Trailer: ‘1971: The Year That Music Changed Everything’

 In a tumultuous era, 1971 would be a year of musical innovation and rebirth. Fueled by the political and cultural upheaval of the time, fresh talent exploded onto the scene, stars reached new heights, and boundaries expanded like never before. Watch 1971: The Year That Music Changed Everything, now on Apple TV+:  https://apple.co/_1971Doc

This eight-part docuseries will take you back to the birth of the most original artists and songs that we still listen to 50 years later, including never-before-seen footage of The Rolling Stones, Aretha Franklin, Bob Marley, Marvin Gaye, The Who, Joni Mitchell, Lou Reed, and more. 

Watch A New Trailer For Kurt Cobain Conspiracy Theory Docudrama Soaked In Bleach

This year is an embarrassment of riches if you’re really into documentaries about Kurt Cobain. First we had Kurt Cobain: Montage Of Heck, which was a legitimately very good documentary that painted a complicated and unsympathetic portrait of one of our most enduring rockstars. The other is Soaked In Bleach, a borderline offensive and unbelievably cheesy-looking “docudrama” that combines a few interviews with reenactments that explore the kooky theory of whether or not Courtney Love staged her husband’s suicide. We saw one trailer last year, and now here’s another one — it looks stupid, but also maybe worth a hatewatch.

Watch A Clip From The Amy Winehouse Documentary

The Amy Winehouse documentary Amy is coming out whether Winehouse’s family likes it or not, and now the first official clip from director Asif Kapadia’s movie  is out in the world. In the clip, Winehouse is pictured goofing off, and her manager Nick Schmansky’s voice explains her transition from writing songs to recording them. There’s notebook footage too, but it’s not animated a la Montage Of Heck.

Watch The Trailer For Netflix’s Bob Weir Documentary

Netflix appears to be diving completely into the music-documentary pool. We’ve already seen the trailer for the forthcoming Nina Simone doc What Happened, Miss Simone?, and now the service has also put together a doc on the Grateful Dead rhythm guitarist Bob Weir. Judging by its trailer, The Other One: The Long, Strange Trip Of Bob Weir will indulge in the same sorts of Grateful Dead myths that we’ve all read a million times. But I have to admit that I’m curious about the whole “only non-ugly dude in a famously ugly band” angle.

Watch Blur’s Documentary About Their New Album The Magic Whip

Last week, Blur released their reunion album The Magic Whip, and they also played their first New York show in 12 years. The album came about in an unconventional way. The band members had reunited for shows, but they didn’t expect to record anything new. However, a Japanese festival cancelation led to a week in Hong Kong with nothing to do, which in turn led the band to spend some time in the studio, trying out ideas. And in a new half-hour documentary called The Magic Whip: Made In Hong Kong, the band talks about all the fortuitous circumstances that led to the new album and how happy and excited they were to try putting it together. It’s a nice bit of evidence that these guys are really happy to be working together again, and it also includes interesting commentary about the band’s travels in Asia, including Damon Albarn’s trip to North Korea. You can watch the whole thing below.

Watch Nirvana Play A Show For Two People In New Montage Of Heck Clip

When director Brett Morgen agreed to take on the Frances Bean-produced documentary Cobain: Montage Of Heck, he thought that it would take 18 months to make. Instead, the film took eight years, and it just about sucked the life out of Morgen in the process. Anyone willing to spend that much time digging through archives and storage units in order to get one step closer to a person they never met deserves accolades, and today The New York Times published an article about Morgen’s struggle to make this long-awaited documentary. Accompanying the article is an exclusive clip from the film, featuring Krist Novoselic’s recollection of a house show that Nirvana played for two guests along with footage. Additionally, Novoselic reflects on his early days of friendship with Cobain and the late musician’s relationship with art. “He never had idle hands,” Novoselic says. “It just came out of him. He had to express himself.” Check out the exclusive clip over at The New York Times.

Watch Kurt Cobain’s Journal Come To Life In Montage Of Heck Clip

Cobain: Montage Of Heck is the long-awaited, painfully intimate documentary about Nirvana’s frontman directed by Brett Morgen and produced by Kurt Cobain’s daughter, Frances Bean. We’ve followed the film’s development since it was announced back in November, and HBO just released a new trailer for the film that shows the visual thought process behind the formulation of the name “Nirvana” via clips from Cobain’s notebooks. To think, Nirvana could have been called: The Mandibles, Cold & Wet, Fecal Matter, Drugs For Sale, Erectum, Syringe, Novocaine, or Rehash. 

Watch The Mini-Documentary Major Lazer Take Kingston

Rolling Stone made a nifty little documentary about the foundation of the dancehall trio Major Lazer, which focuses on Diplo’s desire for the group to gain notoriety amongst Jamaican audiences. “We can go out into the rest of the world — as long as we prove ourselves here,” the Floridian-born producer says before performing in Kingston. My favorite part of the mini-doc is when Diplo narrates a short biography of his obsession with Jamaican dancehall music and frames it by mentioning to viewers that he worked on M.I.A.’s album Kala. At this point it’s like, “Dude. We know.”

Watch A Clip From The Documentary R.E.M. By MTV

MTV will be releasing REMTV, a six-disc retrospective chronicling R.E.M.’s legacy on the channel, later this month. One of the discs is the documentary R.E.M. By MTV, and today the band shared a five-minute clip from the film that discusses the succession of health problems that befell the band during their tour for 1994′s Monster. The documentary airs tomorrow on VH1 Classic and Palladia, but you can watch drummer Bill Berry, Mike Mills, and Michael Stipe discuss what sounds like a fairly horrific tour.

