Album The Hiphop of Solaris
posted by on May 15 at 11:37 AM
When asked what he is listening to at this moment, El-P, the founder of Def Jux, and the subject of an article I wrote this week, said the soundtrack for Steven Soderbergh’s remake of Andrie Tarkovsky’s Solaris. “Yeah, the movie sucks, but the soundtrack is really great. I can’t stop listening to it. There’s something there I want to figure out.”
I bought the soundtrack, listened to it, and came to agree with El-P—it’s a beautiful and meticulous work of movie music. But I think this is the secret of the score’s success: it sounds like a soundtrack for a movie that has never been made. Its music, produced by Cliff Martinez, does not connect with its movie, and so the music has a ghostly quality. It’s music without the presence and weight of its image.
re: your article, i would argue stones throw over def jux for definitive underground rap label of the 00's
great article though, and props for not using the word "dystopian" which is in the first sentence of every other el-p piece
By contrast, the 1972 Tarkovsky original and the soundtrack by Edward Artemiev remains an amazing marriage of sound and vision.
The music did work with the movie. The movie didn't work with itself. You're trying to tell me the docking sequence didn't work with the music? "First Sleep" is used flawlessly in the film, as is "Don't Blow It".
The movie does suck, though. But I have a soft spot for it because of the score. Martinez has tons of work I love. He's like a cross between the best of Michael Convertino with touches of Elliot Goldenthal. I love him. Have every one of his scores.
This is kinda how I feel about I Heart Huckabees. Boo Boo movie, amazing soundtrack.
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