Not many artists released their first record at the age of 62, even less started a successful career with it. Charles Bradley, now referred  as “The Screaming Eagle of Soul” is one of the very few who did, maybe the only one. His debut album ‘No time for dreaming‘ even got listed on Mojo’s (#40) and Rolling Stone’s (#48) ‘Best album of 2011′.

Charles Bradley had a turbulent life. Despite being abandoned as a child, poverty, periods of homelessness and the loss of his brother, he never stopped pursuing his dream to become a professional singer. The documentary Soul of America follows Bradley’s journey during the months leading up to the release of his debut album. The documentary will premiere at the SXSW 2012 Film Festival in March. Check out the trailer below.

Why we care? Because The Caretaker made the breathtaking soundtrack for the film. We don’t just say that because he perfoms on the next edition of Incubated (BUY TICKETS! BUY BUY!), it’s true. Pitchfork rates it with an 8.0 and Sputnikmusic gives it a 4/5. Here‘s another raving review. (His last official full-length ‘An Empty Bliss Beyond This World’ got even more reviewers screaming from the rooftops.) and you can stream the entire album below!

If you buy your tickets for the next edition of Incubated with Library Tapes, Sleepingdog and The Caretaker on February 2nd in Paradox, you can win one of these custom-made fanboys. Tickets are €9 excl. and are for sale right now.

We Jam Econo – The Story of the Minutemen is a full-length documentary about the influential 1980s punk rock band The Minutemen. The documentary consists of interviews with the band’s two surviving members Mike Watt and George Hurley, official music videos, three live performances and first-person anecdotes from notable musicians including Flea and Henry Rollins. We Jam Econo – The Story of Minutemen is made by director Tim Irwin and producer Keith Schieron in association with Rocket Fuel Films.

‘At the heart of their story is the immeasurable personal and musical bond between bassist Mike Watt and singer and guitarist D. Boon. Childhood friends, their unbridled creativity and political views were the foundation of this groundbreaking band which refused to be categorized as Punk.’

When the band is asked if they have anything else to say in an interview in 1985, Mike Watt made a comment near the end of the film and answered for the band ‘We Jam Econo’. It’s a lyric for their song ‘The Politics of Time’ and was a local slang for economic and described the band’s dedication to low-cost record production and touring. The Minutemen had a do-it-your-self attitude and philosophy. A must see for who that love punk rock and for the fans of the DIY band The Minutemen.

The DIY conference had the Dutch premiere of the PressPausePlay documentary, a film about hope, fear and digital culture. A while back we posted that the documentary was downloadable at their website in two versions, the normal one and the interactive version. It has interviews with Moby, Seth Godin, Andrew Keen and Bill Drummond(who also gave a keynote at the DIY conference).

During the DIY conference we first showed the documentary and afterwards there was a panel. The members of the panel are: Philip Marthinsen (producer of PressPausePlay), Dwight Witherspoon of Ericsson Sweden, who made the film possible, hip-hop and electronica producer Daedelus (a.o. Ninja Tune, Stones Throw, Brainfeeder and Warp) and Arnold de Boer, since long the guy behind Zea and since two and a half years singer and guitarist in The Ex. The panel was moderated by Erwin Blom.

The discussion involves the digital revolution of the last decade, which has unleashed unlimited creative opportunities. Main questions of this panel are: Does democratized culture mean better art, film, music and literature? Is it cultural democracy or medicrity? Watch the panel below and give us your opinion about it!

Incubate DIY Conference #2: PressPausePlay panel discussion from Incubate Festival on Vimeo.

Graffiti.. It’s all around us. On the walls, on the trains, on buildings and on bridges, you name it! This documentary gives you a look at the rise of the global street art movement. The project is called ‘See No Evil’ and is organised by Inkie, Team Love and Weapon of Choice with the support of Bristol City Council and Nelson Street’s building owners. In August this year the city Bristol, England hosted this event to decorate the grey and boring looking part of town, even more accurately ‘Nelson Street’, to stimulate creativity and create colour.

