Robert Millis - Sublime Frequencies European Film Screening Tour deets

Ok I promised to put up the details in last weeks Radio Show. Sublime Frequencies' take on 'roots/folk' music is incredible and far-and-a-way my favourite. Over a distinguished few decades they have found and put out the most R'n'R of indigenous sounds, lunatics, mystics, Radio, gods, geniuses, animals, insects, skies - you name it they find the rawest most fantabulous stuff - ANYWHERE. So needless to say their films are astounding. Here's their take on Southern India

There you are. That was just 1:19 of one of the films, and your mind is now trickling out of your ears isn't it?

The other film is about the Phi Tha Kohn Ghost Festival or 'Mardi Gras from Hell' which takes place in the Isan province of Northern Thailand. I cannot embed it here but cut & paste this link-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0VyM6B_v4o

So tour dates (and apologies for the formatting shambles!)

MAY 14: BERLIN - N.K. Elsen Strasse, 52 12059 Berlin

http://www.nkprojekt.de/

May 16: BERLIN - (improv set w/ Ratbag and Gilles Aubry)

May 16: BERLIN - (improv set w/ Ratbag and Gilles Aubry)Loophole, Boddinstrasse 60 12053 Berlinhttp://www.loophole-berlin.com/

May 18: BERLIN - Schwelle 7, Uferstraße 6, 13357 Berlin, Germany 

May 18: BERLIN - Schwelle 7, Uferstraße 6, 13357 Berlin, Germany performance with Sublime Frequencies' contributor, Laurent Jeanneau,  Using material gathered on various Sublime Frequencies expeditions.
May 21: GENEVA - Cave 12, 4 Rue de la Prairie 9pm CHF10www.cave12.org
May 22: BRUSSELS (film screening) Crickxstraat 15, 1060 bruxelles 8.30PM €5http://www.lesateliersclaus.com/
May 23: AALST - Houtkaai z/n, 9300 Aalst 8pm €13/10 with Dean Blunthttp://www.netwerk-art.be/en/concerts/989/dean-blunt-rmillis
May 24: AMSTERDAM - OCCIIAmstelveenseweg 134, 1075XL Amsterdam 9pm €7http://occii.org/

May 25: BRADFORD - Threadfest @ Fuse Art Space, 

May 25: BRADFORD - Threadfest @ Fuse Art Space, 5-7 Rawson Place BD1 3QQ 1pm Free entry. Also appearing: Philip Jeck + Basic House + Lee Patterson + Dean McPhee + Female Bandhttps://www.facebook.com/events/488180197953434/http://wearefuse.co/threadfest/
May 26: COVENTRY - The Coal Vaults, Coal Vaults CV1 4LY 8pm £5/7http://thetinmusicandarts.org.uk/events/robert-millis-presents-sublime-frequencies/
May 27: LONDON - Cafe Oto, 18-22 Ashwin St, Dalston E8 3DL* Also screening Robert Millis' film: Phi Ta Khon: Ghosts of Isan8pm £7/8http://cafeoto.co.uk/sublime-frequencies-robert-millis-the-world-is-unreal-like-a-snake-in-a-rope.shtm
May 28: HELSINKI - Korjaamo, Töölönkatu 51 a-b, 00250 Helsinki with Avarus* Screening This World Is Unreal Like A Snake In A Rope8pm €tbahttp://www.korjaamo.fi/
May 29: TAMPERE - Telakka, Tullikamarinaukio 3, 33100 Tampere* Screening: Phi Ta Khon: Ghosts of Isan8pm €tbahttp://www.telakka.eu/

May 30: BRIGHTON - The Cowley Club, 12 London Rd, BN1 4JA 

May 30: BRIGHTON - The Cowley Club, 12 London Rd, BN1 4JA with F.Ampism + Dickinson/Murphy/Nyoukis7.30pm £5http://www.cowleyclub.org.uk/
May 31: GLASGOW - The Old Hairdressers, 20-28 Renfield Lane, G2 6PHwith Bridget Hayden www.stereocafebar.com

June 1: BRISTOL - Cube Cinema, Dove Street South, BS2 8JD8pm £6/8http://www.cubecinema.com/programme/view/2014/3/28?daysahead=90#event_7324

June 3: Film screening, Athens TBA

June 5: e Athens, TBAJune 7: PARIS - Espace en Cours, 56, rue de la Réunion, 75020 Paris with Tara Jane O'Neil7.30pm €7http://alifibgigs.wordpress.com/

Film - Greaser's Palace (1972)

Astonishing acid-fried take on a second coming in the wild west. Seaweedhead Greaser runs a dying place. He murders his son Lamy Homo (!) regularly because Lamy keeps getting resurrected. Then Jesse parachutes in with his unforgettable walk and zoot suit and starts doing miracles. Meanwhile his father is putting a young family through hell out in the desert, and the other part of the trinity is covered in a dust-sheet and killing or resurrecting at will...possibly pointlessly. There follows a lot of walking and an array of wondrous battered hats. There is very little script but lines are often repeated endlessly - more like animal calls. The authority does nothing but take taxes, and is constipated, bored, irrelevant, impotent. The Native Americans are a little more grounded and have a topless Toni Basil. The scenery is also absolutely beautiful. The music is lovely. Robert Downey Sr directed this wonderful absurdist comedy (I laughed out loud at least 7 times!). 

