976 ; Vol. 3: Giants, Ministers And Makers- Jazz In South Aftrica 1963-1984
amazon: SOWETO BLUES: Jazz, Popular Music & Politics in South Africa

Tellus cassettography

"Launched in 1983 as a subscription only bimonthly publication, the Tellus series took full advantage of the popular cassette medium to promote cutting edge music, documenting the New York scene and advanced US composers of the time. Maybe surfing on the ROIR cassettes selling figures, Tellus ‘The Audio Cassette Magazine’ was in activity for 10 years (1983-1993), witnessing the digital revolution taking place in the new media arts."
Continuo

2009 September: Tellus Audio Cassette Magazing - Wikipedia, UbuWeb: Sound

Bob Dylan – Man of Constant Sorrow (1963)

"Man of Constant Sorrow is a traditional American folk song first recorded by Dick Burnett, a partially blind fiddler from Kentucky. The song was originally recorded by Burnett as Farewell Song printed in a Richard Burnett songbook, c. 1913. An early version was recorded by Emry Arthur in 1928 (Vocalion Vo 5208). ..."
Ishtarmuz's Blog (YouTube - Video)

Soft Verdict

"Since these are the rock and pop archives of Belgium, Wim Mertens is a bordercase on whether or not to allow him in (just as it is the case on the other side with the Flemish schlager-singers like Jimmy Frey, Will Tura ...). Fact is that minimal music, although certainly a part of modern day classical music, has a lot of points in common with rock & pop : Philip Glass, Michael Nyman, Steve Reich are in the same case as Wim Mertens and they're also considered popmusicians, or at least enjoy the modern day popularity of them."
The Belgian Pop & Rock Archives
YouTube: Struggle For Pleasure, Inergys, Close Cover, Invader, A Visiting Card, Not At Home, Multipule 12, Maximizing The Audience, Yes, i never did, Gentleman Of Leisure

John Oswald - "White"

"Musical instruments produce sounds. Composers produce music. Musical instruments reproduce music. Tape recorders, radios, disc players, etc., reproduce sound. A device such as a wind-up music box produces sound and reproduces music. A phonograph in the hands of a hip hop/scratch artist who plays a record like an electronic washboard with a phonographic needle as a plectrum, produces sounds which are unique and not reproduced - the record player becomes a musical instrument. A sampler, in essence a recording, transforming instrument, is simultaneously a documenting device and a creative device, in effect reducing a distinction manifested by copyright."
plunderphonics
YouTube: John Oswald "White"

2010 March: John Oswald

Nicolas Dhervillers

"I love these composits by Nicholas Dhervillers of the interesting picturetank agency. The series is called ‘Tourists’ and tries to represent someone alien in their surrounding, what I love is the process, using found and authored images. He says 'The initial idea behind this new series was to radically change night photos that I had already taken and that had a pictorialist tendency, in order to create a new non-place. [I then] relit certain parts of the photo and carried out a universal ‘casting’ session, spending hours googling portraits of anonymous people, looking for the most banal image possible.'"
Contact Editions
Nicolas Dhervillers
La Lettre

The Spy Who Came in from the Cold

Wikipedia - "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold is a 1965 film adaptation of the novel of the same name by John le Carré. It was adapted by Paul Dehn and Guy Trosper. The film stars Richard Burton as Alec Leamas, along with Claire Bloom, Oskar Werner, Peter van Eyck, Sam Wanamaker, Rupert Davies and Cyril Cusack. It was directed by Martin Ritt."
Wikipedia
Criterion (Video)
W - The Spy Who Came in from the Cold
NYT: Le Carre's Best Seller Adapted to Film
YouTube (Video)

The Super-8 Years With Tuxedomoon

"The entire span of every era of the much beloved and legendary Tuxedomoon - from their early beginnings in San Francisco through their many years in Europe. Impressionistically filmed in both grainy black & white and psychedelic color, by group co-founder Steven Brown. Fits together like a perfect 15-year dream."
UbuWeb (Video)

