Daftside

Daftside: Nicolas Jaar (previously on MeFi) and Dave Harrington, the musicians constituting the hypnotic and funky group Darkside, have remixed Daft Punk's Random Access Memories (previously on MeFi) in full. You can stream it here.

Godspeed Human Metronome

Godspeed Human Metronome: Alan Myers, drummer for Devo during their seminal '76-'85 period, has died.

Myers joined Devo in 1976, replacing Jim Mothersbaugh, and with his addition came a unique gelling of their sound that would lead to Myers being dubbed 'The Human Metronome' by his bandmates. For the next 10 years he played on influential album after influential album, including their Brian Eno-produced debut full-length album Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!, 1979's Duty Now for the Future, and 1980's best-selling Freedom of Choice (containing the should've-been hit Gates of Steel). He left the band in 1985 during the troubled recording of the frequently-maligned Total Devo, saying that his importance in the band had been overshadowed by the group's increasing use of the Fairlight synthesizer and associated rhythm programming and sampling.



A small selection of The Human Metronome in action:



- Devo - [I Can't Get No] Satisfaction, 1977 music video

- Devo- Mongoloid + Gut Feeling, '77 live

-Devo interview, 1978

-Devo - The Day My Baby Gave Me a Surprise - 1978 music video

-"You guys're so... techno, y'know?" - if you've never seen footage of them playing before, this is why people fucking LOVE this band: Devo play Uncontrollable Urge on TV's Fridays, 1980

- Devo - Girl U Want, 1980 music video

-Devo as Dove, the band of Love - Shrivel Up, from the 1980 comedy Pray TV

- Devo as Dove, the Band of Love - Worried Man, live 1980

-Devo as Dove, the Band of Love - Praying Hands + Shrivel Up, live 1980

-Devo live in concert, 1980

- Devo - Gut Feeling/Slap Your Mammy, live 1980

-Devo - Through Being Cool - 1981 music video

- Devo - Uncontrollable Urge - live from 1981's Urgh! A Music War

-Devo - Jocko Homo, live '82

- Devo - That's Good, 1983 music video

I Got You Covered.

I Got You Covered.: Q: What do you call a Wilco concert, with no Wilco songs?



A: Awesome.

Orson, you're behaving like an asshole.

Orson, you're behaving like an asshole.: In the early eighties, Orson Welles was a fixture at L.A.'s Ma Maison, where Wolfgang Puck was the chef before he moved on to Spago. Nearing 70, and 40-plus years removed from Citizen Kane, which he made when he was just 25, Welles was fat and famously difficult, no longer a viable star but still a sort of Hollywood royalty—a very certain sort. The younger director Henry Jaglom was one of many aspiring auteurs who admired him but possibly the only one who taped their conversations. These took place in 1983 over lunch at the restaurant.

So long, Bobby 'Blue' Bland

So long, Bobby 'Blue' Bland: It's time to say farewell to one of the great and legendary voices of American music. Mr Bobby 'Blue' Bland has died. With the perfect combination of muscle and tenderness, grit and sweetness, he gave us so many stellar performances over his long career. Here are but a few: Ain't No Love in the Heart of the City, The Way You Treated Me, Stormy Monday, Further Up the Road, St. James Infirmary, I'll Take Care of You, I Stand Accused, That's the Way Love Is, Ain't Nothing You Can Do... and the list goes on. Thanks for the music, Bobby Bland.

Watch the Earliest Known Footage of Louis Armstrong Performing Live in Concert (Copenhagen, 1933)

Watch the Earliest Known Footage of Louis Armstrong Performing Live in Concert (Copenhagen, 1933):

In October of 1933, Louis Armstrong and his “Harlem Hot Band” arrived in Copenhagen, Denmark for a series of eight shows at the Lyric Park theater. Thousands of fans mobbed the railway station, breaking through police barricades and climbing on top of train cars just to get a glimpse of the great jazz trumpeter as he stepped from his train.
Nowadays the Copenhagen visit is remembered because it was the first time Armstrong was ever filmed in concert. The Danish director Holger Madsen recruited Armstrong to appear in his feature film København, Kalundborg Og -?. Armstrong had made a cameo appearance in a 1931 film called Ex Flame, and on a sound stage the following year in two short films–a Paramount Pictures featurette and a Betty Boop cartoon–but the Copenhagen footage is the earliest of Armstrong playing live with his band.
The performance was filmed on October 21, 1933 at the Lyric Park. There was no audience in the theater during the filming. The shots of people applauding were made at a different time and spliced into the scene. Armstrong and his band play three songs: “I Cover the Waterfront,” “Dinah” and “Tiger Rag.” The nine-man band includes Armstrong on trumpet and vocals, Charles D. Johnson on trumpet, Peter DuCongé on clarinet and alto saxophone, Henry Tyree on alto saxophone, Fletcher Allen on tenor saxophone, Lionel Guimarez on trombone, Justo Baretto on piano, German Arango on bass and Oliver Tines on drums.
Armstrong is brilliant in the film. His exuberant showmanship and virtuosity are striking, and his unmistakable genius for phrasing–the way his trumpet and voice sound like two sides of the same distinctive instrument–remind us of why many people still consider Armstrong the greatest jazz musician of all time.
Related content:
Louis Armstrong and His All Stars Live in Belgium, 1959: The Full Show
New Jazz Archive Features Rare Audio of Louis Armstrong and Other Legends Playing in San Francisco
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Johnny Smith, 1922-2013

Johnny Smith, 1922-2013:


“He accomplished everything he ever wanted. He played with the best musicians in the world, he went deep sea fishing in the Gulf of Mexico, he was a great father.”

—Jazz guitarist Johnny Smith was 90.
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