STACK #136 Feb 2016

MUSIC REVIEWS

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JUSTIN HURWITZ ( Whiplash ) This was only Hurwitz’s second foray into scoring, and he was hurled into the deep end. Originally he was to write Whiplash ’s dramatic underscore while all the big band pieces would be jazz standards, but after the film’s financers realised they couldn’t afford licensing beyond Levy’s Whiplash and Tizol’s Caravan , Hurwitz had to do some quick- smart arranging of original jazz charts for a full band. He nailed it. ANTONIO SANCHEZ ( Birdman ) Sanchez was relatively unknown outside of his native Mexico until last year, when Birdman won the Academy Award for Best Picture (and triumphed in three other categories too, although not for Best Original Music Score – see Alexandre Desplat below). A jazz drummer from the capital, he created the dexterous, percussion-heavy soundtrack to Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s visceral film. The French pianist, trumpeter, flautist and composer has enjoyed a hugely acclaimed career in film score creation. His astonishing CV includes the scores for The Grand Budapest Hotel (for which he won an Oscar last year), Zero Dark Thirty , Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (parts one and two), Argo , The King’s Speech , The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Syriana . HANS ZIMMER ( Interstellar ) Considered an iconoclast in his field, Zimmer has been involved with more than 150 films. He began as a classical pianist but pretty quickly became bored with formal lessons and began augmenting his piano with random objects, to alter the sound. He created Inception ’s (in)famous ‘BRAAM’ sound by having cellists play next to an open piano within a cathedral, recording the subsequent reverberations. Movies and music go together like banana and ice-cream, so we’re taking a closer look at the Grammy nominees for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media, whose collective musical aptitude is off the charts (sadly, mostly literally). Here’s who’s up for the Soundtrack statue on February 15. GETTING TO KNOW YOUR GRAMMYS UNDERDOGS ALEXANDRE DESPLAT ( The Imitation Game )

Idris Elba Murdah Loves John British actor/ DJ/ writer Idris Elba has stumbled on a unique amalgam of his various talents in the so-called "character album" genre. The idea is pretty inspired: take all the deep psychological preparations and ruminations from your latest acting gig, then pour them into a musical form that reflects the same physical landscape. Hence the

African collage of Mi Mandela in 2014, and now this, a brooding study of the inner and outer worlds of his BBC crime drama character, Luther . With beats by Fred Cox and guests including singer-pianist Stephen Ridley, Kasabian's Tom Meighan and rapper Wretch 32, the mood is dark, urban and soulful. The demons and dilemmas of the troubled copper bubble up from Elba's subconscious in the quasi-Bond-theme smoulder of Paradise Circus and the more slippery likes of Finish Line : "I guess I'm caught up in the bullshit of good and bad/ Now I'm feeling the guilt I never thought I had," Ridley sings over queasy backsliding synth lines. There's loose, percussive funk in Wide Awake and smoky curb-crawling trip-hop in Fires , one of several murmured by incoming femme fatale Fabienne. Just don't expect a happy ending and nobody needs to get hurt. (Liberator) Michael Dwyer

MUSIC

Dream Theater The Astonishing

Ignite A War Against You When Zoli Teglas came to the aid of massive SoCal punk rock pioneers Pennywise back in 2010, after they suddenly lost their vocalist Jim Lindberg, he helped them deliver one of the best and freshest albums of their decorated career. The handsome Hungarian has since returned to his own band, dormant for over a decade since their last LP, and renergised them as well. Endlessly melodic and heavy on harmony in Teglas’ unmistakable upper register, Ignite’s newie can be a little cheesy at times. Luckily those sugary moments where his cliche lyrics are delivered with angelic choir-like chorus are almost always housed in powerful punk rock. A fantastic return. (Century Media) Emily Kelly

Never a band to do anything by halves, Dream Theater return with a 2-CD concept album. Divided into two acts, The Astonishing is a sprawling tale about a group of rogues and their mission to overthrow a tyrannical empire. The band tackles the story with the usual drive we’d expect and it’s quite an experience. Vocalist James LaBrie sings multiple characters and the band employs David Campbell (Adele, Justin Timberlake, Muse, etc.) to add both orchestration and choral arrangements to the production. The Astonishing plays out like a blockbuster movie would, making it quite an aural experience. (Roadrunner Records) Simon Lukic

JÓHANN JÓHANNSSON ( The Theory Of Everything )

This Icelandic composer has gained greater notoriety in recent years for his distinctive minimalist, neo-classical scoring. In addition to this year’s Sicario , he’s responsible for the electronic/drone pieces which thread through films Prisoners , McCanick , and White Black Boy .

FEBRUARY 2016

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