The Life Aquatic OST

I saw the movie and had a great laugh. I might have seen it before but can't remember all that well.
Somehow I've been able to find a link to every track on this cd so you can listen for yourself.
The links only link to original music video's, but it's the music that counts.

1. Sven Libaek - Shark Attack Theme
It's not called shark attack theme for nothing. The track sounds a bit slow but you can almost hear (see) a shark coming at you slowly with it's vin above the water, ready to attack. That'll be a jaguar shark.

2. Mark Mothersbaugh - Loquasto International Film Festival
This really music really made me happy, it just sounds like a walk on a sunny day on which no bad things can happen. In the movie it plays on the film festival showing all the important people getting introduced to eachother and and Zissou is obviously bored.

3. David Bowie - Life On Mars?
Sounds dramatic from the start, questioning the intelligence of life on earth.
It somehow made me think of a drowsy christmas day.

4. Seu Jorge - Starman A cover of David Bowie's (that is, his alter-ego Ziggy Stardust) Starman. I don't know any Portuguese, nor do I know the 'original' but Seu Jorge has a nice calm voice and I like the raw accoustic guitar.

5. Mark Mothersbaugh - Let Me Tell You About My Boat
Zissou's boat that is. A cheerful instrumental with all kinds of instruments from flutes to guitars etc.

6. Seu Jorge - Rebel Rebel
Another Bowie cover. Seu Jorge relaxes the songs. You can play these tracks on the beach with a camp fire.

7. Mark Mothersbaugh - Zissou Society Blue Star Cadets/Ned's Theme (take 1)
See end comment.

8. Devo - Gut Feeling
There are a lot of moments where you expect someone to start singing, but it's a 2 minute instrumbental before the singer from Devo begins; which I found out after thinking it sounded like The Cure, is Mark Mothersbaugh *see end comment*. Sometimes you hear a track and you immediately like it, this is one of those for me.
On a sidenote: this track was first combined with 'Slap Your Mammy' but later on the split it up. I'm not sure if this is the split-up version but I guess so.

9. Sven Libaek - Open Sea Theme
A theme for open sea..what's in a name.

10. Seu Jorge - Rock 'n' Roll Suicide (just click play)
A Bowie cover like the other songs by Jorge on this cd. The Bowie track (I guess Jorge adjusted it a bit towards the movie again) seems to be about someone who is to old to be a rock n rollstar. Zissou seems to old to be hunting for his so called jaguar shark. Seu's voice makes the song even more sad than Bowie's version.

11. Joan Baez - Here's To You
Originally for the soundtrack of Sacco e Vanzetti, the music was composed by Enrico Moricone which I presume you know if you ever saw a decent Western. This woman has been making music for 50!! years. And this track shows why she apparently is able to live from it.

12. Mark Mothersbaugh - We Call Them Pirates Out Here (in the playlist of a podcast)
Arrr erm...I like titles which are funny and directly relate to the content of the movie or whatever (other funny titles see Lost)

13. Iggy & The Stooges - Search And Destroy
This track (punk)rocks! I think Blur has a related sound which I like. I don't know if they covered this track (at least not with a direct copy of the title).

14. Paco De Lucia - La Nina De Puerta Oscura (at least half of the track)
A nice piece of Spanish castagnette music, or they are clapping.
I might make a cd with more of alike music as background music for a nice dinner or so ;)

15. Seu Jorge- Life On Mars?
Another nice Bowie cover.

16. Mark Mothersbaugh - Ping Island/Lightning Strike Rescue Op
It's like the Shark attack's theme, a real theme. You could have replaced the sound of Zissou and his men running up Ping Island for a rescue operation with this track and it would fit like a glove.

17. Seu Jorge - Five Years (just click play)
See end comment.

18. Scott Walker - 30 Century Man
I'd choose to be a giant. A nice guitar song ending in a 'music box' piece, I can't remember if there was a music box in the movie..

19. Zombies - Way I Feel Inside
It sounds a bit too much like a sleeping song to me for a 'I'm going to spill my feelings track'.

20. David Bowie - Queen Bitch
After all Jorge's covers, a second original Bowie track. It immediately made me want to move around. I like this side of Bowie a bit better than Life on Mars.

