Kaguya Hime

Video Musica No. 1

Enjoying this slightly ominous looking record at the moment. Actually it's not ominous at all, although perhaps it is a bit surprising at times. One of the things I really like about it is its combination of a futuristic title with quirky medieval sounds. It's made by a man named Enrico Cortese. Some of it sounds a bit Jan Svankmajer with its swirling organs and percussion calisthenics, like a bunch of toys come to life. But then at other times it opens out onto larger vistas of sound, as if you're looking at some awesome ruin in a foreign land. I think of this as a landscape record in the vein of Abstractions of the Industrial North or Francesco de Masi's fantastic India soundtrack. Only Cortese doesn't seem to have any worldly place in mind -- to me the record works as a kind of wordless audio tour to some imaginary future/past. I guess that's how all my favorite library records work in a way.

Oh, and T&T turns three this week! Crazy.

Woman's Building

From the Woman's Building in LA, hub of feminist art in the 70s and 80s. Crazily good image bank here.

Hoping to get some music on this blog soon but jesus, something is seriously wrong with my computer. It took me like half an hour to post these photos =(

Making Music

Claire Jones, Making Music: Musical Instruments in Zimbabwe, Past and Present (1992).

The Video Show

The Video show: Festival of independent video at the Serpentine Gallery 1-26 May 1975 (Arts Council)

Skowhegan

Interesting private press action. Recording of an awards dinner on side one, lovely classical suite called "Winter in Central Park" on side 2. Such a nice sunny day today after the big storm!

Yorkshire Film Archive

Wow, the Yorkshire Film Archive is so great! Fully streamable and so much variety. Lots of amateur films and even some so-bad-it's-good comedies, student productions, adverts, etc.

Too many to choose from, but here are my picks so far:
Ower Bit Bog Oil (1963-1964)
Rays (1944) 
I'm a Member of a Family (1968) ... about Woodcraft Folk/Kibbo Kift
Hickling Family During the War (1944)
Heritage of Skill (1962) 
The Potential Graduate (1968) University of Bradford promo film 

The amazingly talented New Friends is aiming to build seed $ through the Scion Motivate contest. Please "like," reblog, tweet, and leave comments on their video to help generate some buzz.

Nightbirds (Andy Milligan, 1970). Weird movie to watch while making dinner.