Hamza Ali Zahurullah – The Stanford Daily https://stanforddaily.com Breaking news from the Farm since 1892 Tue, 16 Oct 2018 06:37:57 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 https://stanforddaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/cropped-DailyIcon-CardinalRed.png?w=32 Hamza Ali Zahurullah – The Stanford Daily https://stanforddaily.com 32 32 204779320 ‘Drogas Wave’ is the final boss of hip-hop concept albums https://stanforddaily.com/2018/10/16/drogas-wave-is-the-final-boss-of-hip-hop-concept-albums/ https://stanforddaily.com/2018/10/16/drogas-wave-is-the-final-boss-of-hip-hop-concept-albums/#respond Tue, 16 Oct 2018 14:30:10 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1144945 2018 has been an eventful year for hip-hop. The news cycle was dominated by rap feuds, battles for Billboard 200 supremacy, tragic artist deaths and Kanye West’s entire social media presence. Major releases came from J Cole, Logic, Nicki Minaj, Nas, Travis Scott, Noname, The Carters, Kendrick Lamar and countless others.   “Daytona,” “Kids See Ghosts,” “Dirty […]

The post ‘Drogas Wave’ is the final boss of hip-hop concept albums appeared first on The Stanford Daily.

]]>
2018 has been an eventful year for hip-hop. The news cycle was dominated by rap feuds, battles for Billboard 200 supremacy, tragic artist deaths and Kanye West’s entire social media presence. Major releases came from J Cole, Logic, Nicki Minaj, Nas, Travis Scott, Noname, The Carters, Kendrick Lamar and countless others.   “Daytona,” “Kids See Ghosts,” “Dirty Computer” and “Invasion of Privacy” were some of my favorite listening experiences of the year so far.  Despite all of that, nearly all of my headspace and anticipation for the year has been directed to one under the radar release from my all-time favorite artist: Lupe Fiasco’s 7thfull length album, “Drogas Wave.”

I have listened to Lupe Fiasco’s discography for the better part of ten years. “Lupe Fiasco’s Food and Liquor” and “The Cool” are both considered classics of 2000s hip-hop, and “Tetsuo & Youth” (2015 is my favorite album of all time. At the same time, being a Lupe fan has been incredibly frustrating.  His persistent trouble with Atlantic Records, paired with his capacity for Twitter controversy, has made each new release feel more and more like a gamble for the fans. “Lasers” (2011), which many felt was a failed attempt at a pop crossover album, and “Tetsuo & Youth” were delayed numerous times. Lupe Fiasco’s Twitter conflicts with Azalea Banks and Kid Cudi frequently distracted from his music. Despite all of this, I looked to “Drogas Wave” as a new beginning for Lupe. I was incredibly excited to see how his first truly independent release since leaving his contract with Atlantic in 2016 would turn out. After two years of delays, Instagram history lessons, cryptic Reddit posts and a last-minute leak, “Drogas Wave” is finally out in the world.

The album is a dense, 24-track epic that covers topics ranging from the Syrian refugee crisis to Chicago gun violence to the hip-hop industry itself. Lupe’s lyricism is as dense and multi-layered as it has ever been, while the production accompanying those lyrics explores musical ideas reminiscent of Brian Eno, Outkast, Bob Marley and Miles Davis. After hours spent poring over Rap Genius annotations, researching Lupe’s webs of references and submerging myself in the music, I can confidently say that “Drogas Wave” is not only my favorite album of the year, but also Lupe’s magnum opus and a masterpiece of 21stcentury hip-hop.

Disk one of the album (Wave) is dedicated to building the world of the Longchains: Africans that were thrown overboard by white slavers and became spirits living beneath the waves. Some chose to return to Africa, while others armed themselves with chains and hooks to sink slave ships and free their brothers and sisters. Lupe does make the odd choice of using the first two tracks as preludes to the two very different disks making up the album. “In the Event of Typhoon” is a spoken word piece detailing the practice of throwing sick slaves overboard during major storms. “Drogas” introduces the themes of religion and drugs, two ideas integral to the second disk. Given that it is rapped entirely in Spanish and makes no reference to the Longchains, this one is a bit jarring to listen to.

