After more than a year in lockdown, little in the music industry is certain. But in the near-absence of live shows, Bandcamp Friday has become a rare constant. The monthly tradition — a digital holiday of sorts, during which Bandcamp waives its revenue share, channeling all proceeds directly to artists and labels who sell their music through the service — brought in a whopping $40 million for creators throughout 2020. It continued in February and March, and is scheduled to run through May. In honor of today’s edition, here are a bunch of...
- 4/2/2021
- by Jonathan Bernstein, Rick Carp , Jon Dolan, Jon Freeman, Joseph Hudak, Rob Sheffield, Hank Shteamer and Simon Vozick-Levinson
- Rollingstone.com
In September of 2008, an unusual performance took place at downtown New York club Le Poisson Rouge. At stage right, opposite fellow six-string adventurer Marc Ribot, sat Lou Reed, conjuring clouds of free-rock energy from his guitar. Behind them, avant-garde mainstay John Zorn sent forth piercing, impassioned blasts of alto sax. And at the center of it all, churning with the fury of a whirlpool and dancing across his hand-painted drum kit with the control and flair of a flamenco master, was Milford Graves — the percussionist, healer, and interdisciplinary seeker who...
- 2/13/2021
- by Hank Shteamer
- Rollingstone.com
Think of Greg Fox as an avant-garde Steve Gadd. Whereas Gadd specializes in bringing immaculate grooves with him wherever he goes, Fox — a thirty-something New York drummer renowned for his fierce yet supple attack— is the guy you call if you’re looking to infuse your band with a kind of ecstatic electricity. Drawing on influences from Lightning Bolt basher Brian Chippendale to free-jazz mystic Milford Graves, he’s brought that sensation to his work with arty black-metal band Liturgy, instrumental psych purveyors Ex Eye, shapeshifting experimental outfit Zs, and...
- 4/7/2020
- by Hank Shteamer
- Rollingstone.com
10 Great ‘Small’ Movies You Might Have Missed in the 2010s, From ‘Manakamana’ to ‘The Fits’ (Photos)
The films on this admittedly non-comprehensive list were not distributed by major studios, but by smaller specialty companies. They played for a couple of weeks (or less) in big cities, maybe even just one night in a museum. They weren’t on the multiplex radar at all. But to adventurous film audiences, they were a vital part of any discussion about cinema. They told complex stories ignored by major studios. The dug deeper into abstraction or discomfort. And they pushed at the edges of filmmaking practice in ways that will influence the mainstream in the future.
“Cemetery of Splendor” (2015)
A makeshift hospital on an ancient royal burial ground houses soldiers overcome with a mysterious sleeping sickness. Then they begin psychically communicating with the women who work there. Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s oblique, delicate story of historical memory and collective awakening that plays out like a dream.
“Did You Wonder Who Fired The Gun?...
“Cemetery of Splendor” (2015)
A makeshift hospital on an ancient royal burial ground houses soldiers overcome with a mysterious sleeping sickness. Then they begin psychically communicating with the women who work there. Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s oblique, delicate story of historical memory and collective awakening that plays out like a dream.
“Did You Wonder Who Fired The Gun?...
- 12/11/2019
- by Dave White
- The Wrap
The most demonstrative note that Andrew Cyrille played on Tuesday night — a resounding thwack on the snare — was also the last. The drummer, a key presence across the full spectrum of jazz since the early 1960s, was wrapping up more than four hours of largely improvised exploration on the opening night of New York City’s annual Vision Festival. For the concluding set, Cyrille duetted with Peter Brötzmann, a German saxophonist known for his sandpaper tone and raucous flow. Brötzmann opened the set with blaring doom-blues blasts, and instead of...
- 6/12/2019
- by Hank Shteamer
- Rollingstone.com
Narrative live action has struggled at the 2018 specialty box office; so far the top titles are either animated or documentary. But that has suddenly changed. “Eighth Grade” (A24) had a sensational two-city initial response. And “Sorry to Bother You” (Annapurna) expanded rapidly with continued strong results. Meantime serious drama “Leave No Trace” (Bleecker Street) successfully added more theaters to bring the indie count to three non-documentary hits.
