The Truest Blue is out now!
Image: Ashlea Bea.
Modern Error have treated fans with their new single The Truest Blue, alongside the announcement of their long-awaited debut album, Victim Of A Modern Age, due out next January. To celebrate the new track, guitarist and multi-instrumentalist Kel Pinchin has shared his top 5 favourite movie soundtracks with MILKY!
"The Truest Blue is a duality of audio and visual, expressing the idea of becoming absolute – the purest version of yourself," vocalist Zak Pinchin details. "Conceptually I wanted to paint the picture of a rebirth into a new world, one of which reflects on the earth we all inhabit, and to see it for what it really is. I question this life a lot, what it means to me and what it means to others. ‘The Truest Blue’ in a sense is my reflection on the human condition in a brief and instinctual sense. I feel this also translates into how Modern Error is progressing into a new world of its own. This song sets us up on a much more honest path. Sonically, Modern Error will always evolve to the intention of its name."
Here are Modern Error's top 5 movie soundtracks...
A CLOCKWORK ORANGE - WENDY CARLOS
Aside from this being one of my all-time favourite films, the score jarringly fit beautifully, accompanying the violent images. It was both classical and futuristic. To me, at the core, the film is all about obstruction of power and social class. Wendy Carlos cleverly took works from such composers as Beethoven, which to me then was a symbol of sophistication and higher class, to strip it entirely and transform in via a Modular Moog; in a fashion that almost mirrored the themes of the film is nothing short of genius. This is why it works so well with the picture; the conceptual approach to creating it was the same. There is not one section of music in this film I cannot hear, no matter whether it be the original or Wendy’s take on it, where I don’t envision the film. Wendy is a Pioneer to the world in bringing the Moog to the front of the synth revolution, and me, as the woman who brought me that Moog sound, I cannot resist.
FIGHT CLUB - THE DUST BROTHERS
I love this score. It’s dry, industrial and raw. The electronic sampled style added a level of understanding the film I can’t quite put my finger on, not to mention breaking boundaries of what was expected by movie scores at this time. It somewhat seamlessly puts you in the film spaces and surrounds you with an atmosphere of a digital aged, mass consumer, drug-induced anxiety. Using this trippy 303 acid bass breakbeat sound was brilliance, and I can hear the long-lasting impact in works by the likes of Nine Inch Nails and Linkin Park.
REQUIEM FOR A DREAM - CLINT MANSELL
I can remember watching this film literally on the edge of my seat about 10 inches away from the screen, ultimately compelled by the story and characters, driven by these tragic compositions of Clint Mansell. Some of the sounds used in this are reminiscent of Fight Club and the ’90s, but they are darker and almost classical with others. The score effortlessly joins with the sound design and motifs used continuously from start to finish, themes that are so well constructed that they almost morph throughout the picture with the characters' trajectories. It is pretty jarring at first, with an array of music phases coming in short bursts of sounds. But, as the film progresses, it helps you recognise each characters mental state in the story.
THE SOCIAL NETWORK - TRENT REZNOR & ATTICUS ROSS
Aside from my love for the band Nine Inch Nails, this score stands in my top 5 despite that. The arranged and organised noise and chaos sitting and creeping underneath the complicated, yet simplistic sounding melodies fit with the main character ‘Mark Zuckerberg’, almost suggesting he is constantly on edge. The textures of this score are reminiscent of the digital age that is being discussed, but there is a beauty to this that had extended it to feel more emotionally fuelled. Quite strangely, I loved watching this film because I didn’t notice the music, it reinforced the story with no disturbance. I was purely consumed by the film, its story and its intentions.
TWIN PEAKS - ANGELO BADALAMENTI
As soon as I hear that first initial note on the opening music, I am in the world of Twin Peaks. This score is comforting as it is tragic, dark as it is romantic. There is so much movement through each and every piece, used well to give characters and themes so you can acknowledge the feelings throughout the series. I’m drawn to this score because I’m drawn back to my memories of first watching it and the feelings it invoked in me every time I hear it. It tells the story of the picture using just the sounds, that of a 90’s small-town tragedy filled with mystery. How I acquired the original samples for the opening guitar sound of this film is a story for another time.