DANNY ELFMAN / Batman: Original Motion Picture Score [1989]

In 1989 Danny Elfman was primarily known as that guy from Oingo Boingo who's composed a small handful of scores for a few quirky comedies.  Naturally no one thought he was right for the big blockbuster Batman film but thankfully director Tim Burton was the only one who rightfully had faith in the composer.
Elfman's sprawling Gothic theme of grandeur helped bring a certain level of cheeky sophistication to the film and entirely redefined the cinematic Batman figure as suitably dangerous.  The score isn't afraid to engulf itself into the darkness but not once does it lose the sense of fun and wide-eyed excitement.  It's big, bold and brassy with flavors of tragic heroism, the lonely romantic and the criminally insane.  A definitive Elfman score that no fan of the composer, Batman or scores in general should be without.

5 beautiful dreamers out of 5

Songs of Note: The Batman Theme; Descent into Mystery

It should be noted that this particular album has seen 4 separate releases but La-La Land Records' 2010 double-disc release is definitely the most comprehensive collection to date.  

EVERCLEAR / So Much For the Afterglow (1997)

To less discerning minds, Art Alexakis could be seen as a forebear of Max Bemis. While it is true that he’s more than adept at letting you know that everything’s not alright, he’s also infinitely more inclined to offering the type of optimism Max rarely affords himself. Tempered optimism. Everything’ll still be fucked up, but less so, and that’s the best we can ever expect. His lyrics are hyper specific to his own experiences but the moments when his voice catches and takes on that strange resonance reveal how universally affecting they truly are.

Songs of Note: Father of Mine; Sunflowers

5 Reasons Not to Let it All Go out of 5

EINSTÜRZENDE NEUBAUTEN / Silence is Sexy (2000)

The cushion soft, bassy tones of Blixa Bargeld are instantly recognisable. When paired with the calculated and orchestrated perfection of the rest of Einstürzende Neubauten, magic happens. Together they traverse borders and boundaries, fuelled by catchy rhythms and stirring percussion that toys with the silly, the serious, the terrifying and the beautiful. I suspect they'd be equally at home on Sesame Street as they would be breaking bread and debating determinism with the great philosophers. Belief in their own ability makes them strong. An experimental approach to music makes them special.

Songs of Note: Die Befindlichkeit des Landes; Total Eclipse of the Sun

5 golden memories out of 5

EL BOY DIE / The Black Hawk Ladies & Tambourins (2010)

The El Boy Die sound has a skeletal underpinning of traditional folk and Neo-folk but is then layered with psychedelic melodies, acoustic guitars, tribal chants and even orchestral ambience. The parts fuse into an organic sound that shifts effortlessly from beautifully haunting and shadowy to serenely calming and whimsical. I could bombard you with similar adjectives for the next hour and not run dry. Just give the album a listen and see for yourself, but bear in mind that the only track I could find to link to isn't representative of the album as a whole.

Songs of Note: Dead Kings; Moona Luna Tears

4 hypnotic deaths out of 5

LUDOVICO EINAUDI / Una Mattina [2004]

There's a fine line drawn between "calming" and "boring". 

Italian contemporary pianist Ludovico Einaudi teeters back & forth between the two on 2004's Una Mattina.  With each track you pretty much get where it's going within 45 seconds but I suppose that's minimalism for you.  Here we focus more on whether or not Einaudi can convincingly pull of the impact or emotion through each polyphonic melody and arpeggio he plucks away at.  For the most part, he succeeds in allowing the listener to get lost in tranquil thought, however it occasionally comes off as contrived and predictably bland.  The highlights are when a subtle cello comes in serving as a backbone to the composition allowing the piano to stop and breathe for brief moments with intoxicating results. 

3½ mornings out of 5

Songs Of Note: Dietro Casa; DNA

KATHLEEN EDWARDS / Voyageur [2012]

Singer/songwriter Kathleen Edwards steers away from the sparse country/folk sound of her previous records on 2012's Voyageur and goes for a denser more complete sound, due to Bon Iver frontman Justin Vernon's lush production.

Unfortunately with the more dramatic sound it also strips away the lonely, soul-baring emotions of Edwards' voice which can usually carry a whole song without all the "noisy" production.  The strong songwriting and lyrics are still there, they're just lost in the mix driving them dangerously close to schmaltzy radio-friendly Sarah McLachlan-esque territory.

