Since you all read this blog religiously I’m sure you remember when Blank City, the awesome documentary about the Punk/No Wave/Transgressive film/music scene of the 70s/80s that I helped music supervise premiered at the Tribecca Film Festival. Since then it’s played (and slayed) film festivals all over the world, got a new poster (above, designed by this guy) and is now getting it’s theatrical premiere. The premiere is at the IFC Center next Wednesday, April 6th but tickets won’t be available till monday night. More info here. After that it premieres everywhere else, almost. All the info can be seen at the new Blank City website. Check out the trailer below, and from the website here’s the list of the first openings
• Opens Wednesday April 6, 2011 @ IFC Center, New York City
• Opens Friday, May 6, 2011 @ Denver Film Center, Denver CO
• Opens Friday, May 20, 2011 @ Landmark Kendall Square, Boston MA
• Opens Friday, May 27, 2011 @ Landmark Nuart, Los Angeles CA
• Opens Friday, June 3, 2011 @ Landmark Theater, San Francisco CA
• Opens Friday, June 3, 2011 @ Landmark Shattuck, Berkeley CA
• Opens Friday, June 10, 2011 @ Landmark Ritz at the Bourse Philadelphia, PA
• Opens Friday, June 17, 2011 @ Landmark E Street Cinema, Washington DC
• June 10-11 @ Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus OH
• Opens Friday August 12, 2011@ Northwest Film Forum, Seattle, WA
Just wanted to spread the word about another label’s project that is tangentially related to Acute Records. RVNG are old friends of ours who have been straddling several awesome sound worlds for a few years now. Due to their insistence on an eclecticism based on quality and interest rather then an easily definable sound and brand (though unified by excellent and inventive graphic design and production), they have quietly been making waves in many corners and scenes and when possible, drawing connections. Their earliest releases included a series of DJ mixes that were well ahead of their time. The 4th of these was RVNG PRSNTS MX4 FEAT. CRAZY RHYTHMS, Crazy Rhythms being the pioneering and unheralded DJ duo of Mike Simonetti from Italians Do It Better and myself, from Acute Records and this blog.
After a few years of mixes and edits RVNG graduated to original music by favorites such as Regal Degal, the occasional exciting krautrock synth reissue like the recent Harald Grosskopf release and the fascinating and labor-intensive FRKWYS series.
FRKWYS is RVNG’s idea of marrying some of today’s young ‘uns with pioneers, influences and likeminded thinkers of previous generations, all packaged in beautiful thick sleeves with wraparound Folkways style packaging. The first release saw Excepter mixed and reworked by Chris and Cosey, JG Thirwell (Foetus) and Jack Dangers of Meat Beat Manifesto. The next volume was a collaboration between Alexis of ARP, The Alps (and Tussle once upon a time) and Anthony Moore of Slapp Happy and several fantastic minimalist and/or new wave art rock albums from the 70s and on. The last volume was Psychic Ills meeting Hans Joachim Irmler of Faust, Juan Atkins and Gibby Haynes of the Butthole Surfers.
All great stuff, but the latest volume found me pitching in on a virtual brainstorm session with the RVNG staff. They were going to be working with Mirror Mirror, one of the new bands I find really fascinating these days. I couldn’t really define what I like about them, but there was a sort of dark baroque glam art-rock vibe I really appreciated. I’m not sure how it came down to this, but with a tiny bit of suggestion, RVNG ended up pairing them with some Acute favorites coincidentally and some Acute artists. So FRKWYS VOL. 5: MIRROR MIRROR finds the band being remixed by Stuart Moxham of Young Marble Giants and the Gist, Alig Fodder of Family Fodder (both favorites here!) and more relevantly, Stuart Argabright from Ike Yard (and Death Comet Crew, Voodooists, etc) and Rico Conning of the Lines.
Stuart and Rico have both been busy for all the years since the material we’ve released on Acute, in a wide range of settings in front and behind the scenes, but this pairing is a great way to cross generational and scene boundaries and to hear the magic alchemy of marrying the spark of youth with the wisdom of experience. Check out samples of all 4 mixes, and all the other great releases on RVNG here.
