Music

Album Review: Xander Harris ‘Urban Gothic’

Published

13 years ago

December 27, 2010

Often times, musicians say that they are inspired by something they see or some event that shapes them. It’s not often, however, that a musician says that their main source of inspiration is a book. Such is the case with Xander Harris’ ‘Urban Gothic’, which is meant to be a companion piece to the Brian Keene book of the same name, played in the background while you read the book. So does it work? Does Xander Harris’ ‘Urban Gothic’ work or does it hinder the reading experience? Check out after the jump.

Having not read Brian Keene’s book, it is difficult to say if I think that the two meld. I did, however, listen to some of the book off of the Brian Keene website and based on what I heard, ‘Urban Gothic’ hits the right notes and themes. The music of Xander Harris has a certain 70’s horror charm about it, in many ways reminiscent of Prince Of Darkness, Twin Peaks, Blade Runner and even a touch of Suspiria, while using near hip hop style beats to add to the atmosphere of the book’s environment.

Production wise, the album is in a strange position where the samples and patches used are very generic, almost to the point of sounding ‘cheap’. However, in many ways this only adds to the atmosphere of the music, heightening that 70’s charm that I mentioned above. There are a few times when I would have adjusted the volume mix of certain instruments as well as cut back on the usage of certain samples (mainly the hi-hat).

The music is often very repetitive with several tracks starting with a few lines overlapping and then more and more tracks being added on. As music to actively listen to, this would be crippling. Since this is meant to be background music while reading a book, it serves a great purpose in lulling the reader, almost hypnotically, into a state where reading is made almost effortless.

The Final Word: ‘Urban Gothic’ is not meant to be something one listens to on it’s own. It can be done, but at the end of the album, you’ll find yourself with a very blasé feeling about the experience. But when coupled with reading a horror novel, the album adds a certain charming depth to the experience.

JonathanBarkan

Managing editor/music guy/social media fella of Bloody-Disgusting

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Music

“He Walks By Night” – Listen to a Brand New John Carpenter Song NOW!

Published

2 weeks ago

April 9, 2024

John Squires

It’s a new day, and you’ve got new John Carpenter to listen to. John Carpenter, Daniel Davies and Cody Carpenter have released the new track He Walks By Night this morning, the second single off their upcoming album Lost Themes IV: Noir, out May 3 on Sacred Bones Records.

Lost Themes IV: Noir is the latest installment in a series that sees Carpenter releasing new music for John Carpenter movies that don’t actually exist. The first Lost Themes was released in 2015, followed by Lost Themes II in 2016 and Lost Themes III: Alive After Death in 2021.

Sacred Bones previews, “It’s been a decade since John Carpenter recorded the material that would become Lost Themes, his debut album of non-film music and the opening salvo in one of Hollywood’s great second acts. Those vibrant, synth-driven songs, made in collaboration with his son Cody Carpenter and godson Daniel Davies, kickstarted a musical renaissance for the pioneering composer and director. With Lost Themes IV: Noir, they’ve struck gold again, this time mining the rich history of the film noir genre for inspiration.

“Since the first Lost Themes, John has referred to these compositions as “soundtracks for the movies in your mind.” On the fourth installment in the series, those movies are noirs. Like the film genre they were influenced by, what makes these songs “noirish” is sometimes slippery and hard to define, and not merely reducible to a collection of tropes. The scores for the great American noir pictures were largely orchestral, while the Carpenters and Davies work off a sturdy synth-and-guitar backbone.

“The trio’s free-flowing chemistry means Lost Themes IV: Noir runs like a well-oiled machine—the 1951 Jaguar XK120 Roadster from Kiss Me Deadly, perhaps, or the 1958 Plymouth Fury from John’s own Christine. It’s a chemistry that’s helped power one of the most productive stretches of John’s creative life, and Noir proves that it’s nowhere near done yielding brilliant results.”

You can pre-save Lost Themes IV: Noir right now! And listen to the new track below…