Tuxedomoon Bardo Hotel Soundtrack

[Crammed; 2006]

Styles: wistful alt-country pop cum stained-glass-window psych
Others: Kaada, Tangerine Dream, Ennio Morricone, Can, Air, The Real Tuesday Weld

Many movies are heavily stocked with those moments we'll always remember, and in many cases the audio accompaniment is just as important as the actions taking place on-screen. Flash back to 2001: A Space Odyssey for a moment. Remember the part, nearing the trip to Jupiter and beyond, where what seems like a hovering bed of creepy voices echo in and out of each other? I find myself examining this moment in the film often, but not for the visual stimuli. For me, the undulating, horrific voices of that particular passage are tamped much deeper in my brain.

Tuxedomoon know all about this instinct to obsess over audio, and have for quite some time, opening for Devo in their heyday and each individual having indulged in solo projects. Bardo Hotel Soundtrack is the companion audio to a film supposedly in the midst of being shot, but really it needs no supplement. The patterns and moods, the pianissimo flutters pinned beneath gaudy crescendos, the thrust of this work stands confidently on its own. This is the product of an ensemble with enough experience to work unconsciously and without an overt goal where production or structure are concerned.

Dabbling in saloon-style piano one minute, seductive strings the next, and clip-'n'-paste electronics and samples after that, Bardo Hotel Soundtrack doesn't sound superfluous in any way, nor does it lack the ability to hold the listener in place like a ventriloquist locking in his dummy. Is soundtrack work such as this the new post-rock? Why not? Gaze at Tuxedomoon and find out why the best records of a young 2006 are charting WAY under the radar.

1. Hurry Up and Wait (Flying Sequence)
2. Effervescing in the Nether Sphere
3. Soup du Jour
4. Flying Again
5. Triptych
6. I'm Real Stupid
7. Airport Blues
8. Needles Prelude
9. Prometheus Bound
10. Show Goes on: Baron Brown
11. Show Goes on: Jinx
12. Show Goes on: Loneliness
13. Remote (Pralaya)
14. Dream Flight
15. More Flying
16. Vulcanic, Combustible
17. Mr. Comfort
18. Another Flight

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