Palm Kills Your Idols

Thanks to Palm Pictures, American (and, oddly, Caribbean) fans of post-punk music will finally get a chance to see Kill Your Idols, S. A. Crary's award-winning 2004 documentary about the (sub?) genre's development in New York. The film, which appears to have already had a theatrical run in the UK, details the New York punk scene between 1972 and 2002, exploring both the history of the movement and comparing its recent practitioners (unfavorably) to their predecessors. According to this incredibly informative review, the film is most valuable for Crary's early emphasis is on the much-neglected No Wave, a short-lived movement that grew up in response to "the perceived conservatism of [bands like] The Ramones, The Heartbreakers, Patti Smith and Television," who, though "punk was supposed to tear up the rulebook ... were still dependent on the traditional rock music blueprint." The movie tells its story through interviews with a myriad of punk artists, as well as "ultra-rare, grainy black and white ... footage" of the bands in action.

Palm will have the film in theaters this summer, and will, in collaboration with Netflix, also handle its subsequent DVD release.