Charger Arts & Entertainment

For your aural pleasure...Good movies, good tunes, good times

Erin McMillan, Charger Staff

Life gets hectic.  People get stressed out.  When the thought of playing in traffic seems to be a good idea, the worst option is to tune into a radio show  with a constant rotation of Twista or Finger Eleven.  What you need is something relaxing. Something soothing. Something instrumental. Something without words. That's why this month's edition is dedicated to movie scores that, for the most part, offer nothing more than melody. The soundtracks of choice are Clint Mansell's Requiem For a Dream, and Marco Beltrami and Joshua Homme's The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys .

On a personal level, all related to Requiem For a Dream is of the utmost excellence. The novel, Hubert Selby Jr.'s brainchild, and Darren Aronofsky's film adaptation revolve around the downward spiral of four drug addicts’ lives and can shake even the most calloused soul to its core. The soundtrack, however, can lull those same souls. The progression of the music follows the progression of the storyline, particularly with its many overtures.  At the beginning is the “Summer Overture” which is followed by the fall and winter overtures. With each track, the desperation of the characters' situations become more and more evident. In between the overtures are tunes that correspond with scenes in the film , resulting in a soundtrack that can calm your bones when you are overwhelmed. Perfectly blending into the background, the songs are great if you want to study, drift off to sleep , or ponder the philosophies of Plato while it hums along unobtrusively. Aside from the overtures, “Winter: The Beginning of the End” and “Fall: Sara Goldfarb Has Left the Building,” all performed by the Kronos Quartet, one of the world's most progressive string quartets, are highly recomended.  Also, to be noted is the second soundtrack, Requiem For a Dream: Remixed with 20 more tracks that will put you on the road to relaxation.

The second soundtrack is Marco Beltrami and Joshua Homme's creation, The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys. The movie counterpart, starring Kieran Culkin, is about bored Catholic adolescents who engage in petty criminal activities and the resulting consequences. The soundtrack, like the movie, is a dichotomy of both strings, thanks to Marco Beltrami, and guitar riffs, thanks to Joshua Homme, of Queens of the Stone Age fame. All twenty tracks blend together seamlessly, despite the different styles, and, in addition to Beltrami and Homme, the soundtrack also features tracks by Stephen Stills and Canned Heat.  Unlike the Requiem For a Dream soundtrack, this one has a few numbers with lyrics so fear not, it still has some karaoke potential.  To sample all of the featured artists on the soundtrack, listen to “The Atomic Trinity vs. Heaven's Devils,” “Hanging (a.k.a. Ramble Off)”, “On the Road Again,” and “Do for the Others. “

Everybody has days when pounding beats and harsh chords will simply not cut it. Sometimes the only thing that can satisfy the musical needs of the masses is something smooth, and refined. If this sounds right, then for Heaven's sake put down the JoJo album and pick up the soundtracks to Requiem for a Dream and The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys. They are guaranteed to drain the tensity from any muscle and to soothe any headache into oblivion.