RASHOMON is the solo project of Matt Thompson, bassist and keyboardist of Cineploit artists ZOLTAN and cosmic synth act CREMATOR.
ASHCAN COPY – FILMMUSIC VOL. III (Cine 21)
Originally issued in 2011, Ashcan Copy is the third instalment in Rashomon’s Film Music series of LPs. Cineploit Records is proud to present this re-release, and to introduce the record to a wider audience than the 150 lucky souls who snagged a copy of the ultra-limited initial release on Hlava Records.
Active since 2009, Rashomon is the solo project of Matt Thompson, also of Cineploit mainstays Zoltan. This is his second release on the label under the Rashomon name, following 2014’s LP/DVD extravaganza The Cameraman’s Revenge: Film Music Vol. 4 – the final release in the Film Music series to date.
The previous edition to this, 2009’s The Finishing Line: Film Music Vol. 2, had focused on re-creating the psychological mind-state of the wilder end of 1970s British public information films. By way of change Ashcan Copy is presented as an album of soundtrack cues from films that were, for one reason or another, never released. The films, hailing from Italy, Japan and the USA (among others) supposedly date from the 1950s to the 1970s, and were (according to the extensive sleeve notes) exactingly sourced from film archives across Europe.
In reality, all the music is self-composed. The eight tracks include elements of noise, folk, psychedelia, prog and noir-jazz within their elaborate constructions, created with a panoply of instrumentation including Mellotron, zither, home-made percussion, Fender Rhodes, harmonium, MiniMoog and more. Delicate and sensuous, heavy and oppressive – the record negotiates these musical contradictions while retaining a single-minded pursuit of strangeness and surprise.
Having finally found its spiritual home on soundtrack specialist label Cineploit, Ashcan Copy can at last be heard by all.
RASHOMON is the solo project of Matt Thompson, bassist and keyboardist of Cineploit artists ZOLTAN and cosmic synth act CREMATOR.
“The Cameraman´s Revenge” is the 4th release under the Rashomon name, and the first on Cineploit. The earlier Rashomon albums were a mix of experimental pieces and music influenced by film composers, and with time the music has developed in a purely cinematic direction.
The music on “The Cameraman´s Revenge” was composed as two long soundtrack pieces to accompany silent movies by Russian filmmaker Ladislaw Starewicz. “The Cameraman´s Revenge” itself is an early Surrealist masterpiece from 1912, in which Starewicz animated the corpses of dead insects to tell a tale of infidelity and revenge. The soundtrack is a carnival-esque tour-de-force of folk-concrete, utilising harmoniums, jawharps, vintage synthesisers, an array of oddball percussion and more.
“The Mascot” (1933) is a bizarre and disturbing film for children, and Rashomon’s soundtrack reflects this darkness with shifting drones, ominously melodic waltzes and minimalist organ fugues over the course of its 25 minute length.
On the DVD that comes with the Vinyl both films are featured, accompanied by Rashomon´s music.