Tuesday 11 June 2013

Updates & a documentary (yet again)

Hello everyone from a substantially cooler Belfast. It's a relief really because whilst the sunshine was lovely, when you suffer from bad psorasis (as I do) heat can become very uncomfortable indeed. I've got some lovely news today - I'm recieving posters of Joy Division and The Clash as a gift! I'm so pleased about that because they've been two notable absentees on my bedroom walls. I'll need to do some redecorating once they arrive (not sure when though, next week maybe) but when I do I'll be sure to post a picture! I actually took a picture of my old wall to share on my blog but its a bit pointless sharing it now that the walls are going to be changed. No sign of my Amazon order here yet either, I'm guessing its going to arrive tomorrow.

Anyhow - what I'm sharing with you today is a documentary I watched recently. It's Sound City, which was. Rather than focusing on any one particular band, Sound City instead focuses on a studio: Sound City itself, which is located in Los Angeles. I love learning about studios, record labels and all that sort of thing, its just as key as the music itself more often than not I feel. Dave Grohl directed the movie, which is his directorial debut. The studio - active from 1969 to 2011 - hosted some of the most famous artists in the world, including Slipknot, Fleetwood Mac, Tom Petty, Nine Inch Nails amongst others. Arguably the most iconic album to be recorded at the studios though was Nevermind by Nirvana (hence Dave Grohl making the movie), which pretty much saved the studio in financially difficult times. As such there's quite a bit of talk about Nirvana (Krist Novoselic is also interviewed) so I would heartily recommend the documentary to any fellow Nirvana fans. It's an excellent documentary, my only problem was that other than Fleetwood Mac and Nirvana a lot of the bands that recorded there weren't ones of interest to me. That is just a personal thing though, it's not a reflection on the quality of the documentary itself, it is excellently made. What was very interesting though is the way it makes you reflect on the changes in the music industry since CDs were introduced, and with the advent of Pro-Tools etc. I only wish Trent Reznor was shown more because he did provide a very interesting alternative viewpoint. It was also really interesting to see the studio: it was grotty as hell yet it was exceptional at recording drum sounds, hence why it managed to secure so many top quality artists and why Dave Grohl himself feels such an affinity with the studio. It's an excellent documentary, definitely worth it if you have an interest in any of the bands featured or you consider yourself a music geek!

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