Juno Recommends Soundtracks July 2023

Review: Ah, simpler times - both in terms of animation and the world itself. For those who missed the original Mr Benn books and TV show (the former, published first In 1967, the latter aired between 1971 and 1972 before making several returns via reruns on the BBC), then the plot is also straight forward. Black suit and bowler hat-clad London professional Mr Benn leaves his house each episode, walks to a local fancy-dress shop, and chooses an outfit. An adventure then ensues, set in a world that reflects his outfit. Harking back to a glorious time in children's television - one that has latterly been remembered for its psychedelic edges and surrealist tendencies - Duncan Lamont's score was a perfect accompaniment to those mini odysseys. It's woozy, blissful and dreamy at times, then jaunty and upbeat the next moment, taking the form of brief but beautiful accidentals to set those senes.

Review: Silva Screen Records return to their mammoth compilation project paying tribute to the late Ryuichi Sakamoto, former member of Yellow Magic Orchestra and later acclaimed film scorer: for such blockbusters as Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence, The Sheltering Sky and The Last Emperor. 'Music For Film' features star motifs from Sakamoto's back catalogue of film scores, and are all performed by the Brussels Philharmonic under the baton of Dirk Brosse. This version comes to black and white splattered vinyl.

Review: This is a vinyl release of the original soundtrack for Joe 90, a 1968 British science-fiction television series created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson. The soundtrack was composed and conducted by Barry Gray, a prolific British composer who worked on many of Anderson's shows, such as Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons. The soundtrack features Gray's distinctive style of orchestral music, blending classical influences with jazz and pop and electronic elements. The release includes 24 tracks selected from the show's score, pressed on two LPs with orange and blue vinyl, and also features new artwork by illustrator Eric Chu, depicting the main character Joe McClaine and his many eccentric gadgets.

Review: Studio Ghibli's entire series of scores reissues continues with this new one of the OST for The Wind Rises. One of few, if the only biographical Ghibli film out there, the sublime anime tells the story of the life of Jiro Horikoshi, the designer of the first ever low-wing monoplane flighter aircraft to enter service in war. Noted for its emotional heaviness (perhaps even more so than many of Ghibli's more surreal works), this is an effect markedly achieved by in-house composer Joe Hisiashi, whose simple statement of just eight songs hears him make use of tremolo'ing strings, accordions, symphonic structures and sad string plods.

Review: Joe Hisaishi, and Studio Ghibli, need no introduction. A partnership made in heaven, Hisaishi is a huge reason why Ghibli has become a household name internationally in a career well into its fourth decade. The Studio Ghibli movies have been welcomed into people's hearts and all-time best lists, throughout the years ever since 1984 and the release of 'Nausica of the Valley of the Wind'. Hisaishi as a composer and storyteller is unmatched, creating the most memorable soundtracks ever created, and it is fitting that his varied and decorated career has been receiving the premium vinyl treatment recently.
The latest in this vinyl pressing process is 2013's 'The Tale of the Princess Kaguya', based on the Japanese Heian period tale of Taketori Monogatari (The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter). 37 tracks spanning 52 minutes paint such a vivid picture of the story of the movie it's as if you can see the hand-drawn frames in your mind as the short, masterful orchestration blends into one another. Pressed on two clear pink pieces of vinyl, referencing the pink garb Kaguya wears in the movie, this record is a must-have for Ghibli fans.

Review: 1998 war film Thin Red Line is a welcome addition to the canon by Terrence Mellick, with its premise coming as a dramatic adaptation of James Jones 1962 autobiog, which focuses on the conflict at Guadalcanal during World War II. Hans Zimmer was of course listed for the film, and his repertoire for scoring war films is by now deeply known and appreciated. Owing to the film's setting in Eastern locations, Zimmer indulged his curiosity for Asian instruments, ranging from the koto to the shakuhachi, while also enlisting the help of a Melanesian choral troupe for finishing-touches dramatic effect. Now cop the OST on 2xLP.

Review: If you've seen the movie Aftersun chances are it hit home, and left unanswered questions. The touching yet troubling tale of a divorced father on holiday with his daughter, and his difficult past - which we never see more than abstract glimpses of, screened within borrowed recollection of the girl now in adulthood - there's plenty of suggestion about what may have happened to him before she was born, subsequent mental health issues, and his fate after the movie ends. But the flick's real power is found in the bond between parent and kid. Patient, quiet, and deeply personal, cellist, composer and electronic music producer Oliver Coates more than meets the standards required to score such a human story. The soundtrack is meditative and reflective, hopeful but also tangibly mournful. It invokes feelings of comfort, while also - for us anyway - inspires memories of things lost in our own fires.

Review: .It seemed like half the music industry stopped on 28th March 2023, when news broke that Japanese composer, record producer, musician, actor and solo artist Ryuchi Sakamoto had died. Tributes poured in from across the spectrum of sounds and scenes, although perhaps most vocally within electronic circles, indicative of just how influential and groundbreaking his work was. Monster is an aching tribute to that genius. The movie, directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda, is dedicated to the artist, who delivers one of the most beautiful scores we've heard in some time. A patient thing that largely divides time between pin-drop, candlelit piano sonatas and fuller string movements, it's musically astounding stuff which - even without the back story - would be capable of reaching straight for the heartstrings.

Review: Naya Beat Records specialise in uncovering the otherwise forgotten sounds of 1980s Bollywood movies, shedding fresh light on the tracks that might still spark some interest for the present day. The project focuses exclusively on the musical output of CBS Gramophone Records & Tapes India Ltd: a label active during India's peak disco era and became a home for experimental, B-movie and straight-to-VHS soundtracks. 'Awaaz' compiles rare, overlooked or not-previously-on-vinyl music by composers such as Bappi Lahiri, R. D. Burman, Ilaiyaraaja, Kalyanji-Anandji, Anand Milind, Raamlaxman and Kirti Anuraag - all were released between 1982 and 1986. Shockingly catchy, the tracks are joyous fusions of both South Asian traditions and Moogy electronic and acid stylings, perfect for curios and DJ diggers alike.

Review: The 2019 sci-fi political comedy Iron Sky: The Coming Race, directed by Timo Vuorensola, is a sequel to the 2012 cult hit Iron Sky. The film is set 20 years after the events of the first film, where a group of survivors on the former Nazi moon base discover a hidden world at the center of the Earth inhabited by an ancient reptilian race. Wacky and outlandish concepts aside, the film is scored by Slovenian oddball band Laibach, purveyors of their patented "martial industrial" sound, which combines elements of industrial music with a military feel - perfect for the militaristic themes of the film.

Review: Photographer Nan Goldin captured snapshots of inner-city queer sexuality like no other. Famous for her visual chronicling of LGBT subcultures in New York throughout the 1970s and 80s, her work focused on escapism within the real - walking the tightrope of sexual ecstasy over beds of real danger: the twin epidemics, HIV/AIDS and opioid. Film material about her work up until now has largely been limited to the slideshow 'The Ballad Of Sexual Dependency', but 2023 changed that with the documentary film 'All The Beauty And The Bloodshed', which biographically documents Goldin's life and career, homing especially in on her lengthy fight with the orchestrators of the opioid epidemic, the Sackler family. The soundtrack to the film, composed by international experimental sound art group Soundwalk Collective, in collaboration with Dawn Sutter Madell - is an intense, almost heavenly orchestral suite, yet is no less cinematic or righteous. It's tinged with the mood of tearing down an oppressive, parasitic pharmaceutical structure, not least one which still financially feeds the arts world with bloodstained hands.

Review: The 1968 film 'Gangsters 70', also known as 'Days Of Fire', is a lesser-known classic Italian crime thriller directed by Mino Guerrini. Something of a lost relic in the genre, we're surprised that it's taken this long for the soundtrack, composed by Egisto Macchi, to be reissued alone for the first time here. The stylistic fusion of free improvisation, abstract electronic ornaments and jazz lends well to the film's noir, thrill-of-the-chase overtones, and will surely be a favourite of just about any and every lover of free, abstract musics. The soundtrack also tapers off into horrific, screechy directions, reflecting the ever-unfurlingly paranoid mood of the flick.

Review: Studio Ghibli in Japan is responsible for some of the greatest animation to have ever been committed to film. Part of what makes them so great is the soundtrack, of course, which also serves as delightful standalone listens. Yoshio Mamiya was behind the music of this one, Grave Of The Fireflies, released in 1988, but it is more than just a score - it is a fascinating soundtrack board that features not just the music but also plenty of dialogue and many of the sound effects you can hear in the movie's most famous scenes. It comes with liner notes on limited clear vinyl.

Review: .The Burakumin story is one that has been largely untold, and represents a horrific example of civil rights violations right here - or there - in modern day Japan. A term used to describe a demographic believed to have descended from pre-Meiji castes associated with kegare (uncleanliness), with historic ties to professions such as executioners, undertakers, slaughterhouse workers and tanners, essentially they are seen as descendants of societal outcasts and still suffer prejudice at the hands of many. My Story is a new feature length documentary looking at the experience of this population, a deep dive into tales of persecution and rejection, which cries out for an equally thoughtful soundtrack. While in production, director Yusaku Mitsuwaka imagined Mono delivering the score, so we can only imagine the delight at signing them up. Minimal but looming large on the emotional scale, the end result is a wonderfully textured, sparse and slow burning electronic stunner that screams cinematic quality.

Review: 'The Bastard Son & The Devil Himself' is a British fantasy drama that's got it all; antichrist conspiracies, pagan witches, misplaced identities, concerning the spiritual journey of the son of the most dangerous witch on the planet, it's no surprise that its showrunners have enlisted the help of Let's Eat Grandma (Rosa Walton / Jenny Hollingworth), who normally work in the realm of "experimental sludge pop", but instead, this soundtrack essentially recalls witch house for synthpop heads - with its garishly detuned synth mallets and uncanny arpeggiations recalling the creepy modernity of 2010s soundtracks by Disasterpeace or CUTS - but better.

Review: Money (also known as Money - Intrigo in nove mosse) is a 1991 Italian-French thriller film directed by Steven Hilliard Stern. Infamous for its embittered story about a young man seeking to take revenge on the financial industry after the loss of his father's fortune, the film is noted for its soundtrack by famous composer Ennio Morricone, one of the most influential and acclaimed film composers of all time. The soundtrack features Morricone's trademark style of atmospheric and suspenseful music, using strings, piano, percussion and synthesizers to create varying moods of dirty-monied tension. The reissue also features the original artwork by Renato Casaro, depicting a stylized dollar bill with the faces of the main actors.

Review: The trend for video game soundtracks to be please don vinyl continues apace and we're here for it, frankly. This one on iam8bit is a masterclass in authentic jazz music from Kristofer Maddigan based around the Cuphead: The Delicious Last Course game. This superb collection of ditties will remind you of everything you loved about the game - and if you didn't play it, it will have you wishing you did. The opening theme is fill with zippy sounds and from there come harmonised vocals from a 1930s club, epic jazz workouts with big brass energy, and plenty ore treats besides.

Review: The cult of Stardew Valley is real - the sweet-natured indie farm simulator became a runaway success for people wanting a little gentle escapism in their screen time. As well as the easy pace of the gameplay, the music composed by ConcernedApe was a big factor in the appeal. So much so, Coffee Date and DJ Cutman have created a fully-fledged tribute album they bill as "Lofi beats to farm and make friends to." If you're familiar with the game then you know this music already, and if not, perhaps this level of pleasant is exactly what you need in your life.