It has become a worldwide cult, and whether you’re Team Edward or Team Jacob (I’m all for the Cullen), one thing’s for sure, you’ll be seeing New Moon, the second instalment of the Twilight saga, in cinemas in this week (squeel!). Of course, I can’t give you a head’s up on the actual film yet, but one thing I can tell you, Twilighters, is how AWESOME New Moon’s soundtrack is going to be.

If there was an award for the coolest movie soundtrack, like, ever – this record would have to win, hands down. The CD is filled with both big and small indie superstars from beginning to end – the music a befittingly dark, melancholic haze of vampirical delight.

Glam-stomping, rocking tunes, such as ‘Friends’, by Band of Skulls, ‘I Belong to You’, by Muse and ‘Monsters’, by Hurricane Bells provide the perfectly harsh, guitar-driven soundtrack for Edward Cullen, as he smoulderingly flies across the sunlit trees of Forks, or Jacob Black, as he shape shifts into his mystical werewolf self. The contrastingly sorrowful, haunting numbers on the CD, such as ‘Possibility’, by Lykke Li, ‘Rosyln’, by Bon Iver and St. Vincent, and ‘Slow Life’, by Grizzly Bear, supply the most beautiful of soundscapes, which aptly echo Bella’s despairing, love-torn state of mind. Futher big-names on the album include The Killers (pictured right), Editors, Ok Go, a digitalised solo number from Radiohead frontman, Thom Yorke, and Death Cab for Cutie, who provide the movie’s official track with the Pet Shop Boys’ stylin’ ‘Meet Me at the Equinox’.

To conclude – the New Moon soundtrack is an incredibly epic, and at times stupidly touching record – perfect audio for the similarly emotional book and soon-to-be film. I would thoroughly recommend this CD, even if you aren’t, like me and practically 70% of the world’s teen population, a major Twilight-nerd. It’s a 16-tracked collection of amazing tunes, each one bounding with an intensity which is, at times, full-blown rawking, and other times, profoundly heartbreaking.

Order ‘The Twilight Saga: New Moon Music From The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack’, over at Amazon.co.uk now.

Regardless of your music tastes, whatever you think is cool or wrong with music today, I think we can all safely say that Woodstock festival was one of those seminal events that changed culture and the music industry a lot more than people expected at the time. Now Ang Lee, the guy who directed Brokeback Mountain and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon has directed “Taking Woodstock“, a film that tells the story behind the festival, staring Demetri Martin and Emile Hirsch which is out in November.

The three day event in August 1969 featured so many acts that we have been huge influences on many of todays biggest acts: Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, The Who, Jefferson Airplane, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and Jimi Hendrix all played sets that for many defined a generation. Whilst some in the local communities weren’t huge fans of the 500,000 people descending on Bethel, New York, the event is seen as a roaring success by many in the music biz.

The film is set in 1969, and Elliot Tiber, a down-on-his-luck interior designer in Greenwich Village, New York, has to move back upstate to help his parents run their dilapidated Catskills motel, the El Monaco. The bank is about to foreclose; his father wants to burn the place down, but hasn’t paid the insurance; and Elliot is still figuring how to come out to his parents. When Elliot hears that a neighboring town has pulled the permit on a hippie music festival, he calls the producers, thinking he could drum up some much needed business for the motel. Three weeks later, half a million people are on their way to his neighbor’s farm in White Lake, NY, and Elliot finds himself swept up in a generation-defining experience that would change his life, and American culture, forever.

The film is out on November 13th in the UK, and next weekend in the USA – yes, it seems ages away, but to me it looks set to be one of my favourite films of the autumn. Watch the trailer below:

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To start off the weekend I thought I’d take a break from the usual “Video of the Day” posts, and remind you of the greatness of Anchorman, Will Ferrell’s amazing comedy about a US news anchor. I watched it again the other night, and love the cheesy-ness of this song, so watch and enjoy.

Please note that there will most likely be no Video of the Day or MP3 of the Day this weekend.

