valentine’s day – and the most influential or interesting love songs of the previous two decades

Since it’s right after Valentine’s Day, I decided to pick some of the most influential and/or interesting songs on love from the last 20 years (2011 not included, of course).

I generally percieve the 1990s and 2000s as a very important moment in popular culture. Not only because it was the time of my high school/university years but mainly because it perfectly mixed influences of the music made by previous generations with new possibilities and music techniques. Grunge emerged from the influence of the 1960s rock. So did R&B which is rooted in funk, soul and, most importantly, blues. Rap continued to develop since the 1980s and so did punk rock. The 1990s however were direct descendants of the 1980 electronica and new wave. And since our age is defintely the computer age, we witnessed creation of new electro music genres and blending them with other musical influences. We witnessed the birth (or continuous development, as some may say) of industrial rock and industrial metal, nu metal, electro in a variety of genres – from early 90s trip-hop to contemporary electroclash.

Also, I think many things have changed in terms of defining ourselves as human, naming our needs and our emotions. Not only feminism became more important than ever but also many countries started their fight for LGBT rights. Racial and class divisions were and are discussed in all the parts of our world, especially since there is still a large group of fundamentalists in each and every of the religions that has ever existed – not that I am anti-religious, not at all. But,
frankly, I hate every fundamentalism.

Sex is also discussed in a different manner. And popular culture has been very important in the process of expressing our sexuality, our love, our desires. I think some of the songs of the last two decades reflect that process. Let’s take a look at some of them.

1990

Sinéad O’Connor Nothing Compares 2 U
Written in 1986 by Prince, O’Connor re-recorded this song in 1990 and quickly it became not only one of the greatest hits of this year but also O’Connors trade mark which made her rise to fame. A falling apart relationship of the past reaches its climax in the lyrics full of regret and passion at the same time which is only strenthened by a great voice of O’Connor. Her vocals tremble with passion and are torn apart with pain. Mesmerizing.
To view video click here.

 

Madonna Justify My Love
Written by Lenny Kravitz and Ingrid Chavez. Highly controversial song with even more controversial video that’s  been censored and/or banned almost everywhere in the world. It marks the point in which Madonna slowly shifts from corny pop songs of the 1980s into much more ambitious projects which may have been pop but remained top quality and the best example to follow for the future generations. Also, it marks a slow shift from corny and puritan Reagan/Thatcher-era love imagery to a vision of a somewhat complicated sexuality. After all, can we imagine love and sex today without general questions about ourselves and human nature? Can we think of it not reffering to pain, hurting someone/ourselves, rediscovering our sexual identities, whether we’re straight, gay, or avoid labels at all costs? In 1990s it wasn’t that obvious. Luckily, we’ve got Madonna and we know that she turned her attention to wherever she spotted a taboo-topic.
To view video click here.

 

1991

Pearl Jam Oceans
Hard to say whether Eddie Vedder sings about his love to another person or about his love to surfing. Whatever it is, it is emotional and it marks the rise of grunge which dominated popular music for the most of 1990s.
To view video click here.

 

1992

En Vougue My Lovin’ (You’re Never Gonna Get It)
In fact a very difficult song – not every vocalist will be able to repeat it, trust me. Marks a trend for the years to come of forming girlsbands which do not necessarily need to know how to play an instrument but have to be sexy and, ok En Vogue, I gotta give you that, need to sing damn well to get to the top. It’s years before Destiny’s Child or Spice Girls (this one isn’t maybe the best example cause they vocally suck, LOL).
P.S. Check the choreography! What the fuck are these guys doing??? X-DD I just looollleeed! Nobody dances like this in vids anymore.
To view video click here.

 

Red Hot Chili Peppers Under the Bridge
Kiedis sings about his love to L.A. A true classic. And a classic video displayin less of L.A., more of Kiedis’ hairless chest opposed to long, shiny, commercial-like hair on his head. He actually moves his whole body in a way so you can take a closer look at both X-D
To view video click here.

