I have no idea when the actual heyday of the soundtrack was - I know that these days I rarely buy/listen to them unless they feature significant amount of new music I wouldn’t be able to acquire otherwise. I know that for me the heyday was the 90s and it comes with a lot of memories.  recently, I had the privilege of putting together a soundtrack for my sisters wedding reception which of course once began, meant delving back into our shared music history - a very illustrious past for our relationship and simply for the most formative years of my musical tastes.  so once the nostalgia hit - I couldn’t stop thinking about some of this music and listened to that playlist a lot myself.  below are some of the influential and wonderful soundtracks that I don’t know where I would have been or would be musically without 

splendor - a marvelous techno exploration where I listened to the two track sequence I Don’t Know Why I Love You and Kelly Watch the Stars over and over (along with some very intense dancing) followed by repeats of Only the Strongest Will Survive and Flowerz and Bizarre Love Triangle. this playlist was a perfect example of how soundtracks can bring to you music and remixes that you might never have found otherwise 

but then one day I gave you I gave you flowerz

romeo + juliet (baz lurhmann) - this is just truly a perfect reflection of 90s music that manages to make you feel angry, elated, desolate and enamored with the idea of romantic tragedy - at the time I was a big Garbage fan and #1 Crush was a perfectly morbid profession of love, but the highlight for me was always Young Hearts Run Free, Everybody’s Free and it’s abrupt entrance into To You I Bestow - this combination held the right combination of emotion for a pre-teen who was a bit susceptible to overwrought drama

I will burn for you, feel pain for you, I will twist the knife and bleed my aching heart…and tear it apart

velvet goldmine - a glam rock phantasmagoria from start to finish with wicked covers and originals. my favorites 20th Century Boy, The Whole Shebang, Satellite of Love and Baby’s on Fire - all great songs in their own right, but I also liked singing along in strange and dramatic voices which really the whole album let me do. at the time I also had a deep passion for glitter, costumes and bowie 

but love is extra-terrestial, and love falls from the stars 

stealing beauty - I don’t know how to categorize this soundtrack, but can only say the combination of heavily electronic influenced songs mixed with heavy handed jazz songstresses creates a beautiful, heavy and thick soundscape, juxtaposing old and new in a heady, intoxicating way where Portishead and Billie Holiday can tell the same story

I’m so tired of playing with this bow and arrow, I’m gonna give my heart away…leave it to the other girls to play

brokedown palace - this was another soundtrack that is able to create a mood as strongly as stealing beauty that brought me songs with eclectic influences and sounds that ranged from monastic to hip-hop to southeast asian with also a large glad hand to the strong electronic influences of the time. this compilation brought me songs that I would never had sought on my own (Policeman Skank and Contradictive good examples), might have scorned (I was not a big Sarah McLachlan or Nelly Furtado fan) and that might not have had the impact if not found in this context 

it’s not that my glass is empty but I need another cup

and what seems to be the power of a truly good soundtrack is it’s a ability to put music together in a way that makes it impossible from thereafter to imagine the songs being arranged in any other sequence and that the story they tell could be said in any other way. I fell in love with these compilations before seeing the actual movies, sometimes years prior which shows there is a true art to simply putting things side by side 

slyke25:

The National will release their latest album, Trouble Will Find Me, next Tuesday  May 21st, but you can listen to it now at itunes.

Trouble Will Find Me Tracklist
1. I Should Live in Salt
2. Demons
3. Don’t Swallow the Cap
4. Fireproof
5. Sea of Love
6. Heavenfaced
7. This is the Last Time
8. Graceless
9. Slipped
10. I Need My Girl
11. Humiliation
12. Pink Rabbits
13. Hard to Find

Took advantage of this myself and was well excited with the first listen!

I listen to music in several different ways, but often times in order to decide the format I buy, I ask myself: do I need to listen to this in my car? I have a stereo at home, I have a computer, I have a record player and of course I have an iPOD. But what can reveal my true love is an album’s location and time spent in my 6 disc changer on wheels.  When loading a cd, I have to ask myself: what album can I handle removing from this endless rotation?  This question, incidentally, determines many of the albums I love the most.  Below are some of the albums I haven’t been able to remove recently - some of them I might have mentioned before - and however you determine your loves -  top 25 played on itunes, worn out grooves, most listened on spotify - check these out and see where they fall.

Guards - In Guards We Trust - briefly,  a debut of catchy anthemic pop that can’t be anything but the perfect summer album, windows rolled down

Foals - Holy Fire - briefly, atmospheric with versatile vocals and guitar that can range from alternative to harder rock

Cold War Kids - Dear Miss Lonelyhearts - briefly, wickedly danceable keyboards and drums, vocals rife with sensuality and emotion

Recently KCRW had a showcase for Hanni El Khatib - music from his second album Head in the Dirt. Being someone I had vaguely heard about, but never bothered to look into, I decided to listen to his first album before the new material. So, before I talk about his new music, go ahead and listen to this cover off his first album while I talk about first impressions. When I started with Will the Guns Come Out my first thoughts were more garage rock, not bad, not necessarily my favorite genre and probably not something I’m going to like. However, deciding not to draw conclusions on only one song, I kept listening to get to Dead Wrong - and my ears perked up and then song from song I kept listening to the whole album and at the end it was indeed something I was going to like.  As it went on it became clear this was more then garage rock but with influences from the 50’s pop and blues music - and yes it’s a gritty, raw and stripped down sound but it’s in the end quite soulful.

As I’m sure many who heard that album thought - this is an artist who should probably be working with Dan Auerbach.  On this second album he did indeed add his production work.  Whether it’s his influence or not, the new songs hint at an album that doesn’t quite seem to have the grime and heaviness on his first album; while still heavy on the guitar hooks - this album seems lighter, with fully flushed out melodies, and catchier tunes.  I’m not going to lie - I like the grime - but this album is definitely, or at least i imagine, more palatable to the masses with a sound that shows a larger variety of influences then his first. But don’t worry the garage sounds and raw rock from his first is still there, but this is an artist who is expanding, and to me that is always a plus.  Listen to the KCRW show here.

pastemagazine:

Watch Guards put on a glowing performance of “Coming True” at Paste’s Poolside Sessions in sunny California.

Check it out here!

Here is something else I had to re-post.  Guards has been one of those albums “stuck” in my car for awhile so far and i have been thoroughly enjoying.  Here, a stripped down version actually I think does more for their sound then the recording.  I think the fawns are enjoying it as well.