Slinkachu

"My 'Little People Project' started in 2006. It involves the remodelling and painting of miniature model train set characters, which I then place and leave on the street. It is both a street art installation project and a photography project. The street-based side of my work plays with the notion of surprise and I aim to encourage city-dwellers to be more aware of their surroundings. The scenes I set up, more evident through the photography, and the titles I give these scenes aim to reflect the loneliness and melancholy of living in a big city, almost being lost and overwhelmed. But underneath this, there is always some humour. I want people to be able to empathise with the tiny people in my works."
Slinkachu
The Little People Project
amazon: Little People in the City: The Street Art of Slinkachu
YouTube: Little People in the City (by Slinkachu, Slinkachu Art

The Story Of American Folk Music

"Fascinating account of the development of American folk music through the 20th century. The first part centre on the contributions of Leadbelly and Alan Lomax."
YouTube: The Story Of American Folk Music 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 09, 10, 11, 12

B.T. Express

Wikipedia = "B.T. Express (originally named Brooklyn Trucking Express) was an American funk/disco group, that had a number of successful songs during the 1970s. The group was part of the 'Brooklyn sound' of the early 70s, formed from three players of the group King Davis House Rockers."
Wikipedia
B.T. Express
YouTube: Do It ('Til You're Satisfied), Peace Pipe, Give It What You Got, Do, It Till You're Satisfied, Once You Get It, Uptown Express, Watcha Think About That

A Book of Surrealist Games

"This delightful collection allows everyone to enjoy firsthand the provocative methods used by the artists and poets of the Surrealist school to break through conventional thought and behavior to a deeper truth. Invented and played by such artists as Andr Breton, Rene Magritte, and Max Ernst, these gems still produce results ranging from the hilarious to the mysterious and profound."
Google
amazon

Cosmos: A Personal Voyage

Wikipedia - "Cosmos: A Personal Voyage is a thirteen-part television series written by Carl Sagan, Ann Druyan, and Steven Soter, with Sagan as presenter. It was executive-produced by Adrian Malone, produced by David Kennard, Geoffrey Haines-Stiles and Gregory Andorfer, and directed by the producers, David Oyster, Richard Wells, Tom Weidlinger, and others. It covered a wide range of scientific subjects, including the origin of life and a perspective of our place in the universe."
Wikipedia
amazon
hulu: Cosmos
YouTube: Carl Sagan - Cosmos Intro

5 - Merry Christmas!!

"Available now for the first time... The lost recordings of one of rock and roll's most mysterious bands... In rare Yuletide spirit, The Doors... Light my Christmas..."
YouTube: The Doors -- Light My Christmas
The Soul Saints Orchestre - Santa's Got A Bag Of Soul
Tom Waits - Christmas Card From a Hooker
A Very Calvin & Hobbes Christmas
Pee-Wee's Playhouse Christmas Special

2010 December: 30 - Merry Christmas!!

Hey You! What Are You Listening To? New York

"A guy (his YouTube handle is TyCullen, so maybe he's named Ty Cullen) walks the streets of New York asking pedestrians with headphones what they're listening to. Listening to music in the crowded Mahattan streets is usually a private, even isolating, enterprise. Cullen's simple project is a nice reminder that there's value in sharing the things we like, and also provides an interesting cultural cross-section of New York pedestrians. Enjoy."
GOOD
YouTube

"Wild Leaves" - Patti Smith on World Aids Day

"To celebrate World AIDS Day this year we are showing Wild Leaves, a film of Patti Smith directed by Melodie McDaniel. The song 'Wild Leaves' was originally penned by Smith to honor her friend Robert Mapplethorpe, who died from complications arising from AIDS in 1989."
NOWNESS (Video)

Vladimir Zuev

"Vladimir Zuev is a Russian artist specializing in graphic art. Over 10-year
experience in printing graphic abstract etchings, ex-librises and
woodcuts makes his works popular all over the world."
Vladimir Zuev
50watts