End comment:

I liked Mark Mothersbaugh's music on the RTB ost.
I didn't know he was one of the founders of the band Devo and thought it sounded a bit like The Cure (say 'boys don't cry') and thought that the singer might have something to do with it..but they just appeared from the same period (late 70s). That was quite a surprise for me. All his tracks on this cd are just right, not too short (that is to say something about it) and not too long (where you might get bored).

All songs by Seu Jorge were covers of David Bowie songs according to wikipedia the lyrics where sometimes changed to fit the movie, nice, but as said before I don't speak Portuguese. That doesn't make the music less beautiful. He makes relaxed campfire-on-the-beach versions from them. There is also another soundtrack that is composed of 5 tracks that feature the official soundtrack and other David Bowie covers that were taken out of the movie, but re-recorded as a studio session.

I also liked almost all the other tracks by the other artists discovering 'new' artists is one of the things I like about soundtracks.


*next up: Dexter (the tv series)*
I might make some small posts in the meanwhile. Ideas on which soundtrack(s) should be next are always welcome.

Merry christmas & a happy new year!!!

To all of you who visit my blog!!!



A nice view of the 'Noorderplantsoen' in Groningen, The Netherlands.

Upcoming...

I've got the movie (the)Life aquatic..don't know if I got time to watch it today, but will watch it as soon as possible. Already had the soundtrack(s).
- The Life aquatic with Steve Zissou.
- The Life aquatic - studio sessions

Got a preference? Cause both would be a bit much for one post.

After 'The life aquatic' I'll do the Dexter OST. I only found it this week, and it's brilliant!
I will also try and get my hands on the movie 'Boiler room' but was unsuccesfull so far.

Also check out the (very) work-in-progress banner I'm having a go at:
Banner

Favorite tv series

I copied this post from Quit your day job and he in turn copied it from Becca at no smoking in the skull cave

Post a list of 10-20 TV shows you love (current or cancelled)
Have your friends list guess your favourite character from each show
When guessed bold the line and write a little bit about why you like that character
Post in your own blog. (if you want)

1 The Wire
2 Oz: Tobias Beecher guessed by Lee
3 Dexter : Dexter (Morgan) guessed by MC
4 Weeds
5 Lost: Locke guessed by MC
6 Jericho
7 Daybreak: Brett Hopper guessed by MC
8 Veronica Mars: Wallace guessed by MC (although Kirsten Bell is DAMN hot!!!)
9 The Simpsons
10 Heroes: Hiro guessed by Lee
11 Stargate sg1 : Jackson guessed by Lee (tough call though)
12 Stargate Atlantis
13 Californication: Hank's really cool, but Dani takes the hot spot-guessed by Lee
14 Super Natural
15 Eureka: Fargo guessed by Lee (I still need to see the 2nd half of S2, but it still rocks)
16 The Pretender: Jarod guessed by Lee (at home me and my brother/parents just called the show Jarod)
17 Futurama: Bender guessed by Lee
18 Brimstone
19 Avatar
20 Transformers *the 80s version..watched it to death..*
21 Prison Break *no matter how bad they keep delaying..I want to know the end!!*
--> T-bag guessed by MC

Robot Chicken should be in the best tv-series list, but it's too hard to pick a 'best character'. Although maybe the chicken itself could be choice :)

While making this list, I found out how incredibly difficult it is to really rank them. Some are on a league of their own, but some shouldn't really be ranked at any bottom of a list.

Updating as soon as a character is guessed.

The Royal Tenenbaums OST

First of all: check this link to Amazon for 30secs of each track, that is, some tracks don't even last that long.

2nd: watched the movie in Italian (yay for Dutch subtitling), it somehow sounded natural, but I might have missed a joke or two. Now and then I'll refer to scenes in the movie, of course you can listen to the music without seeing the movie, but it ís a soundtrack which just gives it a bit extra meaning now and then.

Tracks (artist first then tracktitle)

1. Mark Mothersbaugh - 111 Arthur Avenue
111 Arthur Avenue: the address of the Tenenbaums.
It starts with a magical fairy tale intro and changes into a kind of an happy interlude between scenes.

