music reviews
Jonathan Bepler – Music for Cremaster 2
By Scott ScholzArtist: Jonathan Bepler Album: Music for Matthew Barney’s Cremaster 2 Matthew Barney uses every available resource in his Cremaster Cycle of films.
Artist: Jonathan Bepler
Album: Music for Matthew Barney’s Cremaster 2
Matthew Barney uses every available resource in his Cremaster Cycle of films. Composer Jonathan Bepler is no slouch in the “every available resource” department, either. For the Cremaster 2 soundtrack, he employed:
The Organ at Riverside Church. Gregory D’agostino, Organ.
The Norian Philharmonic Orchestra. Tabernacle Bass Choir.
A Hybrid Country-Western 2-Step sequence with singer Patty Griffin.
A Death Metal ensemble featuring legendary (Slayer) drummer Dave Lombardo, vocalist Steve Tucker (Morbid Angel),
and 200,000 honey bees sampled, processed and sequenced by the composer.
The Norian Philharmonic Orchestra. Tabernacle Bass Choir.
A Hybrid Country-Western 2-Step sequence with singer Patty Griffin.
A Death Metal ensemble featuring legendary (Slayer) drummer Dave Lombardo, vocalist Steve Tucker (Morbid Angel),
and 200,000 honey bees sampled, processed and sequenced by the composer.
All of those things sound as awesome as you might imagine pulled into the same project. Totally insane, but it all works in these capable hands. The death metal piece alone deserves some kind of reward. Devoid of guitars and basses–most of the track is just bees and Lombardo on drums–it manages to out-brutalize most “true” DM bands. And I’m sure Barney was delighted with the idea if it wasn’t his, as he’s an avid death metal fan as well. An almost impossibly wide range of tastes–and the guy is married to Bjork. A class act.
Bepler’s choral and orchestral arrangements are perfectly suited for the wild changes in scope and perspective through the Cremaster Cycle, too. His work with Barney might be the most underrated film scoring in the last decade. Massive writing, and perfectly controlled.
Now if only Cremaster 3 would be released on DVD, so I could study both the film and the music for about a zillion hours.