4B - Thursday, October 26, 2006 the b-side The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Sounds of film: Faux pas not allowed By: MATT KIVEL DailyArts Writer The "Garden State" soundtrack is not an album. It's Zach Braff's iPod shuffle. The art of compiling a soundtrack is similar to sewing a patchwork quilt - songs must be culled from the sprawling body of a film and stitched into a coherent work that makes sense in its overall pre- sentation. The task is complex, and more often than not we end up with a gaudy piece of pop pastiche that continues to deteriorate with repeated listens (take "Garden State" as a case in point). Zach Braff took a handful of wonder- ful songs and carelessly sandwiched them between inferior folk knock-offs and awkward pop rockers. Bonnie Somerville, Colin Hay and Cary Brothers supply the major land mines of the record, consis- tently disintegrating any pleasure derived from the other tunes. Nick Drake's hum- ble "One of These Things First" gets cozy with Remy Zero and Thievery Corpora- tion, while Colin Hay provides the mind- numbing coda for a pair of Shins tunes. The frightening part of this whole situ- ation is that Mr. Braff's foray into the art of album assembly is probably better than 95 percent of what gets released. Major studios pump out bargain-bin fod- der faster than they can write actors' roy- alty checks, leading the youth of America to get their first soundtrack experiences from "The Cookout" rather than "Mid- night Cowboy." But fear not young moviegoers, for as Leonard Cohen once said: "There are heroes in the seaweed." Wes Anderson and Sofia Coppola come from a new school of filmmakers whose pop-based soundtracks are not only cohe- sive musical works, but foundations upon which their characters and plots are built. The Creation's freak-beat anthem "Making Time" perfectly encapsulates all the arrogance and nervous energy found in Max Fischer (Jason Schwartzman), the teenaged focal point of Anderson's tesy of Touchstone Kirsten Dunst in Sofia Coppola's "Marie Antoinette." Gwyneth Paltrow and Luke Wilson look serious in "The Royal Tenenbaums." 1998 parochial masterpiece "Rushmore". Ornamented by Mark Mothersbaugh's idiosyncratic film-score snippets, the How to make an American quilt. Or at least a decent movie soundtrack. soundtrack is a whimsical compilation of folk-pop gems of the '60s and '70s. It plays like a great album is supposed to; songs fit side by side, an overall texture is estab- lished and there is a clear narrative arc that parallels the characters' tumultuous relationships. Anderson refined his approach with 2001's "The Royal Tenenbaums," which relied more heavily on Mothersbaugh's virtuosic scoring talents to provide the film with a surreal take on classical film composition. Nico served as the movie's musical narrator with "These Days" and "The Fairest of The Seasons" appearing at crucial points in the story's develop- ment. The suicide attempt and subsequent hospital escape of ex-tennis pro Richie Tenenbaum (Luke Wilson) is the most poignant and thoughtful combination of film and music Anderson has yet created. Blood flows down Richie's arms as the incessant strums of Elliot Smith's "Needle in the Hay" quietly overtakes the picture. An awkward family hospital visit ensues, but he soon leaves and finds himself on a large green bus sailing through the aging city streets to the baroque majesty of Nick Drake's "Fly." Sofia Coppola has a tendency to lean toward more ambient soundscapes, draw- ing heavily from shoegaze and electron- ica artists. "Lost In Translation" makes exquisite use of My Bloody Valentine's "Sometimes" in a late night cab ride scene between Charlotte (Scarlett Johannson) and Bob (Bill Murray). Walls of guitar seem to cascade over the Tokyo skyline, creating a contemplative bed of sound over which the unlikely couple can pon- der their future. The "Lost In Transla- tion" album, like Anderson's best work, is extremely well paced and meticulously compiled. The key to Coppola and Anderson's effectiveness as album curators is a com- bination of their keen musical tastes and the restraint that is demonstrated in their choice of songs. They mine musical terri- tory that is intimately connected with their stories and will often film scenes with a pre-planned soundtrack. Both stick closely to a genre or texture and rarely employ material that breaks from the established theme. A great film soundtrack is not just a mixtape, it's a fully realized work inti- mately connected with the movie from which it came. It can transport you from the mundane reality of everyday life into a surreal world of colorful characters and escapist fantasy. So the next time you are stuck in a grad library carrel studying for some inconse- quential exam, flip on "The Royal Tenen- baums" soundtrack, look out your window and watch Ann Arbor become a whole lot more romantic than you ever thought it could be. , New Order in the court: Sofia's making the mixtape By KIMBERLY CHOU AssociateArts Editor Siouxsie and The Banshees. Aphex Twin. Bow Wow Wow. Vivaldi arranged by Brian Reitzell. The track listing for the "Marie Antoi- nette" album soundtrack reads like a laundry list of '80s New Romantics with a splash of East Village modernity and two fingers of rerouted baroque. Maybe that's pushing it too far with the analo- gies. But seriously, the album is an audi- tory wet dream for the indie eclectic - or her favorite director, Sofia Coppola. In all aspects, "Marie Antoinette" is Coppola's baby, a film that would quickly be labeled a periodbiopic save for itsdecid- edly contemporary approach. Coppola's tribute to France's most famous and frivo- lous ruler is a humanist look at history's greatest fuck-ups, paired