 

 

Metallica Nothing Else Matters
An anthem. And a very insightful and sincere confession of James Hetfield (“I never opened myself this way”). Is he confessing to his bandmates or his girlfriend? Noone knows, but, what the heck, nothing else matters.
To view video click here.

 

1993

Nirvana Heart Shaped Box
Grunge at its height, less than a year before Kurt Cobain’s death. This song’s got it all. A strong riff, powerful chorus, amazing lyrics. It’s debatable whether it is about love although many sourses claim that the song was written for Courtney Love. Everything about love-hate relationships is written exactly here. And, though from the grunge era musically it is Alice in Chains and Soundgarden that I value most, I have to admit Cobain had a mesmerizing voice and great ability to write lyrics. As Wiki says: “Charles Cross wrote in his biography of Cobain Heavier Than Heaven that with the lyric “I wish I could eat your cancer when you turn black”, Cobain “sang in what has to be the most convoluted route any songwriter undertook in pop history to say ‘I love you'”.”
Well, I won’t argue with Cross.
To view video click here.

 

Radiohead Creep
Less about love. More about the lack of it. An anthem of all the freaks, geeks and nerds. All those who were and are misfits. And a generation anthem as well. Used in Fincher’s Social Network last year and, earlier, covered by KoRn during their Mtv unplugged session – and there was a good reason for it.
“I want a perfect body. | I want a perfect soul. | I want you to notice | When I’m not around. | You’re so fuckin’ special. | I wish I was special (…)”. Hell yeah, welcome to modern times in which you have plenty of identity possibilities, well, far more than your grandma had, and, at the same time, none of them really suits you.
To view video click here.

 

1994

Blur Girls & Boys
Marks the point at which britpop is gathering more attention. Also, marks slow changes in our society that are still pretty new for some: “Love in the nineties | Is paranoid. | On sunny beaches | take your chances – looking for | Girls who are boys | Who like boys to be girls | Who do boys like they’re girls | Who do girls like they’re boys” – and a sweet conclusion – “Always should be someone you really love”.
To view video click here.

 

Tool Prison Sex
Less about love. More about the dark side of being a human. After all, it’s Tool. And, since it’s Tool, you can be sure it’s about pain, desire, having power over one another and excercising it on one another. Amazing song.
To view video click here.

 

1995

Alanis Morissette You Oughta Know
A feminist and a little hysterical scream in the post-grunge genre which, at the time, was considered rebellious. Today noone would consider these angry lyrics rebellious. Today it’s rather common that we express the feelings like: “It was a slap in the face how quickly I was replaced | Are you thinking of me when you fuck her?” At leasts in the songwriting, LOL.
To view video click here.

 

Portishead Glory Box
The video features Beth Gibbons dressed as a man. And, with her amazing and touching voice she sings: “give me a reason to be a woman”. Tiredness and helplessness. As in most alternative songs love is a more of a haunting experience rather than a sweet, pink-colored commercial for selling mascara.
To view video click here.

 

1996

Tori Amos Professional Widow
Widely rumored to be about Courtney Love who, maybe because of her artistic pseydonym, is definitely the muse of most rock and alternative songs of the 1990s.
Whether it is about Love or it’s just about any difficult man/woman relationship, it’s there. And, as it always is with Tori Amos, it’s breath taking and hard to classify.
To view video click here.

 

Bush Swallowed
Partly on love, partly on drugs. Definitely about obession. A rather forgotten British post-grunge band whose frontman is known more as Gwen Stefani’s husband. A pretty sensual video which more or less shows the tastes and trends of the 1990s.
To view video click here.

 

1997

Björk Jóga
An amazing song with the ever powerful vocal of Björk. Dedicated to a friend. Soulmate love and a very Shakesperian/turn of rennaissance/baroque theme of universe being in perfect harmony.
To view video click here.

