Essential footage of early electronic music pioneers Daphne Oram and Delia Derbyshire. In the 1960s, weird new sounds were infiltrating mass media. Cosmic tones generated through electricity, first […]
Documentary
A new documentary about the Sun Ra Omniverse is currently in production. Support the Kickstarter today! In partnership with the SUN RA Estate and veteran bandleader, Marshall Allen, […]
Watch John Peel’s Channel 4 TV series ‘Sounds of the Suburbs’ series featuring Aphex Twin, Robert Wyatt, Luke Vibert, and more! “This is how I shall die, incidentally: […]
In 2022, the BBC broadcast a documentary that traces the history of the Hacienda, the Manchester club that helped transform the sound of electronic dance music in early […]
A near hour-long showcase style documentary on Lloyd Barnes’ legendary Bronx-based reggae label. One of the most iconic reggae labels around, Wackies was founded in 1976 by Prince […]
John Carroll Kirby continues to expand the world of his Huell Howser-inspired travelogue series. John Carroll Kirby has been keeping busy this past year. Since we hosted him […]
When it tore through London before taking over the world in the early 1990s, the jungle/drum ‘n bass scene was unlike any other in the world. Harnessing samplers, […]
“They were from the left, these kids, but the traditional left didn’t agree with their ideas, and the right neither.“ During an interview with the director Marcelo Machado, […]
The story of Deep City Records, Miami’s Motown. In the early 1960s, Willie Clarke and Johnny Pearsall were two school teachers who met at Florida A&M University and […]
A look at the experimental musician and video artist’s work and influence (and featuring a Peter Brötzmann cameo) This week the renowned American Masters series on PBS premiered […]
“It’s all business as usual, really. Chaos, but good chaos.” That description of Mark E. Smith and the Fall opens the BBC 4’s 2004 documentary of the Mancunian […]
The definitive documentary of one of our favorite singer-songwriters is streaming until March 1st. Don’t miss! It’s hard to pin down where to start with an artist that […]
Want to get inspired about dance music? About the exuberant, profound joy of dancing itself? About the importance of physical spaces for stretching out and-or letting loose? And […]
Watch Peter Greenaway’s ‘Four American Composers’ featuring John Cage, Meredith Monk, Philip Glass, and Robert Ashley. Few people could discuss listening like John Cage. One of the great […]
By the year 2000, various forms of electronic dance music had begun consuming global music culture, part of an evolution that began with the rise of home computers, […]
An Afrofuturist film featuring George Clinton, Juan Atkins, Goldie, DJ Spooky, and A Guy Called Gerald. Directed by British artist, writer, theorist John Akomfrah, The Last Angel of History is […]
A primer on the birth and evolution of recorded sound and the rise of high-fidelity stereo systems… Cheesy 1990s graphics? Check. Dated approach to documentary TV? Obviously. Woefully […]
This is a film about listening. Documentary filmmaker Sam Green invites us into experimental composer Annea Lockwood’s world of listening. Highly recommended for anyone interested in “deep listening” […]
And then read Dave Tompkins’ book about the “machine that tears speech to pieces,” How to Wreck a Nice Beach. Before you watch the below 10-minute documentary on […]
“This film is the ultimate reference about reggae. A pure gem.” One great thing about a crucial music documentary is its ability to crack open a portal to […]
This illuminating hour-long 1993 documentary will rewire your brain. Sometimes you come across a documentary, article, essay or DJ mix that explodes your world. Something you didn’t realize […]
Watch the first part of a two-part doc portrait of the unorthodox Jazz piano great, featuring live performances at the Village Vanguard and intimate BTS footage of 1967 […]
Watch a documentary on a pair of landmark product releases and the ways they upended global culture. In the relative scheme of things, it wasn’t too long ago […]
A short documentary filmed in 1974 captures the Scottish folk guitarist in the studio. In the spring of 1974, Scottish guitarist Bert Jansch commenced recording sessions at label […]
Watch the 2011 film documenting the genesis of lover’s rock featuring interviews and footage of Dennis Bovell, Jean Adebambo, Janet Kay, and more. The Story of Lover’s Rock […]
To celebrate the 40th anniversary of their founding, an ode to Sade’s fifth album. Some artists transcend taste, are so naturally skilled at conveying universal emotion that their creations […]
How a 4-hour drive between Midwestern cities transformed electronic beat music. It’s no coincidence that two of electronic beat music’s most important subgenres, house and techno, were born […]
A 1986 story by Barry Walters shined a spotlight on a new dance-floor sound. In 1986, the great music writer Barry Walters, who made his name covering underground […]
