DIRTY MONDAY... FT LILA CALDWELL

Today’s Dirty Monday comes from Dirty Soup music researcher, Lila Caldwell - the tunes that soundtracked her childhood.

Lila says - “Luckily for me, my family are all massive music lovers so I was inadvertently listening to every possible genre of music since I was a baby. These are the tracks that were played on long car journeys and while the family dinners were being cooked. The comfort I feel listening to each of these tracks (even Windowlicker!) seems to be woven into my DNA. They're a huge part of why I love music so much - hope you enjoy them as much as I do.”

Listen to full playlist below.

THE RECORD OF THE WEEK: HOTEL SURRENDER BY CHET FAKER

Dirty Soup founder Raife Burchell's record of the week is Hotel Surrender by Chet Faker.

Raife says: Dirty Soup’s first big track placement was Chet Faker's enchanting cover of No Diggity. We placed it in a Beck's Sapphire Super Bowl spot a few months after I started the company. Jeez, that was a fun phone call to get! Chet aka Nick Murphy has hooked me in again from the get-go with his latest self-produced, self-written 10-track album. First line of the first track - "Music does something, I just don’t know what it does. Just accept it as the sky is blue”. Thanks for the timely reminder Chet!

Link to Raife’s bio HERE.

THE NEEDLE DROP. EASY RIDER. FANTASIA. AMERICAN EXPRESS.

Today’s Needle Drop is a 3 in 1 special chosen by master music supervisor Karl Westman.

NY-based Westman has sculpted music for the world’s most recognisable brand campaigns and works with artists from Dave Brubeck, Philip Glass, Danny Elfman, Quincy Jones, Timbaland and James Murphy.

Here Karl offers his insights on Dennis Hopper’s Easy Rider, Disney’s Fantasia, and a classic ad for American Express he helped find the musical solution for.

KW: The first is the 1969 groundbreaking counter-culture film Easy Rider. It was one the earliest to use songs from the pop-culture repertoire - The Byrds, Steppenwolf, Bob Dylan - to form a musical narrative. In fact director Dennis Hopper claims it was the first. As a high school kid, the film blew me away. The use of music that I could identify with as "mine" helped create an emotional bond to the film that lasts to this day. The original trailer seems quaint today but was a big deal at the time.

The second is the Disney classic Fantasia circa 1940 which I experienced (in an altered state no doubt) at a late night arthouse movie theater while I was in music school. In classic Disney fashion, every musical phrase of Paul Dukas' The Sorcerer's Apprentice is accounted for in the animation. In essence, the film is scored to the music as Mikey's story unfolds.

Lastly, I humbly offer my personal first: an American Express commercial. I’ve just viewed it for the first time in over 30 years and oh, how the ad world has changed. I recall we were struggling with the edit. This Motown classic (Rescue Me sung by Fontella Bass) appeared quite by accident when thumbing through my vinyl collection. The title clicked, I literally dropped the needle, transferred the tune to 1/4 inch tape and with grease pencil and razor blade in hand, I edited a musical solution. As is often the case, music came to the rescue...pun intended.

What can we learn from these three examples? In Easy Rider, current tracks add emotional relevance to the narrative. In Fantasia, a 19th century classic inspires great visual art. In my first placement, music becomes the voice of the story and sets the tone.

In all three examples, the role of music is an equal partner in the storytelling. And, while tastes, styles and technologies have changed – the power of music remains the same. Music is magic."

Read Karl’s full bio HERE

AFTER YANG NAMED ONE OF THE BEST 15 FILMS AT CANNES - COMPOSED BY Aska Matsumiya AND Ryuichi Sakamoto

Composers Aska Matsumiya and Ryuichi Sakamoto’s new film release After Yang has just been named one of The 15 Best Movies from This Year’s Cannes Film Festival by Indie Wire. Written and directed by Kogonada and staring Colin Farrell, we can’t wait for the world to hear Aska's incredible work on this project

Link to Aska’s profile HERE

DIRTY MONDAY... FT GEORGE VJESTICA

Today’s Dirty Monday Playlist is from Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds guitarist and Music Director of the BBC hit TV series The Pursuit of Love, George Vjestica.

“So punk rock comes along and destroys all the Prog Dinosaurs! Three years on from their incendiary debut, they go and release a triple album!”

Listen to the full playlist - and find out which band George is talking about below.

Horizon by Cat Power: A beautiful song, it's relatively new and was on Chan's last album Wanderer. I just love the sentiment and the simplicity of the melody. It feels like one of those songs that's been around forever. She's amazing!

Street Hassle by Lou Reed: Lou Reed was so unique, one of THE great Rock 'n Roll poets. I met him in a cafe in Notting Hill back in the 90s, I just about held my nerve! He personified everything that I loved about musicians and Rock 'n Roll, that whole mix of literature, art and culture is something I got from him. Berlin is my favourite album, for me it tops Transformer and the Warhol/ Banana /Velvets album. It's so hard to choose one song but this is my favourite of his, it's like a sonic journey to the dark underbelly of 70s New York - I love the Spingsteen cameo too.

Shopping by The Jam: The Jam and The Who were a massive part of my musical education when I was a teenager. I loved the whole Mod imagery, both Paul Weller and Pete Townshend are right up there IMHO. This track was on The Jam's final Beat Surrender EP, great subject matter - 'shopping' & fucking great guitar solo too.... this got me into jazz guitarists like Wes Montgomery and Grant Green.

Voodoo Chile by Jimi Hendrix: Hendrix was the reason I got into playing the guitar when I was nine years old. Electric Ladyland is a stunning album and this track just blew my mind when I first heard it. It's a terrifying and beautiful supernatural blues, there's something so eerie about the whole song. Fifteen minutes of the most influential guitar player that ever walked on planet earth.

Sound & Vision by David Bowie: What a song! The fact that there are no vocals for the first 46 seconds, just instrumental... the Harmonized Snare drum, great guitar riff and that Arp Solina String Synthesizer, Mary Hopkins 'Dooing the Doo's' then Bowie.

In A Silent Way by Miles Davis: It's like an ambient album that was made at the end of the 60s & it was all recorded in one day. I love the space, minimal, every note counts. Zawinul and Herbie Hancock on keys, McLaughlin on guitar. Pure vibe!!!

The Revealing Science of God by Yes: Prog Rock's finest hour. This track from the much-derided Tales From Topographic Oceans has everything, from Jon Anderson's Gregorian chant intro, sweeping Mellotron and Moogs galore, Steve Howe going mad on guitar and the brilliant and sadly missed Chris Squire killing it on the bass. Spiritual and totally over the top.

Somebody Got Murdered by The Clash: So punk rock comes along and destroys all the Prog Dinosaurs. Three years on from their incendiary debut, The Clash go and release a triple album. So many great songs on Sandanista but this is my favourite.

Moonlight Mile by The Rolling Stones: I'm in the Stones camp when it comes to The Beatles v The Stones. This track is perfect. Crazy to think Keith doesn't play on this.