Juno Recommends Soundtracks August 2023

Review: Four Flies present another masterpiece from one of the all-time greats of Italian soundtrack and library music, Piero Umiliani. His work on the 1974 film Il Corpo ranks amongst his most famous work, and now two pieces have been selected from the soundtrack and presented on this exclusive single. 'Chaser' on the A side appears in an exclusive extended form which has never been released before, while 'Hard Times' on the flip remains the archetype of Italian jazz-funk perfection. This is a limited edition so don't hang around as these are sure to fly out.

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: Now widely regarded as one of the best soundtrack composers of his generation, at the very least, Hans Zimmer has been behind plenty of the most seminal movie scores. His work for The Last Samurai is right up there and now for the very first time it is pressed up to vinyl. The 2003 movie starring Tom Cruise was nominated for a Golden Globe for its score and centres around the struggle of Civil War veteran Nathan Algren, the newly formed Imperial Japanese Army and Lord Moritsugu Katsumoto. The music mixes up traditional Japanese taiko drums, shakuhachi flutes and kotos into pastoral passages full of drama and tension as well as beauty.

Review: It's no real shock that a Tim Burton Netflix modern revitalisation of The Addams Family, and particularly the central character Wednesday, would become a global success seemingly overnight. Jenna Ortega's performance was also key to retaining the character's essential components while imbuing new nuances and eccentricities, but the project wouldn't have felt complete without the almost essential soundtrack from Burton's go-to composer Danny Elfman, who is also currently experiencing quite the career resurgence thanks to his excellent Big Mess album from 2021. Linking up with the younger yet equally impressive Chris Bacon, the Wednesday score is equal parts whimsical, macabre, gloomy and horrific, yet endlessly playful, which almost describes all of the Burton/Elfman scores. Thanks to Bacon, there's a notable increase in glitching synths spells and modern tweaks to elevate the usual whimsy to a reimagined standard of orchestral dramatics.

Review: If you assumed it was possible to live without a ska version of the James Bond theme tune then prepare to be taught one of life's great lessons. Assumption is the mother of all f**k ups, basically. Fear not, though, what was a one-off pressing by Soul Jazz for Record Store Day in 2020 is once again available, only this time on gatefold LP rather than five 7" singles. Perhaps not as authentic or ideal for DJs, nevertheless the contents are just as captivating. Celebrating, in part at least, the bond between Bond and the Caribbean - author Ian Fleming lived on Jamaica and several stories are set in the region, and filmed on said island (Dr No, Live & Let Die, The Man With The Golden Gun, No Time To Die) this is evocative stuff. Stick it on, kick back with a Martini, and picture yourself casing out a mark at some beachside party spot, stunning partner in hand, senses subtly on high alert.

Review: Galcher Lustwerk has put together a collection of 10 ambient cuts here that he wrote to score a film by Josh Kline, a fine artist whose solo exhibition 'Project for a New American Century' recently opened at the Whitey Museum of American Art in New York. It is a dystopic science fiction movie that details what happens after the climate crisis really takes hold. The music is an esoteric mix of free jazz, drones and bleeped-out ambient that is alive with busy, fizzing frequencies. It's a dense, textural brew that collides synth and sax sounds into a new sort of tribute to Ridley Scott's Blade Runner score.

Review: One of several products of the relationship between Piero Umiliani and film director Luigi Scattini, Angeli Bianchi... Angeli Neli - also known as Witchcraft 70 - exemplifies what was so good about the partnership between filmmaker and film scorer. A mondo movie, which were a specific sub genre of exploitation flicks and documentaries, often made to look like works of non-fiction, while this isn't Cannibal Holocaust, one of the most notorious in the canon, it certainly paints a questionable picture of Brazil's rural communities. Supposedly heading out into small town South America to observe witchcraft, black magic and ritual practices, the soundtrack itself does its best to try and evoke the spirits presented on screen, even when heard separate to the visual narrative. Here in abridged form (the full soundtrack is also available), the two tracks are influenced by Bossa nova and samba, but with so much wilder happening.'Saudade' opens on spectacular vocal-led stuff, before 'Macumba' places voice as secondary to complex and hypnotic drum patterns.

Review: Fantasists, rejoice: the original score for the 1997 sci-fi action film Starship Troopers gets a reissue. Directed by Paul Verhoeven and based on the novel by acclaimed sci-fi writer Robert A. Heinlein, the film follows a group of young soldiers who enlist in the military to fight a war against a hostile alien race known as the Arachnids. Matching this timeless venturing into the unknown, composer Basil Poledouris provides a powerful and propulsive orchestral work that reflects the film's militaristic and satirical tone, making thorough use of his in-house Hollywood Studio Symphony to hammer home an expressionistic foremost brass section. Varese Sarabande now reissue the soundtrack as an expanded edition with bonus tracks, on a first time vinyl version after the initial 2016 release.

Review: Son Lux grew from Ryan Lott's solo project into a fully-fledged band with Ian Chang and Rafiq Bhatia, and their star has steadily ascended from indie hip-hop territory to creating this Oscar-nominated soundtrack for one of the most talked-about films of the past year. It's a sure sign Son Lux are in the premier league now, and following the release of the soundtrack comes the official score, presented across four extended suites taking up whole sides of vinyl. This limited gatefold black and white pressing of the album gives the striking sonics the release they deserve.

Review: Truman Capote's novel Breakfast at Tiffany's is one of the silver screen's most iconic films and certainly one of Henry Mancini's best ever soundtracks. It is a superbly pleasing blend of pop and swing that is captivating and fresh for the duration. The 12 tracks here all exude real class, great songwriting and arranging skills and range from the big-band sound of 'Something for Cat' to the smooth lounge groove 'Sally's Tomato' via the more wilfully wild moments of 'Mr. Yunioshi. Reel To Reel present this reissue on limited edition white vinyl.

Review: French filmmaker and actor Jacques Tati is a legend in the world of cinema who gets celebrated here with Born Bad presenting the soundtracks to six of his movies. Tati was keely attuned to sonic entertainment, as most of his film are amost entirely dialogue free, and so music, along with sound effects, plays a massive part, from wistful, evocative trad jazz to its headier, rowdier modern successor. Those included in this bumper set are Jour de Fete, Vacances de Monsieur Hulot - once listed by none other than Bjork as her favourite film - Mon Oncle, Playtime, Traffic and Parade. it comes as a lovely double-LP with printed innersleeve and download code and extensive sleeve notes from Macha Makaieiff. The sounds are as amazing too listen to as the movies are to watch with jazz, swing and plenty in between all featuring in unique soundscapes packed with life.

Review: 1980's Un sacco bello translates as Fun Is Beautiful and is an Italian comedy movie that was produced by Sergio Leon and marked the debut for director Calro Verdone, who was also the head actor and screenwriter. The soundtrack is one of the very many by legendary composer Ennio Morricone and this was his first collaboration with Verdone. He wrote pieces for each of the main scenes in the movie with the opening being a funky rhythm workout before more nostalgic, dreamy and romantic pieces follow later, all performed by an orchestra and additional musicians.

Review: Guy Richie's Lock Stock & Two Smoking Barrels may well be a film very much from a certain era but a fantastic one it remains. It is now a quarter of a century old and part of the reason it struck such a chord upon release was the super cool and occasionally bad-ass soundtrack. It now gets a special anniversary reissue on four sides of translucent red wax with all the original standouts present and correct - from the smooth jungle of E Z Rollers to the macing James Brown cut 'The Boss' via Junior Murvin's smokers' anthem 'Police & Thieves', reliving this one is always well worth it.

Review: Spanning no less than 131 volumes in print, Jojo's Bizarre Adventure has understandably found cult status among fans of Manga worldwide. Running from 1987 to present day, the most recent instalments began serialisation in 2023. Presumably looking to make the most of the first new chapters since 2012, Sony has opted to re-release the score to part five, Golden Wind, which landed in 2001 and was adapted into anime form. Setting the scene in Naples, Italy, the plot involves gangsters, drug dealers who specifically target kids, and a plot to kill the protagonist's daughter. Steeped in Japanese animated movie score traditions, the accompanying music by celebrated composer Kanno Yugo is at times tense, in other moments playful, often fantastic, regularly bizarre, and resolutely eccentric.

Review: The Super Mario Bros Movie has proved as much of a hit as you would expect give the size of the Mario franchise over the last 40 years. It feature all the main characters from the Mario world, all brought to life in vivid fashion and bright colour, not least thanks to the soundtrack. It features plenty of the motifs you will know if you have every played the game along with many more and now they are all pressed up to two slabs of coloured vinyl. Dropping the needle on this one submerges you deep in the Mario world and also provides plenty of great tools to use to bring eclectic mixes and radio shows to life in all new ways.

Review: This is literally the Best Collection of original tracks from the Japanese anime series Hajime No Ippo, which was first born as a manga series by George Morikaw. It's since gone down in time as one of the genre's greatest, after it was adapted in 1989 into a series of films and video games. We follow the obscurity-to-greatness story of Makunouchi Ippo, a high school student who becomes a professional boxer. The anime's soundtrack artists Tsuneo Imahori, Shocking Lemon, Last Alliance, Wasureranneyo and Coldrain all do well to nail the series' themes of prevailing against the odds and teen angst.

Review: Jim O'Rourke handles the soundtrack for Hands That Bind, a Canadian drama film directed by Kyle Armstrong and starring Michael Shannon, Elisabeth Moss and Willem Dafoe. The American musician and producer is known for his eclectic and experimental work in a deluge of genres, spanning rock, folk, jazz, ambient and electronic - all shine through with equal gravitas on the OST, reflecting O'Rourke's talent for creating atmospheric cinematics that perfectly complement the film's theme of a local land scandal, and its conspiracy-level implications.

Review: A cinematic classic requiring little introduction, Guy Ritchie's Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels has gone on to become one of the quintessential British gangster flicks. Complete with endlessly quotable dialogue and a myriad of scuzzy yet endearing characters, the project would lay the groundwork for the mega success of Snatch which would follow at the turn of the new millennium. Almost as iconic as the film or its exceptional casting, is the cracking soundtrack which varies from James Brown to Junior Murvin to even Dusty Springfield. Yes, Robbie Williams might make an appearance (as he was everywhere in the late 90s), but with The Stooges and The Stone Roses in tow, the soundtrack runs the gamut from britpop to reggae to classic even d&b cuts such as 'Walk This Land' from E-Z Rollers. Freshly available on wax, this collection has since morphed into an intriguing time capsule of the British musical landscape in the ensuing decades, while also serving as a vast, varied compilation of timeless bangers.

Review: Two classic soundtracks for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), composed by Naoki Kodaka, now see a first-time vinyl issue in a single set. Kodaka is a renowned videogame composer who initially worked for Sunsoft, and during his tenure, firstly saw to the composition of the OST for Journey To Silius, a 1990 side-scrolling action game originally intended to be based on the Terminator film franchise. We once again hear Kodaka's signature, dynamic chiptune compositions, reflecting the drama of the game. The second soundtrack, meanwhile, is for Ufouria: The Saga, a 1991 action-adventure game that was only released in Japan and Europe. Compared to Sirius, Uforia's is far catchier and more whimsical, matching the game's colourful and quirky overtones. The release includes both soundtracks on one LP, featuring blue and white swirl vinyl.

Review: Suspiria, one of Dario Argento's defining horror masterpieces, wasn't the first time Goblin had worked with the controversial-yet-acclaimed Italian director. The progressive rockers had, two years previous, delivered the incredible score to Profondo Rosso, and won plaudits at the time for their work - once people knew it was them. It was originally intended to be soundtracked by jazz pianist and composer Giorgio Gaslini, but disagreements on his output left just three of his themes in, but the credits were never updated, leaving Goblin listed incorrectly as "performers" as oppose to writers of the music. While this would have left a bad taste in the mouths of many, evidently that wasn't the case here. Two years later, the band were back with Argento and making this insane collection of sounds, half tracks, atmospheric noises, and cacophonous arrangements. A truly visceral experience, it's an immersive assault on the senses touching on experimental electronics, contemporary classical, gothic, and plain weirdo.