by Kunal Mishra
Staff Writer
SubUrbia Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
(DGC Records)
Richard Linklater's new flick, SubUrbia, deals with seven characters who are in the post-high school, pre-real world period of their lives. Linklater's retro homage Dazed & Confused had a classic rock soundtrack to match the mid-'70s setting, and SubUrbia's soundtrack is also a sign o' the times, despite the fact that the film barely made a blip in local theaters.
One look at the list of artists (Sonic Youth, Elastica, Beck) might make you think, "Oh geez, another alternative nation whine-fest," but there is an overall haunting effect when listening to the soundtrack. Sonic Youth (which provides the original score for the movie) is a major contributor to the album's spookiness with three tracks, "Bee-Bee's Song," "Sunday" and "Tabla In Suburbia," along with Thurston Moore's (the band's guitaiist/vocalist) "Psychic Hearts."
Beck's first soundtrack performance, the drab folk-rock number "Feather In Your Cap," is one of the low points of the album. U.N.K.L.E.'s "Berry Meditation" is ambient, while Skinny Puppy's "Cult" has the sinister sound that comes under their trademark industrial/techno music.
Butthole Surfers' "Human Cannonball" is fueled by a common punk riff that sounds like The Ramones in this old-school track from 1987. '60s pop singer Gene Pitney's "Town Without Pity" concludes the album and sticks out awkwardly while still adding to the eeriness. Sporadically successful, but still effective, the soundtrack conveys a dark and intense critique of the suburbs.