Olympics Olympics OLYMPICS!!! Gin drinks! Foxy boxing outside of a red phone booth! (I’m watching NBC’s Olympics coverage as I write this.) Boris Johnson’s hair! The Olympics are about the triumph of the human spirit, the finest in red and blue tracksuits, and showcasing the heights of the host nation’s culture. And in that tradition, the London Olympics Opening Ceremony’s artistic director/film director of Trainspotting and Slumdog Millionaire director Danny Boyle is teaming up with frequent collaborators/Opening Ceremony music directors/electronic legends Underworld to create the most majestic, the most British, the potentially most… druggy… opening ceremony music of all time. And it premieres tonight! At the Olympics Opening Ceremony! (The Olympics give me $5 every time I type out the words “Olympics Opening Ceremony.”)
Imagine the swelling pride, the burst of hope, the essential dignity of mankind that you will feel once the ceremonies begin! Or — depending on when you’re reading this — remember the swelling pride, the burst of hope, the essential dignity of mankind that you felt once the ceremonies began? Now you can bottle that sentiment and take it home with you to relive over and over again! Because Underworld are releasing the jams they wrote for this shindig immediately after the event wraps, say midnight on July 28 via iTunes. Isle of Wonder: Music for the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games, as it’s being called, will also get a physical release August 6 through Decca/Universal. Spoiler alert: the opening ceremony is said to be “inspired by Caliban’s dream in the Tempest,” according to a press release. Super Olympophiles take note: the Closing Ceremony music will also be released as an album, available digitally on August 12. That one’s going by the name of A Symphony of British Music - Music for the Closing Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games.
Side note: The Chemical Brothers are also getting in on the Olympics music-making thang, with a track called “Theme for Velodrome,” devoted to six magical days of cycling events. You can read more about that number and preview the track at The Guardian.
• Underworld: http://www.underworldlive.com
• The Olympics: http://www.olympic.org
More about: Underworld
