SUPER MUSIC

Literally!

M83 - purveyors of space-rock and, most recently, one of the best concept LPs in a long time - have announced they will score Tom Cruise’s latest film, Oblivion.

The sci-project starts shooting in Iceland next month. Based on that information, I’d say M83 is the perfect choice for far-out, sonically ambitious, and coldly technical jams.

This is also a great sign that more artists are venturing into film composition. I found my experience of There Will Be Blood to be monumentally affected by Johnny Greenwood’s masterful score.

More info on the film, from IMDb: “A court martial sends a veteran soldier to a distant planet, where he is to destroy the remains of an alien race. The arrival of an unexpected traveler causes him to question what he knows about the planet, his mission, and himself.”

Emotionally, the music [in Wes Anderson’s films] is not contained or twee. Wes is nobody’s pussy. He’s a fighter. He just has his vision and his obsessions.

-Randall Poster.

—Interview with Randall Poster by Ryan Dombal for Pitchfork Media. June 27, 2012.

One of the highlights for me with newly released Wes Anderson films is the attention paid to Randall Poster, music supervisor extraordinaire.

This interview, in particular, is a real treat.

Wes Anderson: “And my music supervisor Randall Poster’s got his ear to the ground— is that the expression? Must be a railroad expression.”

“I’ve spent the last day reading her articles and essays online, of which there are endless Google pages. … And when I stopped laughing, I quietly thanked Nora Ephron, a writer who had the type of power that could provide a small, temporary antidote to the sadness of her of own passing.”

-Kathryn Borel, for The Believer.

—

Source.

While this is a blog mostly focused on music in film, I couldn’t help but post this lovely quote regarding the passing of Nora Ephron. A pioneer of women in film and literature, she was a public figure close to my heart. She will be missed.

It’s that “a-ha” moment any music supervisor or trailer editor probably dreams about. It’s a moment when the viewer, engrossed in a film’s action, suddenly realizes there is a song playing. And not just any song. A song with poignancy, emotional reverberation. A momentous occasion when the action combines with the pull of the song to create an undertow, sinking the viewer/listener into a reverie. It serves not as a distraction, but an enchanting enhancement.

I’m quite excited about the upcoming film “Celeste and Jesse Forever” for many reasons. Co-writer and star Rashida Jones is a personal hero, and I greatly enjoyed director Lee Toland Krieger’s earlier film, “The Vicious Kind,” with Adam Scott. His latest film’s trailer is shot in a soft focus similar to the cinematographer Harris Savides’ work in Sofia Coppola’s “Somewhere,” which was also set in L.A.

But what excited me most about the trailer, and the reason why I’m here now, is because halfway through, that brilliant “a-ha” occurred. It left me staggered, drinking it in a second time before scrambling to Google “celeste and jesse forever trailer song.”

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(Source: Spotify)

Like many, I first came to know Link Wray through “Rumble,” his 2:25-minute echoing, raw instrumental that sprung the power chord and ignited fevers in all who listened to it.

Like many of my generation, I first heard “Rumble” in Quentin Tarantino’s “Pulp Fiction,” when John Travolta and Uma Thurman move through Jack Rabbit Slim’s on their way to a steak and a $5 milkshake. The song slows down the action and dates the restaurant without being blatant. It’s yet another sterling choice by Karyn Rachtman, who worked with Tarantino on “Reservoir Dogs” and thereby made audiences forever equate Stealers Wheel with ear-cutting. (Other noteworthy projects for Ms. Rachtman include “Boogie Nights,” “Laurel Canyon,” and “North Country”).

Any track off “Link Wray & The Raymen” is worthy of inclusion within a film. And that 1959 album, along with “Rumble,” was about all I knew of Wray until I heard his 1971 eponymous LP, which features our song of the day, “Juke Box Mama.”

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(Source: Spotify)

I don’t wanna be overdramatic but music saved my life, so I handle with care.
-Randall Poster.

—“Knowing the Score.” 12/7/2007, The Guardian.