 

 

1998

Massive Attack Inertia Creeps
A cryptic sensual message that doesn’t include love and sex only. Intense Middle Eastern/Indian motifs and a trance rhythm. Also marks the rise of trip-hop and development of future electro genres. Extremely powerful lyrics that start with: “Recollect me, darling | Erase me to your lips | Two undernourished egos | Four rotating hips” and a disturbing video.
To view video click here.

 

Placebo Pure Morning
The rise of softer still alternative rock. And an another cryptic message that makes me guess the relationship is or was somewhere in between being sex friends and lovers. Of course, it’s rock, so some guilt and regret spices up the whole. Amazing video and a sexually disturbing image of the androgynous Brian Molko.
To view video click here.

 

 

Smashing Pumpkins Ava Adore
Marks the slow death of the grunge-era bands. Smashing Pumpkins are, also, slowly going down. But Billy Corgan still remains disturbing being stylized as Nosferatu, from the 1922 German expressionist horror classic Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens, and singing: “It is you that I adore | You will always be my whore”. Of course in terms of style it’s a little rip off off Marilyn Manson. But, heck, it’s Corgan. I will always forgive him.
To view video click here.

 

Foo Fighters Walking After You
A Foo Fighter love song which embarrasses Dave Grohl until today. The song’s cute. His acting in the vid is a bit hysterical. Still, many of those who were raised on grunge as teenagers consider it a damn sexy video (even though Grohl looks funny in a suit.)
To view video click here.

 

1999

Nine Inch Nails We’re in This Together
It’s Reznor, so it’s always about torment, pain and obsession. Off of The Fragile, one of the most amazing rock albums in the history. And a culminating point of industrial rock hitting the largest audiences in history ever. Of course, as it always is with NIN, a damn good video. And, btw, more or less a moment when each rock star cut their hair and one day all of them (Chris Cornell, James Hetfield, Reznor and many more) appeared with a completely new hairdo X-D
To view video click here.

 

Beck Sexx Laws
Off of Midnite Vultures – the album which is totally devoted to love and sex. With a little of Beck’s amazing wit and some funky tunes.
Those who happen to know this album and live nearby the Baltic probably will remember Mixed Bizness with the lyrics: “Do you wanna ride on the Baltic Sea | I’ll be your mistress C.O.D.” although I suppose Beck meant the Swedes not the post-communist block X-D
To view video click here.

 

2000

PJ Harvey This Is Love
She keeps on rocking in the good old style. And still having a great sense for catchy rock riffs and sharp lyrics.
To view video click here.

 

 

 

Peaches Lovertits
She’s a hardcore feminist, she’s crazy, her performances are awesome and she speaks of love and sex with an almost exhibitionist sincerity. And she’s amazing. It’s the year 2000! Electroclash is rising!
To view video click here.

 

 

2001

Depeche Mode Dream On
Depeche Mode’s big come back after David Gahan’s fight with drug addiction. And a further rise of electro which actually owes a lot to Depeche Mode.
To view video click here.

 

 

2002

White Stripes Fell in Love with a Girl
A catchy rock song of a great band that in a quick time proved to be extremely professional and true to the roots of American rock. Great rhythm and a great riff. Plus, of course, Jack White’s vocal which you cannot confuse with anything else in this world. And lyrics in which he treats love seriously and she’s a player.
To view video click here.

 

2003

Beyonce Knowles feat. Jay-Z Crazy in Love
A consequent rise of the mix of R&B, soul and a bit of funk. And an addition of rap/hip hop. From En Vogue until Beyonce it’s over 10 years. Today, noone can imagine the world without Beyonce, Jay-Z, Rihanna, Sean Paul, Busta Rhymes and many more. Well… it’s not so obvious. It’s enough to imagine the pre-1990s with Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson, Prince etc. Not that I do not value them (I value Prince the most) but it’s been a long time and much has changed. Also the fact that Beyonce and Jay-Z are now a married couple X-D
To view video click here.

2004

HIM Join Me in Death
The iconic anorectic kinda (but only kinda) dark and kinda (but only kinda) gothic king of Finnish rock. Lame lyrics and lame songs. And dozens of bands following this path. A slow birth of emo-crap.
To view video click here.

 

 

Maroon 5 This Love
The iconic anorectic kinda (but only kinda) nerdy and kinda (but only kinda) cute king of whinining pop rock bands for teenage pussies. And dozens of bands following this path. A slow birth of contemporary “alternative” pop rock bands which have nothing to do with the word “alternative” whatsoever.
To view video click here.

Yes, I want to doom the year of 2004 and erase it from the history X-D

2005

All-American Rejects Dirty Little Secret
A little pop rock shit with some teenage boys trying hard to look all sexy. Sadly, this is what defines many bands pop & rock bands today. But at least they play their instruments.
The love message is unclear but, heck, what do I know about contemporary disturbed teenagers?
To view video click here.

 

2006

Amy Winehouse Back to Black
She may be drugged, hideous and sick. I don’t care. Noone sings with her voice. Noone sings with such tension. Noone is as funky and soul-ish at the same time. And noone is so cruel as she is when she sings: “He left no time to regret | Kept his dick wet | With his same old safe bet | Me and my head high | And my tears dry | Get on without my guy”.
To view video click here.

 

2007

Regina Spektor Fidelity
One of those who follow the path once established by Tori Amos who is a pioneer in here. Ok, some may argue Carole King was first but that’s a different story, imho.
An amazing example of how alternative pop may mean something ambitious and, still, widely known.
To view video click here.

 

2008

The Raconteurs Old Enough
A little bit of folk rock and a little sour lyrics: “you never speak so I have to guess you’re not free”. Great song and a little hope that maybe whining teens is not everything that is left.
To view video click here.

 

 

2009

Lady Gaga Poker Face
She actually looks kinda pretty in this vid. Who would have guessed she’d become the Marilyn Manson of pop? Still, though I’m not a pop fan myself, I’m happy for her achievements. She’s still far more talented than most of the pop starlets and, at least, she has a strong voice she knows how to use instead of Britney’s hums, ohs and umhs which annoy me as hell. Plus, when it’s about love, Gaga is more into obsession, gambling with the feelings and love/hate relationships. And she tries to escape any label. As an electro fan, I definitely prefer this when it comes to pop than Spice Girls or Backstreet Boys :-]
To view video click here.

 

2010

Deftones Rocket Skates
As usual for Moreno the lyrics are cryptic. But, in my opinion, it does include a difficult love/hate relationship. Moreno’s voice is perfect as ever and the whole strength of emotions that tear him apart culminate with the words: “Guns, razors, knives | Fuck with me”. One of the best singles of 2010.
To view video click here.

 

 

Violent Soho Jesus Stole My Girlfriend
A nice rock tune with a little sarcastic lyrics by an Australian alternative rock band. She leaves cause Jesus means more to her than him.
To view video click here.

 

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woR6ohiFeYE

the noble art of giving your music away for free

Yep, yep. Another band has just appeared among those who chose to advertise, give away for free and sell deluxe copies of their music through the Internet. Paaliaq, I salute to you!

Of course, in the very beginning I was afraid of the quality of music. Not of the sound. Of the very music itself. It is pretty different when such acknowledged artists as Nine Inch Nails or Radiohead distribute their music through the Internet. In this case it is often combined with legal problems and a growing frustration with the record industry.  Many journalists noticed the problem of entering the market by a completely unknown artist. Let’s face it. If you don’t know the musicians and you see that they’re happy, if you download their music (legally, of course), there is a slight anxiety coming with that package. You may think and, let’s be honest, you do think: “Awright then, hereby I state that I am going to download a shitload of crap that I will not be even able to listen through”. The beauty of the Internet, however, makes you immediately add: “And it’s for free. Meh…”

So, sure, I was a little anxious cause I couldn’t tell if Paaliaq would be a shitload of crap or a mesmerizing discovery. And? Well, I blame it on the good days, nice weather, feeling cool and relaxed, blah-blah-blah, but for the past few days I was extremely lucky with music and everything I touched turned either to gold or silver at least. I discovered the amazing Absolace, adored the new record of Seefeel and now this. Either I lost my ear or I became some kind of a musical Queen Midas.

