Other Music

Rob Hatch-Miller's 2019 documentary is about a record shop that stayed open in New York for twenty years. Other Music was a small place beside the large chains, and what it sold was largely music available nowhere else. The documentary records the closing days. As the staff empty the racks, customers and musicians come in; the narrative shows the shop as a meeting place and stresses that selling was only part of it. Jason Schwartzman, Ezra Koenig and others speak. The narrative discusses the effect of digital listening without surrendering to nostalgia; the economic facts are stated plainly. Who it's for: those who like music culture and documentary about city places. Who it's not for: viewers expecting a broad history of music; the documentary looks at a single shop.