Quite by accident, the May edition of Now Playing has something of a cinematic theme.
Perhaps that's appropriate given that summer is coming, so we can rightly say we are entering blockbuster season, with this month's rundown treating us to Superman-baiting funk, a symphony of Batman-themed goodness, and even a new Bond theme from Lana Del Rey. Well, technically that's for a video game, but games are the new movies anyway, right?
Lots of cracking test tunes to save you a trip to the cinema – just stay at home and listen to your hi-fi instead.
Article continues belowFirst Light by Lana Del Rey
Wake up, babe, the new Bond theme just dropped!
No, not for a movie, silly, but for a video game. Yes, there’s a new blockbuster adventure starring a young Jimmy B called First Light coming soon, and they’re really pushing the speedboat out for this one: a big old celebrity cast, lots of familiar Bond-iverse faces, and yes, a bespoke theme tune sung by Lana Del flippin’ Rey.
It’s a match made in heaven. Del Rey has often been regarded as one of the Bond singers that got away, and – considering she’s also got a song literally called Video Games – this feels like the perfect fit. Plus, she’s got exactly the sort of sultry, enticing chops that go so well with a big, brassy Bond song.
First Light is a good’un, too. Speaking of brass, there’s lots of signature John Barry / David Arnold-inspired horns accompanied by classic swooning strings, all with a surprisingly rocky drum beat thwacking away underneath.
Give it a couple of listens and you’ll really start to dig it.
Words by Harry McKerrell
Jam On It by Newcelus
What kind of hi-fi would Superman use? Most of us probably haven’t given it much thought; but then most of us aren’t in the early hip-hop group Newcleus, whose 1984 track Jam On It considers The Man Of Steel’s system.
“His speakers were three stories high with woofers made of steel / And when we brought our set outside, he said ‘Ha, be real ’/ He said, ‘I’m faster than a speedin’ bullet when I’m on the set / I don't need no fans to cool my amps, I just use my super breath’.”
Supe’s set-up is undoubtedly impressive, having “all the buildings for miles around… swayin' to the groove.” But, wouldn’t you know it, Newcleus have an ace up their Adidas-tracksuit sleeve: “And just when he had fooled the crowd and swore he wouldn’t fight /We rocked his butt with a 12 inch cut called Disco Kryptonite.”
The lesson? It doesn’t matter who you are, if you’re going to brag about your system, you’d better have the credentials to back it up.
Words by Joe Svetlik
The Batman soundtrack by Michael Giacchino
“Okay Michael, we need a score for the new Batman movie, kind of a noir actioner with the fella from Twilight. No need to go too crazy, just your standard action soundtrack.”
Michael, seemingly, did not get the memo. Instead of giving us the standard action clichés or thundering drums and big orchestral sweepers, Mr. Giacchino instead opted to make his musical spin on The Batman a sort of modern classical opera, complete with sonatas, arias and allegrettos. Ok, maybe not allegrettos. What even is an allegretto?
This isn’t ‘sub’ or ‘faux’ classical either, but proper, full-blooded stuff from a composer working at the top of his game. Also, some of the song title puns are great: Escaped Crusader. It’s raining vengeance. Crossing the feline’.
We wonder what he chose to leave out. A Dark Knight at the Opera, perhaps?
Wordplay worthy of The Riddler, a score worthy of a true hero.
Words by Harry McKerrell
The Wise Man’s Song by Cinder Well
If you’ve seen Mackenzie Crook’s new BBC TV show Small Prophets from earlier this year, this theme song might be familiar to you. If you haven’t, let it tempt you into watching this wonderfully eccentric, magical and beautifully written six-part series about a lonely man stumbling upon the magical in his shed.
Cinder Well is the musical project of Amelia Baker, a songwriter and multi-instrumentalist from Los Angeles, and her pure, crystal-clear lyrics perfectly encapsulate the wistful and melancholic yet hopeful spark of the show. It’s a song that stops just short of being achingly solitary, with a sweetness tinged throughout her vocals.
The composition is stark, with gentle guitar strums and low violin strains offering a soft, layered background that puts her vocals front and centre. There’s more said in the quiet, almost silent moments in between her beautiful singing – the song has an ephemeral quality that will have you listening to it on repeat, chasing the gossamer-like feeling that will haunt you after listening to the first few notes.
But in a nice way.
Words by Kashfia Kabir
Avalanche by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
We’re partial to a bit of Nick Cave in our testing labs, and if the Bad Seeds want to come along for the ride, so much the better.
Cave’s gravelly crooning just lends itself so well to testing out hi-fi – it’s overwrought, emotive and, given that we can’t think of anyone or anything that sounds even similar to the Aussie balladeer and his rich vocal stylings, irrepressibly unique.
Into My Arms is a go-to favourite, but we’ve gone for something a bit different and picked Avalanche, a cover of the Leonard Cohen track of the same name. It’s the sort of overdone ballad that fits Cave so well, especially when the opening lines go something like: “I stepped into an avalanche / It covered up my soul / When I am not this hunchback that you see / I sleep beneath the golden hill”.
Not sure what that golden hill refers to, but there’s lots of emotion for your system to dig out, which makes sense considering you might have heard the tune played during the second series of hit Amazon Prime smash Invincible, accompanying a montage wherein Omni-Man is drifting alone through space as he contemplates his misdeeds and considers throwing himself into a literal black hole.
Beating your own son to a bloody pulp will do that to you – or maybe Avalanche was making him just a bit too depressed.
Words by Harry McKerrell
As a collective, our review team listens to a lot of music. Sometimes we rely on old favourites with which we're familiar, but we are always discovering new tracks – be they fresh releases or just songs we haven't encountered before – that give us key insights into new products we are trying out.
We also know that plenty of our readers are on the lookout for new tunes, either to assess the capabilities of a new system or simply to show off the full talents of their established hi-fi set-up. That's why we have come up with our monthly 'Now Playing' playlist, a rundown of everything we've been listening to and loving recently, whether at home with a set of headphones or at work in our fabulous test rooms.
Each instalment will bring you a handful of tracks chosen by our reviews team, detailing why we love them and what they bring out of certain products. So even if you're not looking for new tunes to play on your system, we hope you find something you'll love no matter how you choose to listen to it.
We're always on the lookout for new music, so drop a comment below to share what you have been listening to!
MORE:
Read last month's edition: the 6 stellar test tracks soundtracking our spring listening
I heard a Dolby Atmos mix in a professional recording studio – and it’s changed my view of spatial audio
Check out our ultimate test tracks collection
