Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Jerzy Kulik - The Colours Of The Autumn (Barwy Jesieni)

Hear The Track Here

Not only has this month been my busiest review month ever, it also makes this year the busiest review year since I started the Rebel Riffs blog at the beginning of 2006. Very nice too because it means v-a-r-i-e-t-y and that is essential for someone like me. So when I got an email from Polish musician Jerzy Kulik asking me to review this track, I snatched it right out of his hand. Surely, I thought, this might mean I escape an endless diet of rock and get a bit of kultchure... ;) That would be fine except Jerzy's site states 'I prefer to compose...illustrative or film music' and as you know, this is not something I choose to listen to on a regular basis. Still, I never - I hope - let my own bias get in the way so....

To be honest I think most of my enormous bias towards film music is because most of the examples I hear are from unsigned sources who - let's face it - have a fairly elastic interpretation of what film music actually is. Of course anything could be film music, all it takes is for it to be used in film/TV. For me, it always means music that is often understated and usually of either a straighforward electronica standard (the modern kind) or the more usual classically aligned variety. Personally, I'd rather hear a piece of orchestral film music anyday, simply because of the infinite room for emotion and colour.

Having said that, most unsigned film music of the classical variety is ALSO it's worst failing because it's almost impossible to get a decent orchestral sound without spending big time mega-bucks. Not sure what Jerzy is using to compose with but the sounds that flow from his mind and fingers into my ears are precise, you would be hard pressed to tell whether this was violins et al or the digital equivalent. For sure there are not that many musicians I know who have the sort of training that Jerzy has undoubtedly had and that comes through in his music in a big way. Very impressive indeed.

Highly Recommended classical film music.

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