The documentary consists of lots and lots of art, interviews with well known street artists and some thumping sounds. The city of Bristol is a main subject in this documentary. Reflection of the history of Bristol’s art scene, mixed up with today’s art scene. Artists who sprayed the towns in colours in the early days, are also attending the project ‘See No Evil’. Between images from the history or the shots made during the event, the artists tell you what happened back then, what has changed now and what this events means for them and for the future. A few examples of some artists are: Inkie, Tats Cru, El Mac, Nick Walker and the list goes on! They used over the course of a week, 13.400 cans of spray paint, to create, up to 10 stories high, huge murals. The documentary itself is shot with different filming techniques like time lapse photography, cable dollys and polecams to capture the transformation.

The project reflects the great side of street art, the history of street art and the people behind street art. It’s not about messing up walls or buildings, it’s about creating art together, with creativity and colours.

A.Visualist is a documentary film that captures the essential culture of visual performance of a visualist’s journey. The documentary takes places in cities like Tokyo, Japan and the rest of the world to capture the views of these visualist. You will see various visual artists who are VJ’s. The footage let you see what kind of visuals they produce and on what kind of events. Scanner AKA Robin Rimbaud made the soundtrack for this documentary. There will be a DVD of A.Visualist with extra’s interviews, full length performances and in two different languages. The DVD will be expected in December 2011.

‘As the new century arrive, a new art form also been anticipated across the world with computer technology, internet and the ephemeral. A.Visualist represent challenges to all the existing art form by changing the new dynamicism in art movement and the magnitude of visual in art and music and film.’

A.Visualist the documentary from In The Not So Linear Universe on Vimeo.

In this new series we’ll feature some of the (free watchable) documentaries about Incubate artists we could find on the net. Next up in the series is an documentary about Belgian punkband The Kids. This documentary is split up into six pieces which you can find below. Check out more info and their profile on the website.

During Incubate festival The Kids will be performing on Sunday September 18th from 18:45/19:30h at Stage01 in 013 popcentre. Tickets for this amazing show and more can be found by clicking this link.

In this new series we’ll feature some of the (free watchable) documentaries about Incubate artists we could find on the net. Next up in the series is an documentary about British punkrock legends Crass. Part of this legendary band were Steve Ignorant and Eve Libertine, who will be present during this years Incubate festival! Tickets for these performances and more can be found by clicking this link.

In this new series we’ll feature some of the (free watchable) documentaries about Incubate artists we could find on the net. First up in the series is an unreleased documentary about British postpunk legends The Fall. Check out more info and their profile on our website.

During Incubate festival The Fall will be performing on Sunday September 18th from 22:00/23:00h as closing act in the Dommelsch Zaal at 013 popcentre. Tickets for this amazing show and more can be found by clicking this link.

Boyd Rice is the subject of the documentary you can see the trailer of above and apparently he’s working on a new album that will be out in 2012. He is the man behind the infamous industrial act NON, and known to many underground music aficionados.

He’s credited in the film as being “the most dangerous artist in the world”, but he has done much more than making music and art over the years:

Rice’s colourful life extends far beyond his experimental music interventions: over the years he’s owned and run a tiki bar, Tiki Boyd’s (as well as writing extensively on tiki culture, became a high priest of the Church of Satan, flirted disastrously with repurposed Nazi imagery, lectured at M.I.T., exhibited paintings, made a bona fide pop album (Seasons In The Sun, with Rose McDowell as Spell), presented Betty Ford with a skinned sheep’s head on a silver platter, co-wrote and edited RE/Search’s legendary Incredibly Strange Films book, starred in exploitation movie Pearls Before Swine, founded a Social Darwinist think tank called The Abraxas Foundation, appeared on evangelical Christian radio, filmed a programme about Rennes-le-Chateau for Fox TV, and researched Gnosticism, Grail legends and Merovingian lore to a genuinely academic standard.

via Fact.