2 journeys of all sorts out of 5

Songs Of Note: Empty Threat;  Change The Sheets

BRIAN ENO / Lux [2012]

Returning to his ambient roots, Brian Eno gives us 2012's Lux, a piece broken up into 4 parts intended as audio for an art exhibit in Turin, Italy.
Eno's dream-like soundscapes of serenity from space or underwater (can't really tell which) is sprinkled with sparse stray piano notes and chords over gentle drones and twinkles.   It produces images of different shades of light slowly morphing into each other as each texture slowly swells and collides into the next with such ease the average listener might not even notice.  The thing with this type of music, as pleasant as it can be, it offers you the same experience whether you give it your undivided attention or let it play in the background.  In short: it's a either a good yawn or a bad yawn, depending on the listener.

3 illuminous emittances out of 5

Songs Of Note:  Lux 1; you get the idea.

NICK CAVE & WARREN ELLIS / Lawless (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)[2012]

For director John Hillcoat's violent prohibition piece Lawless, regular collaborators Nick Cave & Warren Ellis pieced together quite an unexpected & interesting musical backdrop.  

While their limited score for the film goes largely ignored on the album it's the songs they've arranged that are put into the spotlight.  Cave & Ellis gather together notable acts such as Ralph Stanley, Mark Lanegan, Emmylou Harris & Willie Nelson to cover songs by Captain Beefheart, Townes Van Zandt & Velvet Undergound and tweak them to sound like genuine period pieces.  They manage to maintain the haunting canvas of their previous works while producing something completely fresh and exciting.

4 changes from meth to moonshine out of 5

Songs Of Note:  Burnin' Hell; Fire In The Blood [feat. Emmylou Harris]

DANNY ELFMAN / So-Lo [1984]

Officially considered a solo outing from Danny Elfman, 1984's So-Lo is really the 4th Oingo Boingo album in disguise seeing as all the band members play on the album.  Due to legalities between changing record labels, Elfman & the Boingos were unable to use the band name when they first moved to MCA records.  

It's not entirely implausible, listening to the extreme change in musical styles from Boingo's previous records. Focusing more on a down tempo synth-pop sound rather than the abrasive punked-up guitar sound of their earlier works.  It's sparks up some interesting ideas musically & lyrically but Elfman doesn't seem to know how to keep the new sound interesting like he would on the future Boingo albums.

2 missing cannibalistic monologues out of 5

Songs Of Note: Gratitude; It Only Makes Me Laugh

EL-CREEPO! / Aloha [2012]

Polkadot Cadaver frontman Todd Smith aka El-Creepo! goes solo for a second time in 2012's Aloha.  Carrying the relaxed & soothing, yet strangely creepy, sound of his work with The Alter Boys, Smith sounds more sure of himself and stronger as a solo songwriter than he did on his 2009 effort.  What's nice about El-Creepo! is he puts the genre-hopping of his group projects on the back-burner and focuses more on the just writing good songs with interesting song structures.  Not to say there aren't traces of multiple styles because there is.  I think it's just naturally in Smith's songwriting blood.

4 throat gurgles out of 5

Songs Of Note: A Town Called Tribulation; Cottonwood River

THE EDEN HOUSE / Timeflows EP (2012)

The Eden House is one of those revolving door 'supergroup' projects that pop up from time to time. It has three permanent members: former Fields of the Nephilim bassist Tony Pettitt, Andy Jackson (Pink Floyd engineer, and Elizium producer), and Steven Carey (This Burning Effigy). It sounds exactly like you'd imagine it would, with those guys attached. Simon Hinkler (The Mission) lends his guitar, as do Valenteen, Amandine Ferrari, and Meghan Noel-Evans on vocals.
It's cut from a very traditional Gothic template that's ethereal and dreamy, skilfully played and slickly produced but ultimately mostly safe and predictable.

Songs of Note: Neversea; Timeflows (Part 1)

3 old Goths never die, they just get darker dye out of 5

EINSTÜRZENDE NEUBAUTEN / Tabula Rasa (1993)

Despite losing the hammering and pneumatic drill sounds, and upping the ambient experimentation, Tabula Rasa is still very much Ein Neu. It's imbued with a taught, pensive emotion and a strange kind of hypnotic, exotic beauty that gets deep under my skin. The bass is used sparingly but makes a huge impact when it arrives, naked and purposeful. It's largely musically magniloquent, like an arty-farty sculpture cut from sound. On the album's longest track, Headcleaner, Blixa Bargeld reminds us how we got to this point. Evolution is always frightening. If you like your music challenging, you'll eventually end up at Tabula Rasa.

Songs of Note: Die Interimsliebenden; Blume

5 epistemological theories out of 5

ELECTRIC PRESIDENT / The Violent Blue [2010]

Ben Cooper and Alex Kane aka Electric President's third album The Violent Blue is their first solid album.  Not to say their previous records weren't great but TVB is where they seem to be confident and organically comfortable in what they're attempting to do.  Heated with warm electronic textures and light strumming guitars floating through the mix, TVB is a pleasantly dreamy record that showcases a great deal of growth in musicianship with the duo.

