Cinematic Orchestra – “Man with a Movie Camera ” – [Ninja Tune]

For their third album release, Jason Swinscoe’s Cinematic Orchestra have progressed from creating their own imaginary movie soundtracks to creating the soundtrack for a real film. The film in question is Dziga Vertov’s silent Soviet masterpiece, MAN WITH A MOVIE CAMERA. It’s hard to believe that a film from 1929 incorporates the kinds of techniques and tricks we normally associate with modern-day music videos, like rapid-fire editing, repetition, animation, double exposures, split-screens, freeze-frames, slow motion sequences, and more. Yet it’s all there, and that makes the Vertov film a particularly inviting one to re-score. Swinscoe’s six-piece orchestra (plus string section) have done a fantastic job, with an all-instrumental soundtrack that deftly combines jazz and classical elements with trip hop beats, electronic noodlings, and more. Be sure to check out the 9-minute downtempo epic, “The Awakening of a Woman” as well as the playful and upbeat instrumental cover of the Art Ensemble of Chicago’s “Theme de Yoyo”.