FromSoft has finally dropped the long-awaited DLC for Elden Ring. And in classic FromSoft fashion, they’ve casually imbued it with some of the most riveting OSTs of the century.
Quick disclaimer: I’m not a gamer. I’ve tried playing Elden Ring (at my younger brother’s behest) and was laughably horrible, dying immediately any time I encountered one of the hundreds of blood-hungry NPCs that roamed the map.
However, I do love good music, and Shadow of the Erdtree delivers. Here are the (in my expert opinion) best five tracks from the DLC.
Undoubtedly a far more complex composition, “The Twin Moon Knight” requires multiple rounds of listening for proper appreciation. Each time I replayed the track, I was struck by a new detail — a backdrop of plaintive vocals, a muted strain of ethereal strings, a subtle callback to Rennala’s theme, etc. — and the song’s tangle of sounds began to solidify into a frankly insane composition.
Where “Slave Knight Gael” is initially slow-moving, laboriously working up to its climax — much like Gael by the end of the game — “The Twin Moon Knight” is quick-to-strike and unrelenting from the first second, popping off immediately with woodwinds, percussion, vocals and heartwrenching strings.
It’s poetry. It’s opera. It’s devastating, and I can’t not go back for more.
By the end of the song, you’ve been utterly sliced to ribbons by ebullient arrangements of overlaid strings and stomped into the dust by a thudding percussive finale. It’s a song of many arcs, richly loaded with atmosphere and lore.
“Divine Beast Dancing Lion”
The Dancing Lion is one of the most grotesque creatures I’ve ever laid my eyes upon. Its corpse-green eyes and pearly white mouth of teeth, paired with its bruised and filthy human limbs, drive me absolutely crazy with revulsion.
It’s only the best kind of ironic that such a uniquely repulsive creature would possess one of the coolest OSTs in the franchise.
Composer Shoi Miyazawa expertly matches the OST’s sound to the beast’s whirling chaos, with susurations of stony male vocals and buzzing strings creating the illusion of churning air. When the Lion reaches its second phase, the atmosphere grows thunderous and the strings reach a frantic, lilting speed.
Arguably one of the most unique tracks from the DLC, “Divine Beast Dancing Lion” is frenetic and unforgettable.
“The Lord of Frenzied Flame”
While “The Twin Moon Knight” and “Divine Beast Dancing Lion” were exemplary for their complex, high-energy compositions, “The Lord of Frenzied Flame” is good because it’s plainly horrific.
From the first note, “The Lord of Frenzied Flame” drips foreboding. A percussive thud barely audible beneath a string and woodwind arrangement gives the impression of footfalls, of a horrible and formidable foe lurching ever-closer.
Also composed by Shoi Miyazawa, this track captures the fight’s — as stated by YouTube commenter TuomasH– “you have to kill this guy before he leaves the room and ends the world” kind of vibe.
Others compare the sound to the Bloodborne soundtrack — dark, dyspeptic and laden with unease. Pure drama from beginning to end.
“The Promised Consort”
This, according to my brother, is the single best track of the franchise. And I think he’s got a good argument going. To put it simply, the song is epic, the perfect backdrop for a long-awaited battle featuring legendary characters.
Twin swells — uproarious symphony for Radahn and delicate strings for Miquella — punctuate the track’s first phase before dissolving into something downright heavenly. Diegetically, the energy is intense, everything culminating in an unforgettable finale.
The cover for the EP, via https://sv-1.bandcamp.com/album/fizzy-drink-lathe
I love music. I love when two obscure artists with different styles collaborate. I love this EP, which is only two songs (which to me is single territory, but whatever.) I know that most reviews are for albums instead of something this short, but I don’t care. It’s good.
Both artists do strange, ethereal atmospheres, but the execution is very different. Outback leans more into the EDM sphere, most often breaks-adjacent, while sv1 does glitch with more than occasional trap influence. So: what do these songs actually sound like?
Paramount+ and MTV Poster for "LOLLA: The Story of Lollapalooza"
I am a firm believer that 95% of festivals are no longer cool.
The market is oversaturated, the bar for small bands is too low and the commodification and democratization of stardom has made big bands seem blasé.
Plainly stated, music doesn’t feel important any more.
