Kids

Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (London)
by Joshua Brown

First off, the movie this is taken from is one of my all-time favorites. All I’m gonna say is, if you get the chance, make sure you see it. As for the soundtrack, the fairly brainless opening track, Daniel Johnston‘s “Casper,” doesn’t prepare you for the vibrant mix of sound that ensues. Most of the songs are performed by Lou Barlow’s (of Sebadoh fame) band the Folk Implosion. The exceptions are one Sebadoh tune, “Good Morning Captain,” performed by Slint (influential forefathers of beautiful noise), and a rap dittie by Lo-Down.

On one level, the music (half of which is purely instrumental) is meant to evoke the film’s focus, the marijuana/ecstasy-tinged modern urban youth world of backpacks and skateboards. Additionally, the music does many other things. “Nothing Gonna Stop” (i.e., “nothin’s gonna stop the flow”) is an anthem of faith and affirmation. The tune “Wet Stuff” is a virtual storm of energy and desire. In the film, one of the female leads learns she’s HIV-positive after only having sex with one guy, and her theme song is a tear/fear-soaked catharsis of feeling hopeless. She walks into a party to discover she is too late to save his next victim, and “Raise the Bells” is the soundtrack to the movie’s climactic deadly flesh marriage. Though the subject matter may be difficult, I don’t find this album depressing. It’s a huge step from the often self-absorbed earlier work of Lou Barlow (and John Davis). A worldly, self-aware musical work.