with a healthy love of synth-pop. A look at its advertis- * ing campaign will tell you that much: The poster features a punkish cut-out of the title pasted over a frou-frou Kirsten Dunst * bathed in hot pink; the trailer, scenes of coronation and revolution accompanied | by New Order and The Strokes. Coppola goes for an obvious musical - and marketing - aesthetic with her song selection. She includes what she likes and knows what her demographic likes. Cop- : pola's a middle Gen-Xer and one of most highly regarded young directors today (her oeuvre spanning a whole three fea- ture films); as a fan, you kind of fantasize It's her party. She'll have Air in Versailles if she wants to. what Coppola was like growing up. Some- where between a presumably gawky ado- lescence and daddy Francis casting her as Mary Corleone, there must have been some period of time where young, admi- rable Sofi cut her dyed hair asymmetrical- ly, wore skinny black jeans and listened to a lot of New Order. In every generation there will be the set of kids who idolize Ian Curtis (not in New Order, obviously) or Adam Ant. Maybe that's pushing it too far with Adam Ant. But Coppola seems like a woman used to getting her way, and what's a better show of control as a hostess than overseeing what's pumped through the speakers? Don't dare call it background music - not only do selections like "Ceremony" and "Hong Kong Garden" both comple- ment and drive the film, they come from some pretty good artists to begin with. F 11 .9 Life, liberty and happiness: The best of literature, arts and fashion for all MAGAZINES From page 1B for peace" (and yes, Jesus's temple rampage tops the list). Another Magazine similarly skips around from a pessimistic interview with writer Gore Vidal to an inside look at utopian school- ing in Appalachia. It presents a short photo essay on the small traditional Longhorn Miao tribe of China, whose women elect to thread half-foot horns into the hair at the base of their necks. It offers specialized interview briefs with assorted B-listers, such as "Joan of Arcadia's" Amber Tamblyn's obsession with junk art. But just when you start to skim through its yawningly Vogue-like fashion spreads and Kirsten Dunst cover story, you hit the jackpot on its back literary section and remem- ber the advantages of a culture magazine's flexible anything-goes format in the first place. Along with stories and essays from the likes of James Fox and David Sedaris, Another prints exam questions from the 1960s Oxford Men's College applications ("Should we bless or curse the motor-car?"), a script excerpt from Hitchcock's "North by Northwest" (its coy dialogue deemed a lesson in flirting) and famous authors' youthful letters home (Sylvia Plath to her mother: "If my printing's crooked, it's only because I drank too much cider tonight"). Finally, a magazine with the space to simply revel in the wealth of our pop cul- ture's rich history - with media so focused on the now, when is our chance to appreciate the then? There are certainly more tradi- tional culture magazines among the current yield, namely Black Book, whose hipper-than-Elle lay- out acts as a sort of starter course to the world of trendy print. With safe indie it-girl Maggie Gyllenhaal on the cover, Black Book spotlights tamer fashion spreads (accessories paired with modern art) and celeb- rities in more mainstream sur- roundings (Justin Theroux, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Sam Rockwell and Billy Crudup as an all-star- benefit charades team). The remainder of the best cur- rent culture magazines fork off noticeably from a fashion-heavy focus, organizing instead around top-notch writing and tongue- in-cheek commentary. The two branches relate like joined twins - same heart, individual souls. Chicago-based Stop Smiling ("The Magazine for High-Mind- ed Lowlifes") may have a photo spread or two, but its cover story is on Kurt Vonnegut instead of Kirsten. Its essays cover Mark Twain and Kim Novak, its inter- views quiz Garrison Keillor and Dave Eggers and its reviews com- bine the New Yorker's essay length with The Onion AV's Club's spark - not a six-inch-high heel or cou- ture spandex dress in sight. The same can be said for the McSweeney's family of irreverent magazines, although McSwee- ney's literary magazine and its offshoots, The Believer (books THE MAGAZINE RACK One thing's for sure: You won't find these publications without looking. To get your handson back or current issues oftany of the magazines men- ioned in this story, check out Shaman Drum, Borders or these websites: wwwlemanlandcom wwwanothermag.com www.flaunt.com www.bonmagazine.com www.blackbookmag.com www.store.mcsweeneys.net and writers) and Wholpin (far-far- far-from-mainstream film, with a DVD sampler included), regularly take wit to such dazzling heights that a separate category of media creation might be warranted. "There's not enough room for it all!" These magazines seem to scream it as they cram in every interesting cultural tidbit their editors have culled together before deadline. Another Maga- zine concludes with an irrelevant photo spread of various observa- tories from throughout the world, each paired with a philosophical quote about the insatiable human search for truth. Other magazines might give you answers: the latest political brouhahas, some qualita- tive postseason sports analysis, a definite letter grade on the latest movie. These magazines just enjoy the questions. I dare you to ever pay for People again. I Over 2 million sold! Flexfuel Chevrolets. C)SUBURBAN EHEVRDLET MM u mNU 1.888.385.8S88 Coe..o.Jackonand rd. . .... 3515 Jackson Rd. I THE MOST CONTROVERSIAL FILM OF THE YEAR OPENS IN THEATRES FRIDAY, OCTOBER 27TH!