Not that documentaries have peaked. “Three Identical Strangers” (Neon) is also breaking through to a wider public.
Yes, there were several major successes, but this summer lineup offered narrow appeal, leaving out more sophisticated fare. It’s too soon to celebrate. But after a worrisome first half of the year, summer brings upbeat news.
Opening
Eighth Grade (A24) – Metacritic: 90; Festivals include: Sundance, South by Southwest 2018
$252,284 in 4 theaters; PTA (per theater average): $63,071
Top level reviews (at the level of “The Rider” and “First Reformed...
Not that documentaries have peaked. “Three Identical Strangers” (Neon) is also breaking through to a wider public.
Yes, there were several major successes, but this summer lineup offered narrow appeal, leaving out more sophisticated fare. It’s too soon to celebrate. But after a worrisome first half of the year, summer brings upbeat news.
Opening
Eighth Grade (A24) – Metacritic: 90; Festivals include: Sundance, South by Southwest 2018
$252,284 in 4 theaters; PTA (per theater average): $63,071
Top level reviews (at the level of “The Rider” and “First Reformed...
- 7/15/2018
- by Tom Brueggemann
- Indiewire
Percussionist, professor, free-jazz drummer, acupuncturist, herbalist, independent electro-cardiologist, martial artist, sculptor—Milford Graves doesn’t settle down and he doesn’t stick to one thing. Rather, these different identities all feed into this autodidact and polymath’s interest in the body and the human heart, as well the natural world’s relationship with them. Graves the man, the musician, his lifestyle, and his unwavering beliefs are the subject of Jake Meginsky and co-director Neil Young’s recent film, Milford Graves: Full Mantis (2018), which with Stephen Schible’s Ryuichi Sakamoto: Coda (2017), is one of two portraits of artists now playing in New York City.Born on August 20, 1941 in Jamaica, Queens, Milford Graves is one of the seminal figures of free jazz, avant-garde jazz, or any other type of classification that describes the genre of the late 1950s and 1960s. Although his discography is slim (which is perhaps due to the...
- 7/12/2018
- MUBI
Music documentaries are center stage at this year’s Sheffield Doc/Fest with the launch of films including Neil Young-directed Milford Graves Full Mantis and Stuart Swezey’s Desolation Center, which opened with a live performance from Sonic Youth frontman Thurston Moore. It also emerged during the festival that The Fader’s Tyler The Creator-associated online music doc project Summer of ’17 is on the brink of becoming a linear series.
Vice UK’s Head of Music Alex Hoffman, who runs music channel Noisey, Rollo Jackson, the filmmaker behind Stormzy’s doc Gang Signs and Prayer, former Fader creative director Robert Semmer and Jacqui Edenbrow, Head of Video at arts organization Frieze, talked about the future of the format at Music Docs: New Forms and Platform at the Netflix Crucible Studio on Saturday afternoon.
Semmer, who is Head of Content at filmmaker agency Premier, said that platforms are starting to...
Vice UK’s Head of Music Alex Hoffman, who runs music channel Noisey, Rollo Jackson, the filmmaker behind Stormzy’s doc Gang Signs and Prayer, former Fader creative director Robert Semmer and Jacqui Edenbrow, Head of Video at arts organization Frieze, talked about the future of the format at Music Docs: New Forms and Platform at the Netflix Crucible Studio on Saturday afternoon.
Semmer, who is Head of Content at filmmaker agency Premier, said that platforms are starting to...
- 6/10/2018
- by Peter White
- Deadline Film + TV
The Sarasota Film Festival ended its 20th anniversary edition Saturday night by announcing jury prizes, which went to I Am Not a Witch for top narrative feature and Minding The Gap as best documentary.
Closing night also featured a screening of Above and Beyond: Nasa’s Journey to Tomorrow, plus the presentation of career achievement awards to Virginia Madsen and Steve Guttenberg. Florida’s own Nick Bollettieri, the famed tennis coach, also attended a screening of a documentary about his life, Love Means Zero.
