Faceoff (Soundtrack Edition): Tron Legacy vs. The Social Network

So, it's been a while since we've had a faceoff on That Girl With A Blog, but the time has come, my friends.This time, we'll be focusing on soundracks. While the similarities are there (the electronic inspiration, the prolific artists, the facet that they're both scores), the differences are abounding. Well, let's see where they stand. It seems like the winner always comes first. Let's start with the loser.

Now, I'm not trying to say that Trent Reznor is a loser, per se, I'm just saying that Daft Punk used their giant, stompy, space-aged boots to kick him in the face. Repeatedly. Also, I should probably mention that I am a little biased on this front. I am a huge fan of Reznor's...pre-1999 Reznor, that is. 1989 Trent Reznor was my favorite, though. I want Reznor at his finest. Young, dreaded, preferably covered in baby powder and screaming. This is the Reznor I have come to know and love. Now, man, where to begin. This whole "Henry Rollins Look-a-Like" contest thing has gotten out of hand and well, he got married? What's up with that? My inner 13-year-old just died a little bit. At least she's hot. Like, really hot. Good job, Trent. Anyway, onto the soundtrack.
While this is Reznor's first score, it's certainly not his first rodeo when it comes to working on soundtracks (See: Natural Born Killers or Lost Highway). That being said, The Social Network Soundtrack is soooooooo boring. So. Very. Boring. It's dark, it's brooding (who could have imagined!? Trent Reznor!? Dark and brooding? No effin' way!) and it's entirely predictable. It's everything that I imagined it would be, and that's not a good thing. Also, I don't even really understand why he would agree to do this (perhaps he should have kept his original answer?). While, yes, he's a pioneer of technology when it comes to releasing music, he's notoriously anti-social networking. This album does have a few stand out tracks including "In Motion" and "Carbon Prevails". Upon multiple listenings, these two are the only tracks to really demand my attention, even when I'm doing something else. But for every decent song, you end up with a song like "In the Hall of the Mountain King". Yup, it's the orchestral piece composed by Edvard Grieg for Peer Gynt, and it ends up sounding like a badly-recorded ring tone. In general, this album sounds just like everything that Reznor's released since 1999 and is almost a dead ringer for 2008's Ghosts. Do something else, already. As for it's relation to the movie, okay, I get it. It's darkly appropriate for the greed and betrayal, but as a stand alone album, it fails miserably.

As for Daft Punk, they take the Tron Legacy Soundtrack and make it their bitch. Seriously. And what's so amazing about this OST is the complete lack of a danceable beat. Who are you, you helmeted DJ duo, and what have you done with my Daft Punk!? Two of my favorite Frenchman were just absolutely perfect for this soundtrack. It's so understated for them and so incredibly beautiful. You get this layering of ambient, organic noise with the swelling of an 85 piece orchestra and it's enough to give me goosebumps EVERY listen through. Doing some general research for this review, I came across this on the G4 site:
"Anyone thinking that Daft Punk would record this as Discovery, Part 2 or Human After All: The Sequel will be greatly disappointed.  If this causes you to make angry faces under your homemade Daft Punk mask..." First of all, thank you, Rick Damigella, for making me laugh harder that I have in a long time, and second of all, he is 100% correct. There is no sampling. There is no disco. There is nothing to make your heart want to explode while rolling. It's so not the Daft Punk we all know and love, but it's just SO GOOD. Grand does not even begin to describe this album. Epic? Maybe. Legendary? Almost. While the Tron Legacy Soundtrack has the capabilites that all soundtracks need (IE: the ability to blend into the background when necessary), as a stand alone album, it's still absolutely fucking phenomenal. This time around, this album is everything I thought it would be, only better. I don't think that there's anyone out there who fit the bill as well as the Daft Punk boys. I mean, they've been playing robot for almost my entire lifetime, why the hell not!? At this point, I don't even care if the movie's good or not because the soundtrack is more than enough to make up for it. It's just a bonus that the soundtrack matches the movie perfectly.

Daft Punk, you are the clear winners here, and proof that some people really do have staying power in the music industry. Seriously, this album is amazing whether it's part of the movie or not. Whether you're a fan of Tron or not. It is simply an amazing, orchestral album with electronically inspired undertones and if it doesn't win some sort of award for being the best soundtrack of the year, I will be utterly shocked. Definitely check it out!

Faceoff: Owl City vs. The Postal Service

The time has come for the…wow, what the fuck would you even call this? Emo/Electronica Faceoff? So, one of these albums is far, far older than the other, but with all the recent comparison, I thought this faceoff would be appropriate. Owl City vs. The Postal Service. Minnesota vs. Washington. (That doesn’t sound nearly as exciting as Paris vs. Chicago, but we’ll work with it.)

Let’s start off with The Postal Service. They’re older, they get first dibs.