Nashville (1975) - Robert Altman

Wikipedia - "Nashville is a 1975 American musical black comedy film directed by Robert Altman. A winner of many awards, selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry, Nashville is generally considered to be one of Altman's best films. The film takes a snapshot of people involved in the country music and gospel music businesses in Nashville, Tennessee. It has 24 main characters, an hour of musical numbers, and multiple storylines."
Wikipedia
filmsite
Classic Throwback: Nashville (Robert Altman, 1975)
Salon: A movie called “Nashville”
Dailymotion: NASHVILLE trailer Robert Altman

Down in the Tube Station at Midnight - The Jam

Wikipedia - "'Down in the Tube Station at Midnight' was the second single taken from the album All Mod Cons by The Jam. Released on 21 October 1978, it charted at number 15 and was backed by a cover of the Who song 'So Sad About Us', and 'The Night', written by Bruce Foxton. The back of the record jacket displayed a photo of Keith Moon, former drummer of The Who, who had died of an overdose of prescribed medication intended to help his alcoholism the month prior to the single's release."
Wikipedia - Down in the Tube Station at Midnight
YouTube: Down at the tube station at midnight, So Sad About Us, The Night

An Anthology of New York Poets

"Mark Ford's new anthology provides an excellent insight into the work of four very distinct and fascinating writers (Frank O'Hara, John Ashbery, Kenneth Koch and James Schuyler), whose early careers all flourished in the exuberant New York art scene of the 1950s. The city was brimming with postwar energy and confidence, self-consciously taking on the modernist mantle worn by Paris in the first half of the century, and this book is charged with the vivacity, optimism and camaraderie of the times."
One thing that can save America
amazon: An Anthology of New York Poets

Shakespeare and Company

Wikipedia - "Shakespeare and Company is the name of two independent bookstores on Paris' Left Bank. The first was opened by Sylvia Beach on 17 November 1919 at 8 rue Dupuytren before moving to larger premises at 12 rue de l'Odéon in the 6th arrondissement in 1922. During the 1920s, it was a gathering place for writers such as Ezra Pound, Ernest Hemingway, James Joyce and Ford Madox Ford. It closed in 1941 during the German occupation of Paris and never re-opened."
Wikipedia
Shakespeare and Company
George Whitman, owner of Paris bookstore Shakespeare and Company, dies at 98
YouTube: Shakespeare and Company.
W - Portrait of a Bookstore as an Old Man, 2005
video: Portrait of of a Bookstore as an Old Man

Sahara Blue

J. W. Reitsma - "Forget the fact that there's an all-star cast on this, as on many other Zazou albums. And don't let the first track deceive you either, great though it is. Sure, starting an album with a Gerard Depardieu poetry-reading vocal over a disco rhythm with a pumping Bill Laswell baseline gets thing off on a flying start, but the rest of the album is much more quietly, electronically atmospheric, with some great French and English vocals from John Cale and Barbara Gogan especially. 'Sahara Blue' is a collection of songs set to lyrics (some sung in the original French, some in English translation) by 'poete maudit' Arthur Rimbaud."
amazon
W - Hector Zazou
YouTube: Hector Zazou - Arthur Rimbaud Ophéllie, Hector Zazou & Khaled - Amdyaz, Hector Zazou feat. R. Sakamoto - Harar et les Gallas, Hector Zazou Ft. John Cale & David Sylvian -- First Evening, Hector Zazou feat. Richard Bohringer & David Sylvian - Lettre au directeur des messageries maritimes

Airmail

Wikipedia - "Airmail (or 'Air Mail', in French Par avion) is mail that is transported by aircraft. It typically arrives more quickly than surface mail, and usually costs more to send. Airmail may be the only option for sending mail to some destinations, such as overseas, if the mail cannot wait the time it would take to arrive by ship, sometimes weeks."
Wikipedia (Video)

Calling all dub producers using original analog gear

"Calling all dub producers who use original analog gear. Dubbhism wants to compile a 'various artists' album (to be released in 2012) showcasing the sound of analog dub equipment. ... In 2012 Dubbhism wants to release a 'various artists' album showcasing the sound of analog dub fx equipment. It's not about recording your masters to tape, not about vintage eq, not about esoteric mixing desks or anything like that. We're just interested in tracks that feature a healthy dose of analog reverb and/or analog echo. No plugins, only the vintage fx, the electronica, the hardware."
Dubbhism
YouTube: the Promised Land Dub
Soundcloud: Addis Night