After that, the story of the Longchains starts proper.  While each of the following seven tracks has its own merit regarding craftsmanship and enjoyability, there were three that I found to be especially in tune with my tastes and expectations: “Gold vs the Right Things to Do,” “WAV Files” and “Alan Forever.” On the first track, Lupe raps in patois to great effect as he paints a detailed portrait of a group of slaves being kidnapped and sold into slavery, and the attack by the Longchains that frees them from their binds. The chorus is sung from the perspective of the African peoples that sold their brethren into slavery. The production is driven by piano and strings, but is also permeated with the sounds of crashing waves and human screams. After this song, I felt like I had just watched a Tolkien-style fantasy epic about the Longchains.

“WAV Files” builds on this foundation of grand storytelling and emotional resonance by rapping from the perspective of the men and women who fell beneath the waves and became new Longchains. In each verse, he takes a different part of the world to task for being complicit in the slave trade. In this world the seas, the stars and the trees were all guilty in the kidnapping of their black brothers and sisters. “Alan Forever” is a tribute song to Alan Kurdi, the three-year-old boy who drowned in the midst of the Syrian Refugee Crisis. In the song, Alan never drowned; instead, he grew up to become a world record breaking Olympic swimmer that saves another little boy from drowning. The piano driven music meets the jubilant and childlike lyrics in a way that is simultaneously heartbreaking and uplifting. In the world of the song, Alan doesn’t succumb to the waves — he becomes a part of them. With that image, Lupe closes out the narrative portion of the album with what is far and away my favorite song.

On disk two of the album (Drogas), Lupe Fiasco chooses to abandon the narrative of the Longchains established on disk one in lieu of a collection of songs that explore ideas as varied as drug addiction, black masculinity and Lupe’s own legacy as a hip-hop artist. Moreover, the fantasy presented to the audience on “Alan Forever” comes crashing down with “Stronger,” the second disk’s first full track. The song embodies this paradigm shift between the two sides of the album, with notably darker sounding production and a thematic focus on the impact of corruption on the lives of ordinary people. Some could argue that Lupe dropping the narrative found on disk one is indicative of a lack of focus, but the less structured approach to album construction allows for different kinds of ideas and emotions to be explored.  While there isn’t a single song that needs to be removed from the track listing, three cuts stand out to me as high water marks: “Kingdom,” “Imagine” and “Happy Timbuck2 Day.” “Kingdom” is an anthem for black excellence, with Lupe and featured artist Damian “Junior Gong” Marley proudly declaring that Port-Au-Prince, Kingston, New Orleans and south central Los Angeles are all African Kingdoms. The production is fast and energetic and it compliments Lupe and Marley’s voices incredibly well. It is a “feel-good” song, but one that comes from a place of genuine love and pride.

On “Imagine,” Lupe raps autobiographically about his rap career and the decisions he’s made along the way. References are made to Craig Kallman of Atlantic Records, the role hacktivist group Anonymous played in the commercial release of “Tetsuo & Youth” and the imprisonment of Lupe’s friend and mentor Charles “Chilly” Patton. While Lupe does note the pain and loneliness he felt at times in his career, he ultimately chooses to leave the past in the past and look toward the future. This sentiment, combined with “The Cool” era production and countless Lupe Fiasco Easter eggs makes for supremely nostalgic listening experience for long time fans. “Happy Timbuck2 Day” is a tribute to late Chicago DJ Timbuck2. This song is the easiest and most enjoyable listening experience on the entire album. Lupe uses the penultimate track to flex his flow muscles and pack as many cool rhymes, double entendres and slick puns into a song as possible. The production reminds me of 90s era Outkast. Given that Lupe has the rapping chops to play both André 3000 and Big Boi on this track, that is certainly a good thing.

