Page 54 - Zone Magazine Issue 006

zone essential music documentarys
I have seen pleanty for top ten videos and films listed over the last few years, but I thing Music documentaries are a real insight into the birth of Electronic Music, and where it is today, so this is what I have concentrated on rather than the same old; Human Traffic, Go!, Hey! DJ, and so on. Don’t get me wrong, these are great films, in their own right, but real stories, and facts about our scene I think anyone who is a fan, an artist, or DJ, should watch! So here goes my top ten essential watch’s about Electronic Dance Music: By Paul Newhouse.
Number 1 –
Pump Up The Volume -
The History of House Music -
This documentary was made in 2001, broadcast on Channel 4 [UK]. I perticularly like this one as it spands from the early days of how the disco sound of New York in the 1970’s, although short lived, was a huge smildstone in the creation of what we call Electronic Dance today. This is the History of House Music. This film takes you on a full on journey across the globe, what it meant and how it evolved into a myriad of different genres and spread across the globe. We are shown locations of legendary clubs, record companies and shops, introduced to different ways of DJ'ing, and get to see how advances in technology has influenced the music. Long interviews of household names like Paul Okenfold, Carl Cox, Pete Tong, Goldie, The Shamen, Leftfield, Underworld, Youth, Tony Wilson, and Armin van Helden to name just a few. This is the starting point of all the flims and documentaries to watch. If you have no idea about dance music, you will after seeing this. A must watch for anyone in the scene, and anyone wanting to know why this style of music and subculture has the power to push on and keep dancing! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IxFz6qglxA
Number 2 –
Hi-Tech Soul – The Creation Of Techno -
If your serious about your Techno, this is a must see. Interviews with some of the top guys in the game; Richie Hawtin, Derek May, John Aquativa, Atkins to name a few. This is a great insight to how the people of Chicago and Detroit came up with the modern Techno & House movement and how Britain & Europe sent it into the stratosphere. This film traces the roots of techno from the race riots of 1967 to the underground party scene of the late 1980’s, and follows its journey to Europe and continuing development through later generations of producers.
Starting way back when the artists of the time wanted more from the House Music, twisting the sound, and moulding it into the Techno Sound! First broadcast around 2006, and only this year has had a re- press on DVD. If you want a chance to hear the story of techno told by the pionners who paved the way in the 1980’s, this is the film for you, and of course, if you don’t know much about Techno a must watch! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guIx65ivZoU
Number 3 – Sub Berlin - The Story of Tresor -
This film was made in 2008, but Tresor have since, in 2012 released the DVD. This is a hugh one for me. I was there in 1991, April, the month it opened. I spent 2 years every weekend there. I danced with the Prodigy, danced to the pioneers of techno....nearly ALL of them, met reporters from the Face Magazine, the owner of Mute Records, and hung out with many of the DJs including Tanith, the resident, “The hardest DJ on the planet”! It was like nothing I had ever seen, and it was the building blocks to my involvment in the electronic scene ever since then! I never really knew how much this club, and the people meant till I watched this...I had a tear roll down my face watching the walls come crushing down...! The original Tresor was a meeting place for young people after the wall came down. located in an unrenovated vault beneath a bombed out department store. Tresor opened its doors amoung the general confusion and celebrations that swept across the city when the wall fell. Its low ceilings, industrial decor and generally unhinged atmosphere created an unprecedented platform not only for techno in Berlin, but also for the scene taking shape across the Atlantic in Detroit. It quickly became a second home for artists like Juan Atkins, Jeff Mills and Blake Baxter, as well as countless German DJs.
Directed by Tilmann Künzel, SubBerlin traces the club's history from its beginning in the early '90s to the closure of its original location in 2005. It includes interviews with many of the artists that played at the venue, from Atkins to Sven Vath, as well as the people that made the club happen, such as original founder Dimitri Hegemann. This is an important film to watch, not only for anyone who likes Techno, for everyone. It shows how, people can come together to create something special, and make it a landmark in Germany, and Worldwide....Tresor will live forever in the minds of those who went there, and will continue to show the same spirit in the new location for as long as possible, it will never die, because it means and has ment so much to so many people. WATCH!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGGA3a_8Crs
54 ZONE-MAGAZINE.IE