Heartland

Owen Pallett's latest album is by far his most consistently amazing recording to date. There's not an average song on Heartland. It's pretty much all I'm listening to - along with Joanna Newsom's The Milk-Eyed Mender. If any album will be better than Heartland this year it has to be something truly remarkable *cough*Arcade Fire*cough*. At the minute I'm particularly awestruck on "Lewis Takes Off His Shirt" and "Keep The Dog Quiet", but ask me again in a few and I'll surely name two other songs. Can't recommend Heartland enough. So with that said, listen to the entire album belooooow. I dare say you won't regret it.

Heartland out now!!

The US iTunes Store has oddly enough put up Owen Pallett's new album Heartland. BUY IT NOW ALL YOU AMERICANS! Wouldn't surprise me if the US Store's mistake will lead to all iTunes Stores soon will have it available for purchase. Will update this post should that happen.

Edit: They've now realised their mistake and taken it down. Though because they've been so careless there are of course much less legal copies of the album out there.

Working for the church while your life falls apart

Gothenburg's Indie Choir (Göteborgs Indiekör) sings 'Intervention' by Arcade Fire.
What better way to end the weekend!

Oh and Final Fantasy is no more. He now wants to be called by his real name Owen Pallett.

Two quickies

• The Irish Times picks Funeral by Arcade Fire as their #1 album of the decade.
• Final Fantasy performs Lewis Takes Action and Midnight Directives from his new album Heartland which of course is due in early January next year.

Lewis Takes Action

Trade your email address for a free mp3 of Final Fantasy's new single "Lewis Takes Action". You can also pre-order the new album Heartland. Can't wait for it to drop down in my mailbox!

The Box score to be released with the DVD?

Extract from an interview Ain't It Cool News (Beaks) did with Richard Kelly.

Beaks: Were any of these jettisoned scenes scored?

Kelly: Yes. It's funny: Win and Regine loved the chase, but it kept going in and out of the movie. So they were finally like, "You know what? We're going to score it anyway." Just in case there's ever a longer version of the movie, they scored the whole thing.
[Kelly and I now go into a spoiler-heavy discussion of a cue from the end of the film. Basically, I thought a certain piece of music ended abruptly (not in a bad way), and wondered if there was more to that scene. Kelly said there wasn't.]

Beaks: That's interesting. Obviously, I love their score.

Kelly: The band pretty much had final say over how their score was edited. And I was more than comfortable allowing them that. When I cut their score in, Win had a few notes, and Regine had a few notes, but I was more than fine with their notes because they understood the story so well. It was the easiest collaboration. They actually helped keep me sane and emotionally grounded throughout the whole process. They were an extra set of eyes. The saw twelve or fourteen cuts of the movie, and they were constantly there to give me thoughts about the cut. They were really helpful.

Beaks: But if they had final say on how the music was cut, doesn't that mean they had some say on how the actual film was cut?

Kelly: That was something I promised them. I said, "Don't worry. I know you're signing contracts here, but, as a filmmaker, I promise you that you're going to be happy with how the score is cut. And if you're not, let me know." I trusted them with that. And at the end of the day, we were on the same page. We maybe had a short little debate here or there, but I trusted them. It's their music. They understand how to deliver, and they understand story. It was a very specific collaboration with people I have so much respect for as artists. This was not a traditional composer-for-hire situation. It was something where they invested a lot of their time and energy into creating this specific kind of music. They were really proud of it. And they just wanted to make sure that it was used and edited properly - and I don't blame them.

Beaks: So are they film buffs?

Kelly: Mm-hm.

Beaks: Could you, like, reference a cue from a specific Hitchcock film and know they'd pick up on it?

Kelly: When I met Win backstage after their show in September of 2007, before we'd started shooting, I handed him a script and a CD of Bernard Herrmann's VERTIGO. I was like, "If you get a chance, try to read it." I didn't expect to hear back from him; I figured it was just a long shot. But he called me the next day and said, "Regine and I read the script, and we had a really strong emotional connection to it. We think this could be really cool. Keep in touch." So when I wrapped, I sent them the rough cut. I don't think I sent them the three-hour rough cut, because... (Laughs) and that was really an assembly. I shouldn't say "rough cut".

Beaks: It was your "chaos draft".

