The soundtrack for the film “Hanna” (side note: really want to see it), scored by the Chemical Brothers, was released exclusively through iTunes last month, but I only got around to checking it out this week (and it subsequently became my unofficial soundtrack; listened to it constantly). If you haven’t given it a listen / downloaded it yet, I highly recommend doing so because it’s awesome. Favorite tracks are: “Hanna’s Theme”; “Container Park” and “Escape 700”. Grab it here and / or watch the trailer after the jump.
Thursday night I trekked over to Culver City for a typical evening out. I watched celebrated former Katsuya Chef Kenny Yamada perform magic tricks behind the bar while simultaneously assembling sushi towers for a fabulous pre-fixe 9-course menu. I listened to the tunes of infamous LA party boy BJ Panda Bear spinning from a stylish lounge. I walked around and admired mystical pieces of a rotating collection of art, currently titled Never-ending Story: Fairytale, Fantasy, Obsession. I shopped for authentic Japanese goodies and found things like Hello Kitty dolls that were the last few remaining in a limited edition collection and learned about the craze behind Korean Pullip dolls. I admired oddities such as ice cream cone hairpieces and cupcake rings. I discovered intriguing gift shop gems such as cocaine and heroine salt and pepper shakers. I watched an entire wait staff of bubbly Japanese women wearing traditional maid outfits bounce around and fulfill patrons’ dining orders…all in one place, Royal/T.
Panda Bear seems a bit of a confused lad. Not that it isn’t working for him, as he’s already gained a huge following with that other band he’s in, East Coast electronic/beatmaking giants Animal Collective. And with the advent of new technology, and one-man bands being more prevalent in today’s day and age, it perhaps isn’t that uncommon to see a guy on stage with both a guitar and a workstation thrown out in front of him. But his music is a neurotic hybrid of heaven and hell; a sprawling out somewhere between the euphoric, the shoegaze-freindly, the lovely side of life — and what could perhaps be best described as a series of rather insipid underlying pulses and bursts. On tracks like “Comfy in Nautica”, and “Bros”, it almost sounds like he’s channeling Brian Wilson and the days of the The Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds, only with some clearly computer-edited blips and bleeps as opposed to that classic Stratocaster sound. Then on tracks like “I’m Not”, he’s lost in the soothing, blissful sounds of arpeggiated vocal layers and resonating chirps and bells and whistles. If most electronic music is cut with WAVE or ProTools or something else, then his seems severed into disjointed bits by the dulled blade of a hatchet. But that’s not to negate the beauty of his wandering mind and schizoid soul: just listen to any of the tracks off Young Prayer, which while perhaps minimalist and threadbare, are still no less lacking in emotion. Feel the love now on Red Bull Music Academy Radio.
