Described as the first documentary film on the creation of Techno Music, High Tech Soul is also an examination of 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.

Featuring in-depth interviews with many of the world’s best exponents of the artform, High Tech Soul focuses on the creators of the genre—Juan Atkins, Derrick May, and Kevin Saunderson—and looks at the relationships and personal struggles behind the music. Artists like Richie Hawtin, Jeff Mills, Carl Craig, Eddie Fowlkes and a host of others explain why techno, with its abrasive tones and resonating basslines, could not have come from anywhere but Detroit.

With classic anthems such as Rhythim Is Rhythim’s “Strings of Life” and Inner City’s “Good Life,” High Tech Soul celebrates the pioneers, the promoters and the city that spawned a global phenomenon.

The film features: Juan Atkins, Derrick May, Kevin Saunderson, Eddie (Flashin) Fowlkes, Richie Hawtin, Jeff Mills, John Acquaviva, Carl Cox, Carl Craig, Blake Baxter, Stacey Pullen, Thomas Barnett, Matthew Dear, Anthony “Shake” Shakir, Keith Tucker, Delano Smith, Mike Archer, Derrick Thompson, Mike Clark, Alan Oldham, Laura Gavoor, Himawari, Scan 7, Kenny Larkin, Stacey “Hotwax” Hale, Claus Bachor, Electrifying Mojo, Niko Marks, Barbara Deyo, Dan Sordyl, Sam Valenti, Ron Murphy, George Baker, and Kwame Kilpatrick.

The film’s soundtrack includes: Aux 88, Cybotron, Inner City, Juan Atkins, Mayday, Model 500, Plastikman, Rhythim Is Rhythim, and more.

“Bredow’s cast of alumni—the holy trinity of Atkins, May & Saunderson at the front—fill out this tale with passion, pride and, oddly for music of the future, nostalgia too.”
- Dazed and Confused

‘An enjoyable education into the music, the city and the main players past, present and future.’
-DJ Magazine

‘Defines the myths and the magic of Detroit techno from its beginnings right up to how it has evolved to become High Tech Soul.’
-Derrick May

Françoise Hardy, New Years Eve, 1968

Our friends at Mod Cinema have scored again with their latest release, Surprise Partie which was basically French television’s equivalent to New Year’s Rockin Eve” minus Dick Clark and chock full of fashionable Parisian pretty people:

This 3 1/2 hour New Years Eve party was broadcast on French television in 1968. Featuring fashionably dressed partygoers dancing, swinging, and casually sitting on every inch of space of a stylishly decorated set. However, the best thing about this party is the long guestlist of musical performers that show up. Featuring rarely seen footage of Davy Jones, Marie Laforet, The Troggs, Jacques Dutronc, Joe Cocker, Françoise Hardy, Aphrodite’s Child, Antoine, Johnny Hallyday, Fleetwood Mac, The Who, Hugues Auffray, The Small Faces, Herbert Leonard, P.P. Arnold, Booker T & The MGs, Eric Charden, Freddy, Nicoletta, The Irresistibles, Pink Floyd, The Equals, and Les Variations. In full color and ORTF “stereo technique” sound!

Buy a copy of the amazing 2-DVD set of Surprise Partie at Mod Cinema.
 
The insanely gorgeous P.P. Arnold doing one of her best known numbers. “If You Think You’re Groovy.”
 

 
Below, Pink Floyd do “Let There Be More Light”
 

 
And one more musical morsel from “Surprise Partie”—it’s The Equals (featuring a young Eddy Grant with blonde hair) performing “Softly, Softly.”
 

 
John Walker of The Walker Brothers has died. While the band’s success was limited to mostly a few years in the 1960s, their influence is heard in the music of many groups of the past three decades, including The National, Julian Cope, Nick Cave, Jarvis Cocker, Mark Eitzel and many more. They were huge stars in Europe and Japan, but sadly ignored in the country where they were born, the USA.

The Guardian UK reports:

John Walker, one of the founders of the Walker Brothers, has died at the age of 67.

The songwriter, vocalist and guitarist, who played a pivotal role in the band, which scored huge commercial success in the 1960s and 1970s with songs such as Make It Easy On Yourself and The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine (Any More), passed away at his Los Angeles home. He had liver cancer.

Born John Maus, he and the other two unrelated members of the group, Scott Engel and Gary Leeds, adopted the Walker Brothers name after their formation in 1964.

