'); document.write('

Soundtracks

'); document.write('

Eddie Vedder and Yoga
'); document.write('
I tend to discover music in the most unlikely of places. While the vast majority of my discoveries these days come from surfing the \'Net, I remember discovering The Juan Maclean when I wandered into a teenybopper fashion shop (I had to ask the teenage cashier what she was playing), reggaeton duo Jowell & Randy on the streets of Puerto Rico, and awesome French cabaret/swing/jazz group Paris Combo in French class.

The other day I had the opportunity to rediscover an artist that I thought I knew in yoga class of all places. I\'m used to practicing yoga to new age-y albums like Yoga Groove (Soulfood Music) or The Essence (Deva Premal), but I encountered something unexpected in this last class. As class was winding down, the teacher turned up the volume on the small stereo in the corner of the room and I found myself captivated by the haunting melody and lyrics of an utterly gripping and strangely melancholic song sung by a male singer with a slightly husky voice.

The singer sounded vaguely familiar, but I couldn\'t quite place him, so after class I asked the teacher who he was. I was shocked to find out that it was Eddie Vedder. The song turned out to be \"Guaranteed\" off the Into the Wild soundtrack. I\'d heard of the album, but not this particular song, and I\'m frankly surprised by how long it took me to discover it. But that, I think, is the beauty of music--there\'s always something new to discover.

Check out a clip of \"Guaranteed\" below.

--Bri Nguyen
'); document.write('
The Pussycat Dolls Take On \"Jai Ho\"
'); document.write('
I\'m a big fan of Bollywood (or \"filmi\") music, so I was intrigued (and admittedly a bit incredulous) when I heard that the Pussycat Dolls were recording a version of A.R. Rahman\'s Oscar-winning \"Jai Ho\" (from the Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack).

Now that the PCD single has hit the airwaves, I have to say that I\'m pleasantly surprised. Slick and radio-friendly, the PCD\'s version actually works for them, although this might be due in part to A.R. Rahman\'s skill as a composer--he collaborated on the remix (and the original melody is irresistibly hooky).

Check out a video of the PCD performing \"Jai Ho! (You Are My Destiny)\" live, then watch a video of A.R. Rahman (and his backup singers) performing the original version of the song.

Which do you prefer?

-- Bri Nguyen
'); document.write('
100 Film and TV Theme Tune Challenge
'); document.write('
This has me captivated. I\'m lost on too much of the TV stuff, to go for the prize, but if nothing else it tells you what American TV shows did strike a chord with Rick, growing up in England in the 70s. That and he has a real penchant for Bond movie scores. What is it about recognizing tunes from movies and TV that I find so enjoyable?

'); document.write('
Watch A New Flight of the Conchords Episode Early
'); document.write('

Our love for Flight of the Conchords is well documented, so you can imagine how excited we were to discover that Funny or Die is streaming the first episode of their HBO show\'s second season two weeks before you can see it anywhere else. Head over here to watch it, or catch it embedded after the jump.

-- Jeff Reguilon

Season 2 Online Premiere - Flight of the Conchords (US Only) - watch more funny videos
'); document.write('
Random Music Obsession: Movie Songs with the Same Name as the Movie
'); document.write('
My friend Pasuit and I share a lot of interests in common: trivia, obscure music, and all things \'80s (the more ridiculous, the better). We\'ve somewhat inadvertently combined all three of these things into an odd hobby, some might say obsession, that we both pursue: Collecting \'80s movie soundtracks that contain a song with the name of the movie in the title. You know what I\'m talking about--they usually play them over the credits.

You don\'t have to say anything, really. I\'ve been accused by other editors of "intentionally" liking bad music (and movies), but it\'s just plain not true--and I fully recognize that much of this music could be considered "bad". Maybe it\'s my OCD, but I honestly enjoy hunting down, finding, and dwelling in these odd little musical treasures, and that\'s what matters. Anyway, I\'d like to share a bite of the fruits of my labor with you--here are a handful of my favorite finds:

Garbage Pail Kids - The Movie featuring the song "You Can Be A Garbage Pail Kid" performed by Jimmy Scarlett:

My Science Project featuring the song "My Science Project" performed by the Tubes:

Sometimes they even make real music videos for these songs.