I'm not gonna tell you how it plays out but I loved it. The comedy set-pieces are hilarious. There is horror. The cast played it straight and that was the right call. You may know Alan Arbus from M.A.S.H. and he's just as affecting in this.

Film - Decoder (1984)

Strange little time-capsule with loads of faces from the early 80's Berlin scene. William Burroughs, Christianne F. Genesis P-Orridge. Brion Gysin's Dream Machines. Some of Throbbing Gristle. Soft Cell. Temple Ov Psychic Youth. Themes are - surveillance; privacy; the war over, for and to distort information; secrecy; fast food; distopian muzac; mind control; genuine scenes of rioting from Reagan's visit to Berlin; corporate non-accountability; celebration & encouragement of aggression in video games. But the real star is the film design, sound and music. Proto- cyberpunk sci-fi and obviously now very topical

Well worth a look

Once Upon A Time in the Doom

Possibly the best fan-made vid I've seen. If you haven't yet seen the film this gives away one of the plot themes so beware. Otherwise just wait for when the music starts - oh brother.

Schizo Fun Addict - New Single Vids + 'Towers' Trailer

They've just put out a cracking 7" vinyl single on Fruits De Mer Records - both sides of which I'll be playing in the shows. But Jet Wintzer, of the band, is an award winning film maker so the Vids are what this post is all about. Here's side A...

It starts to be about the sumptuous sets at that speed doesn't it?

Now here is side B, which is a cover of one of my favourite songs ever...

All FdM releases are ltd edition packages and sell out so if you want this one (which includes a dvd of Wintzers film' Towers') go here now -

http://www.fruitsdemerrecords.com/suspiria.html

Here's a trailer for the film with some great acid synth - crank it up if you have good sound

Film - Mondo Cane (1962)

The original 'Mondo' shockumentary. Considers the variety and lunacy of the human animal via all manner of shocking, exotic, violent, sad, hilarious, pitiful, fatal, vicious etc etc (this is an in-joke you will get if you watch it) scenes. Some are real and some are set-ups. There is a colossal amount of animal killing/cruelty so be warned. Quite a few people die as well. Superb filming, sequencing, editing and scoring make this a cracking film as it moves from, say: bikini dumbness to Bikini Atoll and heartbreaking scenes of the effects of radiation poisoning in the animals; or from the grim reaper to alcoholics and prostitutes on the Reeperbahn. You have to see this with the original Italian narrator as his camp asides and venomous jokes are really funny, but every now and then you get a sober meditation on, say, death or faith that is brilliantly well written. Highlights for me were the self-flagellants who inadvertently looked like Hitler impersonators wearing turf for hats! And the tropical island chief with a thing for very large ladies, many many very large ladies, with all of whom he had knocked out goodness knows how many children...oh the joy when you finally get to see him.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SodbsPbneMM&feature=channel&list=UL

Film - Mondo Hollywood (1967)

...and Bobby Beausoleil is the kid with the bow and arrow in this fascinating look at the mediocrity that is, or homes in on, big money. The LA hubris has become a blueprint for cities all over the world since this groundbreaking documentary was made in the mid-sixties. As always, this was a closed scene which turned in on itself...there are Manson acolytes and victims peppered throughout the film. "The body thing is so big." Any real talent isn't apparent, just journalists, businessmen and other limpets commenting on, and clinging to, the celebrity. Prophetic, I mean just look at the scene where the royals are next to, the far more handsome, beautiful (and talented!), Paul Newman and Julie Andrews. The end-credits are superb...

and so to the grossly misleading poster (more on this in the next post - can you guess what comes next? It's dead simple)

 

Short Film - Kenneth Anger - Lucifer Rising (1972)

You'll hear a lot of b*ll*cks spoken about this. It contains masses (ha ha) of symbolism about Lucifer as the bringer of light, the rebellious spirit etc. What you actually get is a cracking half hour prog-rock/krautrock/euro-rock/kosmische suite composed by Bobby Beausoleil from inside Oregon State Pen where he's serving life imprisonment for a Charles Manson related murder! Beausoleil's the Lucifer in this film with dark curly hair. Anger got about half an hour of footage of him before he, presciently, decided Bobby was acting like he had a demon in him! The film itself is like the ultimate prog-rock (gatefold) album sleeve come to life. It really is that good, and has been a massive influence on...well if you watch it you'll see...it's quite a list! The cast also includes Donald Cammell (Performance), his beautiful muse Myriam Gibril, Chris Jagger and Marianne Faithful (Mick chickened out, a little shabby given that Anger provided the inspiration for 'Sympathy...')

