Video:

Originally released in 1999, The Shield Around the K looks pretty terrible throughout. The interviews look like they were shot possibly on Hi-8 or very early digital video, while the concert footage – much of it many years old – is shaky and not color balanced. The problems do lie on the master side, rather than in the transfer itself, but they are still distracting at times. Audio:

The lo-fi "aesthetic" of the video transfer carries over to the nominally-2.0 soundtrack. Levels are consistent and the interview subjects can be understood, but anyone looking to really listen to these bands would do well to pick up their CDs/cassettes/vinyl instead.

Extras:

The lone extra is a set of four extended performances from the IPU Festival – two by Beat Happening ("Cast a Shadow" and "Revolution Come and Gone") and two by Mecca Normal ("He Didn't Say" and "Walk Alone"). The footage is grainy and distorted and the sound is mono at best, but the energy cannot be ignored.

Final Thoughts:

It should be noted again somewhere (so why not here?) that The Shield Around the K is six years old, and so some of the label's more recent successes are not noted here. But the feature is a wonderful document of a scene in which music was less about instrumentation and commercial viability and more about ideas.