Paaliaq IS mesmerizing. What annoys me the most is that I absolutely cannot find any info about them. I’m digging through gigabytes of data and, unfortunately, little I can find. I’m not even sure if it’s “them”. It could be one single guy. The Paaliaq facebook page claims: “I am gathering my music into albums, to be released during 2011”. So it could be one person. All we know is that it’s an artist/s from London, who defines his/their music as “rocktronica”.

What caught my eye though is that the debut album Keepi was released on January. The second one, Zosma, is out now. There are at least two more coming up this year. If all of them are as good as Keepi, then I’m going to face a serious problem here. Wanting to write about each and every one of them, I’d have to devote the whole year of 2011 to Paaliaq. God knows how much of “my music” was gathered! Obviously, I cannot focus on Paaliaq only (LOL). But I will write a bit about Keepi and I will update you on the other releases by Paaliaq.

Keepi is absolutely amazing. Among the influences Paaliaq names e.g. dEUS, the Cinematic Orchestra, Peter Gabriel, Thomas Newman, Björk, Massive Attack and many more. All of this is true, however, I’d add Radiohead to it. Cause Paaliaq, remaining an electro band (what the hell is “rocktronica” anyway?), is still very true to the roots of the British alternative rock. It actually reminds me of the crucial moment in Radiohead’s career when guys decided to shift from being “I-don’t-know-what-but-it’s-not-britpop-still-not-enough-to-be-rock” to a more experimental route that redefined their music and their artistic career in general. Well, I wouldn’t say Paaliaq is as innovative as the electro experiences of Radiohead. But it is somewhere in between. It’s somewhere in the Radiohead shift.

Moody, ballad-like melodies played mainly by guitar and/or piano, pretty classical and, therefore, almost tribal, ritual-like drumming (which, actually, reminds me of Maureen Tucker of the Velvet Underground) with a pretty cool electro noise from time to time. An interesting male voice that leads the whole. All of it makes a great experience. I was surprised that a debut album could be so well arranged and performed. On the other hand, as I mentioned before, noone knows for how many years was this music performed and gathered. It’s really hard to say if we can treat it like a debut album or not ;-]

The minor flaw of Keepi is perhaps the fact that in some of the cases instrumental pieces are slightly worse than the rest. This is something that is very distracting or annoying even. Right after a pretty mediocre Ascension which is rather blunt we receive a beutifully simple and touching Eel Moon. Of course, albums are full compositions with a structure and their role is not being greatest hits or highlights of… However, I found it disturbing that innovative and inspired tracks (e.g. Vangueria or Inhale Exhale as one of my favorites) are compiled together with pretty boring ones. Maybe that’s the point of “gathering music into albums”? An album is not only a gathering, it’s a whole process of creation. This is one sole fault of Keepi. It is amazing but you can tell that some pieces do not fit the puzzle and perhaps it would have been wiser to be much more strict with choosing the tracks for the album.

No other mistakes noticed. I rest my case. And do download Paaliaq. It’s worth it. A really good piece of alternative shit! You’d be surprised!

To enter the Paaliaq official website (where you can download Keepi for free), click here.

it’s warp again

Hell yeah, one of my favorite record labels. Again. After issuing great records last year, among them the debut album by Gonjasufi, two albums (an LP and an EP) by Flying Lotus and a minimalist electro album by Brian Eno, it released a brand new self-titled LP by Seefeel. An album which, this I have to add, comes after 14 years of silence in the career of one of the most brilliant and acknowledged bands of the British electro scene.

