Record store doc to feature Noam Chomsky, Thurston, more :: Music News :: Articles

Will the independent record store survive this age of big-box music retail, electronic commerce and homogenized radio content? Brendan Toller has made a documentary called I Need That Record!: The Death (Or Possible Survival) of the Independent Record Store exploring this question, and has asked both those influenced by and those deciding our record store doom.

The roads by which the public at large acquires music and information these days, Toller writes on his blog, "squash new ideas, new innovations, and new possibilities as the future of recorded music, a commodity that supports the artist, vanishes."

"Through found footage, expository voice over, talking head interviews with artists, musicians, retail owners, and animation," he says, "I Need That Record will tell the story of our connection to independent record stores and the importance of independent thought and culture. What happened to the stores and what will the future bring..."

You can read Toller's full spiel on his motivation behind making the I Need That Record! here.

The doc includes interivews from Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth), Ian Mackaye (Dischord Records/Fugazi/Minor Threat/Teen Idles), Patterson Hood (Drive-By Truckers), Chris Frantz (Talking Heads), Pat Carney (Black Keys), Mike Watt (Minutemen/reunited Stooges), Noam Chomsky, guitar composer Glenn Branca, punk author Legs McNeil, rock photographer Bob Gruen, heads of several record labels, and employees and patrons of record stores across the country, amongst many others.

To whet your appetite, watch an interview with Of Montreal's Bryan Poole (The Late B.P. Helium) for the film: