Auditory Umami – TRON LEGACY: R3CONFIGUR3D

In the summer of 2010 another rejuvenated project from our youth was made into a 3-D summer blockbuster with all the trimmings, TRON: Legacy. It had a major marketing push, was starring a recent Oscar-winner with Jeff Bridges, and had one of electronic music’s most successful and lauded duos in history, Daft Punk doing the music. But, the movie received a heap of mixed reviews, felt unwelcomed by purists (i.e. nerds) of the original film. Devout DP fans that were expecting more of an electronic soundscape to take them into The Grid trashed the score to the movie.

Fast-forward 6 months and the movie is coming out on DVD, On Demand, and other cable-movie providers. Since the mediocre reviews and lack of 3-D television sets in people’s homes aren’t going to re-sell the movie and its score to the public, what kind of gimmick can the production companies come up with to re-coup their losses? A formal re-packaging of the films soundtrack that features crossover-mainstream electronic artists, like The Crystal Method, Moby, and Paul Oakenfold re-mixing what Daft Punk and a 100-piece orchestra did to enhance the visuals of TRON: Legacy.

Audiences should have seen this coming from a mile away, this has been a formula that record and production companies have been doing for years to reinvent the product that failed to grasp people’s canon of cool. Judgment Night and the Friday series are two famous examples of this type of soundtrack re-packaging where it worked effectively for the audience and the people that put it out there. Something that people shouldn’t forget is that at the backbone of hip hop and electronic music (obviously) is the DJ, and wherever there is a DJ, there is a remix that isn’t too far behind. When I heard about this project a few months ago, I was excited because of the stable of artists that were asked to re-envision and remix the score to the movie. Not only were the aforementioned heavy-hitters that were already listed had enough appeal, but artists such as: Pretty Lights, Kaskade, The Glitch Mob, M83, Avicii, Boys Noize, The Teddybears, Photek, Com Truise and Sander Kleinenberg dotted the roster. There were a couple of names I wasn’t familiar with (Japanese Pop Stars, Ki: Theory, and Big Black Delta) but if they were asked to participate in this project then I would think they can hold their weight.

One of the hardest assignments accomplished on the album, was to re-envision the original score’s pulsing and electronic single that was used to sell the movie in the trailers, “Derezzed”. Avicii’s track takes a poppy-feel-good jam that is a distant relative to DP’s version, while The Glitch Mob’s track comes through with a comfy, distorted, drum pocket, falling synth lines, and GM’ nom de plume that chops the main rift of the track up in an infectious, House-like bounce. Another song that stands out like that is the updated version of “Rinzler”, re-imagined by dance floor assassin Kaskade. The track builds for a solid 2:00 minutes, suspends itself into a sultry, deep-house jam with a nice, structure that builds in momentum and circles back on itself. This is a definite banger that is a steady departure from DP’s track, but still bears in mind the original’s elements that make this one stand out as the remix. The Paul Oakenfold and Crystal Method reinterpretations of “C.L.U.” and “The Grid”, is a solid testament to music that a lot of fans feel should have been the mood evoked by DP on the film’s original score. Very, dance-heavy tracks with dramatic builds and drops that land between the strata of techno music and Euro-dance-house. Undeniably, my favorite cut from the record is Pretty Lights’ rendition of “Solar Sailor”. This song is everything I love about his signature-style of glitchy, dramatic, and spacey intro’s that are always followed by a low, bass drop that lend to a vintage sample laced in the background. “Arena” by Japanese Pop Stars has the opening horn that sounds like the Call of Cthulu, and makes the listener feel as if they are the same as these digital gladiator’s in the heat of battle.

I really could spend all day trashing what I like and don’t like between the original and R3CONSTRUCT3D, but I also believe it was a shot of redemption the record/production companies are offering to the public and attempting to give them what they were anticipating out-the-gate, an electronic music soundtrack to go along with their sleek, sci-fi/thriller. This correlation between electronic music and mainstream, pop-culture is once-again put up in full view for everyone to see. The link and influence between the two is apparent, I don’t know if the two are dependent on one another to succeed in America but this pairing of the two I thought worked well and showed that there can be harmony achieved in art, marketing, and pop-culture.

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Other tracks of note: “Encom Part II” (Com Truise), “End of Line” (Boys Noize), “Adagio for Tron” (The Teddybears), and “The Grid” (The Crystal Method)