Rooftop Films presents Clash of Cultures
Friday, August 29th, 2003
8pm: Crème Blush (Electroclash)
9pm: New York music movies
It's about stripping music to its essence, and building it back up your way. It's about making it yourself because no one else will. It's about being loud, passionate, brilliant, alive and rocking out. The glitter-clad patrons at Club Luxx and the head-shaved kids in the basement of the Vargas House have a lot more in common than they might think.
Both scenes have fascinating parallels, like the strip-it-down and lay-it-bare attitude, and unexpected intellectual distinctions, such that in the explicitly political punk scene, bands admit there is a lack of female voices, while in the largely apolitical electroclash scene there is an abundance of (empowering?) female sexuality.
From the screaming vocals and ripping guitars to robotic voices and computerized bleeps, the music, real music, is always about one thing: raw, emotional expression. You've come to expect the emotion to be right in your face with punk bands like The Insurgent, Latterman, Porcelain Decay, Seven Days of Samsara, Sometimes Walking Sometimes Running; but it's also there in the electro beats and synth samples of FischerSpooner, Peaches, Adult, Hungry Wives, Miss Kitten, Ladytron and our very own Crème Blush. Those bands are all in these movies, and they're all people who have something to say and sing it, play it, feel it in music.
So whether it's punk rockers On the Might of Princes and a basement full of kids singing the chorus "And I'll scream it, till your ears bleed / you'll always have a friend in me" or My Robot Friend in his flashing-light costume chanting "I am the robot, I am the robot, I am the robot in your town," it's all about getting out there and showing the world you're alive. Hey, Warren Fischer says his music was a response to pre-millennial doom, while Adam from Porcelain Decay talks about his music in the context of the destructive, dehumanizing, mall-ification of his surroundings.
The Clash of Cultures is here.
THE FILMS: Clash of Cultures: The Rise of the New Electro Scene Guto Barra (45:00)
You think the center of the Electroclash movement is in Berlin? Los Angeles? Detroit? C'mon. There's only one place to be for the hardest, sexiest, most complex in-your-face electronic music of the millennium: Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Tired of the blasé House and Techno scenes, bands like Fischer Spooner and Peaches wanted a new show, a new sound. Working with (or at least simultaneous to) various promotional forces, the diverse new electronic rock movement sprung forth from Williamsburg to conquer dance floors from near to far.
Between Resistance & Community: The Long Island Do-It-Yourself Punk Scene Joe Carroll & Ben Holtzman (44:00)
By putting on shows in basements, booking and traveling on the own national tours, and releasing their own records, these kids attempt to distance themselves from the corporate influence that they consider not only unnecessary but unwelcome. Featuring live footage and interviews with The Insurgent, Latterman, On the Might of Princes, Seven Days of Samsaray, Sometimes Walking Sometimes Running and many more.
Pin (Yeah Yeah Yeahs music video)
Tunde Adebimpe/Studio Iodyne (2:30) misterminus@hotmail.com
An intense, colorful stop-motion animation where the lead singer of the band is frighteningly pinned like bug. Music in the vein of Blonde Redhead and Challenge of the Future; video by a member of TV On The Radio (Rooftop music 6/20/03) and the star of the indie-film Jump Tomorrow.
Harboring Wells (Do Make Say Think music video)
Norma V Toraya (6:00) crankbunny.com
In Memphis, Tennesse, a 9-year-old boy named Travis lived alone with his mothers' corpse for a month. Relatives sayTravis feared being sent to a foster home, so he covered his mother's body with notebook paper and her coat and tried to carry on as usual. He attended school, fixed his own meals and even cut his own hair. This is an animated interpretation of his story.
Witness the Fitness (Roots Manuva music video) (4:00)
Brit Hip-Hopper Manuva revisits his roots and takes revenge in this hilarious and charming music video.
It's On (DJ Vadim music video) (3:30)
A violently psychedelic animated video by the Russian mixmaster.
Reality Check (Schneider TM music video) Uwe Flade (3:30)
A beautifully surreal architectural deconstruction by the one man electro show, using digital effects as a metaphor for the modern dissascociation with real-world beauty.
Verbal (Amon Tobin music video) (4:00)
A fast-paced car chase of the future with a shape-shifting vehicle backing the insane electro soundscape genius.