As a whole, “Drogas Wave” is an incredibly difficult listening experience. Nevertheless, it is a deeply rewarding one. The work is one of cinematic proportions that refuses to bow down to expectations for what a rap album is 2018 needs to sound like. The lyrics aren’t especially welcoming to new listeners of Lupe Fiasco, but they also reward the work put in to absorbing his preceding albums. The production is the far and away the best of his career, with some truly unique musical ideas peppered throughout the entire album. The narrative of the Longchains allows for Lupe to flex his storytelling chops, but it also avoids the pitfall of overstaying its welcome. The fact that the Drogas half of the album could be its own work, distinct from the Wave half, is a boon to the project’s overall enjoyability, not a knock to it. In the age of Spotify and music streaming, it is all too easy to write off a 24-track album as a slave to stream trolling. Yet, “Drogas Wave” thoroughly rejects the precedent set by albums like “Culture II” from Migos or “Scorpion”from Drake in a number of ways, ranging from its lack of official singles to its consistent lyrical depth and sonic exploration. At the same time, Lupe speaks to deeply human tendencies and emotions and avoids coming off as pretentious. Even after roughly two-and-a-half years of hype, I found the project to exceed my wildest expectations. As this is perhaps something of a “final boss” for Lupe Fiasco’s rap career, I don’t recommend that people start with this album. Perhaps give “Food and Liquor,” “The Cool,” “Food and Liquor II,” and “Tetsuo & Youth” a listen, and then dive into “Drogas Wave.”

Final Score: 9.5/10

Best Songs on the Album: “Gold vs the Right Things to Do” “WAV Files” “Haile Selassie” “Alan Forever” “Jonylah Forever” “Kingdom” “Imagine” “Happy Timbuck2 Day”

 

Contact Hamza Zahurullah at hamzaz98 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

The post ‘Drogas Wave’ is the final boss of hip-hop concept albums appeared first on The Stanford Daily.

]]>
https://stanforddaily.com/2018/10/16/drogas-wave-is-the-final-boss-of-hip-hop-concept-albums/feed/ 0 1144945
‘A Quiet Place’ is silently scary https://stanforddaily.com/2018/05/10/a-quiet-place-is-silently-scary/ https://stanforddaily.com/2018/05/10/a-quiet-place-is-silently-scary/#respond Fri, 11 May 2018 06:55:50 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1140879 Welcome to “Movies In Conversation,” a new Screen beat feature at The Stanford Daily. In this week’s edition, critics Abe Thompson and Hamza Zahurullah offer differing opinions on the horror hit “A Quiet Place.” The film is set in the aftermath of an alien invasion. The extraterrestrial creatures hunt humans and attack anything they hear. […]

The post ‘A Quiet Place’ is silently scary appeared first on The Stanford Daily.

]]>
Welcome to “Movies In Conversation,” a new Screen beat feature at The Stanford Daily. In this week’s edition, critics Abe Thompson and Hamza Zahurullah offer differing opinions on the horror hit “A Quiet Place.” The film is set in the aftermath of an alien invasion. The extraterrestrial creatures hunt humans and attack anything they hear. Therefore, the Abbott family must live in complete silence. This conversation has been edited for clarity. Note: contains spoilers.

Abe Thompson (AT): I really liked it. I like it because it’s similar to “Get Out.” It’s this new subgenre of horror — a sort of drama-horror — so there’s a focus on the characters rather than just jump scares. That works really well because it focuses on how these characters are shaped by the environment they’re in. They can’t speak, and they use sign language. It’s so interesting to see the intense emotion conveyed through sign language. I thought John Krasinski and the entire cast were very good, especially the fantastic child actors. These are difficult roles because you can’t say much. It’s all in the face and gestures.

Hamza Zahurullah (HZ): Yeah, definitely. I don’t think there’s anything that’s a straight negative against the film. I thought it had really excellent world building. I love the premise for this; I love the rules they establish for what you can and can’t do. That leads into the next thing: really good narrative payoff with great little moments. Like, there’s a baby coming: How on earth do you deal with a crying baby? The set pieces centered around the baby crying are really effective and probably the tensest moments in the film. There’s also solid sound design: There are so many ways you could screw up this movie if you have too much ambient noise. Good setup there. Good set pieces. You could argue that it’s structured the same way an action movie is structured — you have your beats in each act and the last act, but all the tension is ratcheted up — really solid job on that. The parenting was really touching and really sad. I’m glad that’s a part of it.

