Lo Sound Desert (2015) User Reviews

Amazing insight into desert rock era, well worth a watch!

[hannahlouisebroadhurst · 8/10 · 10 August 2016]

As a huge fan of Kyuss and Queens of the Stone age, this documentary was a much watch. Divided into two chapters, the documentary takes you through the origins of 'desert rock,' it's influences and what happened to the bands afterwards.

This isn't a documentary about Kyuss and QOTSA however, as the focus is very much on the time and culture rather than desert rock as a genre. I thought the documentary offered excellent insight into how desert rock was something off the radar in a time of post punk and grunge. Personally, the only downside would be a mention of Kyuss 'selling out'. Whilst I can understand this sentiment, I felt there was a certain obligation to mention their success rather than a desire to.

All in all this is a fantastic film. The detail, footage and story telling from those who lived this era really makes it. We only need more of the same!

Slow and low and heavy

[BandSAboutMovies · 7/10 · 25 July 2020]

I've always been obsessed with desert rock (Desolation Center), which I first discovered thanks to Kyuss and all the bands that spun off from that influential time. You'd probably know Queens of the Stone Age if you don't know this scene, but I'd also recommend any of their Desert Session group albums if you want to hear some fuzzy, lo-fi magic. This film unites the leaders of the desert bands and shows why this style of music could only emerge from the Coachella Valley.

Where grunge blew up fast and destroyed the Sunset Strip hair metal era, whatever was getting played under the wide open skies miles away was completely different. Rougher. Sexier. Groovier Druggier? Well, more mellow drugs maybe.

Joerg Steineck also put together a doc about Truckfighters, which if you know this kinda music, you're already hunting down. And if you don't, you're like, huh?

This is the kind of music that most hits my soul, as it combines punk, metal and even doom into its own thing, noodling out and getting weird. This movie features tons of people discussing this genre, but it never comes off as braggy as some other music interview docs get. It feels inclusive and welcoming of differences, which, if you think about it, is the main strength of the desert.

Great things just need their time.

[tjtimer · 10/10 · 7 August 2016]

To criticize anything about this incredible multi layered documentary about the unique CA desert rock scene just wouldn't be adequate a bit. I call myself an on/off fan of this type of music since the mid 90s, and watching this made me feel 20 years younger again. It seems like a hell of work was invested to make this film look as cool, funny, smooth, grainy, entertaining and ...just captivating, and if I compare it to other films touching a similar topic- this one really stands out. It's clearly a filmmakers film, not a clean wiped journalistic piece. It's the way this story is told: The general underlying DIY approach really helps re-creating the intense atmosphere of how it might have been back then... at night... in the desert... with nothing but a generator and some instruments. The often rough but sometimes (when it's needed) very subtle editing supports this rather unusual doc film experience. As I learned from the credits the filmmaker did all by himself, even those simple but pretty awesome animations (kind of Gilliamesque I'd say). Those alone stand out, and you don't have to be a fan of stuff like that. -Here it's not too much of it, and it just adds to the general atmosphere perfectly. So yes, what I truly love about the film are its details. Who does something like that nowadays? With such a devotion for the topic? No wonder why it took 10 years to finish it. - I was actually one of those who waited for it since 8 years- since the first trailer showed up. It was worth the wait! Great things just need their time.

such a FANTASTIC piece of work

[robpeters-96483 · 10/10 · 8 July 2016]

Without giving away too much about this wonderful, wonderful rock documentary... this is such a FANTASTIC piece of work with a lot of detail, many insights and an eye for the unusual, sometimes weird things. I just watched another doc on this topic just recently and this one feels SO much better. It's full of heart and soul, and you can get a very good feeling about this scenes attitude and musical approaches in the way the film was made. I heard about bands like Kyuss and listened to Queens a lot but never would have guessed that there was so much going on in the Californian desert. Really - a "must-watch" for every rock enthusiast!