Celebrating the Roland TR-808, one of the world's first programmable drum machines, 808's impressive research and mindblowing anecdotes make it a must-see documentary for music fanatics.
The film first takes viewers back to the early '80s, when the drum machine was used to create Afrika Bambaataa's legendary 'Planet Rock'. This interesting concoction of a Kraftwerk backbone and a Bronx hip-hop body is what started nothing short of a musical revolution.
Interviews with the likes of Public Enemy's Hank Shocklee, The Roots' Questlove and Afrika Bambaataa himself guide us through this journey of the TR-808's history.
It started out as an asset to underground hip-hop artists that wanted that 'Kraftwerk sound' before Marvin Gaye's reinvention, using it as the main instrument for the song that made him legendary, 'Sexual Healing'.
Beastie Boys stars Mike D and Ad-Rock describe the drum machine's place in their oeuvre as being like "jelly in your fridge. It's just always there." They also share an endearing anecdote about the late Adam Yauch, aka MCA, and how his technical and artistic talents led to playing a pre-recorded 808 track backwards, creating the Beastie Boys' signature sound.
We get to see artists from all sorts of musical backgrounds, like Tiga, a DJ who remixed Cory Hart's 'Sunglasses at Night' with only the use of the 808. Then there's Lil Jon, who brought "all the hip-hop motherf**kers and all the pop motherf**kers" together by using an 808 sample for the Usher track 'Yeah', adding crunk to the 808's genres.
Toward the film's end, I was blown away by Ikutaro Kakehashi as he recounted creating the machine out of a defective transistor. He never knew that from Brooklyn to Sweden, from Belgium to Tokyo, his invention would have such an impact on music around the world.
Overall I found the documentary very interesting and easy to watch, however it may have been more satisfying with some tighter editing.
Three-and-a-half stars.
808 is playing at the 2015 New Zealand Film Festival.
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808:: Director: Alexander Dunn :: Starring: Afrika Bambaataa, New Order, Diplo, Goldie, Norman Cook, Beastie Boys, Richie Hawtin, Rick Rubin, Pharrell Williams, 2ManyDJs, Armand Van Helden, Questlove, Man Parrish, Felix Da Housecat, Hank Shocklee, Tiga, Jori Hulkkonen, Phil Collins, Damon Albarn, Lil Jon, Tom Silverman:: Rating: Exempt:: Running Time: 107 minutes