AT: Touching on the sound, soundtrack is so important in horror movies. As in “Get Out,” the soundtrack adds so much. It’s not something you necessarily think about, but the lack of any discernible sound or music worked well. It’s especially critical to a movie with that premise. There were long moments of silence, which is unusual in a movie, but it worked. It worked really well, and John Krasinski, the director, worked that into the overall atmosphere expertly.

HZ: No, definitely, I think it’s a critique of a lot of horror films that are going to be dependent on jump scares just by nature of their presentation and their subject matter. They’re really reliant on long periods of silence and then jump scares at the end, that’s the fun of watching it. But this movie makes aesthetic sense, and it makes narrative sense. Very traditional ghost and slasher films have the beats you need to hit. This didn’t feel clichéd.

I still have mixed feelings about the film. I definitely share your opinion. I love the idea of the aliens. I love how you’re not shown them in full frame and how they’re kept out of the film until the second act onwards — it’s really, really well done, but I do agree with you, once they show you all of it …

AT: It becomes less scary.

HZ: It becomes less scary. On the one hand, you could say the actual monster design is well detailed. In some ways, I think it can be a little unsettling — the appearance of flesh and kind of like arachnoid, dog-type movements. My concern came from two things from the monster design. One is unfortunately the CGI. I think most of it is fine. Maybe there were more practical effects than I thought. But especially in the last scene of the film, when the camera focuses on it too much, the CGI hurts the tension a little bit. But then I think my bigger thing was the design is unoriginal.

AT: My general qualm with it, when they show the monster, is it becomes more sci-fi than horror. You’re drawn inevitably to “Alien” and “Cloverfield,” so it takes the film in a slightly opposite direction from where it’s actually wanting to go. Your mind is in a slightly different place than where the movie wants it to be. That’s slightly disappointing since you have such good tension and ambience up until this point. Then, it bursts with the full exposure of the monster.

There’s one scene in particular that I loved where she wakes up, and there’s a monster in the water. I thought that was brilliant because it was absolutely terrifying. Also, you don’t know whether it has the baby or not. That tapped into a very primal fear — the mother protecting her child — and that whole sequence was fantastic because you got the creature, but you still didn’t see all of it. You saw its general shape, and you knew it was there. At that point, that had been the most you’d ever seen of one of the monsters.

HZ: My one other criticism for the film: run time and pacing. After watching the movie, I felt like 10-15 minutes sprinkled in here and there would have helped with the pacing. You could dedicate that time to some additional vignettes showing the family’s relationship with their surroundings.

AT: I definitely see that. Personally, I did like how the film was structured. I believe the film took place over the course of two days with the intertitle cards letting us know how much time had passed, starting with day 89 and then jumping to day 454 just to show us that one year had passed, which makes sense given the state of the mother’s pregnancy. Perhaps more filler would have helped.

HZ: So that meant that by the end of the film, we as an audience are left with some unanswered questions. I’m hesitant to call them plot holes. It is effective to not show the audience your whole hand of cards and explain how everything in the world works. Thankfully, the practice also avoids coming across as sequel-baiting.

Between “Get Out” and “A Quiet Place,” I feel like horror films are really re-entering the mainstream consciousness. I know that “A Quiet Place” is going to get recommended to people that don’t watch horror films, and I’m very curious to hear what their response will be. More than that, I’m curious to see how Hollywood continues this trend of popular, critically-acclaimed horror movies.

Contact Abe Thompson at athomps3 ‘at’ stanford.edu and Hamza Zahurullah at hamzaz98 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

The post ‘A Quiet Place’ is silently scary appeared first on The Stanford Daily.

