In these Corona stricken times I have been enjoying compiling some mixtapes based on sound and music originally made for, related to, or part of cinematic works. I have particularly, but hardly exclusively, been delving into the work of – in desperate lack of a better word – “leftfield” composers and sound artists related to cinema, a beloved area of interest that I was happy to revisit and expand on this occasion. Amongst the pieces assembled here you will find some fragments of soundtracks that, unfortunately, have not yet been given a proper release, notably work by Basil Kirchen (although a lot of his music has been released or reissued lately, this is not yet the case for his excellent soundtrack for Jack Cardiff’s The Freakmaker), Jack Nitzsche (for Greaser’s Palace and by extension all the work he did with Robert Downey Sr.), Mario Nascimbene (especially for Shadi Abdel Salam‘s Al Mummia and Roberto Rosselini’s Socrates – although some parts were released on the compilation LP Psycorama), Brian Eno (most of his early soundtrack work can be found on his Music for Films LP’s, but not for Kostas Karagiannis’ Land of the Minotaur – or Malcolm Le Grice’s Berlin Horse, for that matter), Philippe Arthuys (in particular the thrilling organ score for JL Godard’s Les Carabiniers, but also the pieces he made for Rosselini or Rivette, amongst others), Jôji Yuasa (notably for Toshio Matsumoto’s Funeral Parade of Roses), Barney Wilen (score for Caroline de Bendern’s A l’intention de Mlle Issoufou à Bilma – a kind of twin project to his great Moshi LP – but also his collaboration with Sunny Murray for Serge Bard’s Fun and Games for Everyone), Horace Tapscott & The Pan-Afrikan Peoples Arkestra (for Larry Clark’s films), Trevor Mathison (his wonderful work with the Black Audio Film Collective), Phil Kline (for Sara Driver’s films), Meredith Monk (especially for her Ellis Island), Steve Reich (for Lutz Mommartz’s 3 Gläser but also some of Robert Nelson’s films), Beatriz Ferreyra (for Fiorella Mariani’s under-appreciated Homo Sapiens), Krishan Mueller and José Maceda for Kidlat Tahimik’s Perfumed Nightmare, and much more. Some of these soundtracks were released in limited edition and have been long out of print, for example Toshi Ichiyanagi’s music for Yoshishige Yoshida’s Eros + Massacre, Günter Schickert’s compositions for a film by Sabine Franck-Koch, or Richard Landry’s pieces for Lawrence Weiner’s A First Quarter (and what on earth happened to the soundtrack for Weiner’s A Bit of Matter and a Little Bit More, scored by the all too forgotten Marzette Watts?)… Others have only very recently seen the light of day, such as Sam Waymon and Carman Moore’s compositions for Bill Gunn’s films Ganja & Hess and Personal Problems (thanks to Strange Disc records and Reading Group), Delia Derbyshire and Elsa Stansfield’s work for Circle of Light (Trunk records) or Henning Christiansen’s pieces for film (Penultimate Press), just to name a few.
In any case, the pleasure of discovery has all but subsided and a Belgian edition is in the works, so stay tuned!
Thanks to Sabzian for publishing!