Watch The Pulp Documentary Pulp: A Film About Life, Death And Supermarkets

Pulp was arguably the greatest band to come out of Britpop, and when they reunited in 2011, it was a big deal. In 2012, they played Sheffield, their hometown, for the first time in years, and that show became the subject of the documentary Pulp: A Film About Life, Death & Supermarkets. And now, the kind souls at Pitchfork have posted the whole entire movie on YouTube; you don’t need a Netflix password to watch it or anything. As a matter of fact, you can watch all 90 minutes of it below.

Watch The Trailer For 808, Drum Machine Doc Feat. Afrika Bambaataa, Damon Albarn, Questlove, Phil Collins, New Order, Rick Rubin, & More

More than 30 years ago, Afrika Bambaataa’s Arthur Baker-produced “Planet Rock” changed the music industry forever, thanks in part to its use of the revolutionary 808 drum machine. The 808 created a beat no one had ever experienced before, and eventually gave birth to genres such as EDM, synthpop, dubstep, and countless others. Now, Atlantic Films, You Know Films, and Arthur Baker have announced the 2015 release of 808, a documentary telling the story of the seminal machine. The film features commentary and contributions from artists including Pharrell Williams, Afrika Bambaataa, Questlove, Damon Albarn, David Guetta, Phil Collins, Diplo, New Order, and Rick Rubin. It also includes an interview with Roland founder Ikutaro “Mr. K” Kakehashi, who discontinued the 808 in 1983. Baker said of the film, “The making of 808 was a very personal journey for me: being able to reconnect and interview (along with Luke Bainbridge) many of my old DJ/producer friends, while helping get the godfathers of the early scene some overdue acknowledgement.”

Watch The Life After Death From Above 1979 Documentary Trailer

The recent return of Death From Above 1979 reminded a lot of people how much they loved that band. Next month will bring the release of Life After Death From Above 1979, a documentary on them that chronicles their brief first run, their breakup, and their current return to the spotlight. You can watch the trailer below and grab the movie On Demand in October.

Foo Fighters Sonic Highways: Announce Tease (HBO)

Last month, HBO announced that Dave Grohl would produce his own series for the network that would serves as an extension of his Sound City documentary. While recording their eighth album in different cities across the country, Grohl was also interviewing the artists and engineers that work in each studio they went to. The show’s called Sonic Highways and Grohl calls it “a musical map of America.” No word on when it’s premiering (probably sometime in the fall) but here’s a quick 20-second teaser to hold us over.

PULP : A Film About Life Death & Supermarkets Trailer

It’s easy to get cynical about the recent epidemic of broken-up bands reuniting and getting that festival money, but when the band in question is one like Pulp, the mere possibility of hearing “Common People” performed live tends to overwhelm any of those qualms. And now, those who haven’t gotten a chance to see the reunited band back in action will get an extended, high-quality look at it. When the band got back together a couple of years ago, they kept the camera running, and their new documentary Pulp: A Film About Life, Death & Supermarkets covers the band’s triumphant 2012 hometown show in Sheffield. It looks awesome, and the local-color stuff (a kids’ soccer team with Pulp’s logo on their uniforms!) looks almost as great as the performance footage. The movie debuted at SXSW, and it’ll screen around the UK this summer.

Stone Roses 'Made of Stone' Trailer

After 15 years apart, the Stone Roses regrouped in 2011 for a reunion many thought would never happen. By the next year, they were touring the world with renewed vigor, and the band continues to push on in its second life. In the new documentary The Stone Roses: Made of Stone, director Shane Meadows traces the band's history and reunion as the musicians prepared for a string of homecoming shows in Manchester last June.

As a fan, Meadows doesn't just focus on the present – he's also bringing the Stone Roses' storied past to light. Footage of the band's sudden rise and aggravated dissolution fill the backdrop of one of British rock's most massive reunions.

The Stone Roses: Made of Stone will premiere May 30th in Manchester, and opens June 5th in the U.K. and Ireland. So far there's no U.S. release scheduled.

Watch A Documentary On Karen O’s Stop The Virgens

Last year, Yeah Yeah Yeahs leader Karen O mounted an ambitious theatrical project in the form of Stop The Virgens, a “psycho opera” that was part of the big Creators Project event in New York. And now there’s a two-part documentary about the project, following it from its genesis to the moment it came to the stage. Turns out that Stop The Virgens was based on a solo album that Karen recorded in 2005 and then never released. Watch that full documentary below.





(via the Creators Project)

Upside Down, Left To Right: A Letterpress Film

Filmmaker Danny Cooke has documented the dying art of letterpress in a short film titled Upside Down, Left to Right: A Letterpress Film.

Life In A Day (Full length video of movie)

Life In A Day is a historic film capturing for future generations what it was like to be alive on the 24th of July, 2010.

Executive produced by Ridley Scott and directed by Kevin Macdonald.

Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks - “Tigers”

Documentary about a tiger.

Taken from the Beck produced album 'Mirror Traffic' released August 22nd.

Director: George Wu @ Household
Music: Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks

Trailer for Martin Scorsese's GEORGE HARRISON: Living In The Material World

Trailer for Martin Scorsese's "GEORGE HARRISON: Living In The Material World" coming to theatres soon.