 

Film - Mayor of the Sunset Strip (2003)

Documentary about legendary DJ Rodney 'on the Roq' Bingenheimer (he broke glam rock, punk, new wave, britpop, alt-rock and tons of sub-movements in the States + created the legendary/notorious English Disco in LA (underage groupies in the 70's)). I always had him down as virtually a pimp working his way through all the underage girls with the sexually abusive lunatic Kim Fowley, but this documentary caught my attention 6 minutes in with the following exchange -
"Do you wish your life had been different?"
"Yeah actually." Followed by a look of pure despair!
This is actually a fascinating look at a generation of kids with poor parents. They fled the abuse or neglect and headed for LA/Hollywood. Rodney is a tiny put-upon figure; bullied at school; with a mother who was so ill-equipped that she was divorced by the time he was 3; and when he reached his teens she dumped him and his suitcase outside the house of a TV star he had a teen crush on...and abandoned him! Rodney's escape was into celebrity (a trait of his mother's) and music, especially if made by pretty English boys. He's like this Zelig figure who first crops up in The Monkees and is then seen with, works with or is photographed with everyone who was famous...EVERYONE! Simultaneously he is the de facto leader of all the other abandoned kids, with his wing-man Fowley. He had this despairing puppy-dog look that made all the girls want to mother/sleep with him. By the time this documentary was made though, the look is just despair. Just about everyone he loved/loves let him down. It happens several times during the filming (in particular the interview with him and Camille on the bed...you'll know the one). I am actually really surprised he allowed such an invasion into his private hells. What saves him though is his two passions. His uber-networking skills provide a living via celebrity, and he has a handful of very close friends there as well (Nancy Sinatra, Cher and Joan Jett are very good at explaining how alone these people really are). His immense love for 'positive' music meant he could discover and break all the great rock-pop that streamed out of Britain in the 70's from Glam to Punk, which, in turn provided careers with the English Disco and then KROQ Radio where he effectively created THE radio format for at least a decade in the US. Even that is failing him by the time this doc is filmed. The money-men and young shits are side-lining him and/or stabbing him in the back. AND he didn't do any of this for the money!
It is a great, albeit heartrending, story and brilliantly told and developed. Finally, at the heart, is this peculiar friendship with Fowley. I have to declare an interest here. I cannot forgive Fowley for what he did or allowed to be done to The Runaways (there is an unreleased doc called Edgeplay which occasionally surfaces...see that and you will understand) BUT I am reasonably certain that he is a genius. What he sees, is what Rodney doesn't, that they were effectively a couple of damaged kids/tramps that fought and fucked their way through the Cali-bullshit and survived, and are still surviving, and longevity in Hotel California is darn near a miracle.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EDp2oHQaRI

Film - Coonskin (1975)

"Warning -This film offends everybody!"

A satire of racial stereotyping; of Disney's Song of the South; and what the blaxploitation genre had become in particular. A furious attack on all sorts of power-bases both criminal and otherwise. This is about as far down as Ralph Bakshi could take it. There are no heroes. Everyone is vicious, brutal and corrupted. Yet the film design (live action and animation as only Bakshi can do it) is superb. The whole Madigan sequence is incredible, and the hatred for this monster is palpable. The boxing sequence, and the Godfather and his wife sequence also stand out. Controversial but unmissable film which Paramount dropped immediately!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwjLV-RkPfg

Film - House (Hausu) (1977)

Nobuhiko Obayashi's utterly crazy but unmissable comedy-horror-ghost-fantasy film. Everything is slightly out-of-whack, in particular the skies! Seven largely annoying girls go to stay in a haunted house. You know what's going to happen...but it's HOW it happens that is incredible! The most inept schoolteacher ever also has a psychedelically-comic role. Great design and imagination.

http://viooz.co/movies/20298-house-hausu-1977.html

Film - Heavy Traffic 1973

One of a run of features by Ralph Bakshi which were seriously pessimistic social commentary, set in the decaying NYC, of the early 1970s. Sexist, racist, misogynist, misanthropic...you won't see this on tv as part of the design was to offend. There are no good guys or heroes. Just unpleasant characters caught in vicious times. However, the design is brilliant. Bakshi has his own signature mix of animation and live action, and it really is perfect here. New York seems to drift physically and in time, and it is rotten. Gay rights, civil rights, workers rights, the mob, the fuzz, Italians, Jews, the establishment, sex workers, the disabled, hustlers, religion, even god...everything and everyone is considered and found wanting. A masterpiece

Film - Death Powder 1986

Horror/Sci Fi low budget lunacy from Shigeru Izumiya. It's a cult classic with fans of Tetsuo, Eraserhead, Videodrome. Rough and yet great visuals and sound design. There's sort of a story but that doesn't really matter. 63mins long and recommended.

Film - Simon, King of the Witches 1971

Exploitation hokum with a great performance by Andrew Prine.