The album is perfectly balanced, this is what came to my mind after I listened to it for the first time. There is electronic noise, a lot of weird, psychedelic loops as well as delicate rhythms and trans-like, monotonous vocals which make your head spin. The whole is pure, very carefully planned and clean which makes it sharp, spatious and powerfully raw at the same time. It becomes hypnotizing at times but not the way Flying Lotus is. Cosmogramma is far more complicated and based on heavily structuralized melodic lines and rhythms. Seefeel is much more frugal and, therefore, enchanting. It’s pure ambient. Funny, one of the first thoughts I had after listening to it a couple of times was: this is perfect music for having sex X-D

What I appreciate most about this album is the use of vocals. They’re there – a very delicate female voice that becomes part of the music and it becomes more of an instrument than a leading voice to which all the other sounds tune. The music is not supposed to accompany the voice. It is more like the voice is an inseparable part of it. Sure, others also did this. It’s nothing new, one may say. But Seefeel remains fresh, innovative and extremely powerful which just proves, as the whole Warp label does, that contemporary electro and ambient scene is far more interesting than the rock scene in Europe. And that it is a great come back of a band that didn’t record anything for such a long time. (Good job, Seefeel! After 14 years of silence you still rock!)

A very good record. It didn’t make my jaw drop – as did the records of Flying Lotus and Gonjasufi last year. Still, it’s perfectly created and played, amazingly engineered and mixed. So I probably wouldn’t say it’s excellent but if only all of the records this year were so good, I’d be most happy. And by the cathegory of “excellence” I mean something that I just did not expect. Seefeel is amazing, especially when it comes to dark moods and much more moody tunes (Airless is one of my favorite tracks). It completely made me fall in love with their music. My comparison to Flying Lotus and/or Gonjasufi comes probably from a fact that it was a real shock to hear their music. Why didn’t Seefeel shock me? Well, I guess I just got used to how Warp recordings good are.

you don’t get to create a genius soundtrack without making a few mistakes

It’s been a while now since I watched The Social Network and listened to the official soundtrack of the movie. Still, have in mind that I’m an old Nine Inch Nails fan, so, naturally, if there is anything going on in the broad field of Reznor Studies, be sure I’ll write something about it.

Of course, I am trying to be objective. It’s not so easy if you speak about your favorite artist. Yet, I believe I am capable of pointing out disadvantages of this project. However, I won’t lie, I consider the work done by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, a great thing. Actually, I had this idea in my mind for a long while already. Sometime around 1999, right after The Fragile which remains one of the most important albums in the career of Nine Inch Nails and in the history of rock music in general, I thought that an obvious route for Reznor should be movie scores. It did not happen then, of course, although Reznor already had a pretty interesting experience with the movie biz, producing soundtracks to David Lynch’s Lost Highway and Oliver Stone’s Natural Born Killers. I do not need to mention that both of these soundtracks are epic.

11 years after The Fragile Reznor, together with Atticus Ross, wrote a score to David Fincher’s The Social Network. A brilliant score, I have to say, very much in the style of Nine Inch Nails’ Ghosts – a record for which I have strong emotions, even though some of my friends consider this album a mistake. The soundtrack is following the path of Ghosts consequently and the Reznor-Ross duo remain in the genre of widely understood electro. It’s ambient sometimes, sometimes it inclines pretty much towards industrial. And, yes, it has very strong features of other compositions by Reznor. Strong beats, rock guitar riffs (even though here they are mostly moody and in the background) and the haunting piano – one of the most important Reznoresque patterns. The soundtrack is written carefully in a way. While watching the movie it becomes poignant at times, but is never tiring. As if Reznor had planned to write it carefully, not to make any mistakes in his first original movie score. It’s a good feature. The music goes well with the movie and doesn’t switch the attention of the audience towards tracks rather than the scenes filmed by Fincher. It is also perfectly cooperating with the brilliant dialogues written by Aaron Sorkin, one of the most interesting screenwriters of our time.

