sometimes words don't have to: an all instrumental scerek mix.
"catharsis, or the calibration of inner and outer worlds, or simply being frustrated and feeling it. sometimes words don't help. sometimes words don't have to." richard siken, meet me at the page where.
moonlight sonata (ludwig van beethoven) :: the impossible planet (murray gold) :: i'll tell you about rorschach (tyler bates) :: not human [el que no es humano] (javier navarette) :: tooth and claw (murray gold) :: the tragic prince (yamane michiru) :: numquam vincar (kaijura yuki) :: abduction & absolution (elliott goldenthal) :: angry and dead again (rodrigo y gabriela) :: personal jesus [depeche mode cover] (vitamin string quartet) :: trust (philip glass) :: here i dreamt i was an architect [the decemberists cover] (vitamin string quartet) :: dark wings, dark words (ramin djawadi) :: song to the moon (antonin dvorak) :: cantus in memory of benjamin britten (arvo pärt) :: threads (this will destroy you) :: black blizzard (jeff beal) :: south of heaven's chanting mermaids (rodrigo y gabriela) :: concerning hobbits (howard shore) :: teardrop [massive attack cover] (vitamin string quartet).
[ listen / download. ]
This is where I'd normally put lyrics and explanations, but… well, it's an all instrumental mix, so lyrics would be kind of pointless except in the cases of the VSQ covers of songs that otherwise have lyrics and as far as explanations go… I did have a narrative in mind with my song choices and how I arranged them but in the spirit of the title and the Richard Siken epigraph, I'd rather let the songs and arrangement speak for themselves and/or just let people make up their own narratives and reasonings for everything like why I picked the songs I did and why I put them in this order and what sort of story they're telling by working together in the way that they do.
In lieu of lyrics and explanations, here's a list of the songs and their sources so you can go get your hands on more music like them if any of the songs really jump out at you. ♥
Moonlight Sonata, Ludwig Van Beethoven (you can probably find this song just about anywhere, really, but this particular recording is played by Evelyne Dubourg, and it came from an Amazon compilation, 66 Must-Have Sensual Classics).
The Impossible Planet, Murray Gold (Doctor Who OST, series 2; specifically, this is the suite of music that features in the episode of the same title, which is the first half of a two-parter in which the Doctor and Rose fight Satan in outer space. yes, really).
I'll Tell You About Rorschach, Tyler Bates (Watchmen score; this is the background music that plays during the flashback of Rorschach's story to the prison psychologist, about halfway into the movie… or at least halfway into the director's cut, which is the version that I have to work from here).
Not Human [El Que No Es Humano], Javier Navarette (Pan's Labyrinth OST; I specifically tried to find the music that plays during the scene of Ofélia and the Pale Man and I think I managed that but this was sort of complicated by how Guillermo del Totoro cut most of Javier Navarette's score from the final cut of the film but put all of it on the OST anyway, and how a lot of the songs' titles are maddeningly unhelpful in terms of establishing where they fit in the film).
Tooth And Claw, Murray Gold (Doctor Who OST, series 2; again, this is the suite of music that features in the episode of the same name. It's about Rose and the Doctor fighting werewolves in Scotland and pissing off Queen Victoria. …yes, really).
The Tragic Prince, Yamane Michiru (Castlevania: Symphony of the Night OST; Yamane also wrote the music for several of the other Castlevania series games though not all of them, and if you want to hear more of her stuff outside of Symphony of the Night, I really recommend the OSTs for Castlevania: Lament of Innocence and Castlevania: Lords of Shadow. they're a mix of classical, baroque, industrial rock, and sort of ambient metal, though Lament of Innocence is a little bit less rock than Symphony of the Night and Lords of Shadow).
Numquam vincar ["I will never be conquered"], Kaijura Yuki (Puella Magi Madoka Magica OST; this is off of the third volume of the Madoka soundtrack, and in the anime, it plays in the last third of episode ten, "I Won't Depend On Anyone Anymore," when Homura commits herself to protecting Madoka and defeating Walpurgisnacht alone).
