Movies Similar to Pioneers of Electronic Music, Volume 1: Richie Hawtin

Lindsey Stirling: Brave Enough(2017)

Beginning on the eve of her thirtieth birthday, “Brave Enough,” documents violinist Lindsey Stirling over the past year as she comes to terms with the most challenging & traumatic events of her life. Through her art, she seeks to share a message of hope and courage and yet she must ask herself the question, “Am I Brave Enough?” Capturing her personal obstacles and breakthrough moments during the “Brave Enough,” tour, the film presents an intimate look at this one-of- a-kind artist and her spectacular live performances inspired by real-life heartbreak, joy, and love.

Avicii - My Last Show(2024)

On Aug. 28, 2016, Tim Bergling, better known as Avicii, graced the stage of the Ushuaïa nightclub in Ibiza for what would be his final performance.

Gary Numan: Resurrection(2022)

40 years after he last played the Wembley Arena, Gary Numan staged the comeback of a lifetime. Follow Numan on his road back to Wembley and follow his turbulent careers, from the crushing lows to the exhilarating highs.

The Prince Story: Icon, Genius... Slave(2017)

A dramatization of the life of the acclaimed American musician, Prince, who died from an accidental overdose at the age of just 57 in 2016.

Björk: Minuscule(2002)

This documentary offers a behind-the-scenes look at Björk and her touring entourage for the 2001 Vespertine tour. It includes interviews with harpist Zeena Parkins, the Inuit choir from Greenland, electronic duo Matmos, and an ongoing conversation with Björk herself about her recordings and her tours. The documentary is interspersed with live footage of songs from the tour shot by Ragnheidur Gestsdóttir, which themselves correspond to the performances chosen for the Vespertine Live album.

Revolution of Sound - Tangerine Dream(2017)

‘Tangerine Dream is science fiction!’ declares band leader Edgar Froese who died in January, 2015 aged 70. For almost fifty years he and his band ‘Tangerine Dream’ explored sound and its effect on our emotions. This film about one of Germany’s first electronic bands kicks off with the young Berlin musicians who were as inspired by the space age of the 1960s, with its rocket launchings and visions of the future, as they were by their own heartbeat, on which Froese also based compositions. Aided by the Moog and other synthesisers Froese (and various band members) revolutionised popular music. His explorations took him into the worlds of classical, new and film music. He preferred to visualise moods rather than create clearly structured songs. A blend of amateur footage, interviews with band members, relatives, friends and colleagues such as Jean-Michel Jarre that creates a comprehensive portrait of an artistic pioneer.

Glen Campbell: I'll Be Me(2014)

A documentary film detailing Glen Campbell's final tour and his struggle with Alzheimer's disease.

It's Yours: A Film on Hip-Hop and the Internet(2020)

By the dawn of the 21st century, hip-hop sales had reached an all-time high, but one thing has remained the same. The doors were still locked, and the music industry held the keys. Young artists began to self-market on the Internet, ultimately helping to collapse the music industry as we knew it. It’s Yours explores how it became possible to become a rap star through a Twitter account, YouTube site or Myspace page. It tells this story through the unique perspectives of numerous artists, producers, record industry insiders, and music and cultural critics.

Untitled Modest Mouse Documentary(1997)

Documentary about the indie rock band Modest Mouse made around 1997, as they were recording their second album, The Lonseome Crowded West

Gabbers!(2016)

Favela on Blast(2008)

For 20 years, a subculture has emerged in Brazil under society's radar. It is the culture surrounding 'funk carioca', a musical rhythm which mixes the American electronic funk of the 1980s with the most diverse influences of Brazilian music. 'Baile funk' is one of the most interesting musical movements in the world, but it comes from what is at times one of the most violent and poorest places in the world: the slums of Rio de Janeiro (favelas). This music is the personalization of the raw element. Bombastic rhythms coming from the American Miami Bass and samples are fused with powerful rap vocals using Brazilian slang. This documentary tells stories of sex, love, poverty, and pride among Rio's marginalized people. They have their own language, style, and heroes. It's a film that's fast, heavy, and violent like the city itself.

Deconstructing Dad: The Music, Machines and Mystery of Raymond Scott(2010)

His filmmaker son probes the professional and private lives of his remote but fascinating father: bandleader, composer, inventor, and electronic music pioneer Raymond Scott.

Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey(1995)

After escaping Russia's communist revolution, Léon Theremin travels to New York, where he pioneers the field of electronic music with his synthesizer. But at the height of his popularity, Soviet agents kidnap and force him to develop spy technology.

Kraftwerk and the Electronic Revolution(2008)

Kraftwerk's vision of a keyboard-driven world of clicking metronomic rhythms and digitised sound bites may have been the stuff of avant fantasy in the 1970s (the decade that saw the band's first groundbreaking albums), but it is a reality in the new millennium. Their visionary style is explored in KRAFTWERK AND THE ELECTRONIC REVOLUTION, a study of the group, their career and their emergence as the most influential electronic band in the world.

Reformat the Planet(2008)

'Blip Festival: Reformat the Planet' is a feature length documentary which delves into the movement known as ChipTunes, a vibrant underground scene based around creating new, original music using old video game hardware. Familiar devices such as the Nintendo Game Boy and Nintendo Entertainment System are pushed in new directions with startling results. Using New York as a microcosm for a larger global movement, 'Reformat the Planet' maps out the genesis of the first annual Blip Festival, a four day celebration of over 30 international artists exploring the untapped potential of low-bit video game consoles. With floor-stomping rhythms and fist-waving melodies, trailblazers of the ChipTune idiom descend upon Manhattan to pen a new chapter in the history of electronic music.

Beautiful Dreamer: Brian Wilson and the Story of Smile(2004)

This film tells (using modern day interviews and archival footage and sound tapes) the story of how in 1967, while his band The Beach Boys triumphantly toured abroad, Brian Wilson was trying to push the boundaries of conventional pop music with a new follow-up to the Beach Boys' cutting-edge mega-hit, Pet Sounds. The new album was to be called "SMiLE". SMiLE pushed the envelope both musically and lyrically, and was supposed to out-do the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper record. But Brian wasn't able to sell the project to his band-mates when they returned. The project was shelved and Wilson's well-documented decline into depression, drug abuse, recluseness, and obesity had begun. Thirty-odd years later, Wilson announced that in 2004, SMiLE would be performed live in its entirety in London. This film tells the story of a damaged but healing artist bringing his greatest work to light.

Sisters with Transistors(2021)

Think of early electronic music and you’ll likely see men pushing buttons, knobs, and boundaries. While electronic music is often perceived as a boys' club, the truth is that from the very beginning women have been integral in inventing the devices, techniques and tropes that would define the shape of sound for years to come.

Beats4Tanner(2015)

Tanner Seebaum aka DJ Seebaum is a 16 year old DJ with terminal brain cancer that has come out of remission and is only given months left to live. His last wish is to DJ in Las Vegas at the world famous Rehab pool party. The film documents his courageous journey.

John Mayall - The Turning Point(1969)

The earliest 'rockumentary' of John Mayall and his musicians filmed in their homes, dressing rooms, motorways, airports, clubs, concert halls and at festivals.

John Mayall - The Godfather of British Blues/The Turning Point(2004)

THE GODFATHER OF BRITISH BLUES: The film biography features contributions from John Mayall himself, his family, fellow musicians, colleagues and friends, in interviews and performances. Rare archival film from all periods of his career marks his achievements and some of the events that formed them. THE TURING POINT: The earliest 'rockumentary' of John Mayall and his musicians filmed in their homes, dressing rooms, mororways, airports, clubs, concert halls and at festivals.