“So, erm, this is a song about death!” mumbled Richard Frenneaux, lead singer of Red Light Company when introducing “With lights Out” last night at London’s Camden Barfly. Let’s be honest – as you may be able to tell from that little quote, they’re not a light hearted, fun band like the Hoosiers or We Are Scientists. However, what they lack in fun they more than make up for in depth and darkness, as they showed the packed Barfly.

Earlier in the evening A Silent Film had brought a hint of Keane and awful Dad dancing to the stage for the first support slot. Movie-esque music, layered and gorgeous, but ultimately nothing that Keane, Coldplay and Longview haven’t tried before. However, the one thing that Keane and others haven’t tried was their interesting cover of Underworld’s Born Slippy, which suddenly had a dreamy feel to it… interesting, thought it’d take a few more listens to get us really convinced that they can pull it off.

They were followed by the awful Holy Ghost Revival who seemed to just want to cause trouble with their “seen-it-all-before” 70’s rock rip-offs. Halfway through their set a waterfight broke out between crowd and band, leaving their keyboard temporarily broken and a 5 minute interlude, before they unfortunately resumed their noise. The only good thing was the fact that lead singer Mikko Freeman responded to hecklers: “Yes, we’re gay stoner cowboys! Finally, London gets us!” he remarked. Yes, and we wish you’d just go with the other cowboys.

At this point, our faith in the London music scene was diminishing rapidly, and an early night was on the cards. However, when Red Light Company finally took to the stage at 10pm, we were immediately enthralled. To describe their music as a mixture of Black-Market Music era Placebo, Interpol and Hot Fuss era Killers would be doing them an injustice – they’re more than the sum of their parts, darker and catchier than many bands out there.

Frenneaux appeared distant throughout the set not really interacting at all, seemingly pre-occupied with other things, but managed to fill the stage with his gaunt frame. Surely he’s got to be a shoe-in for Brian Molko’s replacement for confused teenagers across the UK now that Molko has gone all disco-dance on us? Time will tell.

Previous single “Scheme Eugene” was thrown in early in the set, giving Frenneaux and bassist Shawn Day a chance to show off their vocal skills, and a chance for an early rock-out. Current single “Meccano” went down a treat mid-set, having everyone singing along and really going for it, following on from airplay with Jo Whiley and Zane Lowe on Radio 1. Closing out their set, there were no theatrics, just a simple thank you and off they trundled to their next gig.

If they work on connecting with their audience a bit more, then surely mega-fame is just around the corner for Red Light Company.

Photos and stuff to follow.

Last night I watched Garden State again, one of my favourite films that I’ve neglected for the best part of 6 months. Its one of those films that restores your faith in humanity – even though shit happens and you come across undesirable people and practices, there are still things at the end of the road that make the journey desirable.

Incredibly introspective, the film depicts Andrew Largeman (Zach Braff from Scrubs) returning home for his mother’s funeral after being estranged from his family for a decade. He goes on a journey through his home town, quickly falling for Sam (Natalie Portman).

It was Zach Braff’s first film that he both wrote and directed, and was a huge hit with the critics, containing some amusing dialogue and also quite introspective:

Andrew Largeman: You know that point in your life when you realize that the house that you grew up in isn’t really your home anymore? All of the sudden even though you have some place where you can put your stuff that idea of home is gone.
Sam: I still feel at home in my house.
Andrew Largeman: You’ll see when you move out it just sort of happens one day one day and it’s just gone. And you can never get it back. It’s like you get homesick for a place that doesn’t exist. I mean it’s like this rite of passage, you know. You won’t have this feeling again until you create a new idea of home for yourself, you know, for your kids, for the family you start, it’s like a cycle or something. I miss the idea of it. Maybe that’s all family really is. A group of people who miss the same imaginary place.

For me, its the little things that make this my favourite film. When Zach goes to the restroom, he walks out past a row of sinks, and they all turn on and off in quick sequence as he walks past. Little things that just pass by in the blink of the eye but reward closer watching.

The soundtrack is also sublime, giving bands their (relatively) “big” breaks – bands like The Shins now cannot get through an interview without a mention of Garden State. For me, there is a scene where Sam is “tap dancing” in front of the fire with Remy Zero’s “Fair” in the background which is just magical.

If you haven’t already, go and get Garden State out from your local independent video store, or your library, or Blockbuster if you must.