“This is the best 83 minutes you will spend today. We all know, and the evidence is in the product, that Italian artist Blu is one of the special artists of the generation. The political messages, progressive animations, defiance of authority, each mural or animation Blu creates is something that captures the attention of a world audience.”

Legendary post-punk/industrial act Killing Joke is scheduled to perform at Summer Darkness on June 31st, in their original lineup! There is also a documentary coming up about the band called The Death and Resurrection Show, which you can already view the trailer from over here.

Be sure to check out the whole Summer Darkness lineup here, they have some great stuff lined up for this year’s edition!

Watch this French documentary from 1994 about hiphop culture in New York featuring Wu Tang Clan, Lord Jamar (Brand Nubian), Guru, Supernatural and lots more.

“A 1994 french report about Hip Hop culture in New York City. Featuring Wu Tang Clan, Lord Jamar (Brand Nubian), Red fox, Greg Tate, Vicious Chuck D (Public Enemy), Guru, Supernatural, lasts poets, Afrika Bambaataa, Fuman Chooz, Produce by New York, The Lifers…”

Chuck D.

Awesome BBC documentary featuring the likes of David Johansen, Patti Smith, John Cale, Richard Hell, Grandmaster Flash, Afrika Bambaataa and many more.

Taken from Dangerous Minds

This is a true gem! Three part documentary on the early days of reggae, and of course dub and ska music. Featuring the likes of The Skatalites, Toots and The Maytals, Prince Buster, Lee Perry, Bob Marley, The Mighty Diamonds, U Roy and many more. Check out part 2 and 3 after the jump!

Taken from Dangerous Minds

Watch this hour-long documentary film based on electronic producer, performer and industry icon, Richie Hawtin. The film draws from the important stages and events in Richie Hawtin’s personal and artistic life, revealing the journey of an introverted and transplanted computerminded teen that develops by way of Detroit’s radio and records fueled by pure driven passion into a successful techno-entrepreneur and global DJ entertainer.

(via XLR8R)

Watch this BBC documentary called Synth Brittania. This documentary follows a generation of post-punk musicians who took the synthesiser from the experimental fringes to the centre of the pop stage. The documentary features the likes of Throbbing Gristle, New Order, The Normal, Human League, Cabaret Voltaire and many more!

Above is the trailer from Copyright Criminals. This cool documentary about hiphop, sampling and copyright infringement was originally released in 2009, but is back with a special edition boxset. This 2011 boxset edition has several new features and includes some cool extra’s like Clyde Stubblefield’s Ultimate Breaks and Beats 12-Inch Vinyl Record, All Stars Trading Cards and a movie poster. Also featured in this docu is Steve Albini, which we blogged about earlier this month. More info about this documentary can be found after the break. Go and check it out!

“Copyright Criminals, the 2009 documentary about the long battle between hip hop (sampling) and copyright laws directed by Benjamin Franzen and Kembrew McLeod is now released on a special DVD edition with interesting extra’s, like Clyde Stubblefield’s Ultimate Breaks and Beats 12-inch Vinyl Record and new featurettes like “The Art of Sampling” With Cee-Lo Green and “The Funky Drummer in the Studio” with Chuck D and more.”

“Which gives us a good excuse to pay some attention to the documentary again, for the copyright issues that it’s about still are very relevant today! The documentary Copyright Criminals focuses on the impact that sampling and remixing has had on musicians, and does this by interviewing an impressive list of musicians! Interviewees include: Public Enemy, De La Soul, George Clinton, Clyde Stubblefield, Eclectic Method, Mix Master Mike, Bobbito Garcia, Prefuse 73, Sage Francis, Qbert, Eyedea & Abilities, Pete Rock and Saul Williams.”

Great hour-long documentary on the legendary band The Fall, enjoy watching!

(Via Wooster Collective)

A sincere DIY documentary film on new art and the young artists behind it. Directed by Isaac Niemand, and produced by ROJO® in collaboration with BossaNovaFilms, it was all filmed on the heat of live action at ®Nova Contemporary Culture which happened in July and August 2010, in MIS-Museum of Image and Sound, and SESC Pompeia, in São Paulo, Brazil.