2. Nico - These days
She sings that she doesn't talk much these days because she's busy reminiscing about the past and missed opportunities, things he could or should have done. They play the track when Richie returns home and meets Margot again, maybe symbolizing the time that they could have spent seeing eachother. The track has a slow melodic sound to it, the scene is a bit in slowmotion.
Strange thing is, the track could also (if not better) fit the character of Royal because the movie is about how he's making up for the times he wasn't there for the family (well..in his own way).

3. Ysaye Quartet - String quartet in F Major (2nd movement) (Ravel)
It sounds like mice tripling over string instruments. Happy tripling music.

4. Paul Simon - Me and Julio down by the schoolyard
It's a song about how a boy get's caught doing things with Julio which are 'against the lahaaaw', but sounds like a memory of good times. In the movie it's used when Royal and his 2 grandsons are in town doing all sorts of mischief.

5. The Mutato Muzika Orchestra - Sonata for cello & piano in F Minor (Enescu) This piece speaks: somethings happening! It sounds like a classical jamsession, which is quite cool because now and then it is like a switch is pulled changing it entirely. But 7.16 minutes is just a bit too long for me.

6. Bob Dylan - Wigwam
Lyrics like 'ladida' always make for good tracks, without being sarcastic this track sounds just funny and makes me happy. For the ones who've seen the movie (of will see it) they play it during a conversation between Etheline and Henry, damn funny.

7. Mark Mothersbaugh - Look at that old grizzly bear
The old grizzly bear must be Royal Tenenbaum. A short and happy piece of music.

8. John Lennon - Look at me
An emotional guitar song about love and doubt. In the movie it might symbolize the love of Chas for his 2 sons (funnies thing is that they constantly wear the same training suites).

9. Emitt Rhodes - Lullabye
The link is not actually Emitt Rhodes, but the guy in the vid does a fairly good job.
Not much to say about this track then that it's a short but good lullaby, if you've got a crybaby..this should definitely work, not meaning that it's a boring track.

10. Mark Mothersbaugh - Mothersbaugh's canon
A peaceful background tune.

11. The Clash - Police And Thieves
Just like the track by the Ramones (see below) a punk song, but much more peaceful. It has a nice kind of reggae twist in it.

12. Mark Mothersbaugh - Scrapping & Yelling
A home video, but well it uses 'scrapping and yelling' as background music. A peaceful happy piece of music.

13. The Ramones - Judy Is A Punk
In the movie you see short scenes of Margot's life, kissing men on practically every corner of the planet. Really living a wild life. 'Judy is a punk' sounds like it was written for her. A very cool punk track! If you don't know the Ramones, this is a good first encounter (it was for me!).

14. Mark Mothersbaugh - Pagoda's Theme
Strangely this just sounds like it was not finished, 21 seconds is just very very short, if not too short.

15. Elliott Smith - Needle In The Hay
'He's acting dumb, that's what you've come..to expect'. Without spoiling the movie, Richie does something very stupid. The track is about how you sometimes do stupid things which no one understands even though they think they do.

16. Nick Drake - Fly
An emotional request for a second chance sung with an almost hoarse voice. Very beautiful.

17. Mark Mothersbaugh - I Always Wanted To Be A Tenenbaum
Ali Cash, always wanted to be a Tenenbaum, but he was just the kid next door. A kinda sad story with a somewhat sad tune.

18. Vince Guaraldi Trio - Christmas Time Is Here
Again..not a link to the actual track, but well next best thing (or go to the amazon link).
First reaction: it's not christmas yet!!, always hate those things out-of-season. But it's a very nice edition of this christmas song. You can almost see kids singing it outside a door with snow (and a piano hehe) in the background.

19. The Velvet Underground - Stephanie Says
This song sóunds like it's about freedom, questioning why other people want to hold you down. Good lyrics and a melodical sound.

20. Mark Mothersbaugh - Rachel Evans Tenenbaum (1965-2000)
Rachel is the late-wife of Chas and mother of Ari & Uzi. Sounds a bit like a funeral tune, not strange, because Rachel is dead and the Tenenbaums regulary visit her grave. But it also has a happy ring to it (good memories probably).

