There’s something magical about the independent record store, or at least that’s the message behind Brendan Toller’s I Need That Record! With interviews featuring Ian MacKaye and a multitude of men and women working in the trenches of local record stores, the film is an interesting, if slightly amateurish take, on the slow death of the mom and pop record store.
The production values on the film are strangely low quality for a documentary touring the festival circuit. The cinematography is negligable; it’s traditional docu-fare, though it does appear to be shot on a home video camera — the colours are washed out and faded. This isn’t a huge problem, but it does look jarring on the big screen.
Another of Toller’s odd choices is the stop motion, paper cut-out interstitial scenes used to explain the heavy concepts involved in the interaction between record stores and the music industry. Due to I Need That Record!’s low-budget, they are easily explainable and work within the context of the film, but they do look strange and kid-like when dealing with the weighty, complicated nature of buying and selling music.
Another concern is Toller’s strange, Loose Change-like narration. Again, it can easily be explained due to a lack of budget, but it’s weird to hear the low fidelity narration over paper cut-outs trying to explain such heady concepts as the consolidation and monopolization of the music industry.
Despite these aesthetic complaints, Record! ends up being a strong documentary when it discusses the real-life stories of those who frequent — and own — the record stores. From the music obsessives who found their favourite records in some local record bin to the owners and employees who spent their time unearthing tunes to give to the hungry masses, the doc reveals the community behind these shops.
Another great thing Record! reveals is the sense of discovery these shops foster through scene after scene of store patrons and employees fondly remembering the greatness of actually being able to communicate and talk about music with knowledgeable staff, as opposed to random teen number 13 who knows nothing about music.
At the same time, it’s a frustrating look at what is causing the death of these industries. It focuses on the various excesses and general screw-ups of the music industry — bad PR, mis-communication and record exec’s high salaries — and also addresses how big-box retailers are able to undercut independent record stores.
The problem with this, though, is that it isn’t revealing anything new. It’s not exploring the concepts in great detail, it just aims its sights erratically and attempts to shoot. What’s even more frustrating is that there isn’t any discussion outside of one tiny, acted-out scene criticizing the record store’s failing business model.
For better or worse, I Need That Record! is a nostalgic look at the record shop through the lens of the patron. When it tries to be a documentary about anything more, investigating and analyzing the depths and corruption of the music industry or trying to criticize the Internet era of music distribution, it fails.