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Uncut Gems (soundtrack)

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Uncut Gems
Soundtrack album by
Daniel Lopatin
ReleasedDecember 13, 2019 (2019-12-13)
Studio
  • Electric Garden, Brooklyn, NY
  • Gaia Studios, Brooklyn, NY
GenreElectronica
Length51:56
LabelWarp
ProducerDaniel Lopatin
Daniel Lopatin chronology
Age Of
(2018) 		Uncut Gems
(2019) 		Magic Oneohtrix Point Never
(2020)

Uncut Gems is a soundtrack album by electronic musician Daniel Lopatin, containing the original score for the Safdie brothers' 2019 film Uncut Gems.[1] It was released via Warp on December 13, 2019.[2] It received positive reviews from critics.[3] It peaked at number 44 on the UK Soundtrack Albums Chart.[4]

Background

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Film co-director Josh Safdie worked closely with Lopatin on the score, which began with a "Frankenstein" score using library and new-age music before Lopatin began sketching out compositions.[5] Safdie described the soundtrack as "a medicinal new-age soul of a film," in contrast to the "pulse" of their previous collaboration Good Time.[5] Lopatin described it as "more beautiful, ethereal, it's more orchestral, it's goofier."[5]

The "cosmically synthesized" score uses a Moog One synthesizer, and draws inspiration from artists such as Isao Tomita, Tangerine Dream and Vangelis,[6] as well as the 1970s-80s new-age duo Emerald Web.[5] Lopatin and Safdie used Moog's synthesizer library and Omnisphere to search for "earthy melancholic sounds that had a cosmic twist," as well as saxophone and a choir.[5] The track "Fuck You, Howard" is a reinterpretation of Haydn's Symphony No. 88,[5] while "Windows" is a homage to "Kaneda's theme" from the anime film Akira.[7]

Critical reception

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Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic74/100[3]
Review scores
SourceRating
Exclaim!7/10[8]
The Guardian[9]
The Line of Best Fit9/10[10]
Mojo[3]
Pitchfork7.4/10[11]
Uncut[3]

At Metacritic, the album received an average score of 74 out of 100, based on 6 mainstream critical reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[3]

Thomas Johnson of The Line of Best Fit called the album "further proof Lopatin will be held in the same esteem as Ennio Morricone, John Carpenter, Vangelis and so on."[10] He stated that the album is "filled with heartfelt synth lines, gorgeous revolving, spacey sequences and emotive samples" in contrast to his narrower score for Good Time.[10] Ben Beaumont-Thomas of The Guardian wrote that "lesser composers try to merely mirror the action on screen and intensify it, boringly magnifying your emotions."[9] He added, "Lopatin is showing how contradictory, confusing and vital our dumb human impulses are."[9] Mina Tavakoli of Pitchfork stated that the score "has a large blast radius in the movie, itself a funny character in an ensemble of unintentionally funny characters."[11] Matthew Clark of Exclaim! wrote: "Not only does this collection of music have a cinematic quality that lends it its soundtrack purpose, it also stands alone as an engaging set of songs and motifs on their own."[8]

Track listing

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All tracks are written by Daniel Lopatin

No.TitleLength
1."The Ballad of Howie Bling"8:26
2."Pure Elation"1:01
3."Followed"1:32
4."The Bet Hits"2:51
5."High Life"1:00
6."No Vacation"0:54
7."School Play"6:16
8."Fuck You Howard"2:42
9."Smoothie"1:10
10."Back to Roslyn"2:02
11."The Fountain"2:21
12."Powerade"0:52
13."Windows"5:06
14."Buzz Me Out"2:49
15."The Blade"1:32
16."Mohegan Suite"4:42
17."Uncut Gems"6:40

Personnel

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Credits adapted from liner notes. Some tracks are intercut with dialogue from the film.[12]

