Thursday 23 June 2016

Blue Velvet Revisited by Tuxedomoon / Cult With No Name




Blue Velvet is one of the best films to come out of the 80's, maybe even better than Ghostbusters and Top Gun. Interestingly David Lynch invited a young German filmmaker, Peter Braatz, to document the making of the film giving him unrestricted behind the scenes access which he took full advantage of to produce his documentary of Lynch at his peak and this classic moment of cinema history.

What makes this soundtrack more interesting than most is the fact that Braatz was convinced the score should dictate the film and wouldn't start the film until the score had been finished. To this end he enlisted one of his favourite bands he figured would be perfect for the job - Cult With No Name who then enlisted Tuxedomoon to also contribute. For good measure Braatz also threw in a track from artist, educator, original singer of Ultravox and general music legend John Foxx.


The creative process was also slightly unusual in that the groups decided not to reference or be influenced by the original Angelo Badalamenti score and understandably so as it is a Braatz rather than a Lynch project. Recording by the two groups was done separately in Brussels, Mexico and London and we can safely concur that they more than obtained their goal of producing a dreamy, reflective and quietly evocative soundtrack.

The score is all about mood rather than style and is the sum of many parts. Partly neo-classical, part ambient, part electronic with the odd man out being "A Candy Coloured Clown" an uptempo cinematic techno psych jazz fusion with hints of Underground Resistance's, "Knights Of The Jaguar" that occurs half way through to momentarily rouse you from the otherwise sedate, contemplative nature of the rest of the album.



We can't recommend this album highly enough and it's another fantastic addition to Crammed Discs wonderful MADE TO MEASURE composer series of releases which we suggest that you investigate.

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