Please note this is an old page and Fly Global Music has now moved. Please follow this link and search for the entry in the new site.

The soundtrack to the new film by Jim Jarmusch is eagerly awaited on many counts. The Grand Prix award at the Cannes Film Festival has whetted the appetite of the film lover. Adding weight to what are always exciting Jim Jarmuch’s soundtracks (the easy on the ear, slightly drunken haze of John Lurie and the Lounge Lizards’ work on Down By Law to hip hop producer Rza’s acrobatic and atmospheric, digital embrace on Ghost Dog — Way of the Samurai) was the news that Mulatu Astatke (a highly regarded Ethiopian jazz artist) composed the soundtrack.

Mulatu’s contribution stretches to three previously released tracks — disappointming those hoping to own a previously rare Mulatu recording — but the rest of us can appreciate his dusty, jazz-kissed gems from East Africa.

The soundtrack starts (as, I assume, does the film) with the breezy West Coast rock of The Greenhouses with singer Holly Golightly — a bright, rocky, soulful, torch song. A shaky organ sound brings in three wonderful compositions by Mulatu Astatke. The distorted, ‘rootsy’ East African funk starts things off on ‘Yegelle Tezeta’. ‘Yekermo Sew’ is wistful, straight ahead jazz conjuring up glimmers of dusty, Saharan landscapes and ‘Gubelye’ is a slow, brooding piece of magic.

Fast forward to The Brian Jonestown Massacre’s ‘Not If You Were The Last Dandy on Earth’ which is a raw piece of rock attitude verging on the nihistically brilliant. Then to Dengue Fever’s classic Afro-funk of ‘Ethanopium’ which suitably sums up musically Jarmusch’s quirky, avant-garde, cinematic style. Crisp drums, a bellow of a saxophone and a dirty Southern guitar give precedence to a colourful, disjointed organ — think of a Jarmusch flick in an picture house adajacent to a basement dive punctuated by the characters of his films — quirky, offbeat individuals — and you will get the picture.

Jumping from vintage Ethiopian jazz to American indie-rock via opera — ‘Requiem, OP.48 (Pie Jesu)’ by Oxford Camerata is serenely pleasant — the hurtful, heartfelt soul of Marvin Gaye and the postively, infectious Trenchtown Ska of ‘Ride Your Donkey’ by The Tennors is a trick only Jim Jarmusch can do. It’s a masterful stroke of musical and (old school) film reel magic. Can’t wait for the film.

• There Is An End — The Greenhornes With Holly Golightly
• Yegelle Tezeta — Mulatu Astatke
• Ride Your Donkey — The Tennors
• I Want You — Marvin Gaye
• Yekermo Sew — Mulatu Astatke
• Not If You Were The Last Dandy On Earth — The Brian Jonestown Massacre
• Tell Me Now So I Know — Holly Golightly
• Gubelye — Mulatu Astatke
• Dopesmoker — Sleep
• Reuiem, Op. 48 (Pie Jesu) — Oxford Camerata
• Ethanopium — Dengue Fever
• Unnatural Habitat — The Greenhornes