Benji’s end-of-year radio shows have always been the sort of mixes you tape or download and keep for posterity, and this year is no exception. We’ve been really enjoying them over here, and we hope you do too. Benji also kindly answered some generic end-of-year questions for us… 



Are you excited for Tron: Legacy, which is finally coming to theaters this Friday? Have you been following every lead and leak and specious rumor surrounding the film’s Daft Punk-composed score?

INFLUENCERS is ultimately the victory of style over substance – fantastic shots of New York and a beautiful soundtrack featuring Robert Glasper and Akiko, but not too many original insights from these well-groomed talking heads.

Featuring interviews with Mary Anne Hobbs, Kode 9, Skream and Benga, Bassweight – the original dubstep documentary – shows how the movement grew out of a small community of producers and went on to conquer subwoofers the world over.

In 2004 that a pair of Frenchmen, the diminutive Renaud Barret and the laconic Florent de la Tullaye, met Papa Ricky and his group of polio-affected paraplegic musicians in the capital of Democratic Republic of Congo – Kinshasa. 

 Papa Ricky told this pair of earnest Europeans that he wanted them to help him realise his dream: for his band, Staff Benda Bilili, to become the best known paraplegic band in the world.

Prouenza Schouler’s Jack McCullough and Lazaro Hernandez roped in Harmony Korine to make a video showcasing their Fall collection. The video features a group of delinquent black schoolgirls who very well might be auditioning for an all-girl version of A Clockwork Orange.

NEW YORK – Vimeo are holding the 2010 Vimeo Awards to shine a light on creative online content on October 8-9 in New York. There’ll be screenings of the 45 finalists for the awards, whittled down from some 6,500 entries.

Winstan Whitter’s ‘Legacy In the Dust’ is one film that refuses to go gently into the night. It’s a film about the Four Aces nightclub in Dalston, which for 33 years served as venue for generation after generation of Londoners from all walks of life and sharing one thing in common – a love of good music.

In a movie theater near you soon is Somewhere, the new film by Sofia Coppola (Lost In Translation, Virgin Suicides), which scooped up the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival despite some acrimonious allegations from the Italian Culture Minister.

LONDON – Broadway Market has always been a symbol of the gentrification of Hackney. As Linton Kwesi Johnson said, Inglan is A Bitch. The Battle for Broadway Market is ample proof of that dictum.

Rio Breaks is the story of two young boys from the Pavao favela in Rio de Janeiro with aspirations of becoming professional surfers. But if you think this is another surf documentary in the vein of Riding Giants, think again.

I had heard the ferocious kicks, uptempo rhythms, and downright filthy lyrics of Baltimore Club Music before but nothing could have prepared me for my first time at the Dox. The home of Baltimore’s own brand of club music, the Dox (or Paradox), with security tighter than most airports, a half-court inside the club, and BYOB policy, suggests a club experience unlike any other. To see people get down to the rhythms made in their own hometown and lyrics that speak directly about their neighborhoods, suggests an authenticity that one simply cannot find anywhere else.

Someone loved Mortal Kombat so much they got a bunch of well-known actors together over a weekend to shoot a trailer-as-pitch for a reboot of the franchise. The video now sits with over four million views, but is that enough to get Warner Bros (the rightsholders) to take a second look?

Basquiat has a proper documentary in which to parse an odd, interesting, and too-short life. The documentary’s centerpiece would definitely be the footage director Tamra Davis shot and sat on for two decades.

Mr. Brainwash is either a genius or the luckiest art-world hustler on the planet. Either way, his story is an interesting paradox of streetwiseness and seeming mental illness. Turns out he is the main character of ‘Exit Through The Gift Shop,’ the Banksy documentary that has been buzzing since Sundance. While most folks, including me, thought it unusual for the most notorious clandestine artist would be appearing on camera…

Collaboratively responsible for some of the truest grit of the past twenty years of television, the centerpiece of which could arguably be The Wire, sitting next on the shelf to NYPB Blue, where he worked with mainstream avant-gardist David Milch (Deadwood), and The Corner (winning two Emmys for his work on the show), where he [...]

When the White Stripes do something, they do it fully, as was clear from the Los Angeles premiere of the Detroit-bred duo’s epically brilliant new concert documentary, Under The Great White Northern Lights, at the Egyptian Theater on Monday, March 9th.

A film premiered at Sundance last night about an artist that couldn’t be filmed, or wouldn’t. “Exit Through the Gift Shop” is about a French shopkeeper and an amateur director that wanted to make a documentary about the prolific, and famously secretive artist named Banksy.

Soundtrack for a Revolution is the story of how music played a significant, powerful role in the Civil Rights movement. From Mahalia Jackson’s “How I Got Over” to her mentoring of the inimitable Aretha Franklin who carried the torch to the numerous artists that held steadfast during their careers so that these young instruments like The Roots, TV on the Radio and John Legend could perform all over the world.

Aaron Rose has long been a force in bringing marginalized artists and creators into mainstream culture, like skate, music and film. From his work with RVCA and Nike to his Alleged gallery (RIP) and Beautiful Losers art show and documentary, Rose has been at the flashpoint of many amazing artists careers such as Phil Frost, Barry McGee, Ed Templeton and many more.