I Am Not a Witch , about an 8-year-old girl in Zambia who is banished to the desert after being convicted of being a witch, premiered last year in Cannes during the Directors’ Fortnight. Minding the Gap, a portrait of three skateboarding friends coping with adulthood in the Rust Belt city of Rockford, Illinois, had its world premiere in January at Sundance.
“We couldn’t be more...
Closing night also featured a screening of Above and Beyond: Nasa’s Journey to Tomorrow, plus the presentation of career achievement awards to Virginia Madsen and Steve Guttenberg. Florida’s own Nick Bollettieri, the famed tennis coach, also attended a screening of a documentary about his life, Love Means Zero.
I Am Not a Witch , about an 8-year-old girl in Zambia who is banished to the desert after being convicted of being a witch, premiered last year in Cannes during the Directors’ Fortnight. Minding the Gap, a portrait of three skateboarding friends coping with adulthood in the Rust Belt city of Rockford, Illinois, had its world premiere in January at Sundance.
“We couldn’t be more...
- 4/22/2018
- by Dade Hayes
- Deadline Film + TV
Music documentaries usually fall into a few limited categories, including glowing hagiographies, concert films and rise-and-fall tragedies. These categories persist, at least in part, because they provide foolproof audience-friendly templates for filmmakers to follow. Milford Graves Full Mantis goes down a completely different path and the results are magnificent. Milford Graves is a famed jazz drummer and percussionist who has performed with the likes of Albert Ayler and Paul Bley. Although Graves is justfiably regarded for his drumming, music is a single element of a personal philosophy that synthesizes art, physiology, alternative medicine and martial arts. Co-directors Jake Meginsky, who has studied under Graves for 15 years, and Neil Young eschew standard tools and techniques (e.g., linear biographical timelines, detached narration, multiple talking heads) to...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 3/15/2018
- Screen Anarchy
The Jingoist and Blind screenwriter John Buffalo Mailer Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Cremaster and Drawing Restraint 9 (with Björk) mastermind, Matthew Barney, adapted Norman Mailer's Ancient Evenings to create River Of Fundament. Cornelia Parker staged The Maybe with Tilda Swinton at MoMA and now her Alfred Hitchcock Psycho inspired Transitional Object (PsychoBarn) is on The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Roof Garden - the perfect setting for a John Buffalo Mailer on Norman Bates, Houdini, Steven Spielberg and Sam Mendes on Gay Talese's The Voyeur's Motel, Michael Mailer, Alec Baldwin, Demi Moore and Dylan McDermott conversation.
Ellen Burstyn, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Paul Giamatti, James Toback, Elaine Stritch, Debbie Harry, James Lee Byars, Lawrence Weiner, Salman Rushdie, Luc Sante, Cinqué Lee, Jonas Mekas, Fran Lebowitz, Dick Cavett, Jeffrey Eugenides, Aimee Mullins and Sam Nivola are among the River Of Fundament dwellers. Buffalo Mailer, Milford Graves and Lakota Chief Dave Beautiful Bald Eagle reincarnate as Norman I, Norman II...
Cremaster and Drawing Restraint 9 (with Björk) mastermind, Matthew Barney, adapted Norman Mailer's Ancient Evenings to create River Of Fundament. Cornelia Parker staged The Maybe with Tilda Swinton at MoMA and now her Alfred Hitchcock Psycho inspired Transitional Object (PsychoBarn) is on The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Roof Garden - the perfect setting for a John Buffalo Mailer on Norman Bates, Houdini, Steven Spielberg and Sam Mendes on Gay Talese's The Voyeur's Motel, Michael Mailer, Alec Baldwin, Demi Moore and Dylan McDermott conversation.
Ellen Burstyn, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Paul Giamatti, James Toback, Elaine Stritch, Debbie Harry, James Lee Byars, Lawrence Weiner, Salman Rushdie, Luc Sante, Cinqué Lee, Jonas Mekas, Fran Lebowitz, Dick Cavett, Jeffrey Eugenides, Aimee Mullins and Sam Nivola are among the River Of Fundament dwellers. Buffalo Mailer, Milford Graves and Lakota Chief Dave Beautiful Bald Eagle reincarnate as Norman I, Norman II...
- 6/15/2016
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
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