Rob Price
Gutbrain Records
rob + gutbrain.com = email

2024 October 14 • Monday

The 826th Soundtrack of the Week is an Alfonso Santisteban double feature: his music for the films Killing of the Dolls and Necrophagus.

The title track for Killing of the Dolls is parenthetically identified as "Black and Blue" and is fantastic, combining strings and classical piano flourishes with break beat drums, wah-wah guitar, overblown flute, harpsichord, percussion, electric piano, you name it! It's a bit like some of the later Lone Wolf and Cub music.

The main theme that repeats several times is called "Amor dde cartón" in its vocal version and uses "Für Elise" as a template, sticking closely to that famous melody.

Not just Beethoven but Bach also gets taggedd here in the funky orchestra choral "Opus Bach".

Elsewhere there are other compelling tracks, such as the hypnotically groovy "Los traumas del asesino" and the atmospheric and late-night jazzy "Del sueño a la realidad".

Necrophagus starts out with a solo organ piece for its "Main Title", rather sombre and churchy.

This theme gets a lot of workouts for intriguing combinations of instruments: electric bass, drums, harmonica, flute, organ, etc.

All the tracks are "Seq. 06", "Seq. 07" and so on and some of them are really interesting miniature avantgarde jazz pieces.