Yo La Tengo Scored Syl Johnson Documentary To Premiere At Chicago International Film Festival

Syl Johnson: Any Way The Wind Blows, a new documentary film about often sampled Chicago-based soul singer Syl Johnson, will make its world premiere next month at the Chicago International Film Festival. The feature length movie features an original score written and performed by Yo La Tengo.

A fairly popular soul singer in the late 1960s and early 1970s with notable songs like “Is It Because I’m Black” and “Come On Sock It To Me,” Johnson’s song 1967 song “Different Strokes” is one of the most heavily sampled tracks in hip-hop having been utilized by the likes of Run-DMC, Public Enemy, N.W.A., Beastie Boys, Wu-Tang Clan, and JAY Z and Kanye West. Syl Johnson: Any Way The Wind Blows tells his story after leaving the music business in the 1980s to start a chain of fried-fish restaurants and features interviews with Syl’s daughter and vocalist Syleena Johnson, Wu-Tang Clan’s RZA, De La Soul’s Prince Paul, Otis Clay and more.

https://vimeo.com/136269164

The film was directed by Rob Hatch-Miller and produced by Puloma Basu, Joaquin Perez and Michael Slaboch.