Still, although I very much admire Reznor’s work and even though I consider this record a great piece of composing, there are flaws. Most of all I was a little disappointed to hear two tracks which are originally performed on the Ghosts album. Sure, they are remixed a bit and adjusted to the score but it made me disappointed in a sense I had a huge hunger for more and more of Reznor’s new compositions. The other mistake is the electro version of Edvard Grieg’s In the Hall of the Mountain King (from his Peer Gynt suite). Somewhere in the internet (can’t remember where) I read an interview with Fincher and Reznor. Somewhere in between the lines Reznor said that Fincher had insisted on adjusting this piece for his movie. Reznor, initially, refused (not to mention the fact that he also refused to write the score and changed his mind later). It was sad for me to read this interview. As a person who is musically educated, Reznor, probably, had more intuition in the case of this piece, than Fincher did. Remixing and adjusting classical pieces is an extremely difficult thing. Many artists perished on this trail. Bones scattered everywhere. Taking a classical piece and recording it again with a new, contemporary ensemble, especially if we’re talking about electro here, is a musical suicide. Reznor sensed it well. And, by agreeing to Fincher’s idea, he made a huge mistake. In the Hall of the Mountain King is just cheezy and very, very naïve. It is much better than most of the contemporarily “adjusted” classical pieces, this I have to admit. Reznor did his best not to destroy the classical piece and you can tell this work had been done in the most meticulous way possible. Still, it’s a big mistake. And I am afraid that Reznor will regret it pretty soon, if he doesn’t regret it already.

Of course, one can say I’m picky and a pain in the ass if these two, in fact minor facts can destroy the joy of listening to a very good soundtrack. But it’s also a very difficult situation, if you’re dealing with an artist, whose standards are so high, you cannot expect anything but brilliance. Reznor got me used (if not addicted) to his perfectionism. Hence, every small mistake is very painful, when it comes to his music.

All in all I actually do hope that Reznor and Ross win an Oscar, or, at least, a Golden Globe, in 2011. In my opinion, even though it’s not flawless, it’s the best soundtrack of the last year. Very powerful, very emotional, even though frugal in sound. Clean, structuralized compositions, which strike the listener with their mood no matter, if it’s a hypnotic disco tune, or a gloomy piano melody. Also, a thing I consider very important, I think this soundtrack should get an Oscar for the sole fact that it would probably be the first award of such importance, given to artists which created the whole score in a pretty unorthodox way. Sure, minimalists tried it already, most importantly Philip Glass for Koyaanisqatsi. Still, the majority of Hollywood composers choose the grand orchestral way of creating musical scores. In the world of symphonies full of pathos, in the world of John Williams, Alan Silvestri and Hans Zimmer (not that I do not value those composers at all), it is important to promote other ways of creating soundtracks. A small shift began already in the 1980s with such brilliant examples as a strongly electronic score by Ennio Morricone written for John Carpenter’s The Thing (one of my favorite movies ever). Also, even when it comes to traditional instrumental pieces, the audience’s taste changed a bit and nowadays among the most highly valued composers we’ve got Danny Elfman and Thomas Newman, to name the best of them. I suppose we should take the next step and appreciate those who choose a completely different composing strategy than the majority of those who create soundtracks.

P.S. Below there are my favorite tracks. They can actually give you a good taste of what the whole is like.

just being consequent

So. This one’s gonna be short since I’m still listening to it. But… the newest EP by Flying Lotus is just the next step on his pretty consequent route that he chose. Not exactly the same as Cosmogramma, not as complex and experimental.

Yeah, Pattern+Grid World is smaller, less deep, less heavy, still amazing. Sometimes you can tell FL is going too much into technology. It’s not as varied and not as jazzy as Cosmogramma. But the essence of it is what makes FL’s electro absolutely thrilling and geniuine. And, I gotta tell you, it just raises my expectations and for sure does not quench my thirst for more. If FL wanted fanatic followers, for sure he’s already got one, mmmhmmkay?

p.s. Don’t judge after listening to it once only. My friends probably believe I’m sick and that you could get brain fucked by listening to this but, trust me, this IS the new jazz…