Due to recent events in our world and my own personal life I decided to rewatch Adam Curtis docs the last month or so. I always figure, when life presents you with an existential crisis, just go all the way with it!
If you are unfamiliar with Adam Curtis, he is an English filmmaker who uses a very distinctive “collage” style for his documentaries. His style has been described as involving, “whiplash digressions, menacing atmospherics and arpeggiated scores, and the near-psychedelic compilation of archival footage” - Basically he chops and flips archival video the way we love to chop and flip archival audio. If you know you know, if you don’t, I encourage you to watch one or all of them!
Which brings me to the audio. The soundtracks for his films are FANTASTIC! and that will be our source for this battle.
Here are 2 playlists on Youtube, I hope most of the songs are available in your region.
All samples must be from the 2 playlists above, or another playlist you may find. There isn’t any “OST”
Use one of the breaks that is posted
You can add bass and drums from what ever source you want
Your song must have an intro with dialog from one of Adam Curtis’ films (up to 30 sec)
Vocals from other sources are allowed, but any acapella used can not be longer than 4 bars.
Please share a drum break to let us know you’re in, but its not necessary. You can still submit a track for the playlist.
EDIT: Please share a track from the playlists above, you can use it if you want. Again not neccasry to participate, but it helps keep the thread bumped!
The deadline will be Dec 31, so I can get the playlist up for the new year!
Hey @malus_mons are we doing anything Adam Curtis related and sharing that as the main sample? Didn’t get the prompt all the way man. Or, are we picking and sharing from the playlist you provided
@butterfight thank you for your response, but this step kind of threw me off just wanted to make sure it wasn’t a required submission We’re going to keep this active @malus_mons we have cool cat gifs
Sorry for any confusion! Since there is so much material I thought I’d would be cool to share a track or 2 that stood out to you. Might help someone else get inspired. Really the only important rule is to get it to me by the 31st and add some dialogue from one of the films so the playlist will have some continuity. Last few battles have really sounded good as a whole and I want to keep that going!
Summary
@aarb420 yep nobody is running the show anymore. It’s all algorithms and illusions but don’t forget we have all the power, but unfortunately humans don’t believe in “we” just “me”… and the beat goes on. Nothing new under that lazy ol sun
I’ve had Hypernormalization and All Watched Over on my to-watch list for a hot minute, so this is great motivation.
Drum break from “Definitive Gaze” by Magazine (supposedly one of Mark Fisher’s favorite bands)
From the playlists, I’ll go with the Barbara Mandrell song. Not usually a fan of country, but “You must think my bed’s a bus stop/The way you come and go” is an incredible opener, and 70s country always has way more groove than I remember:
@malus_mons Thanks for clearing that up man, and honestly it was later in the evening the other day, and the brain was mush at that point when asking
Cool pic, is that you playing at a show?
Also, here is my sample choice:
Side note: Harold Budd has a record that I really wanted to pick up a few years ago, until discovering it was close to $200 He’s got an album with Brian Eno too, if anyone is into their style/genre.
I need to attempt to arrange mine (always a problem I have) and find some dialogue but will have something in soon. Hope everyone’s well. Happy Christmas if it’s your thing!
Yeah, this. They’re a wtf is going on trip. Also, that’s a lot of hours of tv!
Can’t believe I’ve never heard about him before, and guess it goes to show you learn something new, everyday! 
We’re going to keep this active 
)
He’s got an album with Brian Eno too, if anyone is into their style/genre.
