The Shining Soundtrack

...because more than anything this film is a great listen. As a movie it's a great soundtrack. Why were we searching for the ultimate industrial noise thrills in the 70s, 80s & 90s? when it was already done many years prior by classical composers then put into this incredible sound design by music editor Gordon Stainforth for one of the biggest mainstream horror flicks of our time. The Shining OST 1980, it's got all the Penderecki pomp, percussion, dissonance, buzzing, scraping, violent intensity, abstraction etc. I mean De Natura Sonoris 2 is noisier and better than anything Einstürzende Neubauten or Liabach ever did, falling spanner sound included. Don't forget the other orchestral dudes Bartok and Ligiti. Ligiti brings the ominous frequencies and electric drones while Bartok's more subtle strings, percussion and celesta eerily enchant until climaxing with a jolt. Then there's the 30s pop of Jack Hylton, Al Bowlly & Pet Van Steeden that 20 years later would inspire hauntology, in particular Leyland Kirby's musical project The Caretaker (which he named after Jack Nicholson's character). 

I wonder if there is a mix from the actual film's sound source as there are a few pieces of music missing here and it's the editing of this noise of the 20th century that brings the extra excitement. Anyway for now here is the track listing for this youtube version of the soundtrack which is much more comprehensive than the original vinyl version from the 80s:

1. The Shining Main Title by Wendy Carlos and Rachel Elkind

2. Lontano by Ligeti

3. Music For Strings, Percussion, & Celesta by Bartok 

4. The Awakening of Jacob by Penderecki 

5. De Natura Sonoris No. 1 by Penderecki 

6. Polymorphia by Penderecki 

7. Masquerade performed by Jack Hylton 

8. De Natura Sonoris No. 2 by Penderecki 

9. It's All Forgotten Now by Al Bowlly 

10. Kanon by Penderecki 

11. Home by Van Steeden, Clarkson, and Clarkson 

12. Utrenja (Kanon Paschy) by Penderecki 

13. Utrenja (Ewangelia) by Penderecki 

14. Midnight, the Stars, and You by Henry Hall & The Gleneagles Hotel Band

Denroy Morgan - I'll Do Anything For You

The synth in this is just the best! Classic bit o 1981 boogie from Jamaican ex-pat in America Denroy Morgan. 

UNWOUND - REPETITION

UNWOUND - LOWEST COMMON DENOMINATOR

Unwound are more well known for the inferior bands they influenced than for their own actual music, such as Modest Mouse, The Trail Of Dead, At The Drive In, Black Dice etc.

After Twin Infinitives, Spiderland and Soundtracks For The Blind you could make a case for Unwound's 1996 LP Repetition as the fourth greatest innovative American noisy rock album record of the 90s. Discuss (or not I mean who cares at this point...)

UNWOUND - LADY ELECT

Intense with lackadaisical overtones. Emotional...

UNWOUND - FOR YOUR ENTERTAINMENT

You know a good LP when the best tune is the final track (cf. Gouge Away - The Pixies, The Bewlay Brothers - David Bowie). 

earth - omen and portents

I never like re-activated groups. The two exceptions are Swans circa The Seer and totally surprisingly Earth. This track puts me in mind of Rock Formations era Yawning Man but slower. Bill Frisell guests. A deep psych jam emerges from the doomed drone desert rock nexus.

Nunc Dimittis (Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy: End Credits) - Geoffrey Burgon

This is the song in the closing credits for each of the 7 episodes of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy which aired on the BBC is 1979. Apparently the singer is Paul Phoenix. This tune while already haunted has extra resonance today as the ill-informed, misguided and tyrannical woke-tard cultural revolutionists have now come to destroy choral music and church choirs. Object now! So this is the new punk-rock. 

This goes out to the heroic 80 year old granny objecting to cocks in her changing rooms at her local pool and the legendary lesbians who were banned today from a pride march in Wales for stating "Lesbians Don't Like Penises!"   

Kano - I'm ready

Future electro from 1980 by Kano. For a start that bass....then the vocal science....the untreated vocal melodies are like something Ariel Pink was influenced by circa Loverboy. The glitz & the glamour of Italo-disco bliss...

Hadji Baba - Gus Vali

Hadji Baba comes from a 1974 LP that's never been reissued so perhaps the collector cult builders who run reissue labels don't like it. Reminiscent of Can's ethnological forgeries, 70s Miles and Turkish psych, it's a super session of 70s psychedelic jazz-funk-fusion. Recorded in NYC by Greek American belly dancing advocate Gus Vali. A Middle-Eastern Afro-Cuban jam with an all star lineup that features Charlie Palmieri on the Fender Rhodes.  

Iration Steppas - Iration Steppas vs. Dennis Rootical

Choice "digi-dub" reggae from the mid 90s. Nothing produced by the dubstep people 10 years later was anywhere near as good as this tune. Massive.

Skream - Midnight Request Line

I always thought this dubstep tune was a total Drexciya rip off. Listening to most dubstep still gets on my tits because it has all these elements from top genres like dub, electro, Detroit techno, jungle, dub-tech etc. but it's not as good. Plus it's got dub in the bloody name right but it's rarely dubby enough. I mean this track, even though it's undeniable, is virtually dub free.  

Infophysix - Dopplereffekt

Infophysix from 96 is classic Detroit electro. Dopplereffekt is one half of Drexciya Gerald Donald's side project that adds an ebm element to the sound. The subject matter is old school industrial style though: nazis, porn, eugenics etc. Don't let that put you off though as many of their 90s tunes have that luxuriant electro vibe that could only be Drexciya.