Reviews: Scintillating soundtracks find the spotlight By Todd Martens and
Margaret Wappler
Los Angeles Times
Posted: 12/31/2008 09:19:30 AM PST
Updated: 12/31/2008 09:19:30 AM PST
What's a bust for some is a boon for others. The music industry might be
fragmenting to bits, but other media are picking up the pieces.
Movies, television and YouTube are increasingly proving to be the way to
find out about a great song or artist. Witness the ascension of M.I.A.'s
"Paper Planes" — an underground sleeper one minute, the next a
Grammy-nominated hit, thanks to exposure in the trailer for "Pineapple
Express" and more recently, the critically adored "Slumdog Millionaire."
Here's a look at some of the latter half of 2008's most prominent
soundtracks and scores, with an album scale ranging from one star (poor) to
four (excellent).
"Big Love: Hymnal," David Byrne (Todo Mundo)
HHH
With "Big Love: Hymnal," David Byrne pens a batch of clean but knowing
paeans to the polygamist lifestyle featured on the HBO show starting its
third season this month.
Many of Byrne's short but articulated songs grapple with the mysterious,
confounding nature of faith and the suspicion that underlies the Henrickson
household at the center of the series.
"Great Desolations" is a sliver of unease with suspended reefs of guitar and
xylophone that folds into the tight-lipped Christian cha-cha of "A House on
Sand." Salvation Army marching band instrumentation (baritone horn,
fluegelhorn) lines a handful of tracks with solemn or joyful reserve.
Nothing on the album applies
------------------------------
Advertisement
[image:
Quantcast]<http://network.realmedia.com/RealMedia/ads/click_lx.ads/trpmedianewsgroupbay/ros/300x250/1834nwscomlifrlssptmenwmntrventpfn/ss/a/570141619/x15/OasDefault/DEF2002020001_50_Djoniba/djoniba_300x250a.jpg/37396637326134633439356165336230?>
------------------------------
to the outer edges of religious experience: no loss of faith or nirvana or
shivering redemption.
Instead, Byrne concerns himself with austere, private expressions of pride
or wonder, feelings a religious person frequently might have — but not
share.
"Defiance," James Newton Howard (Sony Classics)
HHH
James Newton Howard already has had a hand in one of the most acclaimed
scores of the year, providing the softer moments of "The Dark Knight," a
collaboration with Hans Zimmer. On "Defiance," the score for director Ed
Zwick's World War II drama, Howard has another star artistic partner:
acclaimed violinist Joshua Bell, who contributed to the Oscar-winning score
for "The Red Violin."
What the two create here is a quiet, often minimalist piece. It flirts with
classical stylings — the violin is a standard yet admirable accompaniment
for almost any film dealing with the Holocaust — but Howard's score drifts
into more atmospheric terrain. The best tracks are a showcase for Bell's
unassuming but respectful performance. See "Exodus," in which Bell's
elegance is surrounded by only the barest of notes.
There are few recurring themes, but there are rhythmic bursts that give way
to a romantic swing in "Police Station," and some mournfully lovely counter
melodies in "Tuvia Kisses Lilka." There's also a fair amount of ambience,
most notably in "Make Them Count." It's brief but striking, with a stalking
bass drum erupting into an anxious violin frenzy. Perhaps Howard's
experiences on "The Dark Knight" stuck with him.
"Rachel Getting Married," Various Artists (Lakeshore Records)
HHH
Director Jonathan Demme populates the background of many scenes in "Rachel
Getting Married" with musicians rehearsing for the film's emotional climax,
in which a troubled woman (Anne Hathaway) confronts a long-held trauma.
The same sense of loose improvisation that Demme creates onscreen pervades
the soundtrack, a collection that includes dreamy pop, Brazilian dance and
mini, jazz-leaning orchestrations yet still sounds like a unified whole. The
standout cut here is "Up to Our Nex" from singer-songwriter Robyn Hitchcock.
It's a buoyant little ditty — a tale of stubborn absolution with a minor
horn section and just a dash of spacey electric guitar notes.
But the acoustic compositions from New York-based Palestinian composer Zafer
Tawil are more than set dressing. His three pieces capture a chamber
orchestra caught in improvisation, their seemingly random plucked strings
and violin notes slowly building into sparse, moody melodies.
"Slumdog Millionaire," Various Artists (N.E.E.T./Interscope)
HHH½
The love that game show hero Jamal nurses for fellow orphan Latika is at the
center of Danny Boyle's fairy tale set in Mumbai, but the soundtrack for
"Slumdog Millionaire" is smitten with a different woman: M.I.A., the
daughter of a Tamil Tiger insurgent and the London-raised poster child for
East meets West club cool.
Bollywood composer A.R. Rahman wrote most of the soundtrack, but this first
release on M.I.A.'s Interscope label N.E.E.T. coalesces around her
sensibilities.
On "Ringa Ringa," featuring playback singer Alka Yagnik and Indian
actress-singer Ila Arun, Rahman updates a classic Bollywood song. "O "...
Saya," the collaboration between M.I.A. and Rahman, opens the film with
subcontinental tension cut with fantasy. "Mausam & Escape" pins classic
guitar and sitar against racing tablas and synths.
For many ears, M.I.A.'s single is the choice cut. "Paper Planes," and
especially the bombastic DFA remix that exchanges the gunshot-cash register
motif for a funk bass line and choppy disco synths, are indeed standouts.
http://www.insidebayarea.com/entertainment/ci_11344055
--
regards,
Vithur
