The Seven Best New Music Documentaries of the Year

Since 1993, San Francisco’s Noise Pop festival has hosted indie bands including Death Cab for Cutie, the Shins, Pavement and many more. Director Adam Werbach’s documentary (which premiered at this year’s Noise Pop and is looking for distribution) was filmed onstage and backstage between 1998 and 2009, capturing the rise of current indie rock in the process. “It’s about the idea of indie and what happens when it goes mainstream—is it still indie?” says Werbach. Among the highlights: Isaac Brock of Modest Mouse cursing out an audience for making too many requests, Ben Gibbard of Death Cab recalling the band’s rise to fame and Pavement’s Scott Kannberg offering bitter memories of the band–prior to its recent reunion.