Placebo and Westworld

Yesterday was a wonderful holiday, and for those of you who celebrate Christmas, I hope it was a very merry one. And with the holiday over, it is time to get back to the music! So today I wanted to start off with a song that is a little bit more on the intense side. This song is one of my absolute favorite covers. Placebo is not a very well known band, but they have created a masterpiece. This song is originally by Kate Bush. However, Placebo has taken the song and made it something that is hauntingly dark and eerily beautiful. In a way, they still maintain that sound from the original song, but instead of making this a fast song, Placebo makes us linger in this state of dark limbo. And I love that they make us do that! Placebo prolongs that haunting nature until we feel fully immersed in the song. Placebo takes the original song and strips it down till the song becomes something rawer. The multiple synthesizers are taken away in favor of just one. And this single synthesizer doesn't really take over the melody of the song. If anything it adds this fuzziness to the background of the song, helping to create that darker and seemingly odd sound. The main melody is provided by the piano and is flanked by prolonged notes and some keyboard work. Personally, I find this rendition to be better than the original. I like the fact that this song reminds me of a dark autumn night. This song reminds me of silently walking through a moonlit forest on a cold autumn night. The wind is blowing, sending the leaves dancing around you. And then you drink in that eerie darkness. This is the kind of feeling the song evokes. There is a sense of desire to this song as well, a dangerous desire. The combination of all these emotions and feelings is what gives this song so much power. Musicality aside, the overall sound is something mysterious and almost a bit supernatural. That strangeness is what draws us into the song and gets us lost in the music. That is why this is one of the best covers I have heard. Not only does Placebo take the song and make it completely their own, the song itself was taken in a different direction. I have yet to hear a cover that is meant to be this dark and haunting, and I love that Placebo took on that challenge and nailed it. Today's instrumental song comes from the latest television obsession of mine, Westworld. This show is very loosely based off the film, but I have found this show to be addicting. It does start a bit slow but picks up quickly. The score is composed by Ramin Djawadi, the brilliant mind who created the Game of Thrones scores. And now he has turned his attention towards another hit HBO show. It is no wonder that he was chosen to tackle this score. Ramin Djawadi has a control and mastery over music that makes his perfect for the kind of sound this show requires. There is a haunting beauty and anxious mystery to the score. The short composition takes you on a rollercoaster of thoughts and emotions, all geared towards the anticipation and excitement and curiosity to know what comes next. Ramin Djawadi definitely has me impressed, yet again, with this score. I hope you enjoy the music and please feel free to comment!