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November 19, 2009

Jeremiah Tucker: Soundtrack does what it's supposed to do

Anonymous The Joplin Globe Thu Nov 19, 2009, 09:09 PM CST

‘The Twilight Saga: New Moon’ (Soundtrack)

Rating: C

OMG! Are you on Team Edward or Team Jacob?

Ha! That was a test. I lured you in with my flawless teen-speak — I’m like Chris Hansen.

But if you answered that question, and you aren’t within a year or two of 12 years old, then congratulations — you’re creepy. You should wear a T-shirt that says “Team Creepy” or “Objectionable Twilight Mom” to the “New Moon” movie on Friday.

On your way there, why not pop in the official soundtrack? It’s not bad. It’s certainly no less offensive than your age-inappropriate preoccupation with fictional teenage boys.

Actually, listening to the “New Moon” soundtrack made me a little nostalgic. I remember when blockbuster soundtracks were fairly common, even groundbreaking.

Remember the “Judgment Night” soundtrack? It paired rock musicians with rap groups a few years before rap-rock would ruin lives. (Where would popular music be today without the Mudhoney and Sir Mix-a-Lot collaboration “Freak Momma?”)

Now, if a movie even has an official soundtrack, it’s normally little better than a mixtape from an unimaginative friend. In a world where nine out of 10 people younger than 20 don’t even know what a CD is — full disclosure: I made that statistic up — a soundtrack as a physical product full of new music is almost a novelty.

So with a roster of respectable bands, the “New Moon” soundtrack is certainly welcome, even if most of the music is forgettable.

The best song is Thom Yorke’s “Hearing Damage,” a moody, jittery electronic workout that sounds excised from a particularly dark ’80s horror movie. Lead-off track “Meet Me on the Equinox” by Death Cab for Cutie is also pretty great, with the Gothic melodrama of the title and lyrics like “everything ends” surely being tongue-in-cheek.

The biggest problem with “New Moon” soundtrack is that most of the music works better as mood placeholders. Perfect, perhaps, for staring longingly across the lunch room at that dollop of oily product that hangs tantalizingly off a stray, out-of-place strand of Robert Pattinson’s otherwise perfectly mussed hair, but not as a collection of stand-alone songs.

Lykke Li and Grizzly Bear both contribute gorgeous, melancholy tracks that aren’t all that memorable once you’ve pressed stop — same goes for a much anticipated, at least by me, collaboration between St. Vincent and Bon Iver. And many songs don’t even reach that level of success.

Still, like surfing-enthusiast werewolves and glittery vampires, the mere existence of the “New Moon” soundtrack is a minor miracle.



Song of the week

Sleigh Bells — ‘Crown on the Ground’

“Crown on the Ground” is the most exciting song I’ve heard in 2009. Beginning with a loud, piercing guitar refrain and a blown-out, trash-can beat that drops like a hydrogen bomb, the song is three minutes and 50 seconds of loud, exhilarating fun.

The band features only two people: Derek Miller, who used to play in the hardcore band Poison the Well, and Alexis Krauss, who was in the teen-pop girl group Rubyblue.

Miller produces the beat and handles the monster guitar riffs and Krauss, with precision sass, provides the vocals.

They’ve been playing soldout shows in New York to enthusiastic reviews with only an iPod, a guitar and a microphone.

Sleigh Bells’ music permeates the blogosphere right now, and the band has been written about in publications such as The New York Times and The New Yorker — despite being unsigned, having no proper release and only four songs on its MySpace page.

But I suppose when you sound like the future of pop, people are bound to notice. Listen at http://www.myspace.com/ sleighbellsmusic.



Address correspondence to Jeremiah Tucker, c/o The Joplin Globe, P.O. Box 7, Joplin, MO 64802.

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