{"id":11142,"date":"2015-03-18T14:33:01","date_gmt":"2015-03-18T18:33:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=11142"},"modified":"2015-03-18T14:33:01","modified_gmt":"2015-03-18T18:33:01","slug":"mp3-chappie-2015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=11142","title":{"rendered":"MP3: Chappie (2015)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Chappie_CD\"<\/a>Score<\/strong>: Very Good<\/p>\n

Label<\/strong>:\u00a0Varese Sarabande<\/a><\/p>\n

Released:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>March 17, 2015<\/p>\n

Tracks \/ Album Length:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a016 tracks \/ (63:06)<\/p>\n

Composer:<\/strong> Hans Zimmer,\u00a0Steve Mazzaro,\u00a0Andrew Hawczynski<\/p>\n

Special Notes:<\/strong>\u00a0 n\/a<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n

Review:<\/strong><\/p>\n

According to the P.R. material, director Neill Blomkamp encouraged Hans Zimmer to embrace the synth gear of his early years, using an array of decades-old electronic instruments to create a score that\u2019s warm and analogue-heavy, yet clearly reflecting Zimmer\u2019s present-day writing style that\u2019s part minimalism, contemporary electronica, and industrial grimness.<\/p>\n

Thematically and emotionally, Chappie<\/b> feels like a younger, more melancholic cousin of the Zimmer-produced video game score Crysis II<\/a><\/b> (2011), but there\u2019s a definite difference in rhythms and little details that reveal a perfect blend of old and present day sounds, which really isn\u2019t anything unique, given many new and veteran composers are re-embracing vintage sounds using emulations, samples, and actual classic gear.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s enjoyable about Chappie<\/b> is the variation in moods and gradual progression as film\u2019s eponymous character, a thinking robot, grows and learns how to deal with nefarious human behaviour and biases. A great example where moods shift and warp into something much more menacing is \u201cFirmware Update\u201d that has a gentle theme being quickly suppressed by drones before synth chimes bring back thematic material and a fadeout.<\/p>\n

Chappie<\/b>\u2019s a tightly edited score where cues flow into each other, sometimes preceded by pulses, drones, or gentle keyboards, but material is always affected by contrasts \u2013 low chords, a variety of frenetic pulses laid over more pulses, and flanging material that\u2019s either ornamental or pushed to the forefront by Zimmer and co-composers Steve Mazzaro and Andrew Hawczynski. \u201cWelcome to the Real World\u201d similarly progresses from pure rhythmic figures to an impressionistic theme version that\u2019s vulnerable, nervous, and wary.<\/p>\n

Zimmer\u2019s vintage sounds will certainly make fans giddy, because while many may not recognize the specific gear, the sonic elements are highly iconic. The arching tones in the aforementioned \u201cReal World\u201d recall Pat Metheny\u2019s mid-eighties electronic sounds, whereas the earlier \u201cUse Your Mind\u201d melds eerie sampled voices inherent to James Newton Howard\u2019s early work. The pulses and fat chords are equally reflective of Zimmer\u2019s mid- to late-eighties scores (notably Pacific Heights<\/b>), whereas the sharp, airy hits in \u201cThe Only Way Out of This\u201d and fat synth chords in \u201cRudest Bad Boy in JoBurg\u201d recall a bit of Tangerine Dream.<\/p>\n

And then there\u2019s Zimmer\u2019s own knack for bombast, which comes with a big boom factor \u2013 of all the film composers of his generation, Howard excepted, Zimmer was the most prolific user of massive bass booms. Some of the action cues start hard and fast, indicative of their attachment to sudden scene action, while others have long progressions, moving through different tempi and moods, as in the album\u2019s longest cue, the nearly 8 minute \u201cNever Break a Promise\u201d with its collage of classic orchestral emulations that seem to assemble Zimmer\u2019s entire palette of vintage instruments.<\/p>\n

Chappie<\/b> may not represent a radical departure from Zimmer\u2019s action and video game scores \u2013 the albums last cue, \u201cIllest Gangsta on the Block\u201d is a tongue-in-cheek strut using primordial video game blips and beats – but it\u2019s a fine representation of the seamless assembly of past sounds performed, shaped, and edited with perfection into a dynamic little work.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a9 2015 Mark R. Hasan<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n

Additional Links:<\/strong>
\nEditor’s Blog<\/a> — Composer on IMDB<\/a> \u00a0— \u00a0Composer Filmography<\/a> —\u00a0 Soundtrack Album<\/a>
\n\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Select Merchants:<\/strong>
\nAmazon.ca<\/a>\"\" —<\/span> Amazon.com<\/a>\"\" —<\/span> Amazon.co.uk<\/a>\"\" —\u00a0BSX<\/a> —\u00a0Intrada<\/a> —\u00a0Screen Archives Entertainment<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

According to the P.R. material, director Neill Blomkamp encouraged Hans Zimmer to embrace the synth gear of his early years, using an array of decades-old electronic instruments to create a score that\u2019s warm and analogue heavy, yet clearly reflecting Zimmer\u2019s present-day writing style that\u2019s part minimalism, contemporary electronica, and industrial grimness…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[3561,3563,162,3562,3560],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nuyW-2TI","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11142"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11142"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11142\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11161,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11142\/revisions\/11161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}