The hardest question for any music obsessive to answer is the dreaded, “So what do you listen to?” The question often leaves music nerds struggling to comprehensively summarize their tastes without being too obscure, too populist or too snobby and the eventual answer is often one that is hardly satisfactory.
“The Heart Is A Drum Machine,” the latest documentary from “Moog” director Christopher Pomerenke takes things one step further by asking, “What is music?”. The film rounds up a wide array of folks including The Flaming Lips’ Wayne Coyne (who is also a filmmaker), Jason Schwartzman (who performs under the alias Coconut Records), Elijah Wood (who runs his own record label and recently appeared in some viral spots for Apples In Stereo), Andrew VanWyngarden of MGMT, Britt Daniel of Spoon, Juliette Lewis (who has launched her own music career), John Frusciante and Maynard James Keenan.
It’s an intriguing premise and a film we’ll definitely seek out. It hits store shelves on DVD earlier this week and will be available on demand starting April 1st. The film features an original score by The Flaming Lips’ Steven Drozd and a cover of Elton John’s “Rocket Man” by Drozd and Keenan. We just wish the trailer for this film was better.