Neo-Noir Grunge
My Mixtape’s A Masterpiece is a weekly feature in which a guest compiles a playlist around some theme. This week, Max Deering assembles 12 songs for a beleaguered detective journeying through a complicated mystery in the heart of darkness. Read Max’s thoughts on each song and listen along to the Spotify playlist on top and/or the YouTube playlist at the bottom of the post.
I’ve found that the best Noirs—neo or otherwise—tend to end in a rather bleak manner that makes me wish I smoked, even if I never have. It feels like the bitter cherry on top of a somber sundae that perfectly encapsulates the harsh fatalism that undergirds the genre. I wanted to translate that feeling over to a mixtape of sorts. Think of it like John Carpenter’s Lost Themes albums, only instead of original music, this mixtape features songs that are sonically evocative of a hypothetical Neo-Noir. The music on this mixtape is meant to remind you of a contemporary detective bogged down by urban malaise and the surrounding industrial rot. My hope is that by the end, as you contemplate the morbid aftermath of this hypothetical film, you too will be itching for a cigarette.
“How Soon is Now?” by The Smiths
It’s not exactly original to say David Fincher is one of the best working directors today. His precise execution of infectious needle drops has led to songs such as Donovan’s “Hurdy Gurdy Man” becoming inseparable from the films in which they are featured (in this instance, ZODIAC). While The Smiths’ famous song was most recently used in THE KILLER, it’s implementation here is meant to open the film as a tone setter like SEVEN’s rendition of “Closer.” Only, instead of Trent Reznor, it’s Morrissey bemoaning his crippling social anxiety as the movie logos start and the film transitions into the title credits. It’s fitting given the contemporary noir-ness of this mixtape.
“White Noiz” by Akira Yamaoka
Given Silent Hill series composer Akira Yamaoka’s penchant for industrial and ambient soundscapes, the use of one the iconic tracks from the second game just feels right. Think of this as the introduction to the main character, one who is still very much grappling with some past events enduring mark on their psyche. Its dreamlike tone is a brief and appetizing respite right before the events of this hypothetical narrative take a much darker turn.
“Run to the Explosion and Into the Smoke” by Carter Burwell
This is the inciting incident. The phone call that comes as soon as the main character wakes up and has him rush to the crime scene. In the film TO CATCH A KILLER, composer Carter Burwell’s score signals a mounting urgency and a sense of confusion for which neither the audience nor the main character is truly prepared. It’s a great piece of music with a tempo that emphasizes gravity without becoming overbearing.
“Dark Snowy Night (slowed and reverb version)” by Daniel.mp3
It’s 1:00AM, just after the inciting incident, and the main character is deeply engaged in research to understand what happened. We watch them piece together clues and evidence to find their elusive culprit. Their place of investigation has emptied out for the evening, but the lonely hero stubbornly soldiers on. With enough poring over old files and texts they’ll succeed to connect the dots before time runs out.
“The Journey” by Atticus Ross
If the previous track in this was all about sitting at a desk and probing through files throughout the night, then this track is all about taking a loose nuggets of information learned and getting out to the streets to ask people the right questions. This track from THE BOOK OF ELI is all about that exterior search. It could even play in a montage in which the protagonist goes door to door, hitting walls here and gaining useful tidbits of vital information there. It’s a different kind of clue hunting that showcases good old fashioned investigative work. All in service of the eventual break in the case.
“Passive” by A Perfect Circle/“The Knowing” by The Weeknd
After hitting the streets, the first big break in the investigation takes the protagonist to the seedy underbelly of the city, and this two-parter of what I call “Club Music” is meant to convey that. The first song by A Perfect Circle was used in 2005’s CONSTANTINE and has stuck with me ever since. I feel it works perfectly for when the protagonist enters the club in search of answers. However, on their way out of the establishment, the second track by The Weeknd acts as a musical mirror of melancholic self-reflection on the protagonist’s part. Someone recently said The Weeknd should go back to creating “haunted strip club music” and that’s exactly the vibe this track gives off, mirroring the haunted main character’s state of mind as they leave the club.
“A Thousand Details” by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross
The intense rush of this track starts almost immediately. To me, it signals the culmination of the investigation. Hours of good old-fashioned detective work come to a head in a propulsive piece of music that finally gives both the protagonist and the audience the answers they’ve been searching for. It’s the piecing of red string from one point to another as the totality of the mystery is laid bare and it stretches farther than anyone could have imagined. All that’s left to do now is to go and confront the one responsible.
“Baptism by Blood” by Capcom Sound Team
At the time of this writing, I’m in the middle of my Insanity run of Resident Evil: Requiem and I’ve been blasting the soundtrack non-stop. This energetic track hits during one of the many moments where you get to play as Leon S. Kennedy in the first half of the game. It’s purposes in this mixtape is meant to evoke the explosive confrontation or action set-piece that the film has been building to. It’s climactic for sure, but the pulse-pounding nature of the song is the valve release for both character and audience.
“See You…In Hell” by Christopher Drake
I’ve always maintained that Christopher Drake’s score for the two-parter THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS animated films were the closest we’d ever get to a John Carpenter-scored Batman movie. I still maintain that. Like the film from which it was derived, this track works to highlight how close the antagonist and protagonist have gotten to each other over the course of the narrative, as well as how twisted the protagonist has become as a result of their tireless pursuit. Furthermore, this track works as a great denouement after the previous track. If that one is all about a high-octane action set piece, then this one acts as the culminating personal confrontation. Yet even as the track fades, it leaves us with a final twist of the knife when the antagonist shatters the last remaining goodwill the protagonist had left. This only ends one way.
“PAIN” by HEALTH
Contentment. That’s the feeling this track is meant to convey. Those who’ve played Max Payne 3 undoubtedly understand as it plays during the game’s conclusion. And that’s why it’s here as the penultimate song in this mixtape. The day has been saved. Sure, there’s larger problems to be solved, but it’s out of the protagonist’s hands. They got the bad guy and found a way to move on, and that’s not nothing. One takes the victories no matter how small. As this track fades, the last and final song of this mixtape playlist begins…
“Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away)” by HEALTH
I love this cover by HEALTH probably more than the original version by Deftones. It feels like excellent end credits music. It begins as the final images of the film fade to black and the credits roll. It’s bittersweet and melancholic as if one is saying goodbye to the life they once knew and embark on something new. Sometimes you win some, sometimes you lose. And other times, it’s a bit of both. It’s a great way to close out this Neo-Noir industrial-inspired playlist.
