The Future Is Not What It Used To Be

In September 2013, my husband and I were lucky enough to attend Salvage: A Hacker Farm Field Trip in rural Somerset, where we enjoyed live performances by Kemper Norton, Ix Tab and Hacker Farm themselves.  As this was a multimedia event, there was also an indoor area where films were shown, and we were gobsmacked by The Future Is Not What It Used To Be (2004; d. Mika Taanila), a profile of Finnish electronic music pioneer Erkki Kureniemmi that includes several excerpts of vintage films scored by Kureniemmi.  I've since secured my own copy of the film (thanks to my generous husband, who secretly ordered it for me when we were still abroad), and I have made a few screenshots of some its stunning visuals.

From Computers at Our Service (1968), directed by Risto Jarva, music by Erkki Kureniemmi

From miscellaneous others:

Footage from the Feel It exhibition, Stockholm, 1968

Frozen Foods (1969), d. Risto Jarva, music by Kureniemmi

From Electronic Quartet (1968)

From Electronic Quartet (1968)

From Electronic Quartet (1968)

From Sex Show (1971)

From Sex Show (1971)

From Dimi-O (1971)

From Dimi Ballet (1971), featuring dancer Riita Vainio

From Dimi Ballet (1971), featuring dancer Riita Vainio

And from Dimi-S (1972), where participants created music by touching one another:

Beyond the stunning vintage visuals, the film is fascinating look at Kureniemmi's unique ideas and his current lifestyle (in which he documents the minutiae of his daily existence in a stream-of-consciousness digital diary).  Recommended viewing!

Things To Come (1976)

Here are a couple of goofy promo photos for a 1976 sci-fi/sexploitation film that I recently found in Austin.  It looks so low-budget it almost hurts.  Magus Film Group was a San Antonio, Texas outfit (more info about Magus at Temple of Schlock).

I dig the font, at the very least.

Here's the color poster, via Wrong Side of the Art:

And an advertisement, care of Temple of Schlock (which gives a clearer indication as to what the film is actually about):

The Cosmic Bicycle (1972)

I*HATE*THIS*FILM's Vimeo channel is a source of many wonders.  As a fan of collagist Sätty's work, I was pretty excited to experience IHTF's most recent upload, The Cosmic Bicycle (1972), with art and design by Sätty and an early electronic score by Parasound, inc. a.k.a. Beaver & Krause.

Some screenshots:

The film is available for viewing and download at IHTF's aforementioned Vimeo site:

The cosmic bicycle (1972) from I•HATE•THIS•FILM on Vimeo.

I'm drawn to the mix of the sinister and the whimsical (epitomized by the theme that accompanies shots of the bicycle as it makes its cosmic journey).

Ysbrydion Cymru

Just a wee pamphlet found in an antique bookshop in St. Andrews, Scotland...

Ever since you crawled out we've awaited your return

There's a new mix available at my Mixcloud page.  It's been in the works for some time now. It's at least a little bit magic, I think.

A foggy dock in the early hours of morning. A dark shape begins to emerge from the mire. A sea creature? A human? Or something in between? Is it friend or foe? Can we ever really be sure?

A mix inspired by the call of the sea, from whence we all originally came. A sea that can sometimes soothe us, sometimes scare us.

Ever since you crawled out we've awaited your return by Gilliflower on Mixcloud

Photo taken in Galveston, Texas, on Christmas Day, 2012.

Golden Sands Holiday Camp (Date Unknown)

A suitably atmospheric vintage photo found in a curio shop in Brighton, May, 2012.  My friend Stephen spied it first, but i was more than happy to pluck it from his reject pile after he made his final purchase choices.

Neither The Sea Nor The Sand

I recently re-watched Neither the Sea nor the Sand, AKA The Exorcism of Hugh (1972), directed by Fred Burnley and starring Susan Hampshire and Michael Petrovich.  Ostensibly a horror film, it's most definitely a curate's egg.  But I find it strangely beautiful and quite difficult to forget.  And the shots of Jersey's coastline are ruggedly gorgeous.  Online reviews almost universally skew toward the negative, but I tend to agree with this thoughtful write-up at Cine Beats. 

I was recently searching for some screenshots of the film but couldn't find too many, so I decided to make some of own: