Musicians Pay Hommage To Musicophile Filmmaker Wes Anderson
Wes Anderson may be releasing a new movie next year – ‘Hotel Budapest’ will make its theatrical debut in the US on March 7th – but musicians haven’t waited any longer to release their own Wes Anderson tribute album. Is ‘I Saved Latin!’, an obvious ‘Rushmore’ reference, a premiere? When did musicians start to pay homage to a filmmaker? I had never heard of this but Wes Anderson is an unusual case, he is the master of soundtracks, meticulously choosing the songs that perfectly fit his meticulously detailed scenes. When filming, he seems very preoccupied with beauty, symmetry and details, and the music also seems to reflect a very personal vision shared by all his movies.
Who can forget Cat Stevens’ ‘Here Comes My Baby’ and ‘The Wind’ in ‘Rushmore’, Nico’s ‘These Days’ or Elliott Smith’s ‘Needle in the Hay’ in ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’ (actually the whole soundtrack of this movie is a little treasure with the Beatles, Bob Dylan, The Clash, Paul Simon, Elliott Smith, The Ramones, Nick Drake, Lou Reed, The Rolling Stones, Van Morrison, Nico!!) or all these David Bowie’s covers by Brazilian musician Seu Jorge in ‘The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou’ (a soundtrack which also included Sigur Ros and Iggy and the Stooges), or even this Kinks feast (‘This Time Tomorrow’, ‘Strangers’, ‘Powerman’) on ‘The Darjeeling Limited’ soundtrack, and this strange Hank Williams-Benjamin Britten-Francoise Hardy mixed tape for ‘Moonrise Kingdom’. Who knows which music he is gonna pick for ‘Hotel Budapest’, but the cast looks fabulous as always: Ralph Fiennes, F. Murray Abraham, Edward Norton, Mathieu Amalric, Saoirse Ronan, Adrien Brody, Willem Dafoe, Léa Seydoux, Jeff Goldblum, Jason Schwartzman, Jude Law, Tilda Swinton, Harvey Keitel, Tom Wilkinson, Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, and Tony Revolori.
So ‘I Saved Latin!’ features artists such as Black Francis, Juliana Hatfield, Mike Watt, Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin…, covering songs from Anderson’s films, and the label American Laundromat Records is offering a series of packages with all kinds of goodies that any Wes Anderson’s fan would probably be dying to own: Max Fischer ‘Rushmore Academy’ business card, team Zissou red knit beanie, Moonrise Kingdom-inspired scout badge, pins, decals, magnets, badges and buttons, as well as three different Anderson-movies inspired screen t-shirts.
Here is ‘I Saved Latin!’ tracklist:
Black Francis: “Seven and Seven Is” (Love) [Bottle Rocket]
Elk City: “Play with Fire” (The Rolling Stones) [Darjeeling Limited]
Escondido: “Strangers” (The Kinks) [Darjeeling Limited]
Freelance Whales: “Let Her Dance” (The Bobby Fuller Four) [Fantastic Mr. Fox]
Generationals: “Making Time” (Creation) [Rushmore]
Grand Hallway: “I Am Waiting” (The Rolling Stones) [Rushmore]
Joy Zipper: “Ooh La La” (The Faces) [Rushmore]
Juliana Hatfield: “Needle In The Hay” (Elliot Smith) [Royal Tenenbaums]
Kristin Hersh: “Fly” (Nick Drake) [Royal Tenenbaums]
Matt Pond: “These Days” (Nico) [Royal Tenenbaums]
Mike Watt & the Secondmen: “Street Fighting Man (The Rolling Stones)” [Fantastic Mr. Fox]
PHOX: “The Way I Feel Inside” (The Zombies) [Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou]
Santah: “Five Years” (David Bowie) [Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou]
Sara Lov: “Alone Again Or” (Love) [Bottle Rocket]
Solvents: “Nothing In This World Can Stop Me Worryin’ Bout That Girl” (The Kinks) [Rushmore]
Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin: “Margaret Yang’s Theme” (Mark Mothersbaugh) [Rushmore]
Tea Cozies: “Here Comes My Baby” (Cat Stevens) [Rushmore]
Tele Novella: “Stephanie Says” (The Velvet Underground) [Royal Tenenbaums]
Telekinesis: “This Time Tomorrow” (The Kinks) [Darjeeling Limited]
The Ghost in You: “Oh Yoko!” (John Lennon) [Rushmore]
Tomten: “30 Century Man” (Scott Walker) [Life Aquatic]
Trespassers William: “Fairest of the Seasons” (Nico) [Royal Tenenbaums]
William Fitzsimmons: “The Wind” (Cat Stevens) [Rushmore]
Meanwhile let’s have a look at the sumptuous trailer for ‘Hotel Budapest’:
