Adam Pfleider
10/20/09, 12:34 AM
Various Artists - The Twilight Saga: New Moon Soundtrack
Record Label: Chop Shop/Atlantic Records
Release Date: October 20, 2009
I really can't take this vampire thing anymore. When did teenage angst and melodrama have to be mixed with Van Helsing? Does anyone remember Teen Wolf? An American Werewolf in London? Does anyone remember when these movies were done right?
Yeah, I don't like anything about the Twilight series, so my noggin was sparked with curiosity, and bit of excitement, upon hearing about the movie adaptation's next installment having an accompanied soundtrack filled with Thom Yorke, Grizzly Bear, Death Cab For Cutie, Bon Iver, and so on.
What, with the first film's soundtrack containing cuts by Iron and Wine, Muse and Paramore, mixed with author Stephenie Meyer's open love for bands such as The Arcade Fire and Motion City Soundtrack, the track listing to New Moon's soundtrack shouldn't be a surprise to anyone.
The compilation starts with the movie's single, Death Cab for Cutie's "Meet Me on the Equinox," and it's nothing further from the structures that made up the band's last album Narrow Stairs. Band of Skulls drones in with "Friends," which leads way into Thom Yorke's "Hearing Damage," more electronic solo crooning, but a bit more accessible than Yorke's solo debut The Eraser.
Lykke Li is where the problem of the soundtrack lies. I can't listen to this music without thinking of where it will end up in the melodrama of some teenager metamorphosing into a CGI werewolf. "Possibility" is a beautiful song, but I can't help feeling its placement in the film would kill its blossoming melody in the end. The same could be said with Anya Marina's "Satellite Heart."
Sea Wolf's "The Violent Hour" is a catchy rocker, while it would seem two slayers of grandeur rock, The Killers and Muse, slow it down with their songs "A White Demon Love Song" and "I Belong to You (New Moon Remix)," respectively. OK Go switch their sound up a bit with "Shooting the Moon," vocally distant, layered with a forefront of instrumentation.
Of the two tracks I've been looking forward to, their results sum up my feelings for this horrid franchise's soundscape. Grizzly Bear's "Slow Life" is a bit different from much of this year's Veckatimest, but the guest vocals of Beach House's Victoria Legrand's counter to singer Ed Droste's chorus line is the key to the song's up and down beauty. As to the counter of Bon Iver and St. Vincent's Annie Clark's "Roslyn," the duo don't play off of each other as much as they drift in accompaniment for the song's duration.
The feeble, new-age music handlers for New Moon may have gotten away with a stellar line-up for their less than stellar movie franchise. Unfortunately for us, the results of the soundtrack are mixed, and more than likely, the elitist in me feels this is going to be a half-ass introduction of what many kids will think is "indie" and "hip."
1. "Meet Me on the Equinox" (Death Cab for Cutie)
2. "Friends" (Band of Skulls)
3. "Hearing Damage" (Thom Yorke)
4. "Possibility" (Lykke Li)*
5. "A White Demon Love Song" (The Killers)
6. "Satellite Heart" (Anya Marina)
7. "I Belong to You" [New Moon Remix] (Muse)
8. "Rosyln" (Bon Iver and St. Vincent)
9. "Done All Wrong" (Black Rebel Motorcycle Club)
10. "Monsters" (Hurricane Bells)
11. "The Violet Hour" (Sea Wolf)*
12. "Shooting the Moon" (OK Go)*
13. "Slow Life" (Grizzly Bear featuring Victoria Legrand)*
14. "No Sound But the Wind" (Editors)
15. "New Moon (The Meadow)" (Alexandre Desplat)
*stand out tracks
Indie Cred + Vampires
Record Label: Chop Shop/Atlantic Records
Release Date: October 20, 2009
I really can't take this vampire thing anymore. When did teenage angst and melodrama have to be mixed with Van Helsing? Does anyone remember Teen Wolf? An American Werewolf in London? Does anyone remember when these movies were done right?
Yeah, I don't like anything about the Twilight series, so my noggin was sparked with curiosity, and bit of excitement, upon hearing about the movie adaptation's next installment having an accompanied soundtrack filled with Thom Yorke, Grizzly Bear, Death Cab For Cutie, Bon Iver, and so on.
What, with the first film's soundtrack containing cuts by Iron and Wine, Muse and Paramore, mixed with author Stephenie Meyer's open love for bands such as The Arcade Fire and Motion City Soundtrack, the track listing to New Moon's soundtrack shouldn't be a surprise to anyone.
The compilation starts with the movie's single, Death Cab for Cutie's "Meet Me on the Equinox," and it's nothing further from the structures that made up the band's last album Narrow Stairs. Band of Skulls drones in with "Friends," which leads way into Thom Yorke's "Hearing Damage," more electronic solo crooning, but a bit more accessible than Yorke's solo debut The Eraser.
Lykke Li is where the problem of the soundtrack lies. I can't listen to this music without thinking of where it will end up in the melodrama of some teenager metamorphosing into a CGI werewolf. "Possibility" is a beautiful song, but I can't help feeling its placement in the film would kill its blossoming melody in the end. The same could be said with Anya Marina's "Satellite Heart."
Sea Wolf's "The Violent Hour" is a catchy rocker, while it would seem two slayers of grandeur rock, The Killers and Muse, slow it down with their songs "A White Demon Love Song" and "I Belong to You (New Moon Remix)," respectively. OK Go switch their sound up a bit with "Shooting the Moon," vocally distant, layered with a forefront of instrumentation.
Of the two tracks I've been looking forward to, their results sum up my feelings for this horrid franchise's soundscape. Grizzly Bear's "Slow Life" is a bit different from much of this year's Veckatimest, but the guest vocals of Beach House's Victoria Legrand's counter to singer Ed Droste's chorus line is the key to the song's up and down beauty. As to the counter of Bon Iver and St. Vincent's Annie Clark's "Roslyn," the duo don't play off of each other as much as they drift in accompaniment for the song's duration.
The feeble, new-age music handlers for New Moon may have gotten away with a stellar line-up for their less than stellar movie franchise. Unfortunately for us, the results of the soundtrack are mixed, and more than likely, the elitist in me feels this is going to be a half-ass introduction of what many kids will think is "indie" and "hip."
1. "Meet Me on the Equinox" (Death Cab for Cutie)
2. "Friends" (Band of Skulls)
3. "Hearing Damage" (Thom Yorke)
4. "Possibility" (Lykke Li)*
5. "A White Demon Love Song" (The Killers)
6. "Satellite Heart" (Anya Marina)
7. "I Belong to You" [New Moon Remix] (Muse)
8. "Rosyln" (Bon Iver and St. Vincent)
9. "Done All Wrong" (Black Rebel Motorcycle Club)
10. "Monsters" (Hurricane Bells)
11. "The Violet Hour" (Sea Wolf)*
12. "Shooting the Moon" (OK Go)*
13. "Slow Life" (Grizzly Bear featuring Victoria Legrand)*
14. "No Sound But the Wind" (Editors)
15. "New Moon (The Meadow)" (Alexandre Desplat)
*stand out tracks
Indie Cred + Vampires