His spokeswoman said: “Sadly John passed away yesterday morning Californian time, after a six-month battle with liver cancer.”

In a mirror image of sorts to the British pop invasion of the US in 1960s, the band’s fame flourished after travelling to the UK during the same decade.

The official John Walker website said it was with “deepest sadness” that it had to report the musician passed away.

“He was a beloved husband, brother, father, grandfather, friend, and artiste,” it added.

On his own website, Gary Walker said in a statement that it was “a very sad day” for himself, John’s family and all of their many fans.

“John was the founder member of the group and lead singer in the early days,” he added.

“He was also a fantastic guitarist which a lot of people didn’t realize. He was a compassionate songwriter and a gentleman with lots of style.”

“The three of us had the most incredible adventure together, all the time not realising that we were part of pop history in the making. His music will live on, and therefore so will John.”

John Walker performs “Kentucky Woman” on German TV show The Beat Club.
 

 
The Walker Brothers perform ‘The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Anymore”:
 

 
John Walker 2009 after the jump…

 
Dangerous Minds pal Rod Stanley, the editor of the mighty Dazed and Confused magazine, and photographer Chris Saunders recently made a trip to Nigeria and returned with a short film about the country’s vibrant musical scene:

At the end of last year, Dazed travelled to Lagos, Nigeria, for the third annual MTV Africa Music Awards, an event that had drawn performers from all over the continent, as well as a few international names such as Chuck D, Eve and Rick Ross. The real stars for me on this trip though were all the African performers that we spoke to, photographed and partied with while we were there – people like Uganda’s party boys Radio & Weasel, Nigeria’s first lady of R&B Sasha, Angola’s colourful kuduro crew Cabo Snoop, and the Democratic Republic of Congo’s fashion-mad Fally Ipupa.

Many of them told stories of how a lack of a royalty system and widespread music piracy are hampering the development of their music industry, and how they see themselves as a pioneers laying the groundwork for the generation that will follow them. This short film introduces all of the above and more, with some of their music videos and the insanely hectic atmosphere of the city of Lagos itself.

Photo gallery at Dazed Digital.
 

 
A wonderful discovery from the archives of Mills College For Women, long a hotbed of revolutionary musical experimentation. This early 50’s newsreel of Harry Partch conducting the students on his battery of self-invented and built instruments (Partch famously described himself as a composer seduced into carpentry) is entirely too brief. Fortunately, due to the Youtubes, there’s been an explosion of materials on the great man for one and all to discover. I include as a bonus but a few of the lesser viewed examples of his greatness and encourage explorers to seek out recordings of Partch’s utterly unique music.
 

 
Harry Partch Music Studio a short film by Madeline Tourtelot circa late 50’s. (in two parts)

 
Much more after the jump…

 
In Flagranti are a dance production duo consisting of Alex Gloor and Sasha Crnobrnja. who have been releasing records on labels like RVNG and Gomma for the best part of a decade. Their use of naggingly familiar disco samples combined with some old school analog electro synths has brought them a very loyal following all over the world, and seen them gain support from disparate scenes such as disco, Cosmic and electro-house.

But it’s not just about the music with these guys - Alex Gloor is also a very talented visual artist, and In Flagranti are as well known for their sleeves and videos as they are for their sounds. Making heavy use of vintage soft core porn imagery, the band have made accompanying videos for many of their tracks, and their upcoming album Worse For Wear (Codek Records) is no different. For these new tunes Gloor has hit a rich stream of found footage documenting the seedier side of New York in the late Seventies and early Eighties, featuring a lot of street kids, porno shop fronts and pissed off looking taxi drivers. Also featured in various videos are the Jonestown massacre, the infamous Ugly George cable TV show, and security footage of a bank robbery.

While definitely coming from the “club” side of visual montage, this isn’t full of annoying strobe editing and cheap computer graphics. Editing is in fact kept to a minimum and the visuals (in tandem with the music) are allowed to do all the talking themselves. My favorite clip is the appropriately titled “On The Fringe”, which features some battered and bruised looking street kids. I wonder where they are now? 

“On The Fringe” and the rest of the album are all after the jump, but in the meantime to whet your appetite here’s “Latter Day Methods” (ft Ugly George) and the Worse For Wear album promo clip. You can buy Worse For Wear here (so far it’s only available in the States on import) and there is more info on In Flagranti here.

