The Thrilling! The Suspenseful! The Thrillingly Suspenseful!!

Oh my, what fun it has been, and what a long time as well, to sit here with no Music Mondays. A lot has occurred in between postings of Musical Instruction. Christmas, New Years and even two days after new years. There are big things being planned here in my neck of the woods, and everything is really just an overall happy situation. I don't know why, but I reckon that's a good thing... ain't it?

Even the cinema is fun again. For a few months there is was really sucking, but I suppose every year from Summer to Fall there's a good span where nothing good comes out, and for cinephiles like myself and a few of my friends, this is a very depressing time. But alas, it is winter, and film is prevalent, and everything is really just an overall happy situation (broken record?). This leads me to the newest Music Monday, the first of the year.

Preface: A man who doesn't love film is a man I don't wish to be friends with. This week's installment has everything to do with film. For as I sat in my favorite theater in town watching the latest masterwork from the Coen Bros I happened again upon the trailer for There Will Be Blood. Now despite having the coolest looking title cards for any film I've seen in the past ten years, and despite boasting a lead such as Daniel Day Lewis, and despite being written and directed by a true artiste, and finally despite being adapted from an Upton Sinclair novel.. the film has the immeasurable luck of being scored by one of the most innovative musicians of the past two decades. I am of course speaking about Radiohead's resident genius, Jonny Greenwood. Now I've been a fan of Greenwood's work in Radiohead for quite some time, and when I found his first foray into film soundtracking a few years ago (scoring for the oddball doc Bodysong) I jumped on it like something that jumps on something very quickly. It was just as odd and strange as I had hoped, and provided a soundtrack for a semester of college where reality was being questioned every other day, if not every other hour. So it goes without saying that I was uber-excited to pick up this latest score. More on that in a bit...

The point here is thus - I was again amazed, and at the same time very happy. Mr. Greenwood seems to have done his homework. In my mind he has taken all the best parts of classic film score work and mutated them into one tense, thrilling masterwork. So let's get started and I'll show you the wonders of where he might have come from...


Music Monday: The Thrilling (oh yes, it is now a direct download link, so none of that pesky download page)

1. Bernard Herrmann - Overture -- From the film North By Northwest. My personal favorite Hitchcock film, showcasing why Cary Grant is one man every man wishes to be, is provided a score by THE composer for great thrillers. Herrmann's catalogue includes everything from Sci-Fi classics to Romance films to Thrillers. He was Hitchcock's go to guy (Psycho, Vertigo, The Birds), Gave Truffaut his Fahrenheit 451 tracks, supplied Jason and the Argonauts with tunes as well as Sinbad, Gulliver and Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver. Quite an amazing career and right up there with Nino Rota and Ennio Morricone. He is our jumping off point this week.

2. Antoine Duhamel - Little Marital Concert -- From the film Bed and Board. I don't want to take away from Mr. Duhamel, he is great in his work with Francois Truffaut, much the way H&H were on most films, but it must be said that when Truffaut wanted Herrmann and couldn't get him, Duhamel gave him the next best thing -- an imitation. That is not to say his compositions aren't original at all, they are. They also sound terribly close to that signature Herrmann sound. Then again though, not a bad guy to be compared to, eh? On a side note, Bed and Board is the third film in the series of Antoine Doinel films by Truffaut (starting with The 400 Blows). You must watch all of them.

3. Bernard Herrmann - The Elevator/The U.N./Information Desk -- again, from North By Northwest. If you're sensing a pattern here, you're not mistaken. Each of these Herrmann tracks feels as though they've influenced another. Not much more need be said.

4. Jonny Greenwood - Future Markets -- from the film There Will Be Blood. I have not seen the film, but this track has already given me a feeling for what I will think of it. You may say that owning a film soundtrack before you see the movie is potentially dangerous for that moment you do actually sit down to watch it, but I will beg to differ in this case, based on this track alone. Greenwood supplies here what is sure to be a taught, thrilling score to go along with the story of a Texas oil man, hellbent on crude domination. I can only imagine the images to go along with this eerie track.

5. Michael Giacchino - World's Worst Landscaping -- from Season 2 of Lost. For those that don't know Mr. Giacchino's work, you're really missing out. He's scored such great recent films as The Incredibles, Ratatouille, all of Lost and Alias. His work on Lost has really pushed the show above and beyond. His soundtracks are moody and fitting to the odd environment of a mysterious island with fantastical secrets. The work he has done withing the past two seasons especially have shown his love for Herrmann. This track showcases most of what you'll find with him, suspenseful humor. Not afraid to scare you, put you on the edge of your seat, or make you giggle.

6. Bernard Herrmann - Kidnapped/The Door/Cheers -- This last track from our inspirational source for the week is again from North By Northwest, well because I think that's one of his best works, and it shows everything he was capable of. Tension, action and romance. Look for anything and everything from this man... especially his fantasy film work (Mysterious Island, the Sinbad films, Jason and the Argonauts, and Journey to the Center of the Earth -- for a start).

7. Jonny Greenwood - There Will Be Blood -- the title track from the film. I'm pretty sure this is what sold me to buy the album from the trailer. It is absolutely fantastic in its oddball eeriness. It is such a moody piece that I almost scare myself when listening to it at night. If you're a fan of putting on a film score and pretending like you're in a film... this is one to start with (what? you're telling me you don't?). This track proves that Mr. Greenwood is a veritable composer and that I want him to score the first film I am a part of. Or maybe just my life. Jonny, can we be friends?

This does it for The Thrilling. Hope you all find it very enjoyable. Listen to it while you're driving, performing any sort of errand. Maybe while you're in your local grocery store. I don't doubt you'll be looking over your shoulder every two seconds. That feeling might be your grocer plotting to set you up for a crime you didn't commit.