Twins featuring the song "Twins" performed by Little Richard & Philip Bailey:

And here is Pasuit\'s favorite--Spies Like Us featuring "Spies Like Us" written and performed by none other than Sir Paul McCartney:

There are plenty more, believe me. Do you have any favorites?
--Alan Wiley
P.S. I\'m also pretty serious about collecting sports training montage songs from \'80s movies. Look for a post on that in the future.
'); document.write('
M.I.A.\'s Grammy Nod, Plus a New Track
'); document.write('

Congrats to M.I.A. who was nominated for a Grammy last night for her smash hit, \"Paper Planes.\" I was super ecstatic to stumble across the soundtrack for Danny Boyle\'s new film, Slumdog Millionaire, last night to discover that M.I.A. has a hand in it. Goodie gumdrops! Here\'s what she had to about the soundtrack say in a recent interview with MTV:
M.I.A noted that she had just announced her retirement plans at Bonaroo when Boyle called her and offered the gig. “How could I turn it down? You want to slow down, but then you get offered a chance like this and Danny’s brilliant so I couldn’t say no. The film was just wonderful.”
Her new song, \"O Saya,\" is featured in the film (click here to listen). Now I am even more excited to see the film, which is set in Mumbai. I\'ve enjoyed learning about India over the past eight years through my bestie, Seema, whose parents were born there (though in the North), and like many I was saddened to see what transpired there over Thanksgiving weekend. Another reason I\'d like to catch a different glimpse of the city...before I go to see it for myself.

--Renata Sadunas

P.S. If you are in need of a good read, here\'s a recommendation: White Tiger, also set in India. I would have breezed through it days ago if it wasn\'t holiday time here at the \'zon. Oh, and here\'s the link to the Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack.
'); document.write('
Milestones: 10 Best Soundtracks Since 1998, Minus Garden State
'); document.write('
As we continue to roll back the clocks, celebrating the best moments of the last 10 years we\'ve been open for business, our thoughts turn to soundtracks. Once for collectors only, soundtracks now stack up high on the charts, an outcome of the popularity of Hannah Montana, High School Musical, and well, Zach Braff. Take the scene in Braff\'s movie Garden State where Natalie Portman\'s character utters what is, depending at how you view the world, the most damning or most celebratory thing that can be said about a pop band:

And the rest is history. The Garden State soundtrack went on to dominate charts and year-end lists, sold tens of thousands, increased the audience for the Shins, earned Braff a Grammy, and (if you pretend Hans Zimmer never got his hands on a piano) changed the niche soundtrack section into a mega-selling enterprise.

But, enough about Garden State. Here are my picks for the 10 most-important soundtracks of the last 10 years:

1999: The setting of Rushmore, the movie about the kid with all the right ambition directed in all the wrong places, wouldn\'t be as complete without Wes Anderson\'s hand-curated soundtrack that created a new audience for vintage Cat Stevens, the Kinks, and the instrumental works of Devo\'s Mark Mothersbaugh.

2000: The soundtrack to the inimitable Lars Von Trier musical Dancer in the Dark--a definite must-see about a Czech immigrant mother going blind amid a workaday existence--finds Bjork at her finest. Exuberant, heartbreaking, and at times even uncharacteristically restrained, her post-industrial Broadway reveries outperform all expectations of her acting abilities.

2001: Any movie that includes a subplot about a rabid record collector requires an excellent soundtrack. Ghost World introduced many would-be music addicts to undiscovered 1950s Bollywood gems, New Orleans swing, true Delta blues, and of course the unforgettable send-up in terrible nu-blues bar band, Blueshammer.

2002: Weaving together the lives of three different women living in different eras, Phillip Glass\'s driving, haunting compositions for The Hours perfectly matched the tenuous urgency of Michael Cunningham’s narrative. It is as plaintive as it is exquisitely sumptuous, memorable even beyond the construct of the film.

2003: Did people even buy TV soundtracks before The O.C.? This quintessentially sun-dappled soundtrack no doubt set the scene of many a backyard BBQ well outside the county line of that particularly fascinating Southern California drama hotbed.

2004: By this point, filmgoers knew what to expect with a Wes Anderson film: imaginative plots, hilarious dialogue, Bill Murray, and a soundtrack that featured the Kinks and Mark Mothersbaugh. Musically, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou strayed from that formula, adding Brazilian singer Seu Jorge’s bossa nova covers of the best of Bowie\'s Life on Mars to the mix.

2005: The first of three soundtracks to the show about some seriously randy Seattle doctors made more new fans of below-the-radar artists like the Postal Service, Tegan & Sara, and Inara George than all the college radio stations, hipster boosters, and indie music blogs put together.

