The next music i’m featuring in my series exploring interesting free music is another soundtrack, again very short, this time from television. It’s something of an oddity, partly because it was never a ‘release’ in the usual sense of the word (and isn’t really available any longer), partly because it’s …
soundtrack
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i’ve written about the music of Danielle Johnson – aka Danz CM (previously aka Computer Magic) – on a number of occasions. Her usual output is analogue synth-laden bedroom pop – growing increasingly sophisticated over the years, featuring in my Best Albums of the Year in 2018 and 2021 – …
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People doing interesting things to objects doesn’t necessarily create interesting music. Can we agree on that? i don’t think that’s a particularly outrageous thing to say, though there were a number of times during my six days at this year’s Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival when i found myself wondering otherwise. …
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Premières
Proms 2022: Hildur Guðnadóttir & Sam Slater (arr. Robert Ames) – Selections from Battlefield 2042 (European Première)
by 5:4As part of the Proms’ inexorable slide away from concert works in an attempt to remain relevant, yesterday evening’s event was given over to orchestral arrangements and reworkings of music from videogames. They included the European première (following a performance by the LA Philharmonic late last year) of Robert Ames‘ …
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i’ve written previously about my love of large-scale compositions, so it’s been fascinating to spend time with Temp Tracks, the latest album by Austrian composer Wolfgang Mitterer, which explores music at the opposite end of the continuum. Taking its title from the film scoring practice of using extant music as …
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CD/Digital releasesMovies
Adam Janota Bzowski – Saint Maud (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
by 5:4NB. While this article does not contain any specific plot spoilers, it does discuss various aspects of Saint Maud; anyone yet to see the film may wish to postpone reading further until afterwards. For a long time i’ve been itching to write a large-scale text about the relationship between avant-garde …
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Considering that, when i’m not doing something musical, i’m most often to be found in front of a movie, it’s perhaps surprising that none of my previous mixtapes have been devoted to film scores. Until now, that is. Over the summer, the Beloved and i have been working our way …
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FestivalsPremières
Proms 2019: Hans Zimmer – Earth; Alexia Sloane – Earthward (World Premières)
by 5:4The most significant love-hate musical relationship of my life has been – and continues to be – with film scores. Few idioms have the power to elevate, charm, horrify, astonish and amaze us more while at the same time displaying the irresistible propensity to eschew all originality and imagination in …
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The word ‘sacrilege’ doesn’t hold a lot of meaning for me, yet it was this very word that popped into my mind when i was contacted a couple of months ago by Boston musician Mike Langlie, a.k.a. Cat Temper, to let me know of his latest project Henry, being a …
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First encounters can be unforgettable. Mine was in 2006, and it was the result of an entirely random purchase of an entirely random imported music magazine (German, i think) that contained a disc featuring a cluster of forgettable audio trifles plus a music video. When i hit play on that …
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Despite being a complete movie addict, as well as having nurtured a fascination with soundtracks since i was a boy, movie scores rarely get discussed on 5:4. There have been notable exceptions, and some invariably find their way onto my annual best album lists, but i often find myself pondering …
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CD/Digital releases
New releases: Gottfried Huppertz, Elliott Sharp, Anna Thorvaldsdottir, Coppice
by 5:4i want to flag up a few more new releases that have recently been tickling my jukeboxical fancy. To begin with, music that’s not remotely contemporary, but which in its own way marks an important contribution to the development of a particular musical strand that began early in the 20th …
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CD/Digital releases
Swagger, languor and a force field: the soundtracks of Maniac, Only God Forgives and Upstream Color
by 5:4It’s some time since i’ve explored movie soundtracks on 5:4, but there have been three this year that have stood out from the crowd, all very far indeed from the conventions of cinematic swooshery. That in itself isn’t terribly surprising, as their respective films are, to differing degrees, at some …
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SPOILER ALERT: The following article discusses details of the plot of Lars von Trier’s Melancholia; anyone yet to see the film may wish to postpone reading further until afterwards. Early in 2010, i devoted the first of my very occasional podcasts to the soundtrack of Lars von Trier’s film Antichrist. …
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FestivalsPremières
Proms 2011: Jonny Greenwood/Robert Ziegler – Norwegian Wood – Suite & Purcell; Joby Talbot – Chacony in G minor (World Premières)
by 5:4The most recent premières at this year’s Proms have been a pair of arrangements, the first, a suite formed by Robert Ziegler from Jonny Greenwood‘s score to the film Norwegian Wood, the second, a new rendition of Henry Purcell‘s Chacony in G minor, by Joby Talbot. Greenwood’s music was performed …
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This evening the BBC Philharmonic gave a concert from their swanky new home at MediaCity in Salford, dedicated to film music, conducted by Robert Ziegler and and hosted by the superlative film critic Mark Kermode. Towards the end of the concert, the orchestra performed three pieces from the films of …
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Today marks the 20th anniversary of the end of the television show Twin Peaks; the final episode was broadcast on 10 June 1991. Therefore, the new 5:4 podcast is a celebration of the remarkable music from this unique show. Despite some discussion of the story, those who haven’t yet seen …
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After thinking about it for far too long, here’s the first 5:4 podcast, devoted to an exploration of the soundtrack to Lars von Trier’s film Antichrist. If you’ve not yet seen the film, be warned that the plot is discussed at length, and in some detail (occasionally graphic). The podcast …