“The new record rushes like a runaway ghost train, eagerly shifting between funk, horrorcore stadium rock, pop, grunge and electronic.” – The Independent
“From the horror-rave of The Dead Walk to the blood-spattered rock riffs of Cemetery and Skeleton, there are plenty of dark treats here to soundtrack fearful, sleepless nights.” – Kerrang!
“Immersive and powerful…. It’s the sound of genius, lurking in the shadows.” – Metal Hammer
” He’s never met a supernatural entity he can’t pair with thumping darktronica and stalking rock guitar.” – MOJO
“This third engrossing outing conjures worlds from chilly, pulsing synths and waspish guitar.” – Uncut
“Irresistible and viscerally pleasing… Thoroughly captivating.” – The Wire
“The familiar, leaden pulses and the odd skittering rhythms still have the power to make the skin itch and the listener wonder just what it is they can see out of the corner of their eye.” – Prog
“The fact that he’s still creating — and that it’s this vital, this vicious, and this urgent — only further fulfills his moniker as the Master.” – Consequence of Sound
“Neon-tinged, dance floor-friendly menace.” – AV Club
John Carpenter releases his third studio album of “soundtracks for the movies in your mind”, ‘Lost Themes III: Alive After Death’ via Sacred Bones Records.
Following the stomping “Weeping Ghost,” the dancefloor-ready “
‘Lost Themes III: Alive After Death’ streaming options: https://geni.us/
Underpinning Carpenter’s renaissance as a musician has been his collaboration with Cody Carpenter and Daniel Davies. They’ve composed and performed as a trio since the first ‘Lost Themes’ album in 2015: on studio albums, on soundtracks, and onstage. Here, the trio reaches a new level of creative mind meld. Richly rendered worlds are built in the interplay between Davies’s guitar and the duelling synthesisers played by the Carpenters.
“We begin with a theme, a bass line, a pad, something that sounds good and will lead us to the next layer,” John says of the trio’s process. “We then just keep adding on from there. We understand each other’s strengths and weaknesses, how to communicate without words, and the process is easier now than it was in the beginning. We’ve matured.”
Much has changed in the trio’s musical life since 2016’s ‘Lost Themes II’. Following the release of that album, the group went on their first-ever concert tour, performing material from the ‘Lost Themes’ albums, as well as music from Carpenter’s classic film scores. They re-recorded many of those classic movie themes for 2017’s ‘Anthology’ album. The following year, John was asked to executive produce and compose the music for the new Halloween movie directed by David Gordon Green, which promptly became the highest-grossing instalment in the series. Whereas the original ‘Lost Themes’ album came as a surprise after years of relative silence from Carpenter, the third instalment sees him in the midst of a resurgent moment as a cultural force. The 2018 ‘Halloween’ score gave his music its biggest audience in decades, and the world he releases his new album into is one that has, at long last, given him the credit he deserves as a founding father of modern electronic music.
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