This is a new series dedicated to theme songs, scores, and any type of music featured in film and television that I love, that gets stuck in my head, or that has special significance.
A massive personal crisis and some mental health problems have kept me from this blog, but I‘m back, hopefully more productive and disciplined than before… until the next crisis.
This edition is dedicated to the music of Touching Evil and a few of its precious film ramifications.
Due to technical issues, no videos will be embedded, but links will be provided.
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When I was a senior in high school, I had a friend who was a bigger film buff than I am. So much so that he used to extract the audio from his DVDs, record the audio on cassettes and listen to them all the time. One time, I caught him on his way to work listening to the Austin Powers audio track. My first thought was “What an Uber-geek!” and mockery ensued.
Many years later, I found myself doing exactly what my friends used to do, what I mocked him for. With an acceptance letter to Queensland University of Technology, I realised that my brain was incapable of processing any accent other than American. So I put my vcr to good use and recorded as many British and Australian movies and shows as I could, extracted their audio tracks and listened to them religiously, even to sleep.
One of these shows was Touching Evil. Yes, there were many times when I fell asleep to the sound of Robson Green’s sweet voice. I ended up only watching three episodes but I found it very interesting.
The efficiency of my method to condition my brain for the Australian accent proved correct when I arrived in Australia and thankfully the language was no barrier whatsoever. I have my friend to thanks for inspiring such a geeky method.
A few months after I graduated and returned home, the American version of Touching Evil began airing. For me, it was love at first sight. Touching Evil was way ahead of its time, too experimental for primetime television, and its cancelation almost made me shed a tear.
One of the biggest assets of this show was the atmospheric soundtrack, composed by Atticus Ross, Leopold Ross, and Claudia Sarne.
In the mid 90s, Atticus Ross and Claudia Sarne were part of a band called 12 Rounds that unfortunately didn’t have commercial success and their third album was nearly lost forever during the final days of Trent Reznor’s Nothing Records.
Before 12 Rounds disbanded, they collaborated with Pale 3 (Johnny Klimek, Reinhold Heil, and Tom Tykwer) on a song for Tykwer’s The Princess and The Warrior.
Pale 3 – Just Another Day (Feat 12 Rounds)
Atticus Ross, Leopold Ross, and Claudia Sarne later reunited to score New York, I Love You and The Book of Eli.
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross collaborated with Saul Williams in various capacities.
Saul Williams – List of Demands
Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, and Mariqueen Maandig formed How To Destroy Angels and released an EP in 2010.
How To Destroy Angels – The Space in Between
Trent Reznor and Atticuss Ross composed the music for the excellent The Social Network, for which they got a Golden Globe and should get an Oscar. Reznor and Ross covered In The Hall of The Mountain King for the movie, created by my favourite classical composer, Edvar Grieg.
Someone made a great video inspired by this version of the song (using a Canon 5d II) and posted it on youtube. It’s very pretty.
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross – In the Hall of the Mountain King (The Social Network)
And here’s one of the original songs from the soundtrack.
In Motion – From the Soundtrack to \”The Social Network\”
To end this post, let it be said that I am as big a fan of Nine Inch Nails as I am a fan of Gary Numan. When this video showed up online, I finally learned that musical dreams do come true.
NIN: \”Cars\” with Gary Numan, London 7.15.09
That’s all folks!