I’m not seeing many, if any, baby bands that feel like they’re going to set the world on fire – and I am certainly not seeing many big artists that will go down in the annals of history.
And festivals feel the same.
Coachella is a ‘wannabe influencer’ petri dish, Reading & Leeds have pop acts gracing their stages and Glastonbury is now Coachella with more mud.
And worst of all, there’s Lollapalooza…
What was once a haven for everything alternative has become yet another destination, Coachella-lite festival.
But it wasn’t always that way – once, it was a bright, shining beacon of transgression in a sea of country-club, khaki approved pop.
MTV Time Machine
Streaming on Paramount+, “LOLLA: The story of Lollapalooza” charts the rise, fall, and rebirth of Lollapalooza from Perry Farrell’s Glastonbury inspired dream to the multi-million dollar Chicago festival.
It’s a long and bumpy ride that stretches from equipment frying heatwaves that enraged a baby-faced Trent Reznor to stuffed shirt meetings to introduce collaboration with the Austin City Limits team.
But narratively aside, the footage of yesterday’s Lolla was what I fell in love with.
From Body Count to Ben Folds Five, the early days and death knells of Lollapalooza were diligently captured by MTV camera crews and Fans alike.
I grew up hearing my dad’s Lolla-land adventures from the 90s, a former festival devotee, and I so badly wanted to step foot in that sea.
And while time travel certainly isn’t an option, it was an option to sit down and watch this with him – courtesy commentary provided.
We’ve all seen the videos of Eddie Vedder monkey bar-ing it across the stage, but it’s different to see that video with live feedback from your old man who was there.
So, not only did I get my trip in the way back machine, I got to know a little bit more about my dad during his 20-something-ne’er-do-well heyday.
Speaking of Dads…
Jane’s Addiction comes to Red Hat:
2024 Tour Poster for Jane’s Addiction supported by Love and Rockets, from Live Nation
Do you have a reformed alternative parent?
Does said parent need a kick in the ass to remember they’re still alive?
Do you have the music taste of a middle-aged man?
If so, I have wonderful news for you:
In what I can only describe as an alt-rock wet dream, Jane’s Addiction’s original line up of Perry Ferrell, Dave Navarro, Eric Avery and Stephen Perkins are returning to the stage supported by Love and Rockets.
So, if you’re looking to kill time on a Tuesday Night with your Ma and/or Pops, watching them revert back to whatever college delinquents they were, this is the show for you.
Besides, what’s more rock-n-roll than ignoring the looming 9-5 Wednesday morning wake-up call to go to a show?
album cover for "Street Faerie," by Cree Summer (1999)
If any album can convince you to get a belly button piercing, it’s going to be this one.
Most of us know Cree Summer as the raspy-voiced woman behind our childhood cartoons as “Numbah Five” from “Codename: Kids Next Door,” or Susie Meyerson from “Rugrats” amongst many others.
My Gen X-ers know Summer as the ever-spunky Freddie on “A Different World.”
However, my favorite incarnation is the scratchy and soulful singer of the here-and-then-gone 1999 album “Street Faërie.”
Summer’s lyrics walk the line between fresh and cynical, intimate and erotic, poetic and plainspoken in a way that feels almost reminiscent of Erykah Badu’s work.
She effortlessly weaves that earth-mother-barefoot-beauty with a decidedly tough, no-nonsense sensibility.
“Street Faërie” was produced by Lenny Kravitz, whose fingerprints are sonically all over the album.
From lush arrangements to backing vocals, he added tangible shape and color to Summer’s vision.
Forget Don Henley and Stevie Nicks; Kravitz and Summer create auditory leather and lace together.
Her vocals are equal parts delicate and forceful, uniquely free of her signature spoken rasp, whereas his guitar has that tell-tale driven ’90s crunch laced with powerfully ’70s swagger.
While the album reeks of what I can only imagine is Lenny Kravit’s spicy cologne, it feels like a disservice to dismiss it as his pet project as some reviewers have.
As far as content goes, it’s all Summer – from “Curious White Boy” to “Naheo,” she pulls from her reality to find the beauty in mundanity.
Her songs run the gamut from interracial dating to period sex, each one handled with a deeply personal intimacy that brings the listener deeper into a wonderland entirely of her making.
Despite what the title may suggest, the whimsical “Street Faërie” keeps both feet firmly planted in reality.
