Music

OUR VINYL WEIGHS A TON (2013)

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Stones Throw Records has become a home to a plethora of musical artists who nobody else would sign.

The reason, Chris Manak, aka the celebrated music producer, Peanut Butter Wolf.
Clearly Wolf is a man of many talents and tastes and here we get to see the journey of his record label from inception to near enough now.
Being an independent label has its challenges art is his goal whether or not the music is commercially viable. There was a time when Stones Throw was a mecca for many artists who would otherwise find it difficult to get a deal.

Started in 1996 as a way to put out the kind of music he likes as opposed to the music he thinks people will like and he has remained true to this to date.
It has been seen as a hip-hop label but was always more than that.
One of the main reasons was Madlib, the incredible producer behind the brilliant Madlib/ MF Doom collaboration Madvillainy, that is now seen as one of the greatest hip hop albums amongst the cognoscenti. Originally signed to Stones Throw as part of the hip hop outfit, Lootpac, Madlib went on to become one of the greatest hip hop producers living today. His work with the late, great J Dilla caused a great deal of excitement within the hip-hop community and music industry in general.

Featuring the likes of Common, Tyler the Creator, Kanye West, Flying Lotus, Madlib, Daniel Dumille (MF Doom) Talib Kweli and Snoop this documentary is a must for all lovers of music showing that it can be done outside of the usual channels, independently and at times, successfully.

3.7/5

BUY THE BLU-RAY DVD AND CD HERE

DOWNLOAD THE FILM ON iTUNES HERE

MONTEREY POP (1968)

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Often overshadowed by the amount of attention Woodstock and Altamont received (both taking place in 1969 and within a few months of each other), Monterey Pop festival took place over three days in June 1967 at the height of the boom of love-ins and opening up of the youth, metaphorically (drugs, music and sex) and literally (Vietnam, the opening up, not the love-ins) and including breakout performances from Jimi Hendrix and Otis Redding.

Looking at a film like this you can clearly see the optimism and hope of the youth at the time and get a magical glimpse of a specific, turning point in history, not too long ago, that was massively and culturally significant.

In the 79 minutes, director D.A. Pennebaker manages to capture the essence of the festival with a wonderful amount of crowd shots intercut with concert footage.

The music is exquisite, from The Mamas and the Papas brilliantly performing California Dreaming to the Ragas of the ‘out of this wordly’ talented, Ravi Shankar, this concert is one for music lovers everywhere. Music is music is music and no genre-fication will be able to truly compartmentalise it. Great music transcends all the marketing men’s genre boxes and lifts the human spirit to lands previously unseen.

Simon and Garfunkel, Canned Heat, Hugh Masekela, Jefferson Airplane, Eric Burdon and The Animals, Big Brother and the Holding Company featuring the mighty Janis Joplin, The Who, Otis, Jimi, Ravi!!! What a line up.

It is impossible to recreate the sheer energy that Jimi brings to the table here in this day and age as we now live in a world where everything that can be seen has already been seen and done. Any Jimi emulators will be seen as merely that, copycats. To watch him embodying sexual energy in this performance of Wild Thing is to truly witness greatness, a wild abandon, an artistic one-man bacchanal. Stunning.
Janis is just raw power, she reminded me of Amy Winehouse, not in her singing style but in the performance filled with every fibre of her being.

The finale builds wonderfully with a performance being heard whilst shots of the festival and the revellers looking on in awe at the performance takes you right to the heart of the festival.

Although a much more conventional concert than Woodstock as in, there are seats, this definitely has the feel of something extraordinary with the sheer amount of talent on stage.

A definite must-see for anyone who claims to be into music.

4/5

Buy the brilliant soundtrack here.

Buy the Blu-Ray Criterion Collection DVD here.