Spencer Krug wants to hear from Wes Anderson, and I would love to hear from either of them. Sunset Rubdown’s lead man, Spencer Krug, mentioned Wes in a recent Pitchfork “Guest List” interview in which the band talks candidly about virtually everything.
Artist I’d Most Like to Collaborate With
SK: I can’t totally decide, but I will say that for a long time now I’ve had this fantasy where Wes Anderson just calls me up, casually introduces himself, and explains that he’s run out of cool 1960s and 70s pop to use for soundtrack material and would really appreciate it if I could try writing some tunes for his upcoming film. Then I’d say that I’m super busy right now but his ideas sound “interesting,” and that we should talk about it over a beer.
Krug happens to be a personal favorite musician of mine, and Sunset Rubdown is my favorite of his many projects (read: Wolf Parade, Swan Lake, et al). Needless to say, I was excited to read Wes’s name in Pitchfork’s sub-head.
Coming up with Wes Anderson mix tapes, imagining soundtracks for films that only exist in Wes’ (and our) dreams, is a favorite hobby of ours. We came upon a really fantastic one recently:
1. Cumulus
2. Donovan – Hi It’s Been a Long Time
3. Andrew’s Waltz
4. The Kinks – So Long
5. Les Boréades – Piggies
6. Paul Simon – The Obvious Child
7. Artur Rubenstein – Rhapsody On A Theme of Paganini – Var. #7
8. Belle and Sebastian – Fox in the Snow
9. With a Chance of Rain
10. Mike Berry and The Outlaws – Don’t You Think it’s Time
11. Hindi Beatles medley
12. The London Double Bass Sound – Moses Fantasy (paganini)
13. Ion Laceanu – Briu
14. The Rolling Stones – Mother’s Little Helper
15. The Flight of the Bumblebee* (Sinfonia Lahti Cello and Bass Ensemble) (Rimsky-Korsakov)
16. The Zombies – Beechwood Park
17. John Cale – Paris 1919
18. The Who – Can’t Explain
19. English Chamber Orchestra – Water Music Suite No. 2 in D
20. Sparks – Whipping and Apologies
21. Itzhak Perlman – Caprice #2 in B Minor by Paganini
22. The Damned – Jet Boy Jet Girl
23. The String Quartet – Sunday Morning (Velvet Underground)
24. Sigur Ros – Olsen Olsen
Image: Famous “Typewriter Sequence” from Merchant Ivory’s film Bombay Talkie (1970) featuring “Queen of the Nautch Girls” Helen and great Shashi Kapoor. The film is not the best from Merchant Ivory duo, but the sequence is definitely iconic.
Wes Anderson’s The Darjeeling Limited (2007) made the song somewhat of an international hit (editor’s note: did it?). Here is the song clip with Ismail Merchant, in a very Indian way, explaining the metaphor of “Fate Machine.”
Wes Anderson Players Brian Cox (Dr. Guggenheim in Rushmore) and Seu Jorge (Pelé dos Santos in The Life Aquatic) star in a new Irish-British prison drama, The Escapist. Distributed by IFC Films and Think Films, it opens (limited) on Friday, April 3.
Make Wes Anderson-inspired art at Paste Magazine’s Webicon.me! Then, Tweet (@rushmoreacademy) or e-mail (edwardappleby @ yankeeracers.org) us your image. We will post your entries here at the Rushmore Academy, and the best one will win of copy of Derek Hill’s fantastic Charlie Kaufman and Hollywood’s Merry Band of Pranksters, Fabulists and Dreamers: An Excursion Into the American New Wave (available for purchase on Amazon.com).
Contest is on-going. We will add new prizes if we extend it beyond April 1, 2009.
I was already scoring movies at that point, and I got a call from somebody at Sony who said, “We’ve got this interesting film with a difficult director, and you’re the only person he wants to talk to about scoring his movie.” And I thought, “Oh, no.” I went to see his movie, and when I was watching Bottle Rocket, I think they set a record for more people walking out than any other film this focus group had ever worked on. But I thought, “This guy has a really interesting take on our culture right now.” So I really wanted to meet him, and we just really hit it off. We ended up doing four films.
But where do these ideal artists exist? Even outside of visual art, it’s hard to find truly anti-establishment creators. I remember the sinking feeling in my chest when Wes Anderson debuted an ad for the American Express’ “My Life. My Card” campaign, and the sense of bewilderment and betrayal when Bob Dylan signed up for an Apple ad two years later. Everyone, it seems, is on the gravy train. And those who aren’t — well, they’re invisible.