21. Mark Mothersbaugh - Sparkplug Minuet
The 'oohoohooohooo' in the background really makes me think of 'christmas taaaaaaiiime' which turns on the 'it's not christmas time alarm again' but next to that it's peaceful background music.

22. Nico - The Fairest Of The Seasons
The second song from Nico, with the same soft voice singing 'do I stay or should I go' it sounds like she's really thinking it trough by the slow and soft way of the song.

23. The Mutato Muzika Orchestra - Hey Jude
I knew the 'Hey Jude' version of the beatles (also the one linked) and liked it from the first time I had to sing it (middle school..being about 12 yrs old) but found the lyrics (take a sad song..to make it better) a real WTF, still do. The MM Orchestra do a very cool orchestral version of it.


Summary:
As you've probably noticed, some songs got more words than others. I've had almost no musical education whatsoever when it comes to (classical) music. Can't read notes more than the most basic stuff and have only a very very basic idea of things like 'minor - major' let alone 'F major' etc. This means I can't say much about this, which is maybe a bit sad, but can't help it for the time being. Next to that I never was a big classical music fan, but slowly I begin to appreciate some stuff.

The music in The Royal Tenenbaums creates a melodramatic atmosphere with happy and sad moments. Tracks/pieces of music which light up the happy moments and music which point out to the sad/dramatic things or 'could have beens'. A very good soundtrack which fits the movie like a glove!
Mark Mothersbaugh who 'created' the instrumental pieces did a good job!

Final statement:
*fuck me..for losing half the review messing with my browser..had to do it again..from scratch..there I was, thinking blogger saves everything..NOT*

Casshern OST (cd 1 )

Searching on amazon.com seems to tell me I might not have 'the original soundtrack' or 'the complete soundtrack' as they call it.. But the cd's I've got definitely belong to the Casshern movie. The review is about the 1st cd. Maybe I'll do the 2nd (instrumental cd) another time.
I've put links down so you can listen to the tracks. Most are youtubes, some are from a Japanese(?) version of myspace. On the latter, after a while a 'you have to login to listen to this' message appears..just ignore it :)

1 Shiina Ringo - Kuki
Listen here
This song has a J-pop(py) sound to it. The typical Japanese-English lyrics exchanging eachother. But where some of the J-pop music sounds too childish for my ears and maybe even 'cheap'this track has more to it. After listening to it a couple of times you'll be whistling along.


2 Mondo Grosso - Like no one's looking
Needs Imeem login
In a couple of words: funky, techno, robotic, industrial track. Don't listen to it while driving...it will make you break the speed limit.


3 Hyde - Masquerade
starts at 37secs
This track has a good rock sound to it, starting of like a track where you know there's soon gonna be a point where it loudens. With 'loudens' I mean the point where you get the feeling it has that aggressive strike point where you want start jumping.
As far as the English part goes, this track is about that nothing is what it seems, it's all a masquerade.


4 Towa Tei - Original Human
Needs Imeem login
I didn't réally like this song. The violin's almost sound false, but on purpose. It does have a funny way of substituting for lyrics by using loose sentences which sound like they are plucked from a phone call or conversation, but only from one guy.
Listen and you'll see what I mean.

5 Acid Man - Suisha
Link is DEAD
It almost has a easy listening jazzy sound to it, but then with a rocky twist.
I don't know what he's singing about, but it sounds dramatic.


6 Shiro Sagisu & Satoshi Tomiie - Pluriel
Ignore the warhammer talk and listen to the track ;)
Strange thing is that I've listened to this soundtrack lots and lots of times but only really found out this track is actually an instrumental.
This track can be divided into bits. An peaceful intro, switching to a kind of Mission Impossible sound (theme), action packed. After a while it switches again to the peaceful part, and back to the MI theme style. The track ends a bit abrubtly.


7 Onitsuka Chihiro - Borderline
Onitsuka Chihiro -Borderline (live)
This is in my opinion one of thé best tracks. Onitsuka has a voice that gives me goosebumps. Like more tracks on this cd, it's part English, part Japanese. The English has quite an accent to it and the pronounciation is not always right. But somehow this is nót a negative part of the song. It just strenghtens the drama this track brings.