  • Daniel Lopatin – performance, production
  • Conor Abbott Brown – choral production, arrangement
  • Maxwell J. McKee – vocals (1, 8, 16), arrangement
  • Rob Geldelian – track engineering, edit engineering
  • Matt Cohn – engineering, mixing
  • Ian Lavely – engineering assistance, mixing assistance
  • Jaclyn Sanchez – additional engineering
  • Nolan Theis – additional engineering
  • Mario Castro – flute (1, 2, 4, 5, 9, 10), saxophone (1, 2, 4, 5, 9, 10)
  • Josh Safdie – snake bites (1, 6, 16, 17)
  • Emily Schubert – vocals (1, 7, 14)
  • Maureen Bailey – vocals (1, 8, 16)
  • John Boggs – vocals (1, 8, 16)
  • Brian Du Fresne – vocals (1, 8, 16)
  • Chelsea Kendall – vocals (1, 8, 16)
  • Claire McCahan – vocals (1, 8, 16)
  • Rebecca Myers – vocals (1, 8, 16)
  • Daniel Parks – vocals (1, 8, 16)
  • Eli Keszler – drums (1, 13), percussion (1, 13)
  • Adam Sandler – voice (3, 6, 7, 12)
  • Ronnie Greenberg – voice (3)
  • Marshall Greenberg – voice (3)
  • Idina Menzel – voice (6, 7)
  • Keren Shemel – voice (6)
  • Aren Topian – voice (6)
  • Gatekeeper – synthesizer (7, 16)
  • Sebastian Bear-McClard – vocals (11, 16)
  • Julia Fox – voice (12)
  • Kevin Garnett – voice (12)
  • Patricia Sullivan Fourstar – mastering
  • Caleb Halter – design
  • Inez & Vinoodh – cover photography

Charts

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Chart Peak
position
UK Soundtrack Albums (OCC)[4] 44

References

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  1. ^ Slingerland, Calum (October 29, 2019). "Oneohtrix Point Never's Daniel Lopatin Details 'Uncut Gems' Soundtrack". Exclaim!. Retrieved February 4, 2020.
  2. ^ Bruce-Jones, Henry (October 29, 2019). "Warp Records to release Uncut Gems soundtrack from Daniel Lopatin". Fact. Retrieved February 4, 2020.
  3. ^ a b c d e "Uncut Gems (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) by Daniel Lopatin". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved January 14, 2020.
  4. ^ a b "Official Soundtrack Albums Chart Top 50". Official Charts Company. Retrieved February 19, 2020.
  5. ^ a b c d e f Castillo, Monica (December 12, 2019). "Daniel Lopatin and Josh Safdie Dig Deep For the 'Uncut Gems' Score". Billboard. Retrieved January 14, 2020.
  6. ^ Halperin, Shirley (January 9, 2020). "The Music of 'Uncut Gems': How Moogs and Moods Combined for the Movie's Score". Variety. Retrieved January 14, 2020.
  7. ^ Weekes, Princess (January 6, 2020). "There's an Awesome Akira Shoutout in Uncut Gems". The Mary Sue. Retrieved January 14, 2020.
  8. ^ a b Clark, Matthew (December 11, 2019). "Daniel Lopatin Uncut Gems". Exclaim!. Retrieved January 14, 2020.
  9. ^ a b c Beaumont-Thomas, Ben (December 13, 2019). "Daniel Lopatin: Uncut Gems Original Soundtrack review – vital, nerve-jangling score is a jewel". The Guardian. Retrieved January 14, 2020.
  10. ^ a b c Johnson, Thomas (December 30, 2019). "Is Daniel Lopatin his generation's finest film score composer?". The Line of Best Fit. Retrieved January 14, 2020.
  11. ^ a b Tavakoli, Mina (December 16, 2019). "Daniel Lopatin: Uncut Gems (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)". Pitchfork. Retrieved January 14, 2020.
  12. ^ Uncut Gems (booklet). Daniel Lopatin. Warp. 2019. WARPCD308.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)

Further reading

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