Kill Your Idols (Documentary/Punk Rock)
Picture: C Sound: C Extras: C Documentary: B-
My first
experience with many of the bands that this documentary takes as its subject
came in the form of a Russian bootleg of Brian Eno’s No New York. Even after
years of listening to bands like Sonic Youth, The Birthday Party, and the
Silver Apples, bands like DNA, The Contortions, Mars and Teenage Jesus still
sounded baffling, abrasive, and exciting. After having my ears shredded, kicked in the
ass, left for dead by DNA’s buzz-saws on sheet metal, schitzo guitars, I
wondered where in the hell music like this could have come from; hence, Kill Your Idols.
The
documentary (directed by Scott A Crary) almost sets itself up as a today vs.
yesterday of the off-centered New York rock scene. Interviews with Lydia Lunch,
Michael Gira, Arto Lindsay, Glenn Branca, Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo, to
name a few, give rare insight into just how music the likes of which is
captured on No New York came about. Then,
of course, the bands of today that would seem to consider themselves the
offspring of these earlier innovators all talk a bit on what they do and what
their world is like.
Overall,
the film is a very enjoyable watch. Rare
footage of bands like The Swans and DNA are real gems, however brief. One thing that did seem to hurt this film,
though, was the film’s trying to take in such a broad scope of New York’s more
daring musical acts from the last 20 years. I wished that the film would have focused more
on trying to tell the stories of the individual bands that originally started
this strange movement (or perhaps anti-movement) in rock. While some of the newer bands were interesting
(particularly Gogol Bordello), it seemed that the film stretched itself too far
and would have benefited from a tighter concentration. That and the interviews with the Yeah Yeah
Yeahs almost made me vomit.
The Dolby
Digital 2.0 barely stereo sound and letterboxed 1.78 X 1 picture quality are
pretty much what one would expect from a low budget documentary that takes much
of its footage from old home camcorder-style concert recordings and a lot of
live-from-someone’s-living-room interviews. If you’re expecting wonderfully mastered sound
and great video, you’ll probably have a tough time watching. On the other hand, if you’re into this kind of
music and you’ve seen any of these types of documentaries before, you know what
you’re getting into.
Extras
here include a featurette which seems like it was just more footage from the
documentary that maybe got cut for time, five live performances from some of
the bands, a couple still galleries, a trailer, some Palm previews, and, of
course, weblinks. Pretty standard stuff,
nothing too exciting. The documentary is
worth your time, though, if you are a fan.
- Jarrod DeArmitt