Tracklist
1. Mario Nascimbene – Socrate [Socrates] (Roberto Rossellini, 1971)
2. Toru Takemitsu – Moetsukita chizu [The Man Without a Map or The Ruined Map] (Hiroshi Teshigahara, 1968)
3. Phil Kline – Your Are Not I (Sara Driver, 1981)
4. Henning Christiansen – Eftersøgningen [The Search] (ABCinema, 1969)
5. Alan R. Splet, David Lynch, Peter Ivers – Eraserhead (David Lynch, 1977)
6. Frans Zwartjes – Living (Frans Zwartjes, 1971)
7. Otomo Yoshihide – Yûheisha – terorisuto [Prisoner – Terrorist] (Masao Adachi, 2007)
8. Trevor Mathison – Expeditions (Black Audio Film Collective, 1983-1984)
9. Cabaret Voltaire – Chance Versus Causality (Babeth Mondini, 1979)
10. Sally Smmit (Timms), Pete Shelley – Hangahar (unknown, 1979)
11. Psychic TV – Pirate Tape (Derek Jarman, 1987)
12. Mika Vainio – Mannerlaatta [Tectonic Plate] (Mika Taanila, Mannerlaatta, 2016)
13. Vittorio Gelmetti, Giovanni Fusco – Il deserto rosso [Red Desert] (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1964)
14. Meredith Monk – 16 Millimeter Earrings (Robert Withers, 1966)
15. Pierre Henry – Maléfices [Where the truth lies] (Henri Decoin, 1962)
16. Jean Prodromides – Et mourir de plaisir [Blood and Roses] (Roger Vadim, 1960)
17. Pierre Barouh, Francis Lai – Un homme et une femme [A Man and a Woman] (Claude Lelouch, 1966)
18. Victor Young – Johnny Guitar (Nicholas Ray, 1954)
19. Walter Schumann – The Night of the Hunter (Charles Laughton, 1955)
20. François de Roubaix – Les lèvres rouges [Daughters of Darkness] (Harry Kümel, 1971)
21. Can – Tote Taube in der Beethovenstraße [Dead Pigeon on Beethoven Street] (Samuel Fuller, 1973)
22. Haruomi Hosono – Paradaisu byû [Paradise View] (Go Takamine, 1985)
23. John Carpenter – Assault on Precinct 13 (John Carpenter, 1976)
24. Klaus Schulze – Next of Kin (Tony Williams, 1982)
25. Jack Smith, John Cale, Tony Conrad – Silent Shadows on Cinemaroc Island (1964)
26. Mike Ratledge – Riddles of the Sphinx (Laura Mulvey & Peter Wollen, 1977)
27. Terry Riley – Lifespan (Alexander Whitelaw, 1976)
28. Neil Young – Dead Man (Jim Jarmusch, 1996)
29. Nouvelle Vague (Jean-Luc Godard, 1990)
30. Bruce Langhorne – The Hired Hand (Peter Fonda, 1971)
31. Star Spangled to Death (Ken Jacobs, 2004)
32. Albert Marcœur – Deux lions au soleil (Claude Faraldo, 1980)
33. Idea Fire Company & BRRR – The Terrible Comet Salt (Timothy Shortell, 2000)
34. Star Spangled to Death (Ken Jacobs, 2004)
Tracklist
1. Putney Swope (Robert Downey Sr., 1969)
2. Fiorucci Made Me Hardcore (Mark Leckey, 1999)
3. Coil, Simon Fisher Turner – Blue (Derek Jarman, 1993)
4. Jim O’Rourke – Kaien Hoteru burû [Kaien Hotel Blue] (Kôji Wakamatsu, 2012)
5. Alessandro Alessandroni (1972, from library music collection)
6. George Auric, Isla Cameron and The Raymonde Singers – The Innocents (Jack Clayton, 1961)
7. Brian Gascoigne, David Briscoe, David Vorhaus – Phase IV (Saul Bass, 1974)
8. Goblin – Tenebre [Tenebrae] (Dario Argento, 1982)
9. Coil – Blue (Derek Jarman, 1993)
10. Conrad Schnitzler (1975, from ‘Filmmusik’ collection)
11. Bernard Parmegiani – Rock (Michel Treguer, 1982)
12. Edvard Graham Lewis – All Under (Gunilla Leander, 2003)
13. Steve Reich – 3 Gläser (Lutz Mommartz, 1967)
14. Jim O’Rourke – Not Yet (Jim O’Rourke, 2003)
15. Jim O’Rourke – Kaien Hoteru burû [Kaien Hotel Blue] (Kôji Wakamatsu, 2012)
16. Ennio Morricone – Un uomo da rispettare [The Master Touch] (Michele Lupo, 1972)
17. Toshi Ichiyanagi – Eros + Massacre (Yoshishige Yoshida, 1969)
