Juno Recommends Soundtracks May 2022

Review: Ryusuke Hamaguchi's film version of Haruki Murakami's novel Drive My Car has never before seen an official soundtrack release, until now. Afflicted by neon atmospheres and emotive piano, every piece found on this melancholic masterwork contains instruments played and produced entirely by composer Eiko Ishibashi: synths, flutes, melodion, vibraphone, foley. Rock legendf Jim O'Rourke lends a hand on everything guitar, making this a multifaceted greasers' trip through a whirlwind sonic romance.

Review: Encanto is the latest smash hit musical animation to emerge from the Disney studios. Speaking from personal experience, it has gone down incredibly well with young people who sure do love the bright colours and charming characters of the film, but only secondary to the music. It is big, non-stop, high energy, laden with positive messaging and catchy hooks. The entire soundtrack is pressed up here on vinyl but word of warning to parents: is certainly not one that is suited to early morning hangovers.

Review: British crime television series Sherlock has proved hugely popular in recent years. The latest adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's writings have also been hugely enhanced by the soundtrack. That score has been composed by David Arnold and Michael Price, and has won the pair numerous awards including a 2014 EMMY as well as two further nominations for an EMMY and a BAFTA nomination. Their contribution to Sherlock is immeasurable as exemplified by this soundtrack which is thrilling and sinister, playful and suspenseful in equal measure. The music from all three of the first series is captured here on this limited blue vinyl.

Review: The Deeper Into movies label makes an impressive debut here with a superb score for Dasha Nekrasova's notorious and award-winning debut feature movie, 'The Scary of Sixty-First'. It is a beguiling soundtrack with subtle hints of the legendary John Carpenter's synths and plenty of eerie and huanting drones of William Basinkski but all within its own unique framework that magically captures the mood and vie of the film's Uptown locations. The score was built around the 'pentagram melody' which is a seven-note symmetrical pattern found on a tarot card.

Review: Lou Reed, Sterling Morrison, John Cale, Doug Yule, Maureen Tucker and - a little later - Nico broke the mould with their efforts as The Velvet Underground. The Andy Warhol-managed and produced cult rock icons helped lay the foundations for New Wave and punk about a decade before either sound really started to make inroads in any circles, let alone commercial ones. And, listening back to any of their records now, the music itself isn't just a significant bookmark theoretically: it all still sounds incredible today.

Todd Haynes' highly recommendable documentary charts at least some of that story in a commendable way, more so when you consider it arrived around 50 years after the original lineup disbanded. Using interviews with surviving members Cale and Tucker, alongside archive footage, music and other material, it paints a vivid portrait of an equally vivid band. With tracks by them in question, Bo Diddley, The Primitives and The Diablos, this OST helps colour that picture, and era, properly.

Review: Whatever the genre, you can always be sure that the Italian spin on it will be truly unique and often full of flair. That is certainly true of the jazz soundtracks the country produced back in the 60s as this collection proves. It takes in 33 tracks from the CAM Sugar archive that all do way more than sound good - they in fact tell the story of the evolution of Italian cinema and even society during those years. Each one brims with style and charm in a way that makes them impossibly enjoyable and full of infectious swing that will brighten your day no end. Talented soloists and international stars like Chet Baker and Gato Barbieri feature.