I used to put bladerunner on before I would go to sleep nearly every night, for some reason the way the dialogue fits around the movies dialogue and rich atmospheric sound design I prefer the ADR'd version rather than the OST.
When Hollywood Composer Jóhann Jóhannsson, known most recently for his award winning soundtrack to "Arrival", left the project earlier this year due to artistic differences I felt a huge amount of anxiety for the long awaited answer to my all time favorite soundtrack.
Let me add a little more personal context:
I'm what some people might refer to as a bit of a synth-head. I bought my first synthesizer when I was 13, after working a terrible job all summer at a Catholic T-shirt kiosk in the mall. It was around this time that I saw the movie "Bladerunner" with my dad for the very first time. Both this movie soundtrack and my new microkorg would have such a huge impact on my life and identity.
Vangelis at his notorious CS80, a behemoth of a synthesizer
It was like a code I needed to decypher, I spent the next 4 years of high school studying the synthesizer, not just as an instrument but as a tool of soundscaping. 13 years later and I happily spent my day today twisting knobs and decoding some of the sounds I heard at last nights viewing of Bladerunner 2049.
Sound Synthesis gave me direction in life, one that I followed very closely and for that I can thank Vangelis and his powerful sonic choices in the Bladerunner OST. When Jóhann Jóhannsson was announced to make the sequel I was stoked, and equally bummed when he left. However, his replacements Hans Zimmer and Benjamin Wallfisch did a phenomenal job with the soundtrack that paid a very close homage to the original without feeling like a campy rip-off. It matched the films overt motif of human vs replicant, nature vs machine incredibly.
Almost immediately into the movie I heard the familiar sound of the Casio CS-80 that is featured so prominently in the first, but layered with a much more organic percussion giving the now dated aesthetic of Bladerunners audio a breath of new life. I don't want to spoil much because the movie is such a great part 2 to the series [PKD's source material 'do androids...' was done justice with this second part IMO]
Welcome onboard! Hope you'll find it great in here..
Thanks~
Nice bit of history about the music. Vangelis' work on the original film is beautiful. What I enjoyed about the soundtrack to this film is that, like the world we're presented, the soundtrack is a sonic devolution of the one that described 2019.
My personal journey with Blade Runner is more literary. It kicked off my life-long love affair, nee obsession, with Philip K. Dick.
You may enjoy my take on the film:
https://steemit.com/movies/@goldgoatsnguns/blade-runner-2049-officer-k-s-trial-by-cinematic-jury
Thanks again for a great post.
Hey man, vangelis brought me to the work of PKD as well. Personally I find Electric sheep to be his most accessible work but certainly not his best. Probably the #1 choice for adaption to film, with man in the high castle taking a close second.
I would really love to get a heady TV show of VALIS, sort of like how they do the monologues in House of cards, but with a driveling Horselover Fat in front of the camera breaking the fourth wall.
Sorry for the rambles, I don't meet a lot of PKD fans outside of my close friends group.
When I first watched Bladerunner, I think I was too young to see the brilliance behind it so I didn't really like it. After I re-watched it a couple times, I realized how amazing it is. I'm super excited to see the new release. Glad to hear some positive feedback. Your post is original! I'd suggest using the original-content tag in the future. Upvoted and re-steemed.
Thanks man, the tag is #original-content ?
Yep. It's a good way to sort from the spam and copy-paste posts.
Look who's here ^^ Mthrshp, I'm just here to leave a nice Hello ^^. Unfortunately i don't have much voting power, but i will be back and vote my followers. Need to grow a little ^^. Have a great time @rightuppercorner
Terrific work Thank you :)