18. Little Murders (Alan Arkin, 1971)
19. Claudio Gizzi – Blood for Dracula or Andy Warhol’s Dracula (Paul Morrissey, 1974)
20. Vladimir Ussachevsky (1960, from educational audiovisual ‘Music Appreciation Series’)
21. Jack Nitzsche – Cutter’s Way (Ivan Passer, 1981)
22. Nino Rota – Il Casanova di Federico Fellini [Fellini’s Casanova] (Frederico Fellini, 1976)
23. Nico, Ari Boulogne – La cicatrice intérieure (Philippe Garrel, 1972)
24. Beatriz Ferreyra – Homo Sapiens (Fiorella Mariani, 1971-1974)
25. Sun Ra and his Solar Arkestra – The Magic Sun (Phill Niblock, 1966)
26. Bernard Parmegiani – Je, tu, elles (Peter Foldes, 1969)
27. Frans Zwartjes (unknown, from archival collection)
28. Charley Cuva – Putney Swope (Robert Downey Sr., 1969)
29. Jack Smith – Star Spangled to Death (Ken Jacobs, 2004)
30. The Velvet Underground – Walden: Diaries, Notes, and Sketches (Jonas Mekas, 1964)
31. Angus Maclise – The Invasion of Thunderbolt Pagoda (Ira Cohen, 1968)
32. Popul Vuh – Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht (Werner Herzog, 1979)
33. Terry Riley – Lifespan (Sandy Whitelaw, 1975)
34. Franco Falsini – Naso Freddo [Cold Nose] (Filippo Milani, 1975)
35. If There Be Thorns (Michael Robinson, 2009)
36. Krishan Mueller, José Maceda – Mababangong Bangungot [Perfumed Nightmare] (Kidlat Tahimik, 1977)
Tracklist
1. Basil Kirchen – The Freakmaker or The Mutations (Jack Cardiff, 1974)
2. Alice in Wonderland (Jonathan Miller, 1981)
3. Delia Derbyshire, Elsa Stansfield – Circle of Light (Anthony Roland & Pamela Bone, 1972)
4. John Cage – Dreams That Money Can Buy (Marcel Duchamp segment) (Hans Richter, 1947)
5. Meredith Monk – Ellis Island (Bob Rosen & Meredith Monk, 1981)
6. Meredith Monk, David Byrne – True Stories (David Byrne, 1986)
7. Joe Hisaishi – Sonatine (Takeshi Kitano, 1993)
8. Tangerine Dream – Risky Business (Paul Brickman, 1983)
9. Kurt Stenzel – Dune (Alejandro Jodorowsky, 1974, film never realized)
10. Günter Schickert – In den Zeichen (Sabine Franck-Koch, 1981)
11. Ash Ra Tempel – Le berceau de cristal (Philippe Garrel, 1976)
12. Eugeniusz Rudnik – Szychta (Jerzy Kalina, 1988)
13. Bruce Gilbert – Swamp (Charles Atlas, 1986), based on Do You Me? I Did (choreography by Michael Clark, 1984)
14. Why Do Things Get in a Muddle? (Come on Petunia) (Gary Hill,1984)
15. Luc Ferrari – Chronopolis (Piotr Kamler, 1983)
16. Don Cherry, Karl Berger, Anthony Braxton – Don Cherry (Jean-Noël Delamare, Nathalie Perrey & Philippe Gras, 1967-1969)
17. Ornette Coleman, Marianne Faithfull – Who’s Crazy? (Thomas White & Allan Zion, 1966)
18. Keith Waithe, Martin Carter – The Terror and The Time (Victor Jara Collective, 1977)
19. Ornette Coleman – Who’s Crazy? (Thomas White, Allan Zion, 1966)
20. Howard Shore, Ornette Coleman, The London Philharmonic Orchestra – Naked Lunch (David Cronenberg, 1991)
21. La rabbia [The Anger] (Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1963)
22. Trevor Duncan – La jetée (Chris Marker, 1962)
23. Minnie and Moskowitz (John Cassavetes, 1971)
24. Sandro Brugnolini (1972, from library music collection)
25. Masahiko Sato – Kanashimi no Belladonna [Belladonna Of Sadness] (Eiichi Yamamoto, 1973)
26. François de Roubaix – Dernier domicile connu [Last Known Address] (José Giovanni, 1970)
27. Jack Nitzsche – Greaser’s Palace (Robert Downey Sr., 1972)
28. Jack Nitzsche – Moment to Moment or Two Tons of Turquoise to Taos Tonight (Robert Downey Sr., 1975)
