Recently I went with a couple other friends to Spike Jonze's film adaptation of Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are. My aims aren't really to discuss the movie per se. I did think it was extremely rich with depth/possibly confounding at times due to its obstinate resistance to the narrative structure and coherence that we're all conditioned to expect from children's movies (even films that pose as children's movies). It seems that one can either criticize the film for not being as coherent as he/she would like it to be, or, conversely, see that very lack of coherence as the film's biggest strength.
The movie was very much driven by its score, a collection of songs written by an all-star group billed as Karen O and the Kids. From the opening scene when a stir-crazy, wolf-suited Max runs around his house and builds an igloo outside, to his rumpus-filled escapades on the Wild Things' island, the film paces itself around the impressive group of tracks that Karen O recorded with, amongst others, an untrained children's choir (very fitting), and Bradford Cox of Deerhunter/Atlas Sound. O has stated that Jonze asked her to contribute to the project because he was drawn to the childlike innocence of her music. That very quality is evidenced throughout the soundtrack as O interacts playfully with the children on upbeat songs such as "All Is Love" and "Rumpus", and strips things away for an unexpected but wonderfully affecting cover of Daniel Johnston's "Worried Shoes", as well as the breathtaking "Hideaway".
This is the kind of music I'd say you'd enjoy if you've always wanted O to just chill with an acoustic guitar for a bit, if your favourite song on Fever To Tell was "Modern Romance", if you salivated at the KO At Home leak, or if you've been dying for O's side project Native Korean Rock to release something official (here's a collection of some of the tracks from that project that I managed to find).
How is the Arcade Fire relevant to this post? The trailer for the film features a re-recorded version of Arcade Fire's anthemic "Wake Up" (off of 2004's Funeral) (thnx to Andrew for finding that) which, it seems, has prompted renewed interest in the band's amazing catalogue likely from potential new fans. Personally, just when I was wondering if the band could remain relevant into the next decade of the 2000s, the brilliance of "Wake Up" hit me over the head in this trailer and has sent me headlong into a new obsession with the band. While attempting to track down the version of "Wake Up" used in the trailer, I stumbled upon an amazing set that the band did for KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic back in early 2005. It captures the group in top form, in my opinion the "golden-age" of the Arcade Fire, performing songs off of the recently released Funeral, an early version of "Intervention" (minus organ and with different lyrics) which would appear on 2007's Neon Bible, and even (possibly my favourite Arcade Fire song) "Vampire/Forest Fire" from their self-titled 2003 EP. Also, Win has a throat-cold it seems, which makes his delivery seem even more prophetic and cool.
Here's that "Vampire/Forest Fire" performance:
And here's that entire set.
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