Sonic Outlaws

Scumbalina5.0

I've always been fascinated by Negativland and their process. Craig Baldwin was the perfect filmmaker for this topic. Using a pastiche of images and sound clips, the documentary matches the frequency of a Negativland album. Focusing mainly on the lawsuit against them by U2 for plagerism, which Negativland won. They explain the principles of their liberal views on intellectual property and the importance of satire. They've made huge strides in the protection of freedom of speech and fair use since the initial lawsuit that started it all. This film, possibly Baldwin's most coherent piece, hit all of my high points in that is was both informative, motivating and succeeds as visual medium. Negativland's tenacity is an inspiration and I feel comforted by their victories through experimentation.

pd1874.0

wish theyd interviewed more than 1 woman instead of a 5th hour of negativland whining about u2 & couldve talked to rappers instead of just about them--misses some of the usual baldwin weirdness but otherwise this is cool & prophetic & fun to watch

Evan “Raymond Gun-Virus” Pincus4.5

"We're influenced by every single thing!"Punk as fuck. I was never a huge Negativland fan, tending to prefer my plunderphonics more pop-oriented (although I do own a signed copy of their record/oddly shaped barrel of laffs No Business), but this functions as an expansion of the story of the letter U and the numeral 2- their biggest flirtation with the mainstream. It was, of course, not popular success that brought the attention on them, but in fact, suppression of any success they might have had, and that event sparks Craig Baldwin, himself a pastiche artist, to fire on all cylinders for a multilayered examination of the art of culture jamming. It's often unfocused, but that's hardly a problem when there's such hyperactive passion behind it, refashioning live footage, interviews and clips from Can Dialectics Break Bricks?, The Simpsons, and everything in between into a documentary-of-sorts about the "scene". Simultaneously too long and nowhere near long enough.