Even though this album came out in 2003, it’s still in heavy rotation for fans of this emo/EDM subculture and I really have to hand it to these guys…they brought EDM back to the mainstream. Back to radio and MTV. The collective works of electronic artist Jimmy Tamborello and Death Cab For Cutie frontman, Ben Gibbard, Give Up was and is really a revolutionary album for music. Combining elements of 80′s New Wave with futuristic intent makes this album something else entirely. It’s no wonder why their debut album at a total of ten tracks has three major hits including “The District Sleeps Alone Tonight”, “Such Great Heights”, and “We Will Become Silhouettes”. There is talk of a second album for these guys, but they admit it won’t be released any time during this decade. C’mon, they both have other projects. It really seems like this album was just some sort of…accident. A really, really well received accident. The Postal Service has this delightful mix of downtempo and upbeat tracks, but they have such a great buildup. Like the video below for “The District Sleeps Alone Tonight”…starts off incredibly slow and quiet and before you know it you’re bobbing and singing along. And obviously, Ben Gibbard’s voice is simply heavenly. Dear god. And I love the backing vocals of Jenny Lewis and Jen Wood on this album (Mike Doughty would have a field day with that one). They add meaningful, relevant lyrics to electronic music. No longer is it all about ecstasy and bright lights.

Onto Owl City. With three albums in the last four years, Adam Young (no relation, I promise) has certainly taken that previously mentioned emo/EDM subculture by force. He’s already peaked to #1 on the Billboard Top 100 with his massive hit “Fireflies”. Owl City’s got a far more upbeat sound. I mean, shit, it gets up to borderline happy hardcore/gabber on a few tracks there. While still influenced by 80′s synthpop, Owl City also delves into parts of disco, J-Pop, and early European EDM. After releasing two independent, unsigned albums, Owl City finally hit it big with Ocean Eyes, released in July. Young’s lyrics are a little…juvenile…from time to time though. There’s really not a whole lot of substance. He likes talking about the ocean (PUGET SOUND, holla!) and sea creatures (and apparently oral hygiene), which is cool, but it doesn’t quite fill and entire album.



Where you can really see the difference between the two is live performance. I really dug Owl City (and still do enjoy the album) until I heard him without all that vocal distortion.


He sounds like he’s thirteen. It’s amazing what all those electronics can really do to a voice. On the other hand, the guy uses KORG, so I gotta show some respect for that.

I think Owl City will have their fifteen minutes of fame and perhaps a cult following of thirteen year old girls from what I’ve seen around these intertubes, but The Postal Service has real staying power. (See: Death Cab For Cutie.) Ben Gibbard sure knows what he’s doing. I mean, if Adam Young gets a little more substance, he may have a fighting chance, but I think it’s safe to say that he’s lost this battle. If he steps it up, he may win the war.

Faceoff: David Guetta vs. Felix Da Housecat

The time has come for the HOUSE MUSIC FACEOFF! Two completely different sides of the world. David Guetta vs. Felix Da Housecat! Paris vs. Chicago! London vs. LA!
Guetta’s One Love and Felix’s He Was King were both released on August 21, this was just meant to happen people.

Let’s start off with Guetta. First of all, Guetta has always been that guy who made music for other people. He remixed and produced and made the magic happen…for everyone else. Even now, working with prominent artists like Kelly Rowland (just sayin’, in a vocal battle, Kelly Rowland could kick Beyonce’s ass) and Akon, and remixing a song that he produced for the Black Eyed Peas, I think Guetta’s finally gonna make it big in the states. Damn near every song on this album makes me wanna dance. It has this early 90′s radio edit Euro vibe goin’ on. Guetta’s bringing club music back to mainstream America. He knows what’s up. He’s been a chart topper in the UK for years, it’s about damn time he does something over here. As for the album, it’s super funky, heavy ass beats with a slightly hip-hop touch on the vast majority of the tracks. In other words, it’s a whole lotta fun. This is the kinda album that gets every slutty chick on the dance floor.

Holy electro, Batman! Where the ravers at!? This album makes my heart hurt and I’m not even on drugs. I think I would explode if I was. This whole album is amazing…it’s one of those where every song is good. Except for “Choose” because it really sounds like “…you wanna make me shoes”. Ne-Yo needs to learn how to enunciate, bad.

Onto Felix Da Housecat! I’ve loved Felix since the Kittenz and Thee Glitz days (c’mon, who doesn’t remember “Phantasy Girl”!?) and it kills me to say that this album is a huge disappointment.  I guess I can understand where he’s going with it. Futuristic, mechanical vocals, epic, spacey beats. The vocals really ruin this album for me, though. The only song that really redeems this album is “LA Ravers”, and that’s because there are no vocals to fuck up, sans the brief robot noise at the beginning. It’s got that funky electro beat.

And I mean, if you wanna see how bad this album goes, check out "Kickdrum".

Now this song just annoys me. WTF, Felix? So, this is like, you’re 12th album, that’s no reason to start churning out crap.

So, I think it’s safe to say that David Guetta is the clear winner of this battle. I’m sorry, Felix. I really am. Maybe that will entice him to make better music. If you would have asked me before I listened to these albums who the winner would be, I would have said Felix, hands down. Well, I have certainly been proved wrong.