Tommy Hartung

"This past summer, while roaming around the floors of the contemporary show, Greater New York, at P.S. 1, I stumbled into a gem of a room. As I entered the darkened wonderland I was greeted by a koi that swam in sparkling waters of a tranquil fish tank, positioned near the room’s entrance. I began to watch the single video in the room, The Ascent of Man, by artist Tommy Hartung, and was instantly mesmerized."
The Lo-Dowy
On Stellar Rays
Google
art 21, vimeo: Tommy Hartung’s Underground Movies, Tommy Hartung’s Budget Guide to New York
Current: tommy hartung presents" the story of edward holmes"

The Nefelejcs Projekt By Merge Invisible

"We live in Budapest, Hungary. The project was made in the 8th district, in an area of suspicoius reconstructions. Beautiful old buildings are demolished for replacing them with new ugly buildings made of cheap and bad materials. The idea was to create a memorial painting of a demolished building. There are many empty houses and giant firewalls around, so it wasn't hard to select. ... - Merge Invisible"
Wooster Collective (Video)

Interview - Agnès Varda

"Interview - Agnès Varda . May, 19, 1956"
YouTube

August 2010: Agnès Varda
May 2011: The Beaches of Agnès

The Alexandria Quartet - Lawrence Durrell

Wikipedia - "The Alexandria Quartet is a tetralogy of novels by British writer Lawrence Durrell, published between 1957 and 1960. A critical and commercial success, the books present four perspectives on a single set of events and characters in Alexandria, Egypt, before and during World War II. As Durrell explains in his preface to Balthazar, the four novels are an exploration of relativity and the notions of continuum and subject–object relation, with modern love as the subject. The Quartet offers the same sequence of events through several points of view, allowing individual perspectives to change over time."
W - The Alexandria Quartet
W - Justine
W - Balthazar
W - Mountolive
W - Clea
amazon: The Alexandria Quartet
Paris Review: Lawrence Durrell, The Art of Fiction No. 23
Durrell 2012: The Lawrence Durrell Centenary

Hazel Dickens

Wikipedia - "Hazel Jane Dickens (June 1, 1935 – April 22, 2011) was an American bluegrass singer, songwriter, double bassist and guitarist. She was the eighth child of an eleven-child mining family in West Virginia. Her music was characterized not only by her high, lonesome singing style, but also by her provocative pro-union, feminist songs. Cultural blogger John Pietaro noted that 'Dickens didn’t just sing the anthems of labor, she lived them and her place on many a picket line, staring down gunfire and goon squads, embedded her into the cause.' The New York Times extolled her as 'a clarion-voiced advocate for coal miners and working people and a pioneer among women in bluegrass music'."
Wikipedia
NYT: Hazel Dickens, Folk Singer, Dies at 75 (April 2011)
YouTube: A profile of Hazel Dickens, part 1, A profile of Hazel Dickens, part 2
YouTube: Black Lung, A Few Old Memories, West Virginia My Home, The Rebel Girl, Coal tattoo, Play Us A Waltz, Only A Hobo, Won't You Come and Sing for Me (Alice Gerrard), Fire in the hole

2009 June: Hazel & Alice

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

Wikipedia - "Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan ... (October 13, 1948 – August 16, 1997) a world-renowned Pakistani musician, was primarily a singer of Qawwali, the devotional music of the Sufis (a mystical tradition within Islam). Considered one of the greatest singers ever recorded, he possessed a six-octave vocal range and could perform at a high level of intensity for several hours. Extending the 600-year old Qawwali tradition of his family, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan is widely credited with introducing Sufi music to international audiences."
Wikipedia
NPR - Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan: The Voice Of Pakistan (Video)
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
YouTube: Part 1of 3, Tum ik Gorakh Dhanda Ho, Part 2 of 3, Part 3 of 3. Tan Kunto Taula, A killing song, Tomb Asif jah at Lahore Pakistan.
YouTube: Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan