If you could compile the soundtrack to Elric: The Movie...

[ipssissimus]

If it was up to me (and clearly it isn’t), I’d dispense with the usual orchestral score for Elric: The Movie and compile a soundtrack from modern sources – maybe commission music from a few contemporary artists. IMHO some black metal would go down well – by turns it’s visceral, atmospheric, brutal and epic. Perfect for Elric’s more frenzied moments with Stormbringer, or super-natural encounters with Arioch etc.

Anyway, if I was compiling the Elric soundtrack album I’d want to include:

Hawkwind: Arioch
Depeche Mode: PIMPF (listen to it and you’ll see what I mean)
Bathory: Blood and Iron
Enslaved: The Battle of Lindesfarne
Primordial: Glorious Dawn
Enslaved: Violet Dawning
Gorgoroth: Teeth Grinding
1349: Singer of Strange Songs
Tsjuder: Mouth of Madness
Marduk: Perish in Flames
1349: Internal Winter
Immortal: Blizzard Beasts
Sunno))): Decay2 [NIHILS' MAW]

Okay - now shoot me down in flames. More thoughts on related stuff at my website: http://www.ipssissimus.com

[Dead-Air]

There was actually a pretty lenghty topic of this nature in the Q & A forum.

I couldn't pick songs without knowing the scenes to match, but artists I would draw from would be: Sigur Ros, Brian Eno, Air, Mum, Amon Tobin, perhaps Hawkwind though maybe Nik Turner solo would be more the way to go. I'd stay away from metal for fear of it making the movie feel like some sort of video game.

[HawkLord]

I think Hawkwind's Chronicle of the Black Sword album would be good, although that would maybe take the emphasis of the film a bit.
I know what you mean about metal making it sound like a video game though. Classical music or Romantic music might be quite good.

[ipssissimus]

Depends what you're calling metal. I wouldn't advocate using any of the bombastic US metal bands so popular with 'the kids', but there are plenty of guitar-based bands around the globe, making music that would fit well with the movie. Sunno))) for instance, are an amazing outfit that basically create extremely moody, other-worldly guitar atmospherics.

This is part of a bigger question about whether the movie score should use contemporary or traditional instrumentation. Bearing in mind that Elric originally sprung from the murky, tie-dyed depths of the Seventies, and that Moorcock himself was a player in the space rock movement, I think a 'modern' soundrack would provide a good context for the film. Besides, Moorcock is an experimentalist at heart - so the film should reflect this and buck the trend of tedious sub-orchestral scores (ironically, often generated electronically without the aid of an orchestra.)

[Dead-Air]

I tend to agree that something modern is the direction to go since Elric has always been about breaking the established fantasy mold of Howard, Tolkein, et al., and those are always connected to classical music soundtracks.

I love Sunno))) and agree that something by them could work. I don't really think of them as "metal" though, nor Earth for that matter. Those groups have an epic, atmospheric quality that could work for a film rather well (with efficient editing!) My favorite band is Sonic Youth, but I think their music is way too non-medieval in feel and couldn't possibly work.

Another option that came up a lot in the thread in the Q & A was to use non-Western traditional music, and that also makes sense since Michael has been trying to move Elric away from the Celtic connection.

I keep pushing hard for Sigur Ros because I think they have a really amazing other worldly quality that would work perfectly, and they may currently also be "hip" enough that Hollywood would be into it. Certainly worlds better than Enya or new age tripe like that.

[KenBoorman]

I don't think it would be hard to find a place for some Mono songs either really. They have the right song dynamics usually that would fit a film score like a glove.

Ken

[HawkLord]

Bearing in mind that Elric originally sprung from the murky, tie-dyed depths of the Seventies, and that Moorcock himself was a player in the space rock movement

Some space rock like Hawkwind would be pretty sweet. I think their song 'Zarozinia' would be great for the movie! 'Master of the Universe' would be pretty good at some point too!

[Dead-Air]

You see, as much as I love those songs, I have a hard time picturing that without it coming off pretty cheesy. I could see Hawkwind in a Jerry Cornelius movie, but in Elric, they just wouldn't gel for me. At least not the vocal stuff. The problem is that the music is way too forefront for the purpose. Soundtracks require something that you aren't even completely aware you are listening to that seemlessly flows with the images in telling the story.

[HawkLord]

Yeh I see what you mean. Some of their instrumental music would be quite good, I think 'Chronoglide Skyway' might work. 'Lords of Chaos' of Live Chronicles maybe, and possibly 'Horn of Fate'.
I think the instrumental 'Lost Chronicles' could work as well.

[Cypher]

I don't think it would be hard to find a place for some Mono songs either really. They have the right song dynamics usually that would fit a film score like a glove.

Ken

I quite agree Ken. Mono would be an excellent choice, as would many other post-rock bands. The epic nature of their mainly instrumental pieces, and the ability many of them have to evoke strong feelings with the soundscapes they create, would make them a perfect choice.

Apart from Mono, I would suggest bands like Charlottefield, Cove, The Edmund Fitzgerald, Youthmovie Soundtrack Strategies, Godspeed, Sigur Ros, Mogwai, Detwiiji, Don Caballero, Slint.

[Dead-Air]

Yeah, Godspeed You Black Emporer is another one I could see, and they're up there with Sigur Ros in the "hip factor" too. I know that annoys a few people, but you have to be realistic when dealing with Hollywood which is why Michael's working with name directors and so forth. The best you can do is find something that is hip and actually happens to be good and appropriate to the material as well as Godspeed or Sigur Ros would be.

[Cathaera]

I would actually recommend Tangerine Dream for the soundtrack of this movie as their ability to create an atmosphere with sound is superb.

Just my two cents worth.

[Ant]

I would actually recommend Tangerine Dream for the soundtrack of this movie...

Agreed; their soundtrack for Sorcerer/Wages of Fear (1977) was very strong. (Better than the movie, which was't as good as the original.)

In a similar vein, I've previously suggested Orbital (Event Horizon, 1997, and Octane, 2003).

Ciao,
Ant

[Kidnero]

I could think that someone like Oliver Shanti could make an excellent soundtrack to this movie. At least if he would be able to make some more mellow music than he normally does.

[Ant]

Sorry, Kid, I'm missing somthing here. Who is Oliver Shanti? Am I likely to have heard anything by him? Nothing on AMG rang a bell...

Ciao,
Ant