Kelly: It was the "Talking Fox cut". The "Chaos Reigns assembly". (Laughs) But I think I sent them the two-hour, twenty-five-minute cut. Then they did twelve demos, and they were like, "If you don't like the demos, tell us you don't like them now because we're not going to keep going." And the demos were fantastic; they were so on the money. And then it was just about getting to the finish line, and making sure they were protected. At the end of the day, it was something everyone was happy with.
This was not a regular composer-for-hire job. This was a massive collaboration with an additional artist that had a significant amount of power - which I helped facilitate. They had creative control.

Beaks: Without you giving up control of the film?

Kelly: Right. Normally, when you sign a deal with a studio, they can use the score to sell vacuum cleaners with CGI cartoon characters and dead people; they can score a theme-park ride with it. We wanted to make sure that was not the case ever with their music. I was more than happy to give them as much creative control as possible.

And the score will get released at some point. Right now, they have a new album coming out, so their record label doesn't want to be throwing something else into the marketplace. I think they're going to put the score out in conjunction with the Blu-ray/DVD release, but I'm not sure. That's why I did the prequel music-video thing on YouAreTheExperiment.com. I just wanted to get the music out there, and give people a little taste of it. But they really want people to discover the music as part of the theatrical experience. There's something exciting about having to go to the theater to hear the score, as opposed to just having it on iTunes. You'll be able to get it on iTunes later on. That's actually a really cool philosophy that I agree with them on.

Because the music score business has become such a boutique thing. I don't know of any studio or record label right now that's excited about releasing a film score. The expense of releasing it doesn't even balance out with the income. It's sad, because I love film scores. I have them on my iPod. It's some of my favorite music. I wish there were more people who felt that way.

Beaks: So did they use 70s instrumentation?

Kelly: Yes. The score was recorded over four days in Toronto. It was two days of strings, a day of brass, and a day of percussion. It was recorded at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in downtown Toronto, and all of the musicians were obviously classically trained. But there was a specific style that they were going for: they wanted it to sound very vintage and raw; they wanted the strings to sound rough around the edges. And they didn't want everything to sound all glossy and... computer smoothed-out.

Beaks: They didn't want Pro Tools.

Kelly: Right. They wanted it to sound like a vintage 1970s score. And a lot of the additional instruments that were used were very specific to the 1970s. They used a lot of Mellotron and stuff like that.

Beaks: If I were to place the score anywhere in Herrmann's oeuvre, I'd say it's definitely reflective of his 1970s collaborations with Scorsese and De Palma.

Kelly: Yes. Definitely.

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/42994

Richard Kelly talks about working with Win, Régine & Owen

So it seems it's definitely Merge Records, Arcade Fire's record label, that don't want the score out there just yet now that the new Arcade Fire album is only a few months away. Unfortunate but can't say I blame them since they are such a relatively small record label and certainly rely on good sales for the new album from Arcade Fire.

You Are The Experiment

Last night Warner Bros. launched the website You Are The Experiment where you can listen to score music by Win Butler, Régine Chassagne and Owen Pallett. Works really well I think. Here are some mp3s from those videos - www.megaupload.com/?d=HQS57DAT

Clip from The Box

Possibly some of Win, Régine and Owen Pallett's score music in that clip. I'm so torn about whether to go see this movie or not. Nothing really appeals to me about it except hearing the score in its right context.

Richard Kelly reveals The Box score will be released

Richard Kelly used his twitter to deny rumours the score by Win Butler, Régine Chassagne and Owen Pallett won't be released. This is what director of The Box tweeted.

I want to clarify a few things about THE BOX score by Win Butler, Regine Chassagne and @OwenPallett...

The band is hard at work recording the new Arcade Fire album.

They will release the score at some point, when it does not conflict with their album release schedule for their record label.

We all hope that their fans will discover the score the old-fashioned way: sitting in a dark movie theater on 11/6/09.

Until then, you can hear a sample of the score at www.thebox-movie.com - more information forthcoming:)

So even though I'm somewhat disappointed it won't be released in the coming weeks it's comforting to know it will at least be released sometime in the future.

Owen Pallett can't contain himself! Nor can I.

RT @owenpallett: Can't contain it.  I just completed 10 days on the best album I've ever had the pleasure of working on.

10 days ago:

RT @owenpallett: Arcade Fire have some pretty gorgeous microphones right here. It'd be so easy to slip one into my bag.

