Lau Nau and Kuupuu are Finnish artists that I had been utterly unaware of until this afternoon when my brilliant friend Shannon Fields posted this clip to his FB whatsis. I think Lau Nau mostly does more song-y stuff (see the rest of the performance at the WNYC site) but I thought this was an exceptional drone improvisation, especially the layered vocals and her totally cool understated guitar feedback.
 
Lau Nau and Kuupuu on WNYC

 
This is haunting, soul stirring and just plain powerful

Dr. Ralph Stanley singing ‘O Death’ at the Hills Of Home festival near Cintwood, Virginia in 2008

On the hillside behind him lies the grave of his brother, the great Carter Stanley, as he petitions the grim reaper to spare him over till another year.

 
thanks artp1g

 
Just read about this on the Cinefamily site. There was a screening of this earlier in the month and I missed it. You snooze you lose and we live so close. I’m going to have to start pinning their programs up in my office so I don’t miss things like Do It Again. This looks great:

Small-town newspaper man Geoff Edgers, dreading the approach of his 40th birthday, is a man possessed with an improbable mission: find the still-surviving members of British legends The Kinks, and convince them to reunite. Never mind that he’s an American with just one tenuous connection to Kinks leader Ray Davies, and never mind the fact that Ray and his fellow Kink/younger brother Dave Davies don’t speak to each other; through sheer willpower, Edgers will find a way to make it all work—and when his initial mission fails, Edgers turns the film into a meditation on the power of music and his own chance to testify on his love for the band (which is sometimes worn so unabashedly on his sleeve, you almost feel like you shouldn’t be privy to it, yet you can’t stop watching it). Director Robert Patton-Spruill follows Edgers from Boston to California, from Las Vegas to New York City as Edgers meets with Kinks fans Sting, REM’s Peter Buck, a deliciously irate Paul Weller, Zooey Deschanel and Robyn Hitchcock—but the highs and lows of Edgers’ ravenous obsession is the real centerpiece, and ultimately is way more important, relevant and fascinating than any possible outcome.

 
Erasmo Carlos is a Brazilian singer and songwriter who regularly appeared on the influential sixties Brazilian music tv show called Jovem Guarda (Young Guard). The show spawned a whole scene of young rockers and pop singers, including Os Mutantes, Gilberto Gil, Roberto Carlos, Wanderlea and later Maria Bethânia and Gal Costa.

Jovem Guarda came to signify a musical movement more than a mere television show. The ‘Young Guard’ bands eventually went from American garage rock and British Invasion pop styles to more adventurous music , exploring psychedelia, jazz and the avant garde.

Erasmo Carlos is still recording and hugely popular in Brazil.

In the first video (which contains footage from ‘Mondo Mod’), Erasmo performs Vem Quente Que Eu Estou Fervendo (I’m So Hot, I’m Boiling), a tasty slice of Brazilian garage rock. The second video is a compilation of clips of bands performing on Jovem Guarda.

 
video clips from Jovem Guarda after the jump…

 
‘60s Swedish instrumental group The Spotnicks had the coolest fashion sense of any band to come out of Scandinavia. And man did they love reverb.

Here’s two cool clips of the band. Any bets that Devo got some fashion tips from these cats?

 
more space age grooviness after the jump…

 
Documentary with performances by The Dead, Mothers Of Invention, Big Brother, The Airplane, Quicksilver Messenger Service and lots of hippies dancing and getting stoned. It was directed by Stefan Morawietz for German TV. It’s in German, but you’ll get the idea.

 
part two after the jump

 
Who Killed Nancy opens today In New York City. The film makes a strong case that Sid Vicious did not kill Nancy Spungen. Read about it at the Daily Mail.

Melvin Bliss, singer of one the most sampled songs of all time, 1973’s “Synthetic Substitution,” has died. The list of artists who’ve borrowed from the track is long and overwhelming: Ultramagnetic MC’s, Public Enemy, De La Soul, Naughty By Nature, Gang Starr, Wu-Tang Clan; it goes on, pretty much forever.

Zach Baron of the Village Voice has put together a sweet video tribute to Melvin. Check it out at Village Voice

 
You read right. Jim Chuchu is one-third of the excellent Kenyan beat-pop group Just A Band, and this April he released what became Kenya’s first viral video, for their song “Ha-He.” It features the Shaft-esque character Makmende, named after playground slang for a tough guy, which itself is derived from Clint Eastwood’s “make my day” line as Dirty Harry from Sudden Impact.
 

 
But Chuchu is hardly a one-trick-pony. He’s brought his simple, wry, off-beat style to a bunch of ingenious videos by Just A Band (including the astonishing “Usinibore”) and loads of other Nairobi acts. Plus he’s built his own lighting components, which is DIY as hell.

Check out a few of the videos after the jump and you’ll understand why Chuchu has become the master visual chronicler of the sound of digital East Africa.
 

 
The magnificent R. L. Burnside in his first film appearance, performing See My Jumper Hanging On The Line. Filmed by Alan Lomax at Burnside’s home in Independence, Mississippi, August, 1978.