Passion Pit @ Pianos, 8-13-2008

I got to see Passion Pit's NYC debut so I thought I'd add to the wave of hype that they're riding.

They were glorious. They got everyone dancing, which is impressive given the limited availability of their music. I'd listened to all the tracks the internet could muster beforehand, and was surprised by how cohesive the concert felt. Each song shared a Passion Pit flavor which lent itself heavily to Michael Angelakos' shouting. The songs were all at a quick, danceable tempo, and used poppy chord sets backed by steady synths. There were also some sudden, stop-and-go parts that worked better at exciting people than classic electro buildups.

Though everyone seemed to agree with me about their amazingness, thoughts were mixed about Agelakos' mentioned voice. For me, the way he flailed around high pitches gave a delightful harshness to the music, but this same trait bothered others. Still, I don't see this stopping them. A crowd that size doesn't go crazy for a band that hasn't released anything labeled unless something's up.

Visit them at myspace and last.fm to get all the tracks.

Soundtracks

I've always been huge fan of filmscore. It was the gateway that lead me to find all that I love so dearly now. If you were impressed by Johnny Greenwood's excellent step into genre, then it would be in your best interest to at least check one of these out. In fact, if you are the kind of music listener that hates instrumental music, it might still be interesting for you to know who sets the mood for some of your favorite movies, and if you are a fan of filmscore, you probably already own all of these.

No particular order

• Clint Mansell - The Fountain
  After making Requiem for a Dream, Aronofsky set out on creating this film and released it to a bit of disappointment. Despite the fact that the movie recieved mixed reviews, the score is a brilliant piece of sorrowful strings. Without having seen the movie, you get a sense of the futility of the main character's pursuit. Mansell, as he did for Aranofsky's previous film, has much of the music performed by the Kronos Quartet, which has a history of bridging classical and experimental sounds. A theme echos throughout the soundtrack but in different tempos and styles to follow the similarities of each story in the film.
  
  
• Cliff Martinez - Solaris
  Martinez's scores are less popular than the others on this list (despite his time spent drumming for the Chili Peppers), but the Solaris soundtrack is probably my favorite. It conveys a euphoric, yet poignant coma through a unique use of steel drums. The open space is filled with soft strings that provide a base on which melodies are built. The chords are common, but they are manipulated creatively through the instrumentation and the apreggiation.
  
  
• John Murphy - 28 Days Later
  I've heard that Boyle was influenced by Godspeed You! Black Emperor when conceiving the film, and it's true that a bit of the film makes use of their music. Still, it's Murphy's work that dominates the movie. Scores can often sound tacky when making use of electric guitars and power chords (300), but 28 Days Later depicts destruction in a post-apocalyptic landscape with perfect fury. It's the song, In the House - In a Heartbeat, that stands apart and has since been given replay on current commercials and trailers.
  
  
• Johnny Greenwood - There Will Be Blood
  This score is reminiscent at times of Richard Strauss who's music is commonly associated with 2001: A Space Odyssey and Arvo Pärt who is also included in the soundtrack. It's hard to imagine the movie without Greenwood's score which sets the mood before the viewer even understands anything about it's main characters.
  
  
• Jon Brion - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
  Brion's score is a bit overshadowed by some of Gondry's other choices on the album, but the actual film hears only the goofy, but melancholic piano that the composer chose as his main instrument. It's hard to listen to it and not imagine Jim Carey's almost silent voice over, but this is because of the inherent human quality it holds. Overall, it is soothing and minimal. The main melody seems uninterested in itself, and sounds as if it were on a slow walk.
  
  
• Yann Tierson - Goodbye Lenin
  Tierson doesn't move very far from his earlier works such as Emelie. Piano and strings get full use like in Brion's mentioned work, but the tempo is quicker. The notes bounce along while the violins provide emotional stability. At the end of the album, the theme is given vocals which veer from the common design of the genre, but like the rest of the music, it stays true to the film. The whole compilation conveys dramatic thought and emotional stress.

El Ten Eleven - These Promises Are Being Videotaped

Here comes another pay-what-you-want-for-me album, and this time it's the third LP from one of my all-time favorite bands. El Ten Eleven is a simply a drummer (Tim Fogarty), a bassist (Kristian Dunn), and a lot of pedals, and before now their sound was technical but heavily melodic. Each song, though sometimes involving quick tapping and low power chords, was pleasantly dreamy and used looping to build on soothing harmonics and bass lines.