8 Back Horn - Requiem
the vid is for batman, but it's the song that counts
A very impressive requiem to Casshern. Right from the start it shakes out of the trance left by 'Borderline' . It's a requiem to battle. Oh and I had this for a ringtone, which startled people.

9 Glay - Mugen no deja vu kara
Needs Imeem loginOne of the first words I wrote down about this track is 'peaceful' after finding the link above I found out I'm not alone. A peaceful almost happy sounding song.


10 Utada Hikaru - Dakera no negai ga kanau koro
Youtube video
Lyrics
It sounds like it's about loss and pain. And after checking the lyrics, that's almost exactly what it's about. Missing someone, longing for that someone but not being able to see eachother ever again.
----

I feel bad that my Japanese is not more than being able to count to 100, and the occasional greeting or martial arts term (and curse I learned through Anime). That means a part of the meaning of songs get lost to me, but the English parts and the music itself make up for that. I saw the movie a couple of years ago and ran around torrent sites long enough to find it eventually. If able, I might use the 'listen link' idea more often.

The movie is a strange mix of anime and reality in a fictious world. The soundtrack fits very well with a mix of sometimes dramatic, sometimes action packed and sometimes just plain 'strange' tracks. I guess most of the music on this cd has to be kinda up your alley, but then again I didn't know the music before seeing the movie and instantly got hooked. Seeing the movie gives you an extra feel to the music. So go rent/download/buy it!

Final statement:
Not enough people know this cd, but I know it visits my cd player often.

Updating this week..Cashern OST's

YES really. Fryday at latest *giving myself a deadline here..*
I finally started again. This post will be removed once I get at least 1 cd of the Casshern OST done.
As a first I'll review the 'music' soundtrack and after that the full instrumental soundtrack.

I might include links to Amazone music preview plays so you can actually hear a short part of a song, if they are around, cause I had a hard time even finding this one myself.

Tracklist of the 'music OST'
1 Shiina Ringo - Kuki
2 Mondo Grosso - Like no one's looking
3 Hyde - Masquerade
4 Towa Tei - Original Human
5 Acid Man - Suisha
6 Shiro Sagisu & Satoshi Tomiie - Pluriel
7 Onitsuka Chihiro - Borderline
8 The Back Horn - Requiem
9 Glay - Mugen no deja vu kara
10 Utada Hikaru - Dakera no negai ga kanau koro

Tracklist of the instrumental OST
1 Scene #3
2 Scene #12
3 Scene #14
4 Scene #22
5 Scene #48
6 Scene #51
7 Scene #65
8 Scene #72
9 Scene #81
10 Scene #117
11 Scene #138
12 Scene #149
13 Scene #153
14 The Last Day

After Casshern the next one's gonna be the OST's to the tv series Supernatural.

What's the hold up..

going off to the Roskilde Festival.
I'll be back somewhere on the 10th of july. I got a pc again, by then I hope to get a decent soundcard again *listening to only the left speaker + subwoofer atm*
So thén I can really start doing stuff for this blog again.

It won't die.

PC = KAPUT/broken/stuk/out of order!!

That's half a valid reason for not making any decent post since the end of may.
I hope to have a new & better pc soon!

The motherboard has been fried somehow.

That's nót a good excuse for not making any posts since the end of february..
Expect updates soon!

Casshern OST cd 1

For those who do not know the movie (which isn't strange at all) here's a brief summary written by Claudio Carvalho (some Brazillian dude who wrote it on the imdb site).
------>
In the future, in a polluted post-apocalyptic society called Eurasia after a war against Europe, the planet is devastated by the effect of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons. The geneticist Dr. Azuma (Akira Terao) develops a technique called "neo-cell", capable of regenerating the body of human beings, sponsored by an evil corporation. His son Tetsuya Azuma (Yusuke Iseya) dies in the war, but after an accident in the laboratory of Dr. Azuma, Tetsuya revives as the powerful warrior Casshern, while a new breed of mutants called "neo-humans" is generated in the plant. The neo-humans decide to annihilate the humans and raise a new world.
<--------

It's an Japanese movie in a sort of anime-reality mix. Either you like it or you hate it. I thought the movie was very cool, although some dramatic parts were a bit long. But I'm not here to write a movie review, so on to the music!

