Composer & synthesist Tomer Baruch (Synthesized Sounds of the Sea) and drummer Alex Brajkovic have released a new electronic soundtrack to the classic Fritz Lang dystopian science fiction silent film, Metropolis (1927).
The new score was created for the Sounds of Silence Film Festival, Den Haag.
Here’s what they have to say about the new score:
“One of the most significant themes in the dystopian feature is the blurred-to-nonexistent line separating man and machine; Human-like machines, Mechanical-humans, real-life android deepfakes, and above all the city of Metropolis, an enormous machine and within it men, slaved to maintain its operation. The theme that was disturbing in the beginning of the 20th century is as relevant as ever with the latest developments in AI, forcing us to rethink again what makes us human.
In analogy to that, the soundtrack is based on archive recordings of early 20th century machinery, on top of which Tomer Baruch and Alex Brajkovic play analog synthesizers and drums. They interface with the machines and embody a relentlessly repetitive mechanical motion, one which is usually sequenced or programmed. By creating music which is in itself blurring the line between man and machine, by subjecting themselves to machine-like patterns, the musicians become a part of Metropolis, creating a disillusioned, intensified and darker than ever soundtrack for the film.”
The new score is available via Bandcamp. You can preview the album below:
Boring. Sorry, not sorry. The 1984 re-edit produced by Georgio Moroder is much better IMO. You may disagree of course, but this soundtrack (to me) is repetitive drone drone boop boop bleep bleep clang – which is allegedly ‘music’ in these modern Eurorack “all the gear but no idea” times. 😉
love it!
Over 20 years ago Jeff Mills scored his own soundtrack for Metropolis and it was shown at the Detroit Film Theater. It was pretty rad. I’ve seen several other modern scores over the years, it’s amazing how this century old film continues to inspire.
20 years ago I did watch a projection of Metropolis with an electronic music soundtrack, in a small movie theater. It was really cool.
so many versions of this film
the Giorgio Moroder version is mostly dreadful (IMO) (apart from the quite good Frankenstein/transformation scene) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CD-2I2BoSEg
this one with the original score supposedly (by Maximianno Cobra) is fantastic https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmscbGV-dEY
edit – not the original score, but “an” original score – sorry. Gottfied Huppertz wrote the original, very romantic, music…
Sounds more like a thematically inspired album rather than a score that really blends with the picture as one. Doesn’t click together to my taste, sorry.
Giorgio Moroder did it in 1984 and I still prefer his version.
And Jeff Mills did it in 2000.
A tad mundane, isn’t it? I know that Art Zoyd did a take on Metropolis. I haven’t heard that one yet, but I really enjoyed what they did for Nosferatu, though that one was rathed hated by the majority, who expects something more classic or otherwise conventional, instead of weird and unsettling.