Karen O (and the Kids)

Karen O (of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs) is pretty awesome. If you couldn’t already tell from the picture above, she likes to dress like a grunge equivalent of Lady GaGa. Anyway, I snagged a copy of the Where the Wild Things Are OST and it is done entirely by Karen O (and the Kids) At first you may assume the “Kids” moniker belongs to what sounds like kids screaming in the background MGMT style, however, that is wrong. The “Kids” are actually two guys from the YYYs, Bradford Cox from Deerhunter and Atlas Sound, Dean Fertita of Queens of the Stone Age and the Racontours, Greg Kurstin from the Bird and the Bee, and a bunch of people I don’t know. The gist is that it’s a ridiculously talented group of musicians. Also, Karen O used to date Spike Jonze! Despite all this, and the fact that it’s the where the wild things are OST, I was very hesitant in listening to this. I think it had something to do with not having seen the movie yet and not knowing who Karen O was at the time. So I saw the movie and downloaded the album and have been quite pleased so far.

Unlike many OSTs, this one feels far more connected to the film than I was expecting. It may be due to the sections of dialogue taken straight from the movie but I think it is that the music really captures the essence of Max’s story. Because there are so many different talented musicians I also get the feeling that they created this music solely for the film. When there is one person doing a soundtrack it is easy to pull from pre-existing songs or to make a new song and try to fit it in. However, I like to think that this was a democratic group and thus they all contributed to something new and unique.

Capsize

I have a thing for songs where they spell words. While that may be the only reason why I like this song, Karen O does her “ooooooh” (like a ghost) sound and you just can’t not like that.

Hideaway

Probably my favorite song off of the album. Hideaway is very slow and uses cymbals so darn well. It brings to mind the scene in Lost in Translation where Bill Murray is driving in a cab to his hotel. Karen O really demonstrates her ability to have a super cool voice.

Sailing Home

This song is only a minute long. Despite that, it is my second favorite song from this album.

Building All is Love

All the trailers and hype kind of ruined All is Love for me. Luckily there is a second version of it on the album that is much better.