4 non-violent red records out of 5

Songs Of Note: Feathers; The Violent Blue

EL-P / Cancer 4 Cure [2012]

New York's abrasive hip-hop artist El-P returns to his solo career, after a 5 year hiatus, on 2012's  Cancer 4 Cure.

El-P spits out furiously paranoid, yet intellectual lyrics bordering along the lines of obscure sci-fi, over distorted synth-heavy loops that sound more like something out of a robotic weapons factory.  It's noticeably different in texture and sound from his previous solo efforts but it still can't be mistaken for anybody else.  

It growls, rumbles and slaps the shit-eating grin off your face.

4 Groucho Marx's out of 5

Songs Of Note: The Full Retard; Drones over BKLYN

DANNY ELFMAN / Iris: Cirque Du Soleil [2012]

It seems like a natural progression for film composer Danny Elfman to bring his whimsical music to the bizarre and magical world of French-Canadian performance art company Cirque du Soleil.
IRIS tells the story of the history of cinema, allowing Elfman to explore all sorts of quirky styles and textures which harkens back to his classic Tim Burton film scores while retaining the creative maturity in his more recent work. IRIS is an emotionally beautiful rollercoaster ride that is guaranteed to please Elfman and Cirque du Soleil fans alike.

5 movie camera heads out of 5

Songs Of Note: Scarlett Balancing ; IRIS Finale & Bows

ELAQUENT / The Scenic Route [2012]

Dumping a high paying career and the belief of many friends & family members, well-established Ontario hip-hop producer, Elaquent opted to go down the more interesting road of record producing instead.  

The result is 2012's ever-changing rhythm heavy The Scenic Route.  A blend of sometimes smoothed-out laid back tracks and other times glitchy n' gritty sporadic assaults of video game blips n' blarps.  Filled with lush textures, intricate arrangements and such infectious grooves it'll be perfect for those warm summer nights.

3 routes less traveled out of 5 

Songs Of Note: Grey Poupon; Black Magic

NICK CAVE & WARREN ELLIS / White Lunar [2009]

Covering 5 years of working together as a score composing duo, Nick Cave & Warren Ellis compiled a tight little 2-CD package appropriately titled White Lunar. Mainly showcasing the scores to the John Hillcoat films The Proposition & The Road, the album is inevitably filled with haunting passages of loneliness, dread and sadness. What's great about Cave/Ellis scores is they produce such clearly evocative and solemnly textured compositions for vast yet barren landscapes that the music works just as well without the attached films. Expect sounds closer to Ellis' band The Dirty Three rather than any of Cave's major projects and you get a better picture of the music on these discs.

4 songs behaving badly out of 5

Songs Of Note: Song For Bob; The Proposition

EMINEM / The Marshall Mathers LP [2000]

After being dragged through the mud by the controversy surrounding his first major label album The Slim Shady LP, Eminem stepped out from behind his fictional character and unmasked himself as Marshall Mathers on his 2nd LP.
The Marshall Mathers LP blurred the lines between reality & fantasy, horror & comedy, satire and truth. With an angry smirk and quick wit, Mathers makes you chuckle and uncomfortable simultaneously with precise spitfire vocal performances over clever production and backbeats. It's morally wrong, shocking and tasteless but it's honest anger in it's purest form that unfortunately Mathers wouldn't repeat for another 10 years.
Love him or hate him, it can't be denied that The Marshall Mathers LP is one of the first true classic albums of the new millennium.

5 Marilyn Mansons out of 5

Songs Of Note: Bitch Please II [featuring Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Xzibit & Nate Dogg]; Criminal

DANNY ELFMAN / Serenada Schizophrana [2006]

Commissioned by the American Composers Orchestra to play in Carnegie Hall, Serenada Schizophrana, is a dark and twisting journey through the passages of film composer Danny Elfman's mind. Filled with the quirks and charms we've come to know from his movie scores, only now he has the freedom to let the notes bleed all over the page.
Charging through the orchestra pit, leaving no instrument unturned, Elfman channels Prokofiev, Bernard Herrmann, Tchaikovsky and John Williams all while giving it his signature stamp of bizarre choir work, dizzying scales and off-kilter time signatures.
This isn't for anybody but is sure to please Elfman fans looking for an expansion of his score work or a classical fan that's looking for something a little more contemporary and just plain bizarre.

4 Big Dog/Little Dog Patrol pieces out of 5

Songs Of Note: II. Blue Strings; V. I Forget