Why did LCD Soundsystem frontman James Murphy decide to disband “one of the most celebrated and influential bands of its generation at the peak of its popularity”? I’ve never understood this kind of thing. Break up a band to start another, possibly better one…fine. But why commit ritual seppuku in front of thousands of worshipping fans? You can’t just “quit.” You have to soldier on.

I’m seeing this Sundance 2012 doc for the music, and because the trailer tells me that Reed Morano‘s cinematography is mesmerizing. But God…Murphy looks like a wreck, like an Irish bartender from Bushwick who’s been burning the candle at both ends.

What lasting eternal good was achieved by The Band breaking up when they did? Okay, Martin Scorsese got a good concert doc out of this (i.e., The Last Waltz) but who gets profound pleasure out of saying “we’re done”?

The press notes say that LCD’s decision to terminate and throw a final concert on 4.2.11 at Madison Square Garden “ensured that the band would go out on top with the biggest and most ambitious concert of its career. The instantly sold out, near four-hour extravaganza did just that, moving the thousands in attendance to tears of joy and grief, with New York magazine calling the event ‘a marvel of pure craft” and Time magazine lamenting “we may never dance again.”

Shut Up was directed by Dylan Southern and Will Lovelace.