In Flagranti - Worse For Wear album teaser 3
 

 
In Flagranti - “Latter-Day Methods”
 

After the jump the complete Worse For Wear videos.

 
Here’s the third installment of MoPapparani’s ambitious video tribute to fictional rock bands in film and television.

Featured in compilation three are:

01 - A. D. D. (The Rocker)
02 - Infant Sorrow (Get Him to the Greek)
03 - Buckaroo Banzai and the Hong Kong Cavaliers
(The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension)
04 - Hard Core Logo (Hard Core Logo)
05 - Eddie and the Cruisers (Eddie and the Cruisers)
06 - The Commitments (The Commitments)
07 - Cherry Bomb (Howard the Duck)
08 - Strange Fruit (Still Crazy)
09 - Hedwig and the Angry Inch (Hedwig and the Angry Inch)
10 - El Mariachi (Desperado)
11 - Bad Blake (Crazy Heart)
12 - B-Rabbit (8 Mile)
13 - Young Caesar (Get Rich or Die Tryin’)
14 - DJay (Hustle & Flow)
15 - Yonica Babyyeah (War, Inc.)
16 - Sexual Chocolate (Coming to America)
17 - Lili Von Shtupp (Blazing Saddles)
18 - Freddy Fredrickson (That Thing You Do!)
19 - Willie Scott (Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom)
20 - Breathless Mahoney (Dick Tracy)
21 - Emma Murdoch (Dark City)
22 - The Chantrellines (That Thing You Do!)
23 - Du Jour (Josie and the Pussycats)
24 - Rex Manning (Empire Records)
25 - PoP (Music and Lyrics)
26 - Reverend Cleophus James & the Triple Rock Baptist Church Choir
(The Blues Brothers)
27 - The Muses (Disney’s Hercules)
28 - Curtis Salgado (The Blues Brothers)
29 - Rachel Marron (The Bodyguard)
30 - The Beets (Doug)
31 - Fat Albert and the Junkyard Band (Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids)
32 - The Banana Splits (The Banana Splits)
33 - The Blowholes (The Adventures of Pete & Pete)
34 - Stephen and the Colberts (The Colbert Report)
35 - Chef (South Park)
36 - The Archies (The Archie Show)
37 - Zack Attack (Saved by the Bell)
38 - Titannica (Mr. Show with Bob and David)
39 - Timmy and the Lords of the Underworld (South Park)
40 - Dethklok (Metalocalypse)
 

 
Compilation one and two after the jump…

 
Les Blank’s God Respects Us When We Work, But Loves Us When We Dance captures the dawning of the Aquarian Age. Feel the vibe.

Hippies and flower children dance and create rituals at the historic Los Angeles “Love-In” of Easter Sunday, 1967.  This ‘60s classic documents a once-in a lifetime phenomenon, preserving all the fashions, energy and idealism of the first “alternative lifestyles.” Psychedelic special effects!

I could watch hippies dancing for hours. It’s like meditating with your eyes open.
 

 
“A BBC Reporter uncovers the underground Hippie Culture in Los Angeles during a “Love In” featuring music by The Miller Blues Band (Steve Miller Band).” Chet Helms of the Family Dog introduces the band.
 

 
In Fiorucci Made Me Hardcore, British artist Mark Leckey edits found video footage from the 1970s, 80s and 90s of young people dancing and the result is a pop culture artifact that is archetypal, alchemical, and hypnotic. The video “noise” adds a dreamy electricity to the visuals. From disco to Northern soul and techno, we are set adrift on memories of bliss.
 

 
Hal Willner’s “Forest of No Return: Music from Vintage Disney Films” was performed live at London’s Royal Festival Hall in 2007. An impressive line-up of musicians, including Jarvis Cocker (who hosted the event), Shane MacGowan, Grace Jones, David Thomas and Beth Orton, covered tunes from the Disney songbook.

In the clip below, Nick Cave sounds like a drunken sailor on ¨Hi Diddle Dee Dee¨ from Pincocchio . Good fun.

In related news, a new filmed version of Pinocchio is being produced by Guillermo del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth, Hellboy) and Nick Cave has been brought on board to compose an original score for the movie. This I gotta see.

Cave meets Disney:
 

 
Nick does KC and The Sunshine Band after the jump…