Thursday 11 March 2010

And the winners of the Best Original Score are … not Plaid, for Heaven’s Door.

Surely some mistake?

Astonishingly, the CD wasn’t available in England last time I looked. And you will struggle to find any reviews on-line (don’t get me started on the myopic British music press ..)


But if one includes their previous, illustrious incarnation, The Black Dog, as sharing the same history, Plaid ( http://www.plaid.co.uk/ ) have now overtaken Kraftwerk as the greatest electronic artists ever, and I have never heard a better movie soundtrack. It even eclipses their own mesmerising Tekkon Kinkreet (2007).


This is the second soundtrack they have created for Japanese films made by the American director Michael Arias. Both are original, intricate, complex and melodic, but Heaven’s Door arguably just has the edge.

If Plaid had made the music for, say, Avatar, they would no doubt be raising a toast in Hollywood and appearing on Oprah Winfrey by now. Instead they are relative unknowns, preferring to work with a filmmaker who knows what they are all about - credit to Arias - even if he is unlikely to take them to new audiences outside Japan.

Might we one day see Plaid at film awards ceremonies? For that to happen, they’d have to be willing to hitch a ride on someone else’s (possibly white) elephant.

I’d still listen to the results, but maybe with my eyes closed.

No comments:

Post a Comment