Uncut Gems - you love it, we love it. One of the most tense and anxiety-inducing films of the current century is rounded out with an incredible electronic score by Warp artist Daniel Lopatin, best known as Oneohtrix Point Never but choosing to don his government name for his second collaboration with Josh and Benny Safdie. This one continues in the tradition of Good Time, channeling the 70s prog synthesizer hedonism of Tomita, Wendy Carlos, and Tangerine Dream while paying closer attention to the more tender facets of the human emotional prism (as does the film)... it’s almost as if he felt more comfortable quoting Vangelis now that he’s got Good Time under his belt. While the Good Time score fit the film it was made for to a T, perhaps even better than this one, Uncut Gems is a thousand times more listenable and musically interesting in almost every way, with a lush and cohesive sound bank of spindly arps, soaring pads, down-low sax and choral harmonies soundtracking jeweler Howard Ratner’s sleazy world of midtown back streets, neon-streaked nightclubs, hall-of-mirrors diamond district shops and whirring helicopter blades. There’s a few snippets of dialogue from the film tastefully peppered in to keep you from slipping into a krautrock koma. Spread out on four sides of vinyl and housed in a deluxe gatefold jacket with full color printed inner sleeves and download code, recommended.

• black double vinyl pressing
• deluxe gatefold sleeve
• printed inner sleeves
• digital download included
• music label: Warp Records 2019

reviewed by naffi sandwich 01/2020

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