Film soundtracks can be both a blessing and a curse. A blessing because sometimes music and film work seamlessly together (in the case of Purple Rain and O Brother Where Art Thou), a blessing because sometimes the soundtrack can become a seperate entity to be assessed on its own merits (Paris Je T'aime, Brokeback Mountain) and a blessing simply because of the wondrous music they offer (Baz Lurhmann's Romeo & Juliet, arguably the finest soundtrack of all time in every way). However, whilst soundtracks often give much deserved exposure to underground artists they also sometimes endanger music by stamping the brand of the film all over it and detracting from the music itself.
Twilight (a film that admittedly, I guiltily enjoyed) has done this to Full Moon by The Black Ghosts (DJ Touche AKA Fake Blood & ex-Simian singer Simon Lord's musical project). Hopefully though, discerning music fans will not be blinded to the brilliance of the song by it's ultra-mainstream teenage associations.
Full Moon is one of the more straightforward pop moments on The Black Ghosts debut album, although is by no means a conventional pop song. Its mixture of chilly strings, twangy country guitars, jazzy hip-hop beats and a mournful vocal certainly add up to more than the sum of it's parts. It sounds like the sort of song that Radio One might latch onto unexpectedly, sounding incongrous on the playlist but doing very well nonetheless, not unlike what they achieved with Noah And The Whale last year.
Following on from the sublime remix of Some Way Through This by Plastician and Skream last year, the two remixes on this EP are both in the dubstep camp, one more loosely than the other. The first is from Komonazmuk (Common-as-muck, you see?) and Appleblim, associated members of Skull Disco, a Bristol record label pushing the techier, deeper side of dubstep. In terms of BPM, this certainly leans more towards house, however the stripped down beats, atmospherics and bass keeps it pretty darn dubby. It's a subtle remix, but one that's very enchanting, the instrumental perfectly complementing the vocal.
The second remix comes courtesy of Marlow, a relative newcomer to the dubstep arena, but one whose been garnering much attention due to his complex, hard hitting and classically tinged productions. His remix removes most of the vocal, instead leaving the strings of the original to lead the track. Layering on devastating bass and keeping in tact the chilly feel to the song also works brilliantly. This is definitely one for the dancefloor.
The EP is available now in all the usual places (iTunes, Beatport, 7Digital, Emusic, etc.) as is their self-titled album. Download a short edit of the Applieblim and Komonazmuk remix from the excellent Curbcrawlers blog HERE, and watch a slightly odd video for the song featuring a journey around Berlin below.
No comments:
Post a Comment