Just saying. Aaaah! Tonight I will dream sweet sweet dreams about marvellous Arcade Fire sounds. Sounds so amazing I won't be able to hear my wake up call!

First taste of The Box score!

Win Butler, Régine Cassagne and Owen Pallett have made the score for Richard Kelly's new movie The Box. Last night the official website was launched and playing in the background is a piece of music taken off that score. It sounds incredible! My mind is racing through all sorts haunting landscapes. So, head over to http://thebox-movie.warnerbros.com and listen to the music and check out the pretty cool website. Then when your mind has been blown you download the song here.

[MP3] Win Butler, Régine Chassagne and Owen Pallett - The Box (Website Theme)

UPDATE: As if needed, here's confirmation it's indeed their score music.

RT @owenpallett: Website for "The Box" is up here: http://thebox-movie.warnerbros.com and there's a Mellotron and an orchestra and Regine's angelic singing.

Final Fantasy - "Heartland" album details

Press release from Domino

Heartland exists. The third Final Fantasy full-length and the first for Domino, it is the product of nine months of work in four countries. Heartland is a fully orchestral record, designed to exist simultaneously as an album, a 45-minute piece of orchestral music and a set of songs for looped violin and voice. Heartland will be released by Domino on Monday the 11th of January 2010. Owen Pallett explains:

"The songs themselves form a narrative concerning a farmer named Lewis and the fictional world of Spectrum. The songs are one-sided dialogues with Lewis, a young, ultra-violent farmer, speaking to his creator."

"The album was compositionally modeled upon the principles of electronic music. The principles of analog synthesis informing symphonic writing, like an inversion of a Tomita record. These songs, too, were designed to be as dense with polyphony as the Final Fantasy live shows can become. While writing it, I kept an image in my head of putting so many notes on the page that the paper turned black."

"This record encapsulates a whole year of work for me, and was difficult to see through, but immensely proud of the results. I hope you enjoy it."

Work began in earnest in November 2008, when Pallett and Arcade Fire drummer Jeremy Gara flew to Reykjavik to work at The Greenhouse, Valgeir Siggurdsson's studio (Björk's Medulla, Bonnie "Prince" Billy's The Letting Go) with engineer Mio Þórrison at the board. The orchestra was recorded January 2009, in Prague, with the Czech Symphony. Other guests include Matt Smith (Nifty), Reg Vermue (Gentleman Reg) and Nico Muhly. Rusty Santos, who produced Animal Collective's Sung Tongs and mixed Panda Bear's Person Pitch, was taken on as mixer.

He and Owen worked together in Toronto and New York over the summer of 2009 putting the finishing touches on Heartland.

Heartland tracklist:
1. Midnight Directives
2. Keep The Dog Quiet
3. Mount Alpentine
4. Red Sun No. 5
5. Lewis Takes Action
6. The Great Elsewhere
7. Oh Heartland, Up Yours!
8. Lewis Takes Off His Shirt
9. Flare Gun
10. E Is For Estranged
11. Tryst With Mephistopheles
12. What Do You Think Will Happen Now?

Heartland will be available on CD (WIGCD252), LP (WIGLP252) and digitally (WIG252D).

On tour with The Mountain Goats:
04/11/2009 USA Grand Rapids, MI (Ladies Literary Club - Calvin College)
05/11/2009 USA Chicago, IL (The Metro
06/11/2009 USA Madison, WI (High Noon Saloon)
07/11/2009 USA Minneapolis, MN (Cedar Cultural Centre)
10/11/2009 USA Seattle, WA (The Showbox)
11/11/2009 USA Portland, OR (The Wonder Ballroom)
14/11/2009 USA San Francisco, CA (The Fillmore)
15/11/2009 USA Los Angeles, CA (Henry Fonda Theatre)
18/11/2009 USA Austin, TX (Antone's)
19/11/2009 USA Dallas, TX (Granada Theater)
20/11/2009 USA Nashville, TN (Mercy Lounge)
21/11/2009 USA Atlanta, GA (The Variety Playhouse)
23/11/2009 USA Orlando, FL (The Social)
24/11/2009 USA St. Augustine, FL (Cafe Eleven)
27/11/2009 USA Washington, DC (9:30 Club)
28/11/2009 USA Philadelphia, PA (Theater of Living Arts)
29/11/2009 USA Boston, MA (Wilbur Theater)
01/12/2009 USA New York, NY (Webster Hall)
02/12/2009 USA Brooklyn, NY (The Bell House)

Final Fantasy will be returning to the UK and Europe for more shows in 2010.

