You Don’t Nomi

Klaus Nomi “Nomi Song” – Like many documentaries, The Nomi Song suffers for having to make up for a dearth of footage with an overabundance of anecdotal interviews in order for the film to hold together as a historical narrative. The editing is often quite sadistic. The director cuts away from riveting footage of Nomi’s performances for no apparent reason, often just to show some old acquaintance redundantly telling the viewer how strange and brilliant he was. By far, the archival footage of Nomi in action is the best reason to see this movie. Nomi was a living, breathing work of art with a unique, fully formed aesthetic. When the film simply shows him in his series of stunning costumes singing opera, baking pies, on stage as a new wave performance artist, appearing on Saturday Night Live with David Bowie, or just working his robot-alien shtick for the camera, it’s difficult not to be amazed by the beauty of Nomi’s affectations. Since his story is rather brief and slight to begin with, an ideal version of this film would communicate the necessary historical information via minimal narration and allow the viewer to engage with the images of Nomi with only limited mediation. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

Sinistri “Black Vamp #1” – This is from an album that sounds like thousands of false starts strung together into awkward, anxious grooves. Throw in some despondent murmurs and a few atonal howls, and it would sound like the lost Jandek funk album. (Click here to buy it from Ear-Rational.)