ongoing lists of various music related media recs from yours truly.
a band called death: never forget that the first and most influential punk band was made of 3 black teenage boys from detroit. watch here.
bad brains: a band in dc: rare archival footage and original comic illustrations convey the 30 year lifespan of the the most influential hardcore punk band in history, also made up of 4 black teenage boys. watch here.
beyond ultra violence: uneasy listening by merzbow: a documentary on japanese electronic experimental artist merzbow; where his music comes from - S&M pulps, fetishized seppuku, eroguro, architecture, psychoanalysis and destruction. a guided tour through one of the most prolific and active noise artists of the late 20th century, all while backed by his signature noise rackets, avant garde SOV visuals, and sub-frame editing.
halber mensch: a visual documentary of german industrial pioneer band einsturzende neubauten, during their tour of japan in 1985. the doc was a major influence on shinya tsukamoto's cyberpunk horror cult classic, tetsuo the iron man.
oh! moro volume 5: rare noise compilation of some of japan's top experimental artists in 1992.
people who do noise: extensive interviews and intimate performance footage of various experimental artists in portland. watch here.
the sound of progress: a documentary that shows the mindset and creative processes of the some of the most original and influential artists of the early - late 80s experimental scene (coil, current 93, foetus, test dept.) it's only about 40 minutes long. watch here.
24 hour party people: a comedic recreation of the creative and financial process of tony wilson creating factory records and bringing manchester's music to the world.
control: a biography on joy division's lead singer ian curtis following his schoolboy days in the early 70s to the day of his death on the eve before the band's first american tour in the early 80s.
der fan: a naive teenage girl's obsessive love for R, the german equivalent of marc bolan, leads to disastrous consequences after it is revealed that her feelings are not mutual.
phantom of the paradise: a rock opera hybrid of faust, dorian grey, and phantom of the opera, winslow leach finds himself betrayed by a music producer who steals his music and the woman he wants to sing it.
repo! the genetic opera: a campy, b-list horror musical about a sickly teenager who discovers a shocking secret about herself, her father, and their connection to a sinister megacorporation. nivek ogre of skinny puppy offers his acting skills as pavi largo, and daniel ash and david j of bauhaus provide their guitar and bass in a couple songs.
rock & rule: a nuclear WWIII between the soviet union and the US has destroyed the human race, leading to the creation of humanoid animals. mok, a malevolent rock musician, is on the search for a very special voice that can unleash a powerful demon from another dimension. debbie harry lends hers as the female lead of the film.
this is spinal tap: proto metalocalypse. if you know then you know.
evading do-re-mi: destruction and utopia:
a study of einsturzende neubauten: a thesis dissertation on the philosophical, historical, and cultural background of einsturzende neubauten. you can read it here.
please kill me: a defenitive and unapologetic oral history of the american punk movement, for better and for worse.
touching from a distance: the very book control was based on, the only in-depth biographical account of the lead singer of joy division, written by his widow. it emphasizes on ian more as a human being (father, husband, brother, son, friend, coworker) rather than the unassailable enigma music fans have come to recognize him as.