Pitchfork claims it's a concept album and it does seem likely doesn't it! Also very cool Jeremy has been helping out with the percussion. Januari 11 can't come soon enough! I've said it before and I'll say it again: 2010 > 2009.

Fine poetry by Owen Pallett

In what I believe is a response to Wayne Coyne's continued bullshitting about Arcade Fire, their old touring crew and whatnot Owen Pallett, aka Final Fantasy, came up with this stinging poem.

Win
You drink too much gin
You're never gonna win
Seven deadly sins
My cat's name is Lynn.

Regine
You're a teen dream
You look so serene
But I'm not so keen
On your touring machine.

Relax
Take a load of your backs
The future of music
Is confetti machines
And CD backing tracks.

Ouuuuch, Coyne! Ouch! Needless to say I love the last last three lines. The sarcasm detector is just going haywire. But not only that, the amount of CD backing tracks used by The Flaming Lips is nothing short of embarrassing for a band which easily could afford to have some people doing all that live.

Thanks Owen for brighten up an otherwise cloudy day.

Ny skiva från Final Fantasy!

RT @owenpallett: Heartland, it exists. It's coming out on Domino in the first week of 2010.

En länk för att backa upp detta med: http://is.gd/2aNQD. 2010 kommer bli fruktansvärt mycket bättre än 2009.

Det är mycket Final Fantasy nu, jag vet...

...men han är ju en av vår nutids musikaliska genier så det kan väl aldrig bli för mycket av Final Fantasy. Eller hur! Här är en rykande färsk inspelning från Black Cab Sessions.


Och här framför Owen Pallett en ny grym cover av "Dance, Dance, Dance". Lykke Li dansar (tror jag)!

Nu ska jag dansa, dansa, dansa hela vägen till middagsbordet!

Lewis Takes Off His Shirt

En soundboard-inspelning av Owen Palletts nya låt "Lewis Takes Off His Shirt".

[MP3] Final Fantasy - Lewis Takes Off His Shirt (at Hillside Festival 2009) [V0, LAME 3.98]

Avundsjuk på alla Way Out West:are

Owen Pallett är helt fantastisk!

Se Final Fantasy på Way Out West alla ni som ska dit! Det är inte en uppmaning, det är en order.

Richard Kelly om musiken till The Box

Richard Kelly berättar ingående om The Box för Mr. Beaks på den nästan alltid intressanta sidan Ain't It Cool News. Här är ett utdrag från deras samtal som handlar om musiken till filmen som ju Win och Régine från Arcade Fire tillsammans med Owen Pallett (Final Fantasy) har gjort.

Kelly: Yeah. But I spent a long time really working on the story, and hopefully turning it into something that is thought provoking. I guess I can show you the trailer. (Pulls out a laptop.) The music in the film was done by Win Butler, Regine Chassagne and Owen Pallett.

Beaks: That's the whole Arcade Fire collaboration we've been hearing about.

Kelly: Right. And Owen is a part of Final Fantasy, but he collaborates with Arcade Fire quite a bit. Marcus Dravs engineered the score with them. He did their last two albums and just did Coldplay's new album.

Beaks: That's a bit of a coup.

Kelly: It was a long, long courtship to get them to do it. The score from the trailer is not them. It's sort of trailer score, you know?

Beaks: And this is the score that will be on the final trailer?

Kelly: Yes, I believe so. Just so you know that, when you hear the score, it's not Win and Regine. You've probably heard the trailer score before. But in a weird way, when you're trying to broadly market a film... I don't question the science of it. Because they do have it down to a science. But the score that [Win, Regine and Owen] did is very Bernard Herrmann. It's very lush. They did eighty minutes of score.

Beaks: Really? Depending on the run time of the movie, that's a lot. Did you let them score long passages of the film?

Kelly: There's a sequence in the library with no dialogue for four minutes that's all music. It's a very score-heavy film. And there's pop songs in it, too. We have Eric Clapton, Grateful Dead, Wilson Pickett, Scott Walker and The Marshall Tucker Band. It's Virginia 1976, so I wanted to have that Southern Rock flavor.

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/41449

Det är alltså INTE deras musik som är med på trailern som kommer släppas snart.