Music Documentaries!
Everyone suddenly has a little bit more time on their hands than they expected to have, and it looks like we are going to have to get creative with passing that time.
Well, thankfully we have streaming sites all over the internet, carrying all sorts of fantastic music documentaries – here’s a little summary of some of my favourites!
Hip Hop Evolution
This Netflix original series is 4 seasons deep now, and has covered a huge range of the history of hip hop. Featuring incredible access to the top figures in the history of the genre, as well as some amazing archive footage, it is essential viewing for any rap fan. Watch the trailer here
20 Feet From Stardom
This Academy-award-winning documentary is about the often overlooked world of backing singers. The title alludes to that reality – that these singers, often incredibly talented, are so close, yet so far, from stardom. Interviews with the likes of Mick Jagger, Bruce Springsteen and more cover the ego and charisma you need to be a lead singer, and it really shines a light on the way that singing talent alone isn’t enough to dominate a stage. This is the trailer here
Supermensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon
I think this might be my favourite music documentary. Supermensch tells the incredible story of music manager Shep Gordon, who has represented Pink Floyd, Alice Cooper, Luther Vandross, Teddy Pendergrass and many more. Full of incredible showbiz anecdotes, and examples of truly off-the-wall creative marketing (fake breakdown in central London of a promotional vehicle is a personal fave). This one will really blow your mind! Official trailer here
Scratch
This doc tells the story of scratch DJing, and is absolutely brilliant. Legends like DJ Premier, DJ Shadow, Q-Bert, Rob Swift, Z-Trip, Cut Chemist and more talk about the evolution of the artform. Full of great insights into DJing, and an amazing section with DJ Shadow in his favourite record store’s insane basement, this one is a must for hip hop fans, scratch DJs and crate-diggers. Watch here
Beats, Rhymes, Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest
A Tribe Called Quest are my favourite hip hop band. They are one of the best acts in the history of the genre. Q-Tip and Phife Dawg (RIP) were perfectly matched MCs. This film covers their glory days, the things that drove them apart, the reasons for their reunion, and the tensions that continued even then. Watch the trailer here
Copyright Criminals
Sampling is at the heart of modern music culture, and has been for decades. It has totally revolutionised the way music is made and consumed, and this doc explores how that started, the changes it brought, and the legal issues that raised! Check it out here
The Summer Of Rave 1989
This BBC film explores the 2nd summer of love, when dance music took over the UK one summer at the end of the 1980s. An intense moment in time, with the fall of communism coming, Thatcher in power for a decade, the Hillsborough football stadium disaster claiming 96 lives, and a heatwave incoming. Then Acid House happened, ecstasy was everywhere, and nothing was ever quite the same again. Watch it here
Mark Ronson – From The Heart
A man who is from our world of DJing, an Englishman in New York for much of his life, and now one of the most successful producers on the planet. This tells his personal story, and the story of some of his most famous records, with appearances from Lady Gaga, Q-Tip, Bradley Cooper and more. I love the tale of how he linked with Amy Winehouse, and they wrote Back to Black almost overnight, having only just met – a truly magical, timeless record. Trailer here, full show on BBC iPlayer
Searching for Sugar Man
This 2012 film is about a real curiosity – Rodriguez, a singer-songwriter who was completely unknown in his home, the USA, but a cultural legend in South Africa. The documentary follows the efforts of two men to work out what happened to the Rodriguez – were the rumours true that he had committed suicide? What happened? Its a genuinely fascinating tale… Trailer here
808
Its funny how some of the most important instruments in modern times don’t really sound much like what they are supposed to – and the joy of the Roland TR-808 that transformed the 80s was that, yes, it was drums, but it sounded nothing like a real drum kit. Featuring interviews with many of the great producers of hip hop and electronic music, this covers the history of the world’s most beloved drum machine. Trailer here
Dig!
