Artist : Matthew Herbert
Album : Score
Label : K7
Genre : Soundtrack
Bitrate : 175 kbps avg
Source : CD (LP)
Playtime : 00:51:43 (70 MB)
Rls date : 2007-02-16
Store date : 2007-03-26
[Track List]
1. Funeral 4:20
2. End 2:22
3. Rivoli Shuffle 5:52
4. The Apartment 1:49
5. Singing In The Rain 2:35
6. Cafe De Flore (Trio Reprise) 2:16
7. Gang Of Boys 1:53
8. Blood And Hair 2:01
9. Bull And Cloth 2:13
10.Rendezvous 10:30
11.Indiscretion 2:18
12.Forest Montage 1:13
13.Broken Piano 0:56
14.Triesse 1:01
15.Running From The Credits 3:33
16.Nicotine 3:02
17.Closing Theme 3:49
The internationally acclaimed composer, DJ and electronic
studio wizard Matthew Herbert goes to the movies on his
latest album Score. Showcasing yet another of his multiple
musical personalities, these 17 tracks cover the first decade
in Herbert's burgeoning sideline as a writer of film scores,
alongside a unique ballet collaboration.
Over the past decade, Herbert has amassed an unsurpassed
portfolio of highly praised releases under his own name as well
as Doctor Rockit, Wishmountain, Radio Boy, Transformer and others.
He has also produced and remixed artists as diverse as Bj÷rk,
Roisin Murphy, REM, John Cale, Yoko Ono and Serge Gainsbourg.
And he draws on all aspects of this prolific musical career on Score -
from the sun-scorched melodrama of Santiago Tabernero's Spanish film
about the death of Franco Vida Y Color to the haunted pianos of
Kristian Levring's colonial yarn The Intended, via the pure electronics
of Indiscretion and the avant-classical minimalism of Rendezvous.
Of course, the collaborative process of scoring films is very different
to Herbert's usual auteur approach to composing house music and experimental
electronica. Consequently, Score contains some of his most traditional and
straightforward pieces to date. His 2003 big-band jazz album Goodbye
Swingtime, for example, grew out of his artfully retro-modern score for
the French director Blanca Li's hip-hop musical, Le Defi.
And yet Herbert's trademark dedication to precise detail and conceptual
rigour remains as strong as ever on Score. Each project boasts its own
distinct musical language and sonic vocabulary, invariably sourced on location
and thematically linked to the film in question. Mostly composed for independent
European productions, the diversity of sounds and arrangements on this album is
firmly at odds with the one-size-fits-all orchestral backdrop heard on most
Hollywood blockbusters.
"One thing I really find artistically bankrupt is this idea that a 19th
century symphony orchestra is the sole appropriate medium for a big budget
movie, regardless of the genre", Herbert says. "The idea that this could
work for a futuristic film like Minority Report, which is entirely set in
the future, or a film like Troy, which is set thousands of years in the past,
is totally absurd. Too often there is no attempt to think about the music in
direct relation to the film."
This is certainly not the case with Score. Although it may not be immediately
apparent, much of the album adheres to Herbert's self-imposed musical rulebook,
the Personal Contract for the Composition of Music. Devised in 2000, the PCCOM
prohibits the use of pre-set keyboard sounds, drum machines, or secondary musical
sources. Originality is paramount. "Whether the director is bothered about it
or not, this is very important to me," says Herbert. "I don't ever want to make
music that exists in a context-less vacuum."
Score is a widescreen blockbuster epic of challenging, stirring, exhilarating
soundscapes. It is an action adventure, chase thriller, romantic comedy and
emotionally charged psychodrama all rolled into one. Fasten your seatbelt and
let Herbert take you to the movies.