Abduction & Absolution, Elliot Goldenthal (Interview With The Vampire OST; have I talked lately about how important Interview with the Vampire was to me as a scared, lonely little queer baby in eighth grade and high school? well, I'm not going to all over this mix but the book is one of my favorites still and likewise, the movie is one of my favorite movies. Notably, it's also the only time I've ever liked Tom Cruise in any capacity because his Lestat was absolute perfection. But anyway, this is the musical accompaniment for the bit in the last third of the movie where Santiago and Armand's other vampire cohorts abduct Louis, Claudia, and Madeline from their hotel, lock Louis in a coffin that they entomb behind a wall, and kill Claudia and Madeline by forcibly exposing them to sunlight. It also covers the subsequent bits when Armand sets Louis free and Louis finds out that Claudia and Madeline are dead).
Angry and Dead Again, Rodrigo y Gabriela (Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides OST; I never actually got around to seeing On Stranger Tides so I can't give you any contextual information about the movie or where this track fits into it, but I really love the soundtrack for it, especially the Rodrigo y Gabriela tracks, which are all just… guhhhh, musical beauty).
Personal Jesus, Vitamin String Quartet [Depeche Mode cover] (am I capable of making a Scerek mix that I don't put some version of "Personal Jesus" on? …hmmm, yeah, no, probably not).
Trust, Philip Glass (The Secret Agent; this is another movie that I haven't actually seen. at some point, I got my hands on the OST because the novel by Joseph Conrad is one of the only books that one particular high school teacher assigned that I actually enjoyed. it's ableist, racist, misogynistic, and a handful of other shit because… well, Joseph Conrad was all of these things, and I really don't buy my English teacher's attempt to go, "no but see he was satirizing racist people~" just because… uhm, I am pretty sure that precedent here says he probably wasn't? [the link is Chinua Achebe's essay, "An Image of Africa," which will probably live forever as, "the essay where Achebe called Joe Conrad a bloody racist." that part is on page 288. tw for antiblack racial slurs and discussion of racism, both in Heart of Darkness and experienced IRL by Achebe.] anyway, the bits of The Secret Agent that are legitimately satirical take shots at ineffective bureaucratic government people, ineffective cops, and ineffective self-titled activists who neither do anything effective nor have any idea what they're talking about, and oh man, a lot of those shots are really amusing. except they don't really make sense unless you get an annotated version or pause every ten minutes to look stuff up because there's a lot of fiddly historical context that's been lost to us by this point, but anyway, I digress).
Here I Dreamt I Was An Architect, Vitamin String Quartet [The Decemberists cover].
Dark Wings, Dark Words, Ramin Djawadi (Game of Thrones OST, season three; I haven't seen a single episode of Game of Thrones, I only made it through like forty pages of the first book before I went, "eh, it's okay but it's not my thing," and all I really know about it is limited to memes and, "if I recall correctly, tumblr gets really really upset when you bring up Rains Of Castamere." but if Ramin Djawadi's scores for the series were a person, I would marry them so hard).
Song to the Moon (as far as I know, this is one of the handful of songs here that isn't off of a soundtrack. I personally got my copy from The Otherworldly Violin Volume 1, by 8tracks user reallifeunseeliefaerie, who I'm guessing had a download link for their mix posted on tumblr at some point. I don't know offhand where that might be or if the download link would still work, but I absolutely recommend this mix. Every song on it is golden… though I will admit that I'm completely biased here by the fact that I love the violin).
Cantus In Memory of Benjamin Britten, Arvo Pärt (another non-soundtrack song; this track is off of Pärt's Tabula Rasa album).
Threads, This Will Destroy You (another one of the songs here that isn't off of a soundtrack. this is off of the band's 2008 self-titled album).
Black Blizzard, Jeff Beal (Carnivale OST; I haven't seen Carnivale either, but the music is really pretty).
South of Heaven's Chanting Mermaids, Rodrigo y Gabriela (Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides OST).
Concerning Hobbits, Howard Shore (The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring; …yep, this is the theme music from the Shire that plays while Bilbo Baggins is having his voiceover monologue about how hobbits are great and really know how to live. it makes me think of Scott and Derek making out on a sunny day, maybe in a field of wildflowers, so here we are).
Teardrop, Vitamin String Quartet [Massive Attack cover] (you might remember "Teardrop" as the opening credits music from House MD. And it's not an instrumental, but Jose Gonzalez's cover of it is also really, really lovely and I definitely recommend it).
