Melancholic serenity

The title pretty much nails it. I usually associate Morricone soundtracks with the visceral, near-terror body sensations that their accompanying films try to achieve. Of course, the movies have the advantage of huge screens, while the maestro did it all with well-placed dissonance amid the hooks and momentum. This one is an outlier, with its breezy beat and sultry melody. Which actually seems to give it more tension. I haven't seen Il Mostro, but I suspect this track was used in a moment of calm before a murder or as an interlude of contemplation in which a terrible truth is glimpsed. Or maybe just during some sunset driving. I suppose it's worth finding out.

Ennio Morricone — Malinconica serenitá (Part 1)

Beyond the darkness

Maybe a new 'blague appearance from Goblin would've been more appropriate for Halloween. But having just seen a performance from their much-belated first tour ever tour of America (?!), I couldn't wait. Horror soundtracks have a way of standing on their own, and Goblin's proggy stylings would be just as evocative even if they didn't soundtrack a whole gamut of grotesquerie. And it sounds just delightful booming out form the rockstar stage. 

Goblin — Quiet Drops

Goblin — Pillage

Tangerine fire

Going deeper into Tangerine Dream's soundtracking heyday and finding more and more to love. I remember being disturbed by Firestarter as a kid, and yet the musical cues made no lasting impression. Funny how serene, gauzy, and un-fiery these themes are. And yet, they do capture the spookiness of a kid with destructive supernatural powers.

Tangerine Dream - Crystal Voice

Tangerine Dream - Testlab

Soundtrack to anticipation

Well, this is probably the only time you'll ever see anything resembling Tom Cruise's mug on the 'blague. I don't have many associations with Risky Business, but this tune from Tangerine Dream's soundtrack (yes, them again) really put me into a frozen contemplation when I realized how deeply engrained it is in my brain. Since I can remember, this exact tune has played in my head in those quiet, abyss-facing interludes before big life moments of consequence, the ones where you are totally and painfully aware of the loudness of your own breathing. It spans nearly every variation of that experience across my memory. Which is both amazing and a little sad that I'm only now becoming conscious of it. Anyway, another good reason to keep TD on regular rotation.

Tangerine Dream - The Dream Is Always The Same

Smooth criminal

Been catching up on movies I should've watched in film class. Melville's Le Samourai is justly legendary for smooth n' icy French gangster chicness as personified by Alain Delon. There's nothing more I can really add to that piece of iconography, except to note how much I really do appreciate the minimal amount of speaking not just in the movie, but also in many parts of life. Which may mean that I'm putting myself in the wrong situations. Or that I'm getting crankier with time. But with 4 of 5 songs this week being instrumentals, I think it's that I'd just rather hear music most of the time. Including awesome soundtracks like this one.

François De Roubaix - Le Samourai

Metamorphoses

Nick Cave has done a lot to mellow over the hellfire punk image of his raucous youth in recent ears. To me, a lot of the "mature" work has been a yawn. But his soundtracks with late-arriving Bad Seed Warren Ellis (The Assassination of Jesse James, The Proposition, The Road) have been just stunning.

For some reason, the duo's excellent score for the equally excellent recent (and surprisingly acrobatic) staging of The Metamorphosis has not been given a proper release. But fear not, for Songblague has done the legwork and tracked down these beautiful cues, which open and close the show. If you don't get a bit misty-eyed, you may not be a real human being.

Nick Cave and Warren Ellis - Marty's Song
Nick Cave and Warren Ellis - The Water Song

Horrorshow

I'm in soundtrack land, and I can't stop now. Not with a recent windfall of Goblin records I just scored (thanks Adam). If you haven't heard much from this Italian prog-rock band/horror film soundtrack specialists (most frequently in collaboration with the eminent director Dario Argento), well, get listening. If yesterday was a majestic tune coming in through morning light, here are some haunting sounds for descending into the troubled night.

Goblin - Suspiria
Goblin - Sighs

Big silence

I keep meaning to drop out of life for a few weeks and immerse myself in Ennio Morricone soundtracks. Actually, it'd take months (I think dude has done over 500 by now), and I'd likely emerge with the kind of intense look on my face that no sane person would want to approach. Short of that level of commitment, here's a beautiful Western theme from the master. I aim to have at least one major life event occur while this is playing.

Ennio Morricone - Il Grande Silenzio (Restless)

Gonna fly...a little later

It's Friday, and who couldn't use a little Fender Rhodes cool-down heading into the weekend? For those of you looking to enhance your soundtrack options for brooding or wandering the mid-'70s Philadelphia streets in the rain, this one's for you. It's alright. We all have our own Apollo Creed to face.