]]>
https://stanforddaily.com/2018/05/10/a-quiet-place-is-silently-scary/feed/ 0 1140879
NO_ONE EVER REALLY DIES: When a great album overstays its welcome https://stanforddaily.com/2018/02/06/no_one-ever-really-dies-when-a-great-album-overstays-its-welcome/ https://stanforddaily.com/2018/02/06/no_one-ever-really-dies-when-a-great-album-overstays-its-welcome/#respond Tue, 06 Feb 2018 20:49:16 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1136192 “The truth will set you free. But first, it’ll piss you off.”  With these opening words, it is made clear that “NO_ONE EVER REALLY DIES,” N.E.R.D’s latest album, isn’t going to be some run-of-the-mill hip-hop release — this album is going to be political, angry and frantic as hell. In the waning days of 2017, the […]

The post NO_ONE EVER REALLY DIES: When a great album overstays its welcome appeared first on The Stanford Daily.

]]>
NO_ONE EVER REALLY DIES: When a great album overstays its welcome
Pharrell performing with N.E.R.D in 2010. (Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

“The truth will set you free. But first, it’ll piss you off.”  With these opening words, it is made clear that “NO_ONE EVER REALLY DIES,” N.E.R.D’s latest album, isn’t going to be some run-of-the-mill hip-hop release — this album is going to be political, angry and frantic as hell. In the waning days of 2017, the hip-hop/alt rock band N.E.R.D (consisting of Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo of legendary 2000s hip-hop production duo The Neptunes, as well as Shay Haley) ended a seven-year hiatus with the release of their fifth studio album, the eponymously titled “NO_ONE EVER REALLY DIES” (see the acronym?). The featured artists on the album are like a who’s who in popular music today — Rihanna, Kendrick Lamar, Future and Ed Sheeran are just some of the guests that provide their own flair and personality to the project.

Lyrically and thematically, N.E.R.D and company have aimed their crosshairs at a variety of targets ranging from police brutality to the Trump administration to the hypocrisy of Evangelicals. Sonically, the album is completely out of control, jumping back and forth between several different production styles and subgenres of hip-hop. For the most part, this exercise in musical excess succeeds with flying colors.

The first five songs on the album were all among my favorite songs of 2017. The album opener “Lemon” features angry, energetic production, some subtle and clever references to President Trump and an absolutely badass guest spot from Rihanna. “Deep Down Body Thrust” takes Trump on more directly, taking him to task for his reputation as a con artist, his Islamophobia and his plans for the Mexican border wall. “Voila” is a celebration of self-betterment, as made clear by the guest appearance from Gucci Mane, hip-hop’s late 2010s comeback kid. “1000” encourages everyone that listens to it to go out in the streets and protest. Admittedly, the song gets a little bit off track with a guest verse from Future, but thankfully, Pharrell takes the reins back and tells everyone that “in the mirror there’s a hero,” making it clear that this revolution is for everyone. This political commentary reaches a head on what is my favorite song on the album: “Don’t Don’t Do It.”

“Don’t Don’t Do It” is hands-down the best track on the album — the song is about police shootings of African-Americans, and Pharrell takes the issue head on by listing the names of various cities where these shootings have occurred, but he also retells the story of Keith Scott’s death at the hands of police in Charlotte, North Carolina. The phrase “Don’t don’t do it!” in the chorus pleads for the police to stop killing black Americans. Nevertheless, the pleas in the chorus are met with the bleak reality of rejection in the bridge with the reply that “they gonna do it anyway.” The bass line used in the song pumps up the production to give the song a real sense of energy and anger. All of this energy comes to a head with a mind-blowing guest verse from Kendrick Lamar. As good as Pharrell is on this song, Kendrick simply blows him out of the water. The verse has incredibly clever wordplay, frantic flow and references to other songs in Kendrick’s body of work dealing with the issue of police brutality.

