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Paul Haslinger: Score (RGB Records - 1998) I played this disc in my Mac's CD player at work. At various points, several different people were in and out of my room. One thought I was listening to hip-hop; another thought I was listening to jazz, another thought Chinese music, another thought Contemporary Adult Pop, another thought classical, and yet another thought I was listening to that weird ambient/electronic stuff I've been known to listen to... |
| Like the blind men were about the elephant, everyone was partly right, but missing the whole picture. I was listening to Paul Haslinger's multifaceted new gem. Score is a dizzying panorama of musical montages; the CD artwork reflects this notion, in wide-screen format even.
An echoey synth piano and compelling electro-rhythm pick up a world of multi-flavored accents in the unpredictably evolving Accidental Measures in Cool; Guest trumpeter Bumi Fian injects graceful jazz stylings. A Japanese street festival morphs into a tribal/hip-hop musical extravaganza in The Infinite Jest, where filmic instrumentation blasts into spy-thriller overdrive. Powerful vocals from Juliana Raye melt into a modern world-beat backdrop to form a sultry lounge ballad, When Worlds Collide. This really has got to be the next James Bond theme. Electronic rock, sound samples and various ethnicities become one, and The Real Question (Is)... how does Haslinger balance so many styles so well? The track piles more vocals and music on, almost, but not quite, breaking the cacophany barrier. Styles and eras blur when sonorous violin strings lead us into a Fantastic Voyage (7:29), where neoclassical shadings merge smoothly with a dreamy, dubby bassline and other muted jazz/rock/lounge accompaniments, including some groovy Doors-like keyboarding. Various vocal choruses of assorted origin are infused with a hip beat in Magheda. From syncopated chants to densely mixed, stratospheric wailing, the "Deep Forest" pygmies wish that disc were this good... Delicate alien structures beneath a polar ice cap, or a wind-blown glacier face are just some of the images I get when listening to Inbetween Nowhere (3:06), a much more subdued style, and the closest thing to "ambient" to be found. Lovely piano, soft female crooning and eerie effects chill the air, which somehow manages to blend easily into the next, more tropical piece... Lush and lovely, Life, Lounge and Lesser Evils takes a breeze through ultra-swank atmospheres. A cavalier mood and posh '60's-style sounds simply ooze from this debonair track. Wolgang Lehner's viola solos and string arrangements add palpable luxury. Very cool. Time to hit the street... the urban sprawl of This Station features surging bass, driving beats and a truckload of samples. The scene may be one of overcrowding, decay, danger and anxiety, but it has great sense of rhythm. Similar, though less tense, the street beat is also part of Hardboiled Wonderland which evokes gritty downtown nights outside the local jazz hotspots. Like a miniature film score all its own, War in the Heart of Eden unfolds in a most cinematic way... an unsettled calm is broken by a plaintive song, darkness swells symphonically... then the choppers fly in and chaos erupts. Wails and orchestra hits give way to military drumming and silky strings, then operatic vocals search a melancholy gloom. A brief swirl of disco strings announce the arrival of New India. The male vocalist chants over a beat, then really begins to wail. Jazz inflections and furious primitive drumming blend with piano and chorus backing. His emphatic wail manages to intensify, until everything eventually explodes into stillness... and by now, a moment of rest sounds good.
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| A host of guest musicians, samples from a plethora sources, and sound designers (including Brian "Lustmord" Williams and Ian Boddy) contribute to this expansive, globe-trotting, almost-visual offering (Haslinger has been collaborating on film scores with Graeme Ravell, you know). Check out the Haslinger website for more info. The shifting styles may be disorienting, but the production values are astounding. With a rating of 8.3, I'm keeping Score! |  |