2006: Try as you might, you can\'t not love Jennifer Hudson\'s rendition of "You\'re Gonna Love Me" or nearly period-perfect Berry Gordie-inspired originals like "Love You I Do." Also, lest we forget, this movie and soundtrack redeem Eddie Murphy\'s former pop-music crimes (see: "Party All the Time (My Girl Wants To)."

2007: Comprising Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová, the Swell Season starred in Once--both the movie and the soundtrack--and became one of music\'s true-life fairy tales when the two unknown, unsung talents took home a Best Song Oscar for "Falling Slowly."

2008: Looking back, it\'s hard to tell what was more surprising: the success of the little indie movie about a plucky pregnant teen who says the darnedest things, or K-records artist Kimya Dawson\'s becoming an overnight sensation (we’re talking Moldy Peaches reuniting on TV’s The View).

--Gabi Knight

'); document.write('
Make Your Life Sound Like \"This American Life\"
'); document.write('
When I mentioned in my write-up of the new Ratatat record that their music had been used as a music bed in episodes of Chicago Public Radio\'s excellent storytelling showcase, This American Life, it got me thinking about the other music used on the show. Folks with swell taste and serious writing chops, such as Sarah Vowell and Jessica Hopper, have lent a hand picking songs for TAL, and while the jams playing underneath the single most accessible explication of our country\'s credit meltdown or a peek inside The Onion\'s laff factory are almost uniformly good, it\'s nearly impossible for fans of the show to encounter these songs without thinking about the stories under which we hear them on the weekly.

So, to make your life feel more like This American Life, I\'ve gathered up 26 songs regularly featured on the show. Give the playlist below a whirl, load up your iPod and get ready to make walking from the bus to your office seem more poignant than it actually is:

-- Jeff Reguilon
'); document.write('
I Love Paste!
'); document.write('
A love for paste is something you might normally hear from a first grader…but for grown-ups, Paste is a magazine offering “signs of life in music, film and culture.” What makes this magazine unique is that is comes with a free CD of approximately 20 new and emerging artists. Most artists are from the indie-side of music, offering, in my opinion, a similar style to those found on the Grey\'s Anatomy soundtracks (which themselves are amazing compilations).

Here are a few examples of songs included on the CD from the July 2008 issue of Paste:
- My Morning Jacket: "I\'m Amazed"
- Alejandro Escovedo: "Always A Friend"
- Amos Lee: "Listen"
- Aimee Mann: "Freeway"
- Priscilla Ahn: "Dream"
-- Darren V.
'); document.write('
\"Entertainment Weekly\" Turns 1,000 Today
'); document.write('
OK, so they\'ve actually been around since 1990. But 1,000 issues of any magazine is something to celebrate, and EW is doing it in style, with their trademark: lists, lists, and more lists. "The New Classics: The 1,000 Best Movies, TV Shows, Albums, Books & More of the Last 25 Years" is great fun, and ranks every form of media you can think of since 1983, with input from both editors and celebs. Where else could you find a magazine cover with Harry Potter, Maggie Simpson, Edward Scissorhands, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer? And lists written by Jodie Foster, Neil Gaiman, and and Liz Phair?

Here\'s a list from none other than Viggo Mortensen, who reveals his top 10 pieces of advice he\'s heard on movie sets. There\'s something for everyone here, I think. (True, I\'m biased because I adore him. But I hope you enjoy it nonetheless.)

1. \'\'One job at a time, and each job a success.\'\'
2. \'\'Whatever you are feeling at this moment can be useful, no matter how far removed or even distracting it may seem from the scene you are playing. That is as close to \'real\' as you will ever get.\'\'
3. \'\'There is no way in hell that\'s going to work. That is the worst idea I have heard today — perhaps ever. Are you trying to single-handedly ruin my movie?\'\'
4. \'\'Try it — what\'s the harm? It\'s only film and time.\'\'
5. \'\'No hay dolor.\'\' (\'\'There is no pain.\'\')
6. \'\'All you really need to play the moment is air and water.\'\'
7. \'\'When in doubt, admit it.\'\'
8. \'\'Don\'t tell me; show me.\'\'
9. \'\'Censors tend to do what only psychotics do: They confuse reality with illusion.\'\'
10. \'\'I love you.\'\'

Happy weekend, everyone!
-- Noelle W.
'); document.write('