I should do a post purely on the movie Forbidden Planet. It’s impact on science fiction is incalculable.
But let’s simply today focus on the soundtrack. The soundtrack was composed by Louis and Bebe Barron. MGM producer Dore Schary discovered the couple quite by chance at a beatnik nightclub in Greenwich Village while on a family Christmas visit to New York City; Schary hired them on the spot to compose his film’s musical score. While the theremin (which was not used in Forbidden Planet) had been used on the soundtrack of Alfred Hitchcock’s Spellbound (1945), the Barrons’ electronic composition is credited with being the first completely electronic film score; their soundtrack preceded the invention of the Moog synthesizer by eight years (1964).
For the 1950s this thing is FAR out, baby. You might ask why i’m so preoccupied with really far out electronic music for a project like the AO, which will clearly be melodic and attempt to not go so far from the nature of the first two.
For one thing, i need to get a feel for the sound of the OLD electronic sounds. Most of the synths we think of and recognize are from the 80s onwards. Sounds that don’t depict atompunk, but our actual modern time. Those are the sounds i want to use and feel. I’m not saying i won’t cheat (i always cheat. I will do ANYthing to make the project sound good. No matter my intention, if i can’t make something work i will shamelessly cheat my brains out.) but i will try like hell.
Another reason i’m preferring teh far out stuff is that i can reflect on it without having it tied to the methods and uses of today. The 90s was an paradise of electronic music. SO much was done with it. I LOVE me some 90s electronica (as we called it in the states) and i need to try and not get stuck into a 90s approach (and onwards, but the 90s was when it all exploded).
I doubt i’ll fully succeed, but this is not about succeeding and failing so much as finding a method that does the job of making a great sounding album that gives the listener an atompunk feel.
Plus, for the really crazy stuff i fool about with, there’s always the 3rd Act, when i can stretch out a bit and go a little nuts.
Thus my friends, without further ado, the soundtrack to Forbidden Planet.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbFAXhPlZMw]