29. David Shire – The Conversation (Francis Ford Coppola, 1974)
30. Mario Nascimbene – Al Mummia [The Night of Counting the Years] (Shadi Abdel Salam, 1969)
31. Brian Eno – Land of the Minotaur or The Devil’s Men (Kostas Karagiannis, 1976)
32. Sam Waymon – Ganja & Hess (Bill Gunn, 1973)
33. Kevin Drumm – In Order Not To Be Here (Deborah Stratman, 2002)
34. Stephen O’Malley, Randall Dunn, Jóhann Jóhannsson – Mandy (Panos Cosmatos, 2018)
35. Basil Kirchen – The Freakmaker or The Mutations (Jack Cardiff, 1974)
36. Delia Derbyshire, Elsa Stansfield – Circle of Light (Anthony Roland & Pamela Bone, 1972)
37. Ravi Shankar – Alice in Wonderland (Jonathan Miller, 1981)
Tracklist
1. Jimmy Giuffre – This Island (Leo Hurwitz & Peggy Lawson, 1970)
2. Teresa Luciani (from library music collection, 1972)
3. Suzanne Ciani – Untitled (Ronald Mallory, 1973)
4. Iannis Xenakis – Orient-Occident (Enrico Fulchignoni, 1960)
5. Harry Partch – Windsong (Madeline Tourtelot, 1958)
6. Roy Budd – The Internecine Project (Ken Hughes, 1974)
7. Basil Kirchin, John Coleman, Jack Nathan, Lindsey Moore – I Start Counting (David Greene, 1970)
8. Jôji Yuasa – Bara no Sōretsu [Funeral Parade of Roses] (Toshio Matsumoto, 1969)
9. Touch of Evil (Orson Welles, 1958)
10. Philippe Besombes – Libra (Groupe Pattern, 1975)
11. Philippe Arthuys – Les carabiniers (Jean-Luc Godard, 1963)
12. Henning Christiansen – Skarpretteren [The Executioner] (Ursula Reuter Christiansen, 1971)
13. Jon Appleton – Scene Unobserved (Jon Appleton, Wayne Wadhams, Pierre Payne & John Mellquist, 1969)
14. Vladimir Ussachevsky – No Exit (Tad Danielewski & Orson Welles, 1962)
15. Lejaren Hiller – Pogányok ideje [Time of the Heathen] (Peter Kass, 1962)
16. Mesias Maiguashca – Dort wo wir Leben [The World We Live In] (unknown, 1967)
17. Bernard Herrmann – The Day the Earth Stood Still (Robert Wise, 1951)
18. Lalo Schifrin – THX 1138 (George Lucas, 1971)
19. Edward Artemiev – Soylaris [Solaris] (Andrei Tarkovsky, 1972)
20. Aminadav Aloni – Once (Morton Leonard Heilig, 1973)
21. Charles Wain – The Last Wave (Peter Weir, 1977)
22. Body and Soul (Robert Rossen, 1947)
23. Giorgio Moroder – Scarface (Brian De Palma, 1983 – own wrecked version)
24. None Shall Escape (André De Toth, 1944)
25. Rino de Filippi (from library music collection, 1978)
26. Teresa Luciani (from library music collection, 1972)
27. Dick Raaijmakers – Bekaert: het andere woord voor staaldraad (industrial film, 1966)
28. Tom Dissevelt – Glas (Bert Haanstra, 1958)
29. Jean Guérin – Bof… Anatomie d’un livreur (Claude Faraldo, 1971)
30. Barney Wilen – A l’intention de Mlle Issoufou à Bilma (Caroline de Bendern, 1971)
31. Art Ensemble of Chicago – Les stances à Sophie (Moshé Mizrahi, 1970)
32. Jean-Charles Capon, Baroque Jazz Trio – Midi Minuit (Pierre Philippe, 1970)
33. Horace Tapscott & The Pan-Afrikan Peoples Arkestra – As Above, So Below (Larry Clark, 1973)
34. Bush Mama (Haile Gerima, 1975)
35. Sam Waymon, Carman Moore – Personal Problems (Ishmael Reed, Bill Gunn, 1980)
36. Adele Bertei, The Red Krayola (Susan Carena Whitby, Georgina Mary Birch, Epic Soundtracks, Mayo Thompson) – Born in Flames (Lizzie Borden, 1983)
37. Tell Them Willie Boy is Here (Abraham Polonsky, 1969)
38. Richard Landry – A First Quarter (Lawrence Weiner, 1975)
39. Cyclobe (Stephen Thrower & Ossian Brown) – Death Bed: The Bed That Eats (George Barry, 1977)
40. John Duncan – Move Forward (John Duncan, 1984)