by Vadim Rizov



To considerable Internet excitement, cues from Daft Punk"s soundtrack to the forthcoming Tron: Legacy were finally unveiled last week for public inspection. [UPDATE: fake leaks?] Out of context, they didn"t necessarily add up to much: it"s not quite the Hans Zimmer Inception drone that has had people geeking out for weeks, but the rising minimalistic motifs-cut off and restarted just as they"re reaching maximal tension, perpetually delaying payoff-confirmed the musical future is way simpler than it was nearly 30 years ago. The cues don"t really "work" without context, eventhough if you turn them up loud enough, even the simple act of making coffee can seem immortally heroic. Despite their vague reserve, they"re totally melodic, a regression from Wendy Carlos" analog-cum-digital score in 1982"s Tron.

The original film"s a blast for the nostalgically inclined, but the Jungian symbolism"s a bore, the visuals wonky (colors were rotoscoped after-the-fact) and the whole thing"s more a time capsule than watchable entertainment. The music is fantastic, however, arguably the culmination of Wendy (formerly Walter) Carlos" most intensely productive period. From 1968-82, she basically invented one version of how the future might sound, traveling 400 years through one instrument. 1968"s Switched-On Bach translated (yes!) Bach to the Moog synthesizer and quickly went platinum. For the next 15 years, Carlos would arguably be the highest-profile Moog exponent (not exactly a high-competition position), elevating its status further in public consciousness more than her mentor Vladimir Ussachevsky.

Posted by: ahillis    Source

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