When working on the film Dan In Real Life director Peter Hedges brought in singer/songwriter Sondre Lerche from pretty much the very beginning of production. What Sondre Lerche came up with really compliments the film and adds to its honest feel. Here are my two favorite songs from the soundtrack.

My Hands Are Shaking – Sondre Lerche.mp3 (right click to save)

To Be Surprised – Sondre Lerche.mp3 (right click to save)

Donnie Darko had some of best 80’s music.  In fact, if it hadn’t been for this film I would have continued to believed all my young and naive friends who claimed “there was no such thing as good music in the 80s.”  Here are a few songs from one of my favorite movie soundtracks.

Head Over Heels – Tears for Fears.mp3 (right click to save)

The Killing Moon – Echo and The Bunnymen.mp3 (right click to save)

Notorious – Duran Duran.mp3 (right click to save)

Love Will Tear Us Apart – Joy Division.mp3 (right click to save)

Never Tear Us Apart – INXS.mp3 (right click to save)

If you like Donnie Darko check out the “Mad World” music video by Gary Jules.

Grapevine Fires – Death Cab for Cutie.mp3 (right click to save)

The fires in Southern California are incredibly dangerous, scary, and costly.  I wish we never had to deal with wildfires but in all the destruction there is something awfully beautiful that serves as a reminder of how powerless we really are.

Here’s one of the better remixes from the Passion Pit remix contest in anticipation of their upcoming album. I also had to throw in a track off Bromst by Dan Deacon because they both make some very strange and wonderful music.

Little Secrets (Letting Up Despite Great Faults Remix) – Passion Pit.mp3 (right click to save)

Woof Woof – Dan Deacon.mp3 (right click to save)

Plus Ones – Okkervil River.mp3 (right click to save)

Will Sheff incorporated a ton of references to other songs and artists in “Plus Ones.” Here’s the complete list compiled by Cynthia Closkey:

1 “96 Tears,” Question Mark and the Mysterians, 96 Tears (1966).

2 “99 Luftballons,” Nena

3 “Seven Chinese Brothers,” REM, Reckoning (1983).

4 “Eight Miles High,” written by Gene Clark, Jim McGuinn, and David Crosby, recorded by The Byrds and included on Fifth Dimension (1966).

5 “TVC15,” David Bowie, single (1976); a song possibly about Iggy Pop hallucinating, or possibly not.

6 “Care of Cell 44,” The Zombies, Odyssey and Oracle (1968).

7 “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover,” Paul Simon, Still Crazy After All These Years (1975).

8 “Three Times a Lady,” The Commodores, Natural High (1978).

9 “What’s New, Pussycat?,” Tom Jones (1965).

10 “Sixteen Candles,” The Crests (1958).

11 “Let’s Get Lost,” Chet Baker (1955).

A group of passionate Lord of the Rings fans from the UK produced a 40 minute prequel film to J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Fellowship of The Ring they are calling The Hunt for Gollum. The group was on a budget of only $5,000 but they made a truly impressive piece with professional art direction, cinematography, CG, and soundtrack. Released just a few days ago, the film has already been viewed 500,000 times.

You can watch the entire film online for free by visiting their Dailymotion page.

It’s been a fantastic month at SoundSuck. We’ve had some great featured artists, shared a few new videos, and played some solid original and remixed tracks. I have final exams next week so I’m afraid I won’t be posting much for the next week or two. But I wanted to be sure to thank everyone who has been coming back to the blog over the past month by giving out the SoundSuck Mixtape Vol. 2. This April mixtape is a compilation of our ten favorite tracks we’ve shared on the blog over the past month.

Download SoundSuck Mixtape 4/09 Now!

Tracklist:

1. Black Heroes – Ratatat

2. Kids – MGMT

3. Wake Up (Where The Wild Things Are Version) – The Arcade Fire

4. Pachuca Sunrise (Acoustic) – Minus the Bear

5. My Girls – Animal Collective

6. Heavy Breath (Live) – David Bazan

7. 1901 (Alan Wilkis Remix) – Phoenix

8. Family Tree – TV On The Radio

9. Do You Realize?? (Postal Service Remix) – The Flaming Lips

10. Videotape (Mojib Remix) – Radiohead

Thanks again for all your support. If you are interested in writing something for SoundSuck shoot me an email!

Man I am looking forward to Summer break. Here’s a song that helps me get through the day.

The Way We Get By – Spoon.mp3 (right click to save)

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It isn’t often that you come across a piece of media that punches you in the gut almost instantly. Visual artist Michael Marantz conveys a deep message with a fusion of author Carl Sagan’s far-reaching words and beautiful time lapse photography. What makes Earth: The Pale Blue Dot truly impressive is the sheer amount of work that had to be put into it by one person. To fully appreciate it you must consider the following; there are 30 scenes in this three minute video. Each scene took between 30 minutes to 14 hours to capture using a still photography camera. There are over 4,000 frames in this short film and every frame you see is actually a combination of three separate images created using a technique called HDR. And as if all that work wasn’t impressive enough Michael Marantz composed the music as well. Earth: The Pale Blue Dot is a powerful piece that deserves attention not only for its emotional weight but also for its technical brilliance. Below you will find the original soundtrack that Michael was kind enough to let us share as an mp3.

Earth – Michael Marantz.mp3 (right click to save)

“When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return.” – attributed to Leonardo da Vinci

The Commander Thinks Aloud – The Long Winters.mp3 (right click to save)

I always thought “The Commander Thinks Aloud” was a good track until I learned the context in which it was written.  The I realized it was one of the best songs I’d ever heard. Lead singer of The Long Winters, John Roderick, wrote “The Commander Thinks Aloud” in reaction to the Challenger spaceship disaster. It is a serenely beautiful song with both figurative and literal language that paints a beautiful picture of a painful event.

Boys and girls in cars
Dogs and birds on lawns
From here I can touch the sun
Yeah yeah

Put your jackets on
I feel we’re being born
The Tropic of Capricorn is below
Yeah yeah yeah yeah

We stall above the pole
Still your face is young
As we feel our weight return
Yeah yeah

A trail of shooting stars
The horses call of storm
Because the air contains the charge
Yeah yeah yeah yeah

The radio is on
And Houston knows the score
Can you feel it?
We’re almost home
Yeah yeah yeah yeah

The crew compartment’s breaking up
The crew compartment’s breaking up
The crew compartment’s breaking up

If you like this song you may also enjoy “Ultimatum” by The Long Winters.