{"id":5616,"date":"2012-10-12T17:02:36","date_gmt":"2012-10-12T21:02:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=5616"},"modified":"2012-11-23T14:34:52","modified_gmt":"2012-11-23T19:34:52","slug":"mp3-looper-2012","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=5616","title":{"rendered":"MP3: Looper (2012)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Return to<\/strong>:\u00a0Home <\/a>\/\u00a0Soundtrack \u00a0Reviews<\/a> \/ <\/em>J to L<\/a><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>Rating: Excellent<\/p>\n

Label: Cut Narrative Records \/ La-La Land Records\/ Released: September 18, 2012<\/p>\n

Tracks & Album Length: 19 tracks \/ (48:27)<\/p>\n

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Special Notes: \u00a0n\/a.<\/p>\n

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Composer: Nathan Johnson<\/p>\n

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Review:<\/p>\n

Selectively using organic, synthetic, and digital manipulation that often blender sounds into beautifully abrasive creations, Nathan Johnson\u2019s Looper<\/strong> is a perfect impression of what it would physically and emotionally feel like when all the normal elements of one\u2019s world are frayed after some grievous blunt trauma.<\/p>\n

There is a strong humanistic element to the score \u2013 a solo keyboard offers a brief thematic fragment in \u201cA Life in a Day\u201d after Johnson applies a great sonic crunching of mechanical sounds & high-register strings \u2013 but the core to Looper<\/strong>\u2019s world is its impressions of industrial sounds (a few are very<\/em> reminiscent of Brad Fiedel\u2019s industrial designed Terminator 2: Judgment Day<\/a> <\/strong>[M<\/a>]), which maintain a sense of urgency, disjointed reality, and a coldness that\u2019s appropriate when characters have to suppress vulnerable emotions in order to meet their desperate goals.<\/p>\n

Unlike Fiedel\u2019s hard metallic hits, Johnson has his sounds undulate and bellow, flutter and blur, and his creations often swerve between specific evocations, like warning sirens in the marvelous \u201cTime Machine.\u201d Some of the score\u2019s most abrasive elements recall Brian Reitzell\u2019s 30 Days of Night<\/a><\/strong> (2007), but Johnson doesn\u2019t stay in one domain. Symphonic elements are part of the mix, and a stellar example of warped classical sounds is \u201cHunting the Past,\u201d where a grinding motif gives way to brass; the cue\u2019s opening pulses are later reiterated by the orchestra and deepening low brass stabs, and Johnson also injects a quick set of Herrmannesque chords reminiscent of Pyscho<\/strong> (1960).<\/p>\n

Perhaps the most striking aspect to Looper<\/strong>\u2019s design is the recurrence of humanistic material, as with the largely orchestral \u201cEverything Comes Around,\u201d an almost rhapsodic theme reiteration which quickly decelerates to a music box variation. \u201cHer Face\u201d is equally lush and highly romantic. Granted the score is designed to match screen action, but the decision to play with warm and frayed elements between and within whole cues gives the score great dramatic power. It\u2019s also striking elegant, being modern and classically Hollywood without dwelling in either idiom & style whole-heartedly, and the album has a steady build towards a fast-action climax.<\/p>\n

Some of the final cues are very brief (less than a minute) and the final cue ends on a dramatic hook, but Cut Narrative\u2019s digital album features a solid presentation of one of 2012\u2019s best scores. Note: those wanting more music should go after La-La Land\u2019s CD, which features 7 additional cues & remixes, giving the album a more natural dramatic denouement, and a 24-page colour booklet with brief comments from the film\u2019s director and composer.<\/p>\n

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\u00a9 2012 Mark R. Hasan<\/p>\n

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External References:<\/p>\n

IMDB <\/a>— Soundtrack Album<\/a> — Composer Filmography<\/a><\/p>\n

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Return to<\/strong>:\u00a0Home <\/a>\/\u00a0Soundtrack Reviews<\/a> <\/em>\/\u00a0J to L<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Return to:\u00a0Home \/\u00a0Soundtrack \u00a0Reviews \/ J to L . Rating: Excellent Label: Cut Narrative Records \/ La-La Land Records\/ Released: September 18, 2012 Tracks & Album Length: 19 tracks \/ (48:27) . Special Notes: \u00a0n\/a. . Composer: Nathan Johnson . . Review: Selectively using organic, synthetic, and digital manipulation that often blender sounds into beautifully […]<\/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":[1586,1587],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nuyW-1sA","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5616"}],"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=5616"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5616\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5750,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5616\/revisions\/5750"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}