“Sample This” would make a hell of an article. In fact, it did. In 2006, Will Hermes told the story of the story of the oft-forgotten, oft-sampled Incredible Bongo Band in the New York Times. His article, wonderfully titled “All Rise for the National Anthem of Hip-Hop,” began like so: “This is a story about a nearly forgotten album and the birth of hip-hop music. Like many good hip-hop tales, and pop yarns in general, it involves unlikely characters rising from obscurity and is colored with creative passion, violence, drugs, thievery, paydays and paybacks.” That so-called pop yarn forms the basis for director Dan Forrer’s “Sample This,” a fascinating, fun, messy, and overlong documentary that never quite captures the simple beauty of Hermes’ article, but succeeds in bringing to light details about some of the most influential sounds in music history. Were it not for the Incredible Bongo Band, and,...
- 10/7/2013
- by Christopher Schobert
- The Playlist
Even if you've never heard The Incredible Bongo Band's "Apache" in full, there's no doubt you've danced at some point in your life to the many songs that have lifted and sampled the percussion from the track. Ranging from Grandmaster Flash's "The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel," Nas' "Made You Look," Amy Winehouse's "Apache," C+C Music Factory's "Things That Make You Go Hmmm..." and much more, the song has for decades been a resource for artists looking to add some vintage groove. But it all started with one man: DJ Kool Herc. He not only first dug up the obscure track, but he got crowds moving by extending the drum break into an extended jam that people could dance to. And that's chronicled in this exclusive clip from "Sample This," a new documentary that explores the roots of the song and how it...
- 9/12/2013
- by Kevin Jagernauth
- The Playlist
"Destiny played a major hand," intones creepy leather-goblin Gene Simmons, dramatically overstating what went down at early recording sessions of Michael Viner's Incredible Bongo Band, a group of technically masterful studio musicians whose work would inform the earliest days of hip-hop. Sample This documents the assembly of the group by Viner, a former Robert F. Kennedy aide with a passion for soul and funk. DJ Kool Herc discovered the band's Bongo Rock album while trawling through crates of used vinyl, and its knockout track—a cover of a 1960s Britpop instrumental called "Apache"—was an instant hit at New York dance parties in the mid-'70s. Grandmaster Flash popularized "Apache" on a demo that cut up 10 different songs, and his remix is considered a classic....
- 9/11/2013
- Village Voice
I like the look and sound of this. It's titled Sample This, and from that you could probably guess what it's about. Directed by Dan Forrer, the film documents the incredible true story of how Charles Manson, Richard Nixon, Sirhan Sirhan, and the great musicians of the 1970s entwined to create one of the most influential albums in history. On the streets of the Bronx in the summer of 1973, DJ Herc took the percussion breaks from an obscure album and extended them by playing them back to back using two copies of the same record. The songs he used from that album Bongo Rock, Apache, and other tracks from the Incredible Bongo Band are far and away the most sampled tracks in...
- 8/29/2013
- by Tambay A. Obenson
- ShadowAndAct
FilmBuff will release the wine documentary Obsession narrated by Russell Crowe on Sept 6 on VoD with exclusive theatrical engagements. Separately, Freestyle has set a date for Surviving Evil while Artsploitation will release Hidden In The Woods on DVD in September and GoDigital has picked up Sample This.
Red Obsession [pictured] premiered in Berlin and chronicles the history and changing nature of the French wine industry in light of the booming Chinese market.
FilmBuff has partnered with event-based distributor Area 23A to release the film theatrically in New York and Miami and plans additional market roll-outs.
Freestyle has acquired digital rights to writer-director Terence Daw’s Philippines-set horror Surviving Evil and has set an Aug 20 VoD release. Billy Zane stars.
Artsploitation Films will release Chilean filmmaker Patricio Valladares’ 2012 horror Hidden In The Woods on DVD on Sept 17.
GoDigital has acquired Us theatrical and VoD rights to Dan Forrer’s hip hop documentary Sample This narrated by Gene Simmons of [link...
Red Obsession [pictured] premiered in Berlin and chronicles the history and changing nature of the French wine industry in light of the booming Chinese market.
FilmBuff has partnered with event-based distributor Area 23A to release the film theatrically in New York and Miami and plans additional market roll-outs.
Freestyle has acquired digital rights to writer-director Terence Daw’s Philippines-set horror Surviving Evil and has set an Aug 20 VoD release. Billy Zane stars.
Artsploitation Films will release Chilean filmmaker Patricio Valladares’ 2012 horror Hidden In The Woods on DVD on Sept 17.
GoDigital has acquired Us theatrical and VoD rights to Dan Forrer’s hip hop documentary Sample This narrated by Gene Simmons of [link...
- 8/13/2013
- ScreenDaily
I like the look and sound of this. It's titled Sample This, and from that you could probably guess what it's about. Directed by Dan Forrer, the film documents the incredible true story of how Charles Manson, Richard Nixon, Sirhan Sirhan, and the great musicians of the 1970s entwined to create one of the most influential albums in history. On the streets of the Bronx in the summer of 1973, DJ Herc took the percussion breaks from an obscure album and extended them by playing them back to back using two copies of the same record. The songs he used from that album Bongo Rock, Apache, and other tracks from the Incredible Bongo Band are far and away the most sampled...
- 10/18/2012
- by Courtney
- ShadowAndAct
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