Bill Conti - Reflections

Rumble by clockwork

You can say what you will about the Police (I still say they were awesome; we can debate it later), but I will tolerate no slander on Stewart Copeland's drumming. Rarely do you find a percussionist who completely owns his/her style, where the more people imitate it, the more it shines. I should know. His were some of the first tricks I stole when I was 14 and learning to play.

Given the results of his erstwhile bandmates' solo endeavors (I believe Sting is still lost in his Fields of Shit), Copeland's film soundtrack work really does stand up. And, of course, how could I not have some love for drummers successfully stepping out of their comfy domain. His score for Francis Ford Coppola's Rumble Fish is a total winner. The music combines the best parts of Copeland's kinetic nervy drumming with artfully clackety-clack mechanical samples and a noirish melodic sensibility. It makes for a perfect audio analogue to the movie itself, which is also pretty great, in case you haven't seen it. You can hear a lot of those elements in this track, the title of which notwithstanding, bears absolutely no resemblance to this sweet number.

Stewart Copeland - Tulsa Tango

Sleazy listening

Has the first week of 2011 harshed your mellow yet? Well, let's get back in the mental bathtub for the weekend. And when you get out of it, you'll find yourself a lot less clean than before. No really, this is some classy shit. Now let's get you out of those clothes...

I haven't seen Camille 2000, but judging from the poster/album cover, it's clearly a film about the Eiffel Tower. You can grab the full soundtrack here.

Piero Piccioni - Ballade

Brilliant furniture

Generally, I've tried to avoid double dipping into the same film soundtrack. But today I just can't help it. You probably don't even remember the scene that features this tune. I believe it's pushed to the background until the saxophone break suddenly leaps out. Well, I think it deserves a close-up of its own. Why do I have such a soft spot for this species of moody British crooner?

Furniture - Brilliant Mind

From a starship over Venus to the Sun

I must admit I was surprised to discover that Shudder To Think—with their jagged artiness—could pull off a note-perfect imitation of Glam's creamy triumphs. Many have tried to channel David Bowie, and the failures have ranged from bland to spectacular. The Velvet Goldmine soundtrack is chock full of the rare successes. These DC boys contributed two home runs, and here's one of them.

Shudder To Think - Hot One

The white gloves of the devil

Sometimes you just want to savor the idea of a movie, rather than bothering to go watch the thing. Les Gants Blancs du Diable was apparently an animated French thriller from 1972. If the soundtrack is any indication, I would probably love it. But maybe not. It could be boring, or utterly lacking the rainy day grooves and pure French '70s-ness of Karl Heinz Schafer's soundtrack. I really don't want to take the chance. So I'll just focus on the poster and the awesome title and let my imagination go from there. Big props to Mutant Sounds for supplying this to the public. Essential listening for library music buffs.

Karl Heinz Schafer - La Victime

Optic verve

Like him or loathe him, Peter Greenaway's films are genuinely disturbing. The Draughtman's Contract has the notable distinction of being both dull and disgusting by turns. Happily, Nyman's soundtrack succeeds better. This tune in particular, which releases the tensions of heavy manners and period costumery in a galloping surge. You could commit acts of cruelty to this music and convince yourself you're not such a bad guy.

Michael Nyman - An Eye For Optical Theory

A sentimental indulgence

Time Bandits is probably my lifetime favorite movie. I mean this literally. Layered as hell, the film dazzles at all the crucial stages - childhood, pretentious undergrad days, mature/damaged adulthood, decline and dotage (I'll assume). With all that imprinting, how can I not have a soft spot for George's theme song, which isn't all that great, but, like the 25-some-old blanket I refuse to throw away, commands my complete loyalty. I can't think of anything else that could soundtrack the plundering of history's treasures with a gang of renegade midgets.

George Harrison - Dream Away

Hot mishigoss

What red-blooded American can watch The Taking of Pelham One Two Three and not be totally smitten? Seeing it again recently, I was struck by how essential the music is to the movie's character - the audio equivalent of Walter Matthau's gotcha face in the closing shot (which, in my humble opinion, should be placed on the dollar bill). Groovy, jittery, and a little skronky, it can soundtrack my subway ride any time.

Unfortunately, I also saw the trailer for the forthcoming remake, the main ambition of which is seemingly to prove that it's possible to suck the soul out of just about anything. All the more reason to cherish the awesomeness of Mr. Shire.

David Shire - End Title

Love is the light in your face

I had to track this down after Some Kind of Wonderful stole an hour and half of my life the other night. I admit the movie's got some staying power, however hokey. And this is the perfect song for tearfully lashing out at your best friend who you're crushing on. If you're into that sort of thing. Crank it loud because the film doesn't do justice to the sweet guitar slide coming out of the intro.

The March Violets - Turn to the Sky