In the first five tracks of the album, N.E.R.D balances fun music, social commentary, messages of positivity and a huge variety of production styles. The album builds and builds until its peak with “Don’t don’t do it!” If you look carefully at the track listing, you will notice that there are still six more tracks left — and this is where the album falters. The three songs following “Don’t Don’t Do It” are all a mix of good and bad. “ESP” still has calls to protest, messages of self-improvement and fun production, but all this material was done better earlier in the album. “Lighting Fire Magic Prayer” has some mellow production, with the sound of running water and some Kanye-circa-“808s & Heartbreak” vibes accompanying Pharrell’s chilled-out vocals. But at over seven minutes long, the track overstays its welcome. “Rollinem 7’s” is quite possibly the worst song on the album, with the exception of the album closer. Even with a solid guest verse from Andre 3000, the song’s production is repetitive, almost to the point of annoyance. None of these songs have the slightest idea as to how to follow up “Don’t Don’t Do It.”

Things do turn around a bit with the next two tracks. “Kites” features some pointed lyrics referencing the issues of border security and ethnic nationalism in America, and even more great bars from Kendrick Lamar. It ends with a verse from M.I.A. that is admittedly lacking in flow but also provides further commentary on the plight of immigrants in America. “Secret Life of Tigers” is a solid trip-hop song that exposes the hypocrisy of Evangelical parents of liberal and rebellious children.

With that we reach the last, and easily worst, song on the entire album: “Lifting You.” N.E.R.D decided to end this album filled with energetic production and biting social commentary with a boring “telling off the haters” song featuring Ed Sheeran, of all people. The reggae influences in the production help the song, but not by a whole lot. It’s the only song on the album that lacks something truly unique and special about it.

It is unfortunate that the latter half of the album is such a mixed bag. The bad songs were too meandering and repetitious for their own good. The production style became too self-indulgent, while the hooks became lazy and the social commentary became patronizing. Despite those flaws, I still highly recommend the album to anyone that missed it the first time around. The first five tracks, along with tracks nine and 10, are where I want pop music and hip-hop to go in 2018. N.E.R.D. certainly captured my attention with their first release during the Trump years of popular music. I am very curious to see where they go next.

 

Contact Hamza Zahurullah at hamzaz98 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

The post NO_ONE EVER REALLY DIES: When a great album overstays its welcome appeared first on The Stanford Daily.

]]>
https://stanforddaily.com/2018/02/06/no_one-ever-really-dies-when-a-great-album-overstays-its-welcome/feed/ 0 N.E.R.D & Rihanna - Lemon nonadult 1136192
Intimate and grandiose: the genius of Vangelis’ ‘Blade Runner’ soundtrack https://stanforddaily.com/2017/10/17/intimate-and-grandiose-the-genius-of-vangelis-blade-runner-soundtrack/ https://stanforddaily.com/2017/10/17/intimate-and-grandiose-the-genius-of-vangelis-blade-runner-soundtrack/#respond Tue, 17 Oct 2017 09:30:58 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1131166 There exist competing ideas as to what makes a film score especially “great.” Some argue that the score should be as memorable and captivating as the film it accompanies — the collective body of work of John Williams comes to mind. “Hedwig’s Theme” from “Harry Potter,” the “Superman” theme, the main title theme of “Star […]

The post Intimate and grandiose: the genius of Vangelis’ ‘Blade Runner’ soundtrack appeared first on The Stanford Daily.

]]>
Intimate and grandiose: the genius of Vangelis’ 'Blade Runner' soundtrack
The album cover to the original 1982 “Blade Runner” soundtrack (Courtesy of Warner Bros. Entertainment).

There exist competing ideas as to what makes a film score especially “great.” Some argue that the score should be as memorable and captivating as the film it accompanies — the collective body of work of John Williams comes to mind. “Hedwig’s Theme” from “Harry Potter,” the “Superman” theme, the main title theme of “Star Wars,” the “Indiana Jones” theme — when we think of these films, inevitably, we think of these pieces of music. Others argue that the score shouldn’t stick out and should instead subtly complement the images they correspond with on screen

I believe that a truly great soundtrack can and must do both. The entire score must holistically serve the tone, content and themes of the film, but individual tracks must also be memorable in their own right. I was thinking about this very topic in the days after I saw “Blade Runner 2049.”  The music did an excellent job serving the visuals of the film, but it wasn’t especially memorable. While this was slightly disappointing, the silver lining is that I was reminded of the original film’s score. Greek composer Vangelis’ score for the 1982 film “Blade Runner” is, without a doubt, the embodiment of film music perfection.