The OST excists out of 2 cd's. The first cd consists of 'normal' tracks and the other is an 100% instrumental soundtrack.


WIP...I wanted to post it last week, but the cd's were at my parents' house...So coming soon (probably this week).

Veronica Guerin OST (finally!)

It took a damn while ..guess real life tries to take too much time sometimes. I’ll try and update more regularly. Most nrs on this cd can’t really be called songs, cause there’s no singing, just music so they’ll be called tracks.

1 Sinead O’Connor: One more day
She uses her strong voice as always in a way so that you can almost see, feel and touch Ireland. The song tells that there will always be one more day. It gives hope.

2 Dublin 1996: the year when the whole thing happened. The track has a bit of a sinister sound to it, something’s gonna happen and it isn’t a good thing.

3 Driving
This one could have been a song of an Irish folklore dancing group. It really has a happy spark to it making you want to dance around like a folk dancer. It ends as quick as it begins, just like the happy moments in the movie.

4: Preparations
It starts off with dark almost industrial sounds which swell louder and louder until a quick beat comes in and with it the track fades.

5: The killing
A sad sounding track. It’s hard to describe but you just feel it’s about someone’s death. A lingering sad sound (sounds like a violin and a flute ..but I guess I’ve missed out on music classes in my younger years :S ) which in the end slowly fades.
Reference to the movie: Veronica get’s killed.

6 Research
A busy track. It sounds a bit like ‘Driving’ but with more sounds in it. And very very short.

7 Traynor lies
Really emotional sounds with quite an up tempo beat to it which tells there is something that has happened or is going to happen and like most things in the movie, those things aren’t good.

8 The beating
The music makes it sound like a terrible thing has happened..(the tinkling) but it ended alright, she survived.
Reference to the movie: Guess who gets it.

9 Conversations
Drama. That’s the best word for the beginning of this track. Suddenly it opens up into a bit of folk/ Clannad style music fastening the pace.
Like more of the tracks on this cd, it ends very suddenly.

Reference to the movie: In the movie Veronica had difficult conversations with her husband about her dangerous work especially after the attacks on her.

10 First warning
Damn..the first sound of this track made me jump off my chair, that’s a warning!
A short track with sinister sounds.

Reference to the movie: Veronica get’s a ‘warning’ that she shouldn’t stick her nose where it doesn’t belong (according to the criminals of course).

11 Brian O’Donnel: Bad news
A young boy sings this one. And not to suck up to myself, but my English is quite good but I had a hard time following what he sung half of the time. The first part is sung acapella very very beautiful. The music gets stronger and stronger but without sounding so loud that you can’t hear the kid singing. After 3 minutes the singing stops and emotional sounds take over.

12 Second warning
A bit of the same start off as the first warning but I guess I was more prepared. A drama which also ends well even though Veronica survives barely (for now).

13 Deceit
Dark industrial sounds which creep up your skin. Like walking alone in a dark place where danger’s lurking and happening without you knowing.. yet.

14 Never show your fear.
It opens with almost happy twinkling sounds. I think the composer of the OST looked for a track which could describe the braveness of Veronica which ends sad.

Reference to the movie: Veronica’s scared as hell but she never shows it to her enemies and continues the fight even though she’s been threatened and beaten.

15 Sinead O’Connor : The funeral
This is how it ends. The criminal mastermind is behind bars, but Veronica gets killed for it nonetheless. A simple hit and run. It gives the end an almost ‘acquiescent’ sound, it would have ended this way anyhow.


Oversight: The soundtrack gives a good sound to the movie. There are a lot of dark moments in the movie with only short bursts of happiness (Driving, Research). There are only a couple of tracks in which song takes a place. Both Sinead O’Connor tracks and the Brian O’Donnel’s ‘Bad news’ . The music makes you feel like you were there, right in Ireland following the story step by step until the sad ending.

Other music you might like if you liked this OST:
- some Nelly Furtado (yes some of her songs on Whoa Nelly and Folklore have a like sound).
- Sinead O’Connor (what’s there not to like!!)
- Riverdance
- Irish folk music
- Clannad (and alike).