• !K7 Records

Right-thinking people can't get enough of that early Mudhoney music. Thankfully, Mudhoney: Live in Berlin, 1988 brings over 40 minutes of footage from the Seattle band's first European tour—before even the release of Superfuzz Bigmuff and Mudhoney—and adds a bonus interview with hyper-animated frontman Mark Arm. Mudhoney: Live in Berlin, 1988 comes out Nov. 13 on !K7 Records.

Press release after the jump.

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After watching Shut Up And Play The Hits last Wednesday at Cinerama, which turns out to be just a really good place to see and hear a concert film, I tumbld about how it was appropriate, but too bad, that it was a one night only engagement. Chronicling LCD Soundsystem's final show at Madison Square Garden and bandleader James Murphy's groggy morning after, Dylan Southern and Will Lovelace's exceptional documentary will certainly be snapped up on DVD by fans hungry for hours of bonus footage, but I have a feeling that it might be just a little less amazing on a smaller screen with less powerful speakers surrounded by fewer fellow fans.

Luckily, however, mirroring the band's own addition of four "pre-final" shows at Terminal 5 (that let the likes of me see them in the wake of the MSG sendoff ticket vacuum), the film is getting nineteen afterglow screenings at SIFF Cinema this weekend (to let the likes of you see the film in the wake of the film's critical adoration).

The movie's already spawned its share of smart thinkpieces, recollections, reviews, and remembrances; so rather than blathering too much about the film's many charms I'll just say that everything else about it was so great—the exceptional photography, vibrant concert footage, scenes of emo James Murphy padding around his apartment and the city with an adorable french bulldog—that it survived the presence of a blathering Chuck Klosterman interview. Watching it, I found myself missing LCD Soundsystem’s balance of detached sentimentality and weary nostalgia wrapped up in dancey humanist rock, yet as sad as it is that they quit, the decision is seeming bigger, bolder, and even more correct.

Go see it! It would be kind of depressing if these additional screenings turn out to be ghost towns.

(Thanks to Another Rainy Saturday for the heads-up about the SIFF screenings.)

Via Dangerous Minds and Flavorpill

It's autumn again in Seattle, so why not watch Nicholas Triandafyllidis' documentary—shot during a 1999 Greek tour—about one of R&B's oddest characters and most idiosyncratic, powerful vocalists, Screamin' Jay Hawkins? It's not like you're going to do anything summery today anyway.

I WANT MY NAME BACK
(Roger Paradiso, US, 2011, 93 mins.)

• Roger Paradiso
• The Gang today

I Want My Name Back isn't so much the story of the Sugarhill Gang, but the story of their lawsuit against Sugar Hill Records.

In 2005, Vanity Fair published a profile of the label (Steven Daly, "Hip-Hop Happens"). Roger Paradiso follows the template of the article for the first half of the film, but moves in a different direction once identity theft enters the picture.

He starts by introducing Wonder Mike (Michael Wright) and Master Gee (Guy O'Brien) of the Sugarhill Gang. From 1979-1984, they released three platinum albums and had a 10 million-selling hit with the 15-minute "Rapper's Delight."

Then, Paradiso profiles what he terms the Con Artists: Sylvia and Joseph "Joe" Robinson Sr., the label founders, and Morris "Moe" Levy, their silent partner. By phone, Daly discusses Robinson's R&B career and Levy's mob connections. Subsequent signings would include Spoonie G, the Funky 4 Plus 1, and Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five (I'm not sure why he wasn't able to get Daly on camera; using a phone call in lieu of a pro recording always sounds cheap).

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Shut Up and Play the Hits, a film documentary by Dylan Southern and Will Lovelace of LCD Soundsystem's final live performance at Madison Square Garden in 2011, shows at the Cinerama for one night only, Wed. July 18. I saw LCD Soundsystem play live three times and each show was incredible, including Coachella in 2007. (Check the YouTubes for proof.) In a live context, LCD SS were so much more powerful and mesmerizing than on their records, which are very good, so this climactic event for the defunct New York band should be a thrill to experience cinematically.

Trailer and press release after the cut. Tickets are on sale at Cinerama now.

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MUSIC FROM THE BIG HOUSE
(Bruce McDonald, Canada, 2010, 90 mins.)

• Caché Film and Television
• Ray Jones (Pure Heart Messengers) singing in the prison chapel

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I've long maintained that the best thing in the world is Danny Plotnick's 1986 short film "Skate Witches":

That's why its Australian DIY descendent “Skate Bitches” won me over; it's equal parts "Skate Witches" and Ladies and Gentlemen: the Fabulous Stains. Seventeen ramshackle minutes of feminist punk (“I bet she doesn’t even know who Valerie Solanas is”) and dialogue taken straight from Smashing Pumpkins and TLC lyrics. Also, the director Samuel Shanahoy used two songs from NW bands Pony Time and RVIVR!