genius film soundtracks

egg

Dumpy's Rusty Nut
Didn't know whether to post in her or films, but it's about soundtracks really so:

Watching Moulin Rouge last night I was struck again by the greatness of the soundtrack. I think it's a huge achievement. I don't know whether it has any precedents or peers - but these hugely famous songs are integrated so subtly and with such elegance into the whole. I vote Marius deVries and Craig Armstrong for elevation to some sort of canon of film music.

Of course it doesn't translate as well to CD, but that just underlines what a sensitive job they did.

Other genius film music?
 

polystyle

Well-known member
2 quick ones ... both last century

Diva

Merry Christmas Merry Lawrence . Movie by Nagisa Oshima , Sdtk R Sakamoto
 

owen

Well-known member
whoah

some favourites off the top of my head-

alice in the cities (can)
akira (christ knows)
fellini satyricon (nino rota)
chinese roulette (peer raben, with kraftwerk in there somewhere)
2046 (peer raben) yeah so it only came out last month whatever
whoever made the noises for 'the man in the white suit'
o lucky man! (alan price)
suspiria (goblin)
meditation on violence (teiji ito/maya deren)
aguirre (popol vuh)

most of these are sort of part sound design/commentary and part music, as opposed to that annoying royal tanenbaums thing where you get a snatch of some hipster classic and you're supposed to go 'ah, nico' then its gone after 20 seconds...grrrr
 
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martin

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The music to 'Shogun Assassin' was brilliant, I'd love to know if there's a soundtrack album. Moody electronics and synth pop.

'Bladerunner' too, but guess that's as taken.

I actually thought 'Lost in Translation' had perfect musical backing throughout too.

Also, that electro hip hop song, I don't know what the hell it is, in that scene in 'Baise Moi' when they're dancing and writhing around in the hotel room. Class.
 

carlos

manos de piedra
"Pat Garrett and Billy The Kid" (dir Sam Peckinpah, soundtrack by Bob Dylan)

Dylan's songs and instrumentals are subtly interwoven into the (extremely slow-moving) action and sounds- one of my favorite movies and some of Dylan's best sad melodies. The only moment where the music overpowers the action is the death scene where "Knockin on Heaven's door" comes in- sometimes it seems to much- other times it works fine.

"The Anderson Tapes" (Quincy Jones soundtrack)

not sure who is responsible for the greatness here- the mix of silence, confusing, conspiracy-fueled dialogue, jazzy music and these strange moog sounds that swoosh out of nowhere is brilliant.

maybe i should point out that i found Moulin Rouge unbearable...
 

Randy Watson

Well-known member
Walkabout, Performance and The Man Who Fell to Earth.

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory - the songs are usual west-end-musical-type Newley fare but the range of incidental music is scrambled/jarring.

Not for it's music as much (murch), but the sound design on The Conversation blew me away when I first saw it. Can anyone id the music playing at the end for me - desolate jazz?
 
Jon Brion, Punch Drunk Love - wobbly, keening, audiophiliac banquet
John Cameron, Kes - really beautiful pastoral version of Birtwhistle - reissued a couple of years back by Trunk
The Pastels, The Last Great Wilderness - bleak, moody, instrumental Highland soundscapes

Also, of course, In the Mood For Love - every single second of it
 

polystyle

Well-known member
Aah , nice Randy
Sweet to see Roeg's movies here . TMWFTEarth , dunno how many times i absorbed every bit of it.
Hard to see the names of these movies without seeing and hearing flashes of them

re: The Conversation . i would first off guess the composer of whole sdtk was Carmine Coppola,
but dunno know if someone else did that end, jazz bleak bit .
Clock DVA made good use of some quotes from the film on one of their ol tracks

I second the Lost In Translation Sdtk , most (somehow) felt very right for that movie , that moment .
and overall worked quite well .
 
Has anyone seen the German film Decoder? Mad, early 1980s, shadow-of-Berlin Wall/ nuclear apocalypse shriekfest with noise soundtrack from likes of William Burroughs, FM Einheit, Dave Ball and Genesis P. Orridge. Oblique contender for inclusion in the 'what good stuff was happening in Germany during the 1980s' thread
 

ryan17

Well-known member
Creme Organization released a soundtrack by Francesco Clemente called 'Suoni Dalle Ombre Oltre' which is fantastic.
 

LRJP!

(Between Blank & Boring)
i second Kes, a super super lovely half of music!

Akira OST is by Yamashiro Shoji according to the back of Toop's Ocean Of Sound...


I caught Before Sunrise the other day and i thought it's use of music was satisfying in it's variation and placement... the last film i saw before that where the music really stuck with me would be Born In Flames, a peculiar lo-budget feminist bubblegum thriller from the 1980s with alarmingly prescient undertones, much earnestness and some reasonably monged/great music on the soundtrack - Red Crayola doing the theme song...

oh and the actual score for Ghost Dog by RZA is pretty tasty, no? That super-cold-organ-loop-based track especially. Only available on nightmare 'Music inspired by' format as far as i've ever been able to discover...
 

Clubberlang

Well-known member
martin said:
The music to 'Shogun Assassin' was brilliant, I'd love to know if there's a soundtrack album. Moody electronics and synth pop.

There is a CD collection of all the soundtrack bits from the Lone Wolf and Cub (the original Japanese name of the film/s) series which came out just last year. It's worth picking up.
 

Chef Napalm

Lost in the Supermarket
I've had a soft spot in my heart for the Hackers sountrack. It was my first real exposure to "techno" and a turning point in my musical tastes.

Whenever any of my indie friends asks for a "techno" CD, this is the one I lend them. It's a primer, really, and still stands up nicely.
 

h-crimm

Well-known member
i was a bit dubious when i found out pink floyd did the sound track to zabriski point,
i am prone to a bit of prejudging so might not be too suprising i was wrong and it turned out to be quite amazing.

zabriski point is italian director antonioni's first american film, its a pretty savage attack on late 60's american culture with incredible emptiness and slow pace. its completely beautiful and the music which is more like black dice noise than what i imagined pink floyd would sound like works really well, both with the intense political anti-racist student debates at the beginning and the bizarre fantastic, exquisite, slow motion explosions at the end.
 

hamarplazt

100% No Soul Guaranteed
The Mahabharata
Eraserhead
Forbidden Planet

Plus the music for almost everything by Jan Svankmajer and the Quay Brothers.
 

francesco

Minerva Estassi
some recently faves:

Liquid Sky
Le foto proibite di una signora per bene
The Wicker Man
A Virgin Among the Living Dead
Assault on Precint 13
Camille 2000
Sonatine
Cinque Bambole per la Luna d'Agosto

not a movie but:
Space 1999
 
O

Omaar

Guest
Vampyros Lesbos

Popul Vuh stuff

Toru Takemitsu stuff

Easy Rider

Tangerine Dream - Miracle Mile, Thief etc

Angelo Badalamenti

Black Orpheus

Personally I cound't stand anything about Moulin Rouge. But then people seem to either love ir or hate it.

I really enjoyed the begining and end of Zabriskie point, found the middle pretty lame. not its slowness, just lack of ... anything .. I really enjoyed the ending, it looks awesome and the music is cool too.
 

MiltonParker

Well-known member
holding out for a release of Peer Raben's score for Fassbinder's 'Chinese Roulette'

chamber music score that initially sounds quaint but keeps spiraliing off into loopier and more disturbing dissonance, and sideswiped by nasty tape delay and filter sweeps at moments you least expect

I wish more Raben were available in general. There's a single CD compilation overview of his Fassbinder work which is great, but I want entire films.
 
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