Saturday, March 15, 2014

Great Soundtracks: The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou


As we all smile that Wes Anderson's latest film, The Grand Budapest Hotel has officially hit theaters, this month, we look back at one of his finest works through it's music -- 2004's The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. While the film became and instant cult classic, the music of the picture became it's own character. Featuring a score from Devo mastermind Mark Mothersbaugh and classic David Bowie covers performed by Brazilian artist Seu Jorge, all sung in Brazilian Portuguese, the soundtrack to The Life Aquatic is as breathtaking as the visuals from the film.

While the music resembles the motifs used by Anderson, it also has a vibe unlike any film soundtrack in recent memory. It combines classical sounds from Ennio Morricone, mixed with Mothersbaugh's score and Jorge's covers as well as songs from Devo, Bowie, The Zombies, Scott Walker, The Stooges. The soundtrack became so successful that it even spawned the cover album, The Life Aquatic Sessions by Jorge, which featured all of his Bowie covers as well as the original song, "Team Zissou." A decade later, this soundtrack remains a blueprint as to how to place music in a film.