Starring: Yoshi Sodeoka, Rebecca Ward, Tofer Chin, KRINK, Base V, Yochai Matos, Max Hattler, Highraff, Lucy McRae, Kit Webster, Jimmy Joe Roche, Flavio Samelo, Felipe Brait & Maira Vaz Valente, Shima, Matt W Moore, Zeitguised, Mulheres Barbadas, Gustavo Gagliardo aka Defi, Filippo Minelli, Quayola, Javier Longobardo, This Time, Renaud Hallée, Mark Jenkins, Ljudbilden & Piloten, Lolo, Sosaku Miyazaki, Anna Taratiel aka Ovni, Robert Seidel, Heiko Tippelt, B.Fleischmann, Koen Delaere, Taras Hrabowsky, Cristopher Cichocki, MOMO, Yusk Imai.

Music by: Bradien, Roll The Dice, NOIA, B.Fleischmann, Ljudbilden & Piloten, Fase, Isan, Fuck Buttons.

Curated by: David Quiles Guilló.

Directed by: Isaac Niemand.

Thank you very very much to Damen Corrado for emailing us about this new Hermann Nitsch documentary, shot at his first live painting in New York! Hermann Nitsch was our main guest at Incubate 2009.

“The Immortals, how they lived in timeless space, enraptured, become metaphor, the crystalline eternity poured like ether around them, and, the cool, starlike, radiant serenity of this other-earthly world – how was all this so familiar to me? I reflected, and snatches of Mozart’s “Cassations,” of Bach’s “Well-Tempered Clavier” came to me, and it seemed to me that everywhere, this cool starry brightness shone, everywhere this ethereal clearness oscillated. Yes, that was it, this music was something like a chamber of frozen time, and above it there oscillated endlessly a superhuman serenity, an eternal, divine laughter.” -Steppenwolf, Hermann Hesse

Taken from Eternal Laughter

Interesting full 50 minute documentary about the upcoming electronic music scene in Reykjavik in the early 90′s. Of course with English subtitles!

Artists featured in the documentary are:

Artists (in order of appearance):
Gus Gus
DJ Grétar – Grétar Gunnarsson
DJ Frímann – Frímann Andrésson
Thor – Þórhallur Skúlason
Biggi Veira – Birgir Þórarinsson
DJ Maggi Legó – Magnús Guðmundsson
Anonymous – Marlon Pollock og Tanya Pollock
DJ Agzilla – Agnar Agnarsson
Biogen – Sigurbjörn Þorgrímsson
Hermigervill – Sveinbjörn Thorarensen
Frank Murder – Þorgeir Frímann Óðinsson
Earth – Urður Hákonardóttir
Ghostigital – Curver Thoroddsen, Einar Örn Benediktsson
President Bongo – Stephan Stephensen…

Check out this mini-documentary by Oliver Laric on how parallel versions or copies always effect the way in which the spectator perceives art or even reality.

Musicfrom.nl made a documentary about the music scene in Utrecht. Featured in the documentary are among others artists such as I Am Oak (Incubate 2010), Most Unpleasant Men, rehearsal space dB’s and record label Beep! Beep! Back up the Truck. Embedding is unfortunately disabled, but you can go and see the documentary here.

Punk is not the first word to spring to mind when talking about the GDR is it? But also in the communist dictatorship of the GDR there was quite a scene. Some bands were allowed by the government, others weren’t. There are some very interesting articles (and here) on this matter. Apart from the documentary above, make sure also to check out the documentary Ostpunk! -Too Much Future. Afterwards, as an exam question, you might be able to tell us in which famous band one of the guys of the GDR punk scene is playing today?

WHO KILLED THE MUSIC? from Sebastian Lange on Vimeo.

Trailer for the upcoming documentary «Who Killed The Music»
directed by will.i.am from the Black Eyed Peas. Maybe he makes crappy music, but this is a visually great movie and nice opinion on the future of music.

Suimasen talk about the formation of the band and their city, Eindhoven. (Via)