Exploring the strange area between artistic creativity and commercial success, and how they sometimes clash with each other, this one follows indie bands The Dandy Warhols and The Brian Jonestown Massacre, and in particular frontmen Courtney Taylor-Taylor and Anton Newcombe. Its very funny, and also a great meditation on what selling out means to different people. Watch on Youtube here
Mystify
Michael Hutchence was one of the greatest rock stars of recent decades, before his tragic death. His band INXS sold tens of millions of records, and sold out stadiums around the world. Covering his career and colourful private life, it features previously unseen home movie and archive footage, and interviews with the key players in his life. Watch the trailer here
Pump Up The Volume
The history of house music is comprehensively covered by this brilliant Channel 4 documentary, featuring interviews with Carl Cox, Masters At Work, Paul Oakenfeld and many many more – for any dance music fans this is utterly essential viewing. Watch in full here
The Man From Mo Wax
James Lavelle helped found legendary hip hop label Mo Wax in 1992, and went on to put out music by DJ Krush, Dr Octagon, Blackalicious, and of course – DJ Shadow. Lavelle and Shadow formed UNKLE, and much of this film follows the fractious relationship there unfolding… Trailer here
Bombin’
This is a real time capsule – a documentary about UK graffiti and rap scene in 1987, featuring a very young Goldie and Massive Attack back when they were called The Wild Bunch. This film had a profound impact on the UK, giving a lot of people their introduction to the scene – for a start, it’s what inspired Lavelle to become a DJ. The audio is a bit fuzzy early on, but that improves – full movie here
The Super Bowl Halftime Show – a quick history
The NFL Super Bowl halftime show is one of the biggest entertainment moments of the year, right in the middle of one of the essential sporting dates in the calendar. The greatest musicians and performers in musical history have performed there, creating some truly memorable moments along the way.
The half time show as we now know it really started to emerge in 1991, with the appearance of New Kids On The Block. The following year, Gloria Estefan performed a couple of her hits. But the real start of it all was Michael Jackson in 1993, and his mind-blowing entrance at the Pasadena Rose Bowl, before a mini-set of some of his biggest hits. This show had a considerable impact on the ratings, and from then on, huge effort was made to secure a superstar to perform in the halftime show.
Since then, everyone from the Rolling Stones to Paul McCartney to Beyonce to Bruce Springsteen has performed, cramming as many hits as possible into their tiny time-slot.
It has led to some iconic moments, although not always with the outcomes they hoped for – the scandal around Janet Jackson’s supposed “wardrobe malfunction” rumbled on for months, and had a serious impact on her career. Which seems a bit unfair, when it was Justin Timberlake that yanked her top off…
Arguably the greatest of all the halftime shows came from The Purple One, Prince. A simply sensational performance, embracing the torrential downpour perfectly, with the stunning climax of Purple Rain topping off the sort of show that made him the legendary figure he is. The story behind that show is worth listening to as well.
Occasionally you get a real curveball, such as when Lady Gaga was picked for the halftime show. But, you know what? She smashed it – maybe not an obvious fit for a Super Bowl, but what a bonkers, brilliant show she put on!
The Super Bowl halftime show is now a genuine institution, and in Miami 2020 they have Jennifer Lopez and Shakira sharing the stage – given how many hits they have to choose from, it should be a big one!
Happy Birthday DJ Jazzy Jeff!
There’s a LOT of DJs out there, but few have done it as long, or do it as well, as the magnificent DJ Jazzy Jeff. And today, January 22nd, is his birthday, so here’s a little Heavy Hits blog tribute to the great man!
Jeff is a great example to any DJ out there – he has a career spanning multiple decades, taking in multiple facets of the music (and indeed TV!) world. He’s perhaps most famous for his role as himself on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, as Will Smith’s friend – and of course, before that he was known as his DJ.
Interestingly, they started their career at a time where the DJ was given front billing – their early records are billed DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince – how times changed over the years! They had instant success in the mid ’80s, even winning Grammys for Parents Just Don’t Understand and Summertime, as well as a string of great hits before splitting up in 1994, so that Will Smith could pursue his acting career more fully.
Jazzy Jeff first became interested in DJing at the age of 10, from attending block parties in Philadelphia, his home town. “At summer time block parties I wouldn’t be the one dancing, I sat where the DJ was set up, watching him. Even when I would go to other block parties in other neighborhoods I was still infatuated with the DJ. He was the guy that played music that everyone in the neighborhood loved. You might not have known his face, you might not have known his name but he was the guy that made everyone move.”
