80s rock for the 00s with The Galvatrons

My Secret Playlist

On our sister site, My Secret Playlist, we invite our favorite musicians, DJs and producers to write about eight songs that are inspiring them right now. You can hear some of the tunes that the artists select and discover a whole heap of cool music along the way. Some of the musicians to compile a Secret Playlist so far include The Dandy Warhols, The B52s, Donna Summer (disco, baby), Girl Talk, Cold War Kids, Moby, The Presets and The Vines.

The Preset’s If I Know You

If I Know You represents one of the more opulent moments from the second album, Apocalypso, by Australian electro duo, The Presets. Built from a somber chord progression and poignant tale of bitterness and lessons learned, If I Know You echoes of lonely night drives, dancing in the forest and the feeling of gallantly marching away from a spiteful lover. To recreate the emotionally resonant atmosphere of the song on film, The Presets enlisted French director Eva Husson (who directed the acclaimed short for M83’s Kim and Jessie last year) to weave a poetic LA dream sequence of fire and dance.

The futuristic retro sounds of DJ Z-Trip

This guy is my favorite DJ. He’s the inventor of the mash-up, but his skills go way beyond that. I love to DJ, but when i do, I play a lot of classics. I don’t stick to new stuff because I’m not trying to pull out the top forty banger for the club. That’s what I like about the way Z-Trip plays. He actually inspired me to start DJ-ing in the first place. He mixes hip-hop with classic rock, eighties, and all sorts of weird stuff you wouldn’t think would go together. He’ll have people dancing to Deep Purple, for instance, who would never usually listen to a Deep Purple record. It’s a real skill to be able to entertain and educate at the same time. That’s what I try and do with my art, and that’s what I enjoy about DJ Z-Trip: that ability to slip the cool, lesser known songs in there, which works because of the inertia of the stuff people do know. He understands how to navigate that balance.

Black Dynamite blaxploitation movie trailer

One very angry and unstoppable man wages war against drugs and malt liquor. A take-off of the old blaxploitation films, this is parody at its best, with many knowing nods to camera and hilarious moments involving clichés taken to their extremes. There’s the Asian kung-fu master, pimps and orphans hooked on heroin. It all begins with Black Dynamite being spurned on his quest for blood after his brother’s brutal murder, and then pushed further for the love of a good woman. There are hoes and guns, along with catchphrases and great one-liners. See it.

Defamation documentary trailer

Does Israel use the Holocaust as an excuse for their continued issues with the Palestine people? According to this film, yes. Are people who criticise Israel’s foreign policy often unfairly labelled anti-Semitic? Again, yes according to this brilliant documentary made by an Israeli-Jew. Instead of passing judgment himself, filmmaker Yoav Shamir is smart enough to put himself and his camera in the right places, surrounded by the right people, and let the people damn themselves. Read more

In The Loop, a darker Yes Minister for modern times

A less clever but much blacker version of Yes Minister, this political comedy farce does excel when it comes to insults. The communication director in the British Government reels off some of the best combinations of expletives I’ve heard in quite a while, and later in the film is equalled by American foes. In terms of content, In The Loop tells of a rush to war in the Middle East and how easily a UN resolution can be manipulated on the back of manipulated information. In a blur of meetings and arguments, educated opinions or arguments are rare and only seem to happen in passing, and this movie presents a terrifying vision of politics. I much prefer The West Wing and its clever, hard-working politicians. Considering the stupidity of Bush and co, however, this piece is probably much closer to the mark.