Until The Flaming Lips' Wayne Coyne strolled across a sea of music fans at 2004's Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in a "space bubble," I'd wager most Americans' idea of a music festival was the ugly conflagration that was Woodstock '99 – slowly and surely, the comeback of the American music festival has been ongoing since the quiet demise of Perry Farrell's Lollapalooza in the mid-NIneties (and even that fest is back in a big way). Between Bonnaroo, the Austin City Limits Festival, the aforementioned Lollapalooza, a handful of smaller regional fests and events such as South by Southwest, Americans passionate about removed-from-the-mainstream music aren't necessarily forced to puddle jump to the UK to revel in their favorites – particularly with the meteoric rise of Coachella.

Director Drew Thomas skims the last six years (1999-2005) of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, focusing as much on the attendees roaming the sun-drenched polo fields in Indio, California as the high-wattage performers attacking the various stages, culled from the cutting edge of the music world – The Mars Volta, Belle and Sebastian, The White Stripes, Oasis, Fischerspooner, Radiohead, The Pixies, The Flaming Lips, Morrissey and many, many more all turn up in the surprisingly brief Coachella, an occasionally too-arty examination of the festival, which also includes avant-garde art and a heavy emphasis on electronica/dance, DJ culture and rap.

Helpfully identifying every band featured performing, Coachella stands as a fairly complete survey of most of the essential up-and-coming bands of the last half decade; relying upon alternately kinetic and sober concert footage, Thomas' cameras never intrude upon the performers and (thankfully) eschewing any visual gewgaws such as slow motion or other digital trickery. Occasionally employing a Woodstock-esque split screen, Thomas condenses six years into less than two hours, resulting in a film that has moments of breathtaking beauty yet begs for more depth (and certainly more performance footage). As it is, Coachella often feels like a very glossy ad for this year's festival, slated for April 29-30.

The Video:

Coachella is offered up with a 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer that's exceptional – filmed with an army of HD cameras, the image is slick, sharp and crisp, excepting the sequences that are intentionally grainy and/or suffering from an abundance of video noise. Artistic defects aside, Coachella looks stunning.

If you're gonna sit through two hours of music, you want a robust sonic experience, one that Coachella certainly delivers – the most immersive, active soundtrack included is the superb DTS 5.1 track, although the Dolby Digital 5.1 track is no slouch. The brief interviews are heard clearly, without distortion and all of the performances are appropriately full and mixed well, offering plenty of atmosphere and punch. A Dolby 2.0 stereo track is also on board.

Arriving as a two-disc, Coachella features no extras on the first disc and the second disc houses an array of bonus interviews with Tenacious D, Muse, Kinky, Rilo Kiley, The Bravery, Thievery Corporation's Pam Bricker, Mos Def, ... And You Will Know Us By The Trail of The Dead, Dresden Dolls, Belle & Sebastian, Ben Harper, The Libertines, Futureheads as well as various festival attendees. Rounding out the second disc are photo galleries for several photographers, DVD credits and a slideshow of Coachella posters from 1999-2005.

Whether Coachella is worth spinning depends upon your fascination with bands such as Squarepusher, Spearhead or Arcade Fire – it's a documentary that's light on insight, preferring to let the music do the talking. Yet at its present length, it seems to give one of the major American festivals somewhat short shrift, which may be a result of cramming six years into less than two hours. For indie/rap/dance/electronica/rock aficionados, it's nevertheless worth a spin. Recommended.