Along with fellow Philadelphian DJ Cash Money, Jeff helped popularise the “transformer scratch” (originally called this as 1980s mixer faders meant that it was easier to use the phono/line “transform” switch rather than cut on the crossfader). Anyone who watches Jazzy Jeff will see what a master he is of transforming – often an overlooked scratch amid the more flashy crabs and orbit flares, but a phenomenally versatile and funky technique when mastered. His use of this can be seen plenty in his legendary Run DMC – Peter Piper routine.
In the time since Will Smith went his own way, Jazzy Jeff maintained his own excellent career, including some brilliant productions, often jazzy, headnodding hip hop or R&B, but sometimes dipping into soulful house and disco, even recording a DJ Jazzy Jeff In The House mix for Soul Heaven. In hip hop, he was worked with many of the best names from the indie hip hop scene, as well as identifying certain superstar talents very early on…
While he maintained a relationship with Will Smith (producing a few tracks, and scratching on others), his profile definitely dipped slightly in the 2000s, even though he continued touring and producing to a high standard.
Then Red Bull 3style brought him in as a key part of their competition, introducing him to a new generation of DJs as a respected elder statesman – and in fact, I actually had to follow his unbelievable 2 hour warm up set in Paris in 2010 when I was the opening contestant in the first 3style World Final! Never have I been so nervous in my life… Since striking up this relationship with 3style, Jeff has toured relentlessly (usually with legendary freestyle rapper MC Skillz alongside), and emerged as something of a godfather figure for DJs around the world.
There are many reasons for this, and I think its worth talking about them a bit. For a start – his incredible work ethic, and devotion to staying interested in new music, while still dipping into his crates for classics and rarities from the past. A lot of DJs are one or the other – a “heritage act” trading solely in nostalgia, or obsessed with only playing the latest tunes. He could easily rest on his laurels and phone it in for the rest of his career, but he chooses not to. And his openness to the new is exemplified by the fact that he is one of the earliest adopters of Serato, catching plenty of flak from purists and luddites.
Another crucial element of why Jeff is so beloved is just his mindset and demeanour. He could easily become arrogant after the career he has had. But he is famously approachable and friendly. The first time I DJ’d with him was around 2004, alongside a certain trailblazing New York DJ who is almost as famous in the industry for being a total douchebag (as well as more or less inventing DJing as we know it today). This other DJ turned up, insulted everyone, mocked and bullied a sound guy who was simply trying to help him set up, and then was a problem for everyone who had to deal with him that night (and this wasn’t a one off – he’s been the same the subsequent times I’ve been on a bill with him).
Jeff, by contrast, turned up all smiles. Him and his tour manager showed me a better way to set up my needles to avoid them skipping, then gave me props (and a pull up!) on my first track selection (DITC – Day One in case you wondered). He played a set that blew everyone in the building away, then stuck around signing autographs after the show ended. This has been the same at every other time I’ve played with him, or indeed bumped into him out and about (as happened in a sneaker store in London 6 months after the 3style final!). He’s genuinely an example to any DJ about how to behave around other DJs, promoters, sound techs and fans. Stay humble, work hard, be nice to people. As he says, “When you are blessed with a gift, it is your obligation to share it, it’s your obligation to take care of it, it’s your obligation to pay it forward.”
This wholesome attitude, and his devotion to the craft of DJing, has found a new outlet in recent years – his Playlist Retreat. In 2015 he launched an annual retreat where he invited progressive musical artists from all over the world to join him and explore inspiration and collaboration.
So for all these reasons and more, we should celebrate the life and career of one of the greatest to ever do it. Happy Birthday DJ Jazzy Jeff!
Serato Celebrates 20th Birthday, and Serato x Phase collab!
Serato has been a fixture of the DJ landscape for 2 decades, and they have marked this anniversary with a special documentary charting the birth and development of their revolutionary product. It’s a fascinating insight to how they created it, and the resistance and snobbery that early adopters like Jazzy Jeff ran into from vinyl purists! Check out part 1
Serato (and other DVS systems like it) completely changed the DJ game, and enabled a style of DJing that previously was basically impossible, especially for touring DJs. The DJs who blazed a trail and troubleshooted out in the wild for Serato deserve a lot of credit when there was so much resistance to this change.
