Clint Mansell, Black Swan Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

England, 2010.

Mansell was introduced to film scoring when director Darren Aronofsky hired him to score his debut film, π. And scoring Aronofsky's movies is all he's been pretty much doing ever since.

"Black Swan" revolves around a Swan Lake production by a ballet company. As a result, the soundtrack is heavily influenced by Tchaikovsky's ballet, sometimes even including variations of the original music. This is really amazing stuff.

Playlist:

1. Nina's Dream
2. Mother Me
3. The New Season
4. A Room of Her Own
5. A New Swan Queen
6. Lose Yourself
7. Cruel Mistress
8. Power, Seduction, Cries
9. The Double
10. Opposites Attract
11. Night of Terror
12. Stumbled Beginnings...
13. It's My Time
14. A Swan Is Born
15. Perfection
16. A Swan Song (for Nina)

Link.

more...

Okabe / Ishihama / Hoashi / Nishimura, NieR Gestalt & RepliCant Soundtrack

Japan, 2010

I got recommended this soundtrack from a friend of mine and even though I felt reticent about this one, the choral works and orchestration had me convinced immediately. Apart from that, the songs are sung in a variety of languages, such as French, Japanese, English and Gaelic, though some people speculate a few of them are sung in a fictional language. It is a predominantly vocal soundtrack and even though it's not the most superb thing I've had the opportunity to listen it is, quite fairly, very good and beautiful.


Playlist:

Disc One
1. Snow in Summer
2. Hills of Radiant Wind
3. The Incomplete Stone
4. Blu-bird
5. Cold Steel Coffin
6. Grandma
7. Song of the Ancients / Devola
8. The Wretched Automatons
9. City of Commerce
10. Song of the Ancients / Popola
11. The Prestigious Mask
12. Temple of Drifting Sands
13. Gods Bound by Rules
14. The Ultimate Weapon
15. Deep Crimson Foe
16. Dispossession / Piano Ver.
17. Dispossession / Strings Ver.
18. Dispossession / Pluck Ver.
19. Dispossession / Music Box Ver.
20. Yonah / Piano Ver.
21. Yonah / Strings Ver.
22. Yonah / Pluck Ver. 1
23. Yonah / Pluck Ver. 2

Disc Two
1. The Dark Colossus Destroys All
2. Song of the Ancients / Hollow Dreams
3. Kaine / Salvation
4. Kaine / Escape
5. His Dream
6. This Dream
7. Repose
8. The Lost Forest
9. Song of the Ancients / Fate
10. Shadowlord's Castle / Memory
11. Dance of the Evanescent
12. Shadowlord's Castle / Roar
13. Emil / Karma
14. Emil / Sacrifice
15. Shadowlord
16. Ashes of Dreams / New
17. Ashes of Dreams / Nouveau
18. Ashes of Dreams / Nuadhaich
19. Ashes of Dreams / Aratanaru
20. Shadowlord - White-note remix

Link. (Disc 1)
Link. (Disc 2)

more...

Philip Glass, Powaqqatsi

U.S., 1988

More ethnic and incisive than its predecessor Koyaanisqatsi, Powaqqatsi is Hopi for "parasitic way of life" or "life in transition". And once again I recommend watching the documentary itself, of course.
Powaqqatsi is an orchestral piece composed siamese to the motion picture by Godfrey Reggio, and is performed by over 90 musicians and singers which include a Hispanic children's choir.


Playlist:
1. Serra Pelada
2. The Title
3. Anthem – Part 1
4. That Place
5. Anthem – Part 2
6. Mosque And Temple
7. Anthem – Part 3
8. Train to São Paulo
9. Video Dream
10. New Cities In Ancient Lands, China
11. New Cities In Ancient Lands, Africa
12. New Cities In Ancient Lands, India
13. The Unutterable
14. CAUGHT!
15. Mr. Suso #1
16. From Egypt
17. Mr. Suso #2 with Reflection
18. Powaqqatsi


Link.

more...

The Cinematic Orchestra, Man With A Movie Camera

U.K., 2003

Definitely one of the most amazing albums I have listened to these days. Conceived as an invitation to a soundtrack for the homonymous Dziga Vertov's movie, this alone is sure to take you to a semi-transe of texture flying, or at the very least some amazing daydreaming.


Playlist:

1. The Projectionist
2. Melody
3. Dawn
4. The Awakening Of A Woman (Burnout)
5. Reel Life (Evolution II)
6. Postlude
7. Evolution (Versão Portuense)
8. Work It! (Man With A Movie Camera)
9. Voyage
10. Odessa
11. Theme de Yoyo
12. The Magician (Interlude II)
13. Theme Reprise
14. Yoyo Waltz
15. Drunken Tune
16. The Animated Tripod
17. All Things


Link.

more...

Philip Glass, Koyaanisqatsi

U.S., 1983

Koyaanisqatsi is the structural musical piece companion to the 1982 film from Godfrey Reggio, a great documentary – the first of the Qatsi trilogy.
The word Koyaanisqatsi is a Hopi term for:

– 1. crazy life; 2. life in turmoil; 3. life out of balance; 4. life disintegrating; 5. a state of life that calls for another way of living;

And although any 2-minute google search will tell you all of this, it will probably also slightly mention the deeply moving – dense, quiet, tense and some other adjectives – nature of both Reggio's and Glass' opus.

I do recommend the whole experience.



Playlist:

1. Koyaanisqatsi
2. Organic
3. Cloudscape
4. Resource
5. Vessels
6. Pruit Igoe
7. The Grid
8. Prophecies


Link.

more...