Soundtrack Apocalisse

The German label Crippled Dick Hot Wax has always been close to my heart for releasing such great soundtrack compilations as Vampyros Lesbos, Beretta 70, and Schoolgirl Report. And keeping in that tradition, they’re releasing a great compilation of music from the Bruce LaBruce movie “Otto.”

If you don’t know who Labruce is, he’s a Toronto based filmmaker, artist, and writer who spearheaded the queercore movement in the early nineties. He’s had some notoriety recently for his stylish semi-pornographic Warholian movies like The Raspberry Reich and also for his articles in Vice. Bruce’s new film is about a gay zombie punk named Otto living in Berlin who eventually finds himself in a low budget horror film. The film is said to have plenty of nods to classic horror and exploitation films and amazingly it was featured at this years Sundance film festival.

For the soundtrack, LaBruce wanted a dichotomy of styles, and to feature relatively unknown performers. In the liner notes he says “I didn’t want to narrow it down to a single sound or style: I wanted something modern and classical, tonal and atonal, traditional and avant-garde, pop and experimental. The only solution was to send out word on MySpace that I was looking for music for a melancholy gay zombie movie.” LaBruce was inundated with responses, and over a year’s time selected 37 artists and 56 tracks for the movie. 

The soundtrack itself is unique, as it not only uses contemporary experimental sounds, but also the album has an incredible rhythm to it. It begins with a traditional and familiar horror theme, and then switches to a melancholy guitar and plodding bass drum dirge-like piece. The score then gains momentum by gradually becoming heavier in tone, as well as more sample based and vocal friendly. The tracks toward the end become more modern and avant-garde using elements of opera, noise, and musique concrete sound collages.

This album has some incredible cuts on it, one being Orthon with Ernesto Tomasini; a haunting track that incorporates violin and operatic vocals that could easily be an off kilter traditional Eastern European folk song. Another was by the Ultra Milkmaids+V, who provide possibly the most experimental work on the record, using sound collage, subsonic bass frequencies, and weird loops. Also notable is the Misty Rose track, which sounds like it could have been penned by Scott Walker back in the sixties. The only complaint to possibly be found with the album is the inclusion of their rougher tracks, which seem to almost halt the beauty of the continuity of the record, notably the Pandas of Death Metal track sounds like a throwback to mid nineties industrial rock.

The original score also included more recognizable names including Throbbing Gristle, CocoRosie, and Antony and the Johnsons, but LaBruce says he wanted the soundtrack to be focused on the lesser known artists. The album will be released worldwide September 5th on both CD and limited double vinyl (at LaBruce’s request). LaBruce is also working on a second compilation of material from the film.