Scoring nightmares, with Colin Stetson’s ‘Contact’

"Contact" was composed and performed by Colin Stetson for Color Out of Space, a film by Richard Stanley. ► Listen to the full soundtrack here: https://soundtracks.lnk.to/coloroutofspaceAY ABOUT THE FILM Color Out of Space is based on the short story by H.P. Lovecraft.

HP Lovecraft was a key exponent of the Horror genre, and anything shot today which involves inhuman horrors and writhing creatures owes something to the iconic author. Understandably, his frequently bizarre writing doesn’t exactly lend itself well to adaption, both in a cinematic and musical sense.

With his upcoming film score, Colin Stetson undertakes the challenging task of helping bring to the screen Lovecraft’s 1927 story, ‘The Color out of Space’ a tale of alien life, slow decay and steady fall into madness. It’s a foreign environment to create, but in safe hands. Stetson has an impressive portfolio of work, including the score for western game Red Dead Redemption 2 and supernatural horror film Hereditary. Listening through his music you might hear Drone and Minimalist, as well as Avant Jazz, but he’s hardly committed to one style. What remains true in his work is a solid talent when preforming with Sax and Clarinet, and freedom to experiment that pays off.

With the track ‘Contact’ he presents a taste of what we’ll hear in ‘Color of out Space’, to be released January 24th. Sharply edged synth and violin delivers the fear, with a few guttural samples of noise. A few of the more spacey elements could be at home in classic sci-fi if they weren’t in such fantastically dark company.

Stream the soundtrack on Spotify

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Unique moments from Små Vågor - Fyrtornet

Provided to YouTube by IIP-DDS Fyrtornet · Små Vågor 4 ℗ Flora & Fauna Released on: 2019-09-20 Artist: Små Vågor Auto-generated by YouTube.

Hailing from Sweden, Ambient/Drone artist Henrik von Euler has worked under a number of monikers, and consistently produced note-worthy tracks with each incarnation. Euler also has 15 years of experience running the Swedish label Flora & Fauna, releasing music with a wide variety of artists. His new track Fyrtornet comes as part of his fourth album produced under the pseudonym of Små Vågor, meaning small waves.  

With field recordings of bird cries and wind, the sound produced sometimes borders on desolate, but the deep bass and alien flickers of synth which guide the track also help to bring in a feeling of warmth. Drone is a genre that can at times be jarring and aggressive, but again, that lower bass does so much to calm and reassure the listener. It could also be viewed as being experimental, but doesn’t cross the boundary where the desire to do something different leaves a track creative but unorganised.

Fyrtornet is the type of song that could be listened to at any time, but will resonate much more strongly if the listener is able to stumble into it at just the right moment. Headphones on a cold day, alone at 2am, the day reaching twilight; in slightly otherworldly and unique atmospheres like these, Fyrtornet can amplify that unique aesthetic.

Grab the whole album on vinyl or digital over on Bandcamp

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Robot Koch delivers an elevated piece of emotive electronica in 'Movement I'

Movement I, a song by Robot Koch, Julien Marchal on Spotify

Robot Koch is a Berlin born, Los Angeles based artist/composer who has cultivated a dream list of career achievements that would humble most successful artists these days. I could easily write pages about the gigs, collabs, labels, and awards but instead will leave this upto the inquisitive reader. I will however reference a quote from the late John Peel who described his music as “Strange and wonderful pop music from the future” because it’s a good segue into my impressions of his music. 

‘Movement I’ is simply a highly emotive piece of electronica that grabs you from the first note and wraps it's arms around you in the most intense embrace and doesn’t let go until it’s last phrase. The opening three repeating notes almost have the same reverence as a John Williams or Carpenter theme. There is something profound and transcendent about the repeating notes and their effect on our senses. While it would be easy to reference the impact of this kind of notation from such iconic, classic 70’s horror sound tracks it wouldn’t be an accurate comparison because these theme tunes are minimalistic and draw on a sparse sensibility to create tension and dread. ‘Movement I’ does quite the opposite, it creates warmth, melancholy and hope. Offset from the somber melody and opening urgency are lush layers of reversed vocals, soaring synth lines and flourishes of orchestral rapture that whisk you into a frenzy until it’s abrupt end. What you are left with is a piece of electronica that has the emotional range of a film score while being rooted in genre production styles that gives a piece of music like ‘Movement I’ that kind of awe that warrants all of the above dream list achievements. 

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A Powerful Presence Felt by Cuts in 'Time Is Not Your Friend'

Provided to YouTube by Redeye Distribution Time Is Not Your Friend · CUTS Time Is Not Your Friend ℗ 2018 Village Green Released on: 2018-11-06 Composer: Anthony Tombling Jr Music Publisher: Village Green Auto-generated by YouTube.

Anthony Tombling Jr a.k.a. Cuts delivers another harrowing track from his album ‘A Gradual Decline’ which dropped last month on Village Green Records. Cuts is an audio-visual project commenting on the environmental concerns facing us today. We explored the importance of music like this in our most recent review of the title track from the album. As to say for ‘Time Is Not Your Friend’ is very much in the same vein as ‘A Gradual Decline’, although slightly lighter in tone it still plays with the same kind of earnest and urgency. 

Tombling unapologetically lays down a perpetuating melody of distorted organs and synths that build in intensity until around the three minute mark. Then the drums kick in, giving us again some sharp percussion and textures to drive home the sense of a jagged landscape that Tombling has curated throughout the musical and visual elements in ‘A Gradual Decline’. Again Anthony drives home a message of prescience and purpose while lifting us up in the most epic fashion. If you are a fan of cinematic music with a real message at it’s core then Cuts is very much worth putting on your radar. 

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