These Promises Are Being Videotaped is a dance album, but still maintains the instrumentation and virtuosity. Fogarty's beats are hastier and provide the constant thump omnipresent in the modern club, and Dunn's playing comes out more as a square wave than a sine. It all comes together brilliantly but keeps a bit of ground from territory already ruled by groups like Ratatat and MSTRKFT. Unlike the latter two, El Ten Eleven performs and records all the layers of its tracks.

But sometimes the new formula is forgotten. Fat Gym Riot is reminiscent of the described past, and on such a short album, it's surprising to find a cover of Paranoid Android that emulates with a few intentionally missed pitches. What El Ten Eleven has done is evolve, which is extremely pleasing. I would have treasured another Every Direction is North, but now I'm genuinely impressed. These Promises isn't an easily accessible piece of electronic pop, but it's destined to be enjoyed by fans of post rock and will probably garner a few remixes (Boys Noize?).

UNLKE - End Titles... Stories for Film

Filmscore is one of my favorite genres so when UNKLE came out with this album, I was excited to say the least, but the lack of excitement from the community lead me to believe that this album was just an afterthought. This is strange considering that we only recently got More Stories, the B sides compilation associated with War Stories. The reality, however, is that More Stories was the afterthought. After all, it was only released in Japan and Australia, and it contains only two tracks (Heaven, Blade in the Back) that stand on their own.

End Titles... Stories for Film retains the gained/chorused rock sound that defined War Stories but it also returns to the more epic sense of it's predecessor, Never, Never, Land. There's a heavier use of strings and quite a few transition tracks such as Even Balance (Part 2) which has flowing feedback and vocals and serves to buffer the next, more fleshed-out piece, Trouble in Paradise. The latter finds UNKLE sampling from straight filmscore. The album is long too. With 22 tracks it clocks in at about 74 minutes. End Titles also relies even more on collaboration than others before it, and almost every track holds another artist's name.

I love End Titles, but it doesn't feel as well packaged as UNKLE's three other LP's. This could throw off the average listener who might be a bit overwhelmed by the shear content of the album. Not only that, but the ethereal sound of some tracks don't seem to fly with a many of my friends. Still, some, like Heaven, have gone over well. In the end, however, this is an album for UNKLE fans.

Stars - Your Ex-Lover is Dead (Owen Pallett / Final Fantasy)

Edit: I'm hosting this tab as a file and a few of my other sheets on my new site.

I've had this one in my head for a while (not fully) so I took the time to transcribe it. This is the Owen Pallett (formerly Final Fantasy) remix of the Your Ex-Lover is Dead that's off the interesting but strange Do You Trust Your Friends. What strikes me about this song is how easily Pallet makes the transition to pop music composition. It's a beautiful reworking of an already beautiful piece and also makes for good stand-alone piano.

Shaun Tan - The Arrival

I was handed this book as a way to pass a small amount of time recently and 20 minutes later my eyes were stinging with tears. Every one of it's pages holds a spectacular pencil drawing that wordlessly depicts a nameless immigrant's journey to a foreign industrial capital. Opposite the cover and back, multiracial head shots (probably taken for identification) checker the paper. This follows the culturally blind scheme of the book as the world described would easily be intensively foreign yet familiar to any modern reader. If the story had been told with words, it would have only needed a few. Soon after it begins, the main character finds himself gesturing more than speaking. I would imagine words subtracting from the gravity of his confusion. Thus, in order to fully understand the story I was forced to examine the pictures more intensively in the same manner I might have walked down the hallway of a museum. I was told this was a graphic novel, but it hardly seems similar to things like Ghost World and Shortcomings. It would be much more accessible to a child then either of those, and would fit well on either a coffee table or in a bookshelf. Pick it up or give it as a gift if you have a chance.

Emily Haines - Detective Daughter

I finished transcribing another piece in my free time. This one's a bit harder to play and sing, but the all together it's wonderful. I'd recommend getting Knives Don't Have Your Back if you get the chance. Let me know if you want the .pdf.