2009

In Quentin Tarantino’s World War II film Inglorious Basterds, Brad Pitt’s character wears the patch of a very special unit on his uniform. This unit is discussed and amplified in a much older film, and here is where we detail their history to a certain degree. It was the little American film that could. Placed at an inopportune time in the middle of the release schedule during the slow-rising anti-Vietnam war era of 1968, the slab of very old school celluloid still resonates with a…well, devil-may-care leer and assault.

Neither revolutionary, nor profoundly artistic, the film contains bits of hidden truths that are often forgotten, but not for very long. One of those is the little slice of wisdom stating that the universe is built upon a specific template, and progress is sometimes motivated by the actions of one’s polar opposite. And so we turn to this week’s Hidden Flick, a World War II film released in that anarchist flashpoint year, 1968, The Devil’s Brigade.

Based on a true story of the 1st Special Service Force, a unit essentially featuring the most misfit-laden, criminally-inclined, and dubious gang of rat bastards this side of either Attica, or San Quentin, depending upon which side of the switchblade one lives. At the beginning of the story, the outstanding American actor and iconic anti-hero William Holden is a Lt. Colonel assigned to an isolated outpost in the middle of Swinging Dick, Nowhere (Fort William Henry Harrison in Helena, Montana). The fort will serve as a makeshift training camp to a new squadron being prepared to fight in European campaigns in WWII. Yeah, good luck with that, Bill.

READ ON for more on this week’s Hidden Flick…

At this rate, it looks like we may be headed for a feature length film starring Chazz Palmientieri and Joey Pantoliano as this whole nitrous tank situation continues to balloon

Just feast your eyes on this incredible After Midnight Reprise video from Big Cypress that was just posted on the Festival 8 website. The Big Cypress Box Set is the

Here at Stormy Monday we believe in recycling. Recently, I happened upon a podcast from Philadelphia’s livetronic trio Telepath  entitled Telepath Thirty Minute Mix, and found it to be a

I usually have some form of download for you guys; some up and coming mix by the crate digging souls of this great planet. However, I felt that a State of the Union address was important to this column moving forward. We’ve all heard the age old saying that in order to conquer the future, we must first understand our past. In this installment of Wyllys and The World Party, we will give a quick history lesson to educate a generation of people who missed the rave culture at its peak, then move into the present day dance culture to try and understand where the future of dance music is going. School is in session. Grab your Roor. Put on some Aphex Twin…

The story starts in The Bronx on a set of belt driven turntables next to a pile of old funk records. In 1972 Jamaican born DJ Kool Herc had the vision to take these records and isolate the “break” or drum section and mix two records together with an archaic stereo mixer that had a cross fader which was significantly different from the Disco style of mixing at the time, which would just cross fade between two tracks once the original track reached its end. He then took these breaks from the same two records and mixed the two together creating what we all know today to be Hip Hop and laid the base for Turntablism as an art form. Spoken word, or “rapping” quickly caught on fire over these breaks and the MC was born. Grandmaster Flash and Africa Bambatta were two of the first to cop Herc’s style and push the genre forward with great success. Not only were these DJs making history, they were giving the youth of the ghetto a ray of hope that maybe one day, they could MC or DJ and find a way out of the projects for good.

READ ON for more of Wyllys and the World Party…