Sunday, January 2, 2011

Year of the Soundtrack

Year of the Soundtrack

Well it is upon us, the new year! Last week being the week between Christmas and New years was overbooked with everyone in the fucking world taking some time to get a good look back at the year that is was and sums it up with some sort of stupid list.

As if a list can really collect all that has happened in that year. I mean, think about it. How sad is that if the whole year can be summed up to a top 10. I like to believe that my life this past year contained a lot more than 10 moments or items that made it worth living. I think that the whole notion of boiling it down to such a trivial number seems like a waste.

But then here I am, about to do a post 2010 best of Album list that is going to be very basic. It only has four items on it. To be honest, that's all there needs to be. Also, there's no inception here and that's because I really didn't care at all about the movie. Yes, I got it. He's in the dream (or is he?) but it's not because I didn't get it. It's simply because I didn't care. So here's the music I did care about...


The Social Network

Oh come on. You didn't think this was going to make it to the list? It's Trent Reznor being completely amazing at what he normally does. Everything he touches is something special. Then you put him together with David Fincher, whom I still listen to the Dust Brother's Fight Club soundtrack on a regular basis.



But just listen to that. I don't care if you hate facebook or dis-LIKE it. The soundtrack is something of a thing of beauty. It sets the mood perfectly while also taking plenty of samples from computer programing/equipment to make it fit perfectly.



And even if it didn't have Trent's signature on this album, the redention of In the Hall of the Mountain King is something that you probably haven't ever heard of or even expected to hear..



Up next is another soundtrack. I warned you. This list is 3/4 Soundtrack heavy.

Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World

If you like indie bands or at least that indie sound, this was the soundtrack for you this year. It had it all. From Metric to Beck. This should have been on your ipod or cd player on repeat for a while as it did have it all.



Besides that, any film that has Metric - Black Sheep with this music video is a winner in my book. Let alone the music from Beck laid out all over this sucker. It made it the perfect soundtrack for when you wanted that garage sound out of your high end speakers.



But then we come to one that isn't a soundtrack and is in fact a side project..

Broken Bells

The latest grouping of Danger Mouse and a member of the shins. This entire cd is great to listen to. Let alone visually watch. Look at the music video for their piece, it's something else entirely.



If you can't enjoy that song with that visual, then I have one sentence for you.. Watch this next one.



Anyone who makes a video using Christina Hendricks in a Sci-fi setting has got me as a fan forever. How could anything top that? It has it all. Christina Hendricks, Space ships, the vocal styling of The Shin's James Mercer, The best thing about Gorillaz - Danger Mouse and robots. So, you ask me what could beat that in terms of awesomeness in music this year?

Simple... Daft Punk and Tron Legacy.

I love Tron. It was a childhood film that even to this day, no one has seen or bothered to and it's really a geeky film. But it was what got Pixar started and it's where Daft Punk originally got all their inspiration to be the duel that they are today. So for that it has major reasons to be on my top list.

Especially so when you pair the two. Having Daft Punk do the soundtrack was probably the best news I heard last year and then when I got to hear some of the music I couldn't stop.



You have Jeff Bridges in this film. You have Daft Punk doing the score. You have a visual look that is so out there and the music matches it perfectly, how could you do it any wrong? Just listen to this stuff. It's seriously so great.



I mean, think about it. How does a band top Broken Bell's "The Ghost Inside"? I mean, it has Christina Hendricks. Someone who looks like that? I guess the only answer is to have Olivia Wild in your music video with Daft Punk playing a video game in the world of Tron....



Yup, that did it alright. And there you go. That's my music enjoyment for the year 2010. Let's see what 2011 has in store for me.

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