This week, I want to talk about a documentary, Brainiac: Transmissions After Zero, that's about a band from Dayton, Ohio, called Brainiac. If you don't know who they were, that's OK. They really only made a few full-length records, but the impact they had, not only within Ohio but within the scene of the '90s, was huge.

Brainiac were led by a really talented guy named Tim Taylor, and he was the band's visionary. He steered as far away from commercial-sounding music as possible, and he really didn't have a desire to have his music played on the radio. In the film, the fans speak so highly of the band, and a lot of them are from Ohio, in fact — Matt Berninger of The National, Steve Albini, Melissa Auf Der Maur and David Yow from Jesus Lizard — all can't say enough amazing things about where this band could have gone had the tragedy not struck.

The tragedy was that just before they were able to sign a major label, Tim Taylor, the singer, drove an old Mercedes, and it had a really poor exhaust system, and carbon monoxide was pumping into his car, so he actually died of a car accident, but it was caused by carbon-monoxide poisoning. It's very sad, but there's really poignant interviews with his mother and his sister, and of course, the rest of his bandmates as well.

Brainiac: Transmissions After Zero is directed by Eric Mahoney, who secured funding for the project with an ambitious Kickstarter campaign. The film will have its Minnesota premiere at the Sound Unseen film festival with a screening at the Trylon Cinema in Minneapolis on Thursday, Nov. 14, at 9 p.m.

Official Trailer

External Links

Brainiac: Transmissions After Zero - official site

Sound Unseen Film Festival - official site

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