A group is a music factory who comprise a kind of heroic clown role in the culture… oftentimes consisting of indigent or underclass individuals. The group members’ highly specific job functions and task compartmentalization indirectly reflect its post-industrial imperialist origins.

Via the blog of Glen E. Friedman—the superb photographer who amply documented the fertile Washington, D.C. hardcore and indie scenes—comes the marvelously odd film What is a Group? by Ian Svenonius. Svenonius first became notorious in the early ’90s; to civilians as Sassy magazine’s “Sassiest Boy in America,” and to underground cognoscenti as the singer/figurehead of the Nation of Ulysses, Cupid Car Club, the Make-Up, Scene Creamers, Weird War, Chain and the Gang…I’m probably forgetting one or two.

The film is a dryly odd collage of band photos and music performances tied together with the narrative device of two aliens, played by Katie Alice Greer and Daniele Yandel of the excellent D.C. punk band Priests, observing planet Earth and discussing rock band anthropology and the music-making process. The themes touched upon echo some of Svenonius’ writing in his books The Psychic Soviet, Supernatural Strategies for Making a Rock ‘N’ Roll Group, and Censorship Now!!, specifically the ideas about music culture as a pseudoreligious control mechanism and the ways in which the rock writing process mirrors industrial production—much of Svenonius’ thinking on these matters is directly inspired both by old-school Marxist class critique and Situationism, and those same extra-musical obsessions heavily informed the ethos of The Nation of Ulysses and the Make-Up. And really, for all his bands’ relentless schtickiness, Svenonius is one of indie rock’s sharpest and most compelling thinkers about music’s role in culture. If you’re unfamiliar with his Soft Focus interview series, you should find those on YouTube, it’s quite good stuff.

The dialogue replacement and sound sync in What is a Group are done with about zero regard for actual synchronization (Greer and Yandel are entirely re-voiced throughout), which gives the whole affair a stilted and uneasy feel that goes beyond mere cheapness. Greer seems to function as Svenonius’ author avatar, expounding on the role of the recording engineer, the construction of songs, the social status of musicians, the glamorization of social alienation… you know, rock ’n’ roll shit. Astute trainspotters will recognize Cramps/Bad Seeds guitarist Kid Congo Powers, the Make-Up’s Michelle Mae, and Helium/Ex Hex’s Mary Timony.
 

 
Svenonius’ current band Chain and the Gang, whose song “Free Will” is featured heavily in What is a Group?, will tour the USA in July. Most of these dates are with the Black Lips.

7.1.16 - Cincinnati, OH @ Northside Rocks Festival
7.3.16 - Nashville, TN @ Third Man Records
7.6.16 - Birmingham, AL @ Saturn
7.7.16 - Memphis, TN @ The Hi-Tone
7.8.16 - St. Louis, MO @ Firebird
7.9.16 - Columbia, MO @ Cafe Berlin
7.11.16 - Omaha, NB @ Waiting Room
7.12.16 - St. Paul, MN @ Turf Club
7.13.16 - Milwaukee, WI @ Turner Hall Ballroom
7.14.16 - Grand Rapids, MI @ Pyramid Scheme
7.15.16 - Pittsburgh, PA @ Spirit
7.16.16 - Buffalo, NY @ Nietzche’s

Previously on Dangerous Minds:
‘Supernatural Strategies for Making a Rock ‘n’ Roll Group: a how-to guide’ by Ian Svenonius
Liz Phair, Jon Spencer, Yo La Tengo and more in hilarious fake kids’ show ‘What’s Up Matador,’ 1997