First aired on Channel 4, Deep Roots features footage of Dennis Brown, the Mighty Diamonds, Mikey Dread and others. In November 1982, a just-launched British TV station called […]
Dive into the origins of Weatherall’s personal mantra “Fail We May, Sail We Must.” Yesterday, February 17th marked the second anniversary of the passing of Andrew Weatherall aka […]
A few selections from our favorite online archive of art, music, film, and all things esoteric. Though you’ve likely stumbled across a post or two from UbuWeb during […]
ICYMI, watch dublab’s Artbound episode exploring Los Angeles’ emerging generation of community-focused black musicians. Our good friends over at dublab just celebrated their 22nd anniversary this past weekend […]
Smiling C shares an intimate documentary on Mexican experimental jazz artist Germán Bringas. For the past few years, the Santa Cruz-based archival project (and one of our absolute […]
The film ‘Come Back to Africa’ is now available online and captures an essential voice in the throws of apartheid. Music and politics seem to veer away from […]
Visit Alice Coltrane’s spiritual home in this gorgeous documentary by Luaka Bop, Boiler Room and Petite Planetes. “In 1983 Alice Coltrane Turiysanagitananda founded the Sai Anantam Ashram, in […]
When, in 1970, the free jazz saxophonist Albert Ayler was found dead in the East River, a rumor started swirling that the Mafia had murdered him and disposed […]
A recent doc showcases unsung female electronic pioneers including Delia Derbyshire, Pauline Oliveros, Laurie Spiegel, Suzanne Cianni + a few of our favorites from these legends. In case […]
In 1994, MTV ran a documentary on the British label Too Pure, which had been founded four years earlier with early releases from Stereolab, PJ Harvey and Seefeel. […]
Extensive interviews and performances with the new age icon explaining the origins of his inter-dimensional music. Here is Iasos, the legendary and peculiar new age figure from the […]
A monumental documentary series by Lovely Music’s Robert Ashley featuring Terry Riley, David Behrman, Pauline Oliveros, Philip Glass, Alvin Lucier and others. In 1975 Robert Ashley embarked on […]
Step into the studio with Ornette Coleman and his Trio. Ornette Coleman’s 1959 breakout record The Shape of Jazz to Come legitimized free jazz and lit the match […]
William Farley’s 1986 documentary portrait of the Indian classical figure, who considered by many to be the godfather of drone. Featuring interviews with Terry Riley, Mariam Zazeela and […]
A rare look into the complex mind and artistry of composer Ryuichi Sakamoto. Here’s some more Yellow Magic Orchestra adjacent content… Tokyo Melody is a documentary by French […]
Happy birthday to the late great Holger Czukay of seminal krautrock band Can. “God gave Holger the tape machine and the devil gave him a pair of scissors…” […]
In 1992, the BBC sent a team to Mumbai to explore the contemporary jazz scene with electric violin virtuoso L. Shankar. Jazz has its origins in the American […]
Look inside the mind of the enigmatic dub producer. Lee “Scratch” Perry’s supernatural musical insights created and transformed genres from dub to punk, and the stories that saturate […]
Rest in peace Milford Graves <3 Full Mantis is available to stream on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Milford-Graves-Full-Mantis/dp/B07NGRL22J
A rare look into the music and life of the Lovely Music Ltd. composer, musician, and teacher. Just For the Record: Conversations with and about “Blue” Gene Tyranny […]
The life of illusive transcultural mutant Dick Verdult reads like a Hunter S. Thompson, and his unbelievable story is told by Luuk Bouwmann in his film Dick Verdult: […]
Filmmaker Robert Mugge profiles Sun Ra, jazz musician, bandleader and self-styled poet and philosopher. “They say that history repeats itself. But history is only his story. You haven’t […]
In typical BBC4 fashion, here is Krautrock: The Rebirth of Germany: A full panoramic breakdown of the rise of one of the most influential sounds from Europe. “From […]
Making Waves is a 2019 documentary examining how visionary directors work with sound designers to create the most exciting cinematic experiences. The film follows discoveries and advances in […]
New documentary shows how six African American women – Lena Horne, Abbey Lincoln, Nina Simone, Diahann Carroll, Cicely Tyson and Pam Grier – changed American culture. American Masters: How […]
Essential lockdown viewing and the perfect gateway into “cool jazz” legend Chet Baker. Let’s Get Lost, Bruce Weber’s monochromatic masterpiece on “cool jazz” great Chet Baker, is a […]
Here’s one of our absolute favorite documentaries. Alan Greenberg’s directorial debut Land of Look Behind is a beautifully honest and intimate look into the people and culture surrounding […]
“The synthesizer the way I play it doesn’t need any manual skill. You don’t have to be clever to turn a knob. So what I’m saying is that […]