“Blade Runner,” as a film is both a film-noir/detective story and an epic, philosophical exploration of what it means to be human.  As such, the film calls for a soundtrack that can be described as not only intimate and lonely, but also grandiose and sweeping. In addition, the cyberpunk aesthetic central to the artistic composition of the film must be maintained in the score. The score ends up being a synthesis of jazz, classical music, cyberpunk electronica and Middle Eastern music. Vangelis was able to match the visuals and themes of the film beat for beat through the combined use of traditional film noir instrumentation and the decidedly non-traditional Yamaha CS-80 synthesizer. When the film is shadowy, lonely and contemplative, the jazz sensibilities creep in. When Rick Deckard explores the seedy underbelly of Los Angeles circa 2019, we hear the electronica and Middle Eastern notes enter the fray. When the film reaches its philosophical and emotional climax in its last act, the sweeping synths dominate.  

Now, I’m not one to contradict myself. I stated that a truly great film score can’t just complement the visuals found on screen. It must also have individual tracks that are memorable as musical compositions in their own rights. Thankfully, the “Blade Runner” score is not lacking in those. The three tracks that come to mind as personal favorites are “Main Titles/Prologue,” “Blade Runner Blues” and “Tears in Rain.”

Main Titles/Prologue” accompanies both the opening text exposition and the scenes of an industrial Los Angeles circa 2019. The songs establish a very specific type of film world — a film world that simultaneously invites the audience to bask in its wonder and mystery and to be wary of its cold, industrial and unforgiving nature. The song is so memorable because all of the standard instrumentation for classical music film scores is rejected in lieu of that essential synthesizer.

The track “Blade Runner Blues” appears twice in the film. Both instances contain the most decidedly neo-noirish imagery of the entire film. It first plays when Rick Deckard retires the replicant Zhora. The imagery of her crashing through panes of glass and ultimately dying in a flurry of artificial snow matched with the song evoke the colder, more emotionally ambiguous notes of hardboiled detective stories. The second time it plays, Rick sits alone in his apartment with his glass of whiskey, his piano and the neon lights outside his window. You can almost hear the bluesy saxophone playing until you realize that it isn’t a saxophone at all, but rather, once again, the synthesizer.  

Finally, “Tears in Rain” accompanies the eponymous Tears in Rain soliloquy delivered in the third act of the film. It begins with the synth strings and synth bells from the “Main Titles/Prologue,” and these elements get louder and louder as the music swells. They are blocked momentarily by the sound of timpani, only to resume once again. This structure has a very specific emotional impact on the audience. The familiar motifs from the “Main Titles/Prologue” bring the audience into a state of deep longing and remembrance. These timpani metaphorically interrupt this state by reminding us of the inevitability of death. When the motifs return, we are encouraged to return to that same emotional state, only now possessing the knowledge that death does not make our memories any less important. The balance between noir and epic sensibilities reach their apex with this song and its respective scene. Rick’s deeply moving death soliloquy is given within the visual context of deep shadows, neon lights, the image of a dove flying away into the nights. Life and death are matched beat for beat by the music, spoken word, and the visuals.  

Ordinarily, the recommendation to listen to a film’s score isn’t a recommendation to see the film it accompanies, and the same holds true in the reverse. However, “Blade Runner” and its respective soundtrack are the exception to this rule. Both stand as works on their own, but they add up to something more than the sum of their parts. It is ultimately for this reason that the Vangelis’ score is a truly great piece of cinematic music, and it should not be missed.

 

Contact Hamza Ali Zahurullah at hamzaz98 ‘at’ stanford.edu.

The post Intimate and grandiose: the genius of Vangelis’ ‘Blade Runner’ soundtrack appeared first on The Stanford Daily.

]]>
https://stanforddaily.com/2017/10/17/intimate-and-grandiose-the-genius-of-vangelis-blade-runner-soundtrack/feed/ 0 1131166