Serato x Phase
Less revolutionary, but equally fascinating and innovative, is Phase – the remarkable gadgets that enable DJs to use Serato on decks without requiring needles, eliminating problems with badly kept decks causing signal issues, needle skips, and a million other little foibles that Serato/vinyl DJs will be familiar with. It was exciting enough, but they’ve worked out a deal and a system whereby setup is even easier, with no RCA cables required, just USB.
Phase has had a tricky first year or two out in the market – lots of DJs complaining about dropouts – but with native Serato support, that can only mean good things for the compatibility and stability of the product. Apparently it’s a few months away, and the initial version of Phase had all sorts of delays, so don’t put all your eggs in this basket – but definitely keep an eye out, as this is a really remarkable piece of kit for scratch DJs.
Rane Seventy mixer launch, with amazing new DJ Craze routine
It’s that time of the year that DJs love – NAMM is here, and with it, all sorts of announcements and unveilings about incredible new DJ toys to play with.
For a long time, the Pioneer DJM S9 has been the dominant scratch mixer in the market, but it wasn’t always this way – the Rane TTM57sl is a legendary piece of kit, the first mixer to include a Serato soundcard inside the mixer, and possessed a stunning fader, fantastic sounding EQs, and it was built like a tank. Their follow up mixers have been good, but never quite caught on in the same way, the DJing community seeming to prefer the DJM S9 layout and functionality.
The Rane Seventy Two went heavily in that direction, but now with the Seventy it looks like a direct challenge, and a strong one too! The EQ section has been shuffled around, they’ve cleared the clutter from around the FX paddles, and the headphone cueing is closer to the S9 style now.
The 3 faders are all brand new contactless MAG FOUR faders, with a tension adjust control for the crossfader.
For more info on the features, check out their video here
Having played on a Seventy Two quite a bit, a lot of my issues with that mixer seem to have been addressed here, and it seems that they have stayed true to their commitment to heavy duty build quality. They’ve to have adopted most of the workflow features that make people love the S9 – but it’s 2020, and you would hope that audio and build quality will have moved forward since that came out in August 2015. Rane EQs have always sounded phenomenal, and they have a well-earned reputation for making genuinely professional kit that is built to last. If you are faced with a choice between a 5 year old piece of technology, or a brand new one, you’d guess that the new one will be King – time will tell if that is the case, or indeed if Pioneer have a new mixer to reply with!
DJ Craze put together this fantastic routine for the launch, kicking off with a problem I think most DJs can relate to…
How to make your own scratch samples
One of the elements of DJing that is extremely important in order to stand out, but strangely under-used, is personalising your own scratch sentences. It’s never been simpler to do so – from TV & film dialogue, to acapellas, to even recording your own vocals, digital technology has made it really straightforward to make your own scratch sentences.
If you aren’t sure how to do this yourself, Odyssey113 has taken the time to make an easy-to-follow Youtube tutorial. Check it out!
Denon release new flagship media players – SC6000 & SC6000M
Ahead of NAMM, Denon this week launched it’s new media players, the SC6000 and SC6000M (which features a motorised, vinyl-esque platter).
Pioneer have enjoyed a vice-like grip on much of the modern DJ tech scene, but Denon are doing their best to make inroads, with some very well-respected products. These new players really look very interesting indeed.
They feature huge 10.1″, impressive touch screens, with pinch & zoom functionality. The motorised platter on the SC6000M will be of huge interest to DJs who like to cut it up, there’s something about that which normal CDJ-type platters struggle to replicate – Rane 12s are fantastic to play with, and these go for something similar, just with a smaller, 8.5″ platter.
The design is much slicker, with a far more impressive black finish than previous models, and apparently an upgrade on the buttons and pads. They also feature built in WiFi, to stream music live, and as well as the traditional USB and SD card inputs, they include an HD bay within the unit. For a full breakdown of the features, head here
Whether they can make a substantial dent in the market remains to be seen, but it’s great to see companies pushing things forward. Your move, Pioneer…