Stranger Sounds.

Volume 1 of the soundtrack to the Netflix series Stranger Things came out last week, and it's pretty glorious. I have since wedged it into my writing playlist between Perturbator and Videogram, and they are getting along swimmingly.

Make your own Stranger header at http://makeitstranger.com/

I think what grabbed me the most was how symbiotic the score is with the show. I hear tracks like Kids, Biking To School & Dispatch and it immediately recalls the events of the show. Ultimately, how I feel about this soundtrack is pretty much almost exactly how I felt about the show itself. Kyle Dixon & Michael Stein, like The Duffer Brothers, have wonderfully captured the essence of the seventies and eighties. Although, on occasion maybe too well.

I've listened to Vol. 1 about a dozen times through now, and you do start to recognize the patterns and blatant similarities. Tracks like Cops Are Good At Finding, Friendship, Castle Byers are almost interchangeable with the stuff Tangerine Dream were orchestrating in their heyday.

Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) is quietly judging you.

Same goes for the latter half of the track Upside Down if you put it side-by-side with John Carpenter & Alan Howarth's work on Halloween III.

However, this emulation is not restricted to days gone by, as I could hear shades of the more recent work of Disasterpiece on It Follows in tracks like One Blink For Yes.

Now, I know this all may sound like an accusation, but it really isn't. After all, at the end of the day, who really gives a shit? The whole point of the show was capture a period in time, and I don't think anyone can dispute that everyone involved did a bang-up job. Besides, the music does kick ass, and obviously has re-playability if I've now listened to it ump-teen times.

Huh. My second post featuring the alphabet this week...

Volume 2 releases today, and I've been listening to that over the last few days, as well. It features more of the original score from Dixon and Stein, including some reprises of sections from Vol. 1. Even though there are some “hey I know this” moments, namely on tracks Rolling Out The Pool and They Found Us - I don't even have to say what they reference as it will be immediately apparent - but overall it's just a fantastic tapestry of genre music.

Click here to buy Volume 1 via Lakeshore Records.