Musings For A Darkened Room

First off let me wish all of my readers a happy new year.  I hope you all had a safe and eventful New Years Eve.  I thought I’d start out 2009 with something fun.  As many of my readers know I am a huge fan of the Twilight books, the Twilight movie, and the Twilight Soundtrack.

I’ve had the Twilight Soundtrack since about a week after its release, and sadly it has only left my cars CD player for brief moments.  So I decided to post a fun little poll to see when my readers think the disc will finally leave my car CD player permanently.

For you Twilight fans I plan to continue various Twilight related posts, so keep an eye out in the coming months, especially with New Moon going into production shortly. I’m sure my first post will probably come when they finally announce whether or not Taylor Lautner will continue the roll of Jacob in New Moon.

For the rest of you, I’ll continue my SEM, Social Media, and various other rants as well. Thanks for your continued support in 2009. Happy New Year Everyone!

So this evening I was doing some research related to a question one of my readers left regarding the online availability of some of the songs from the Twilight Soundtrack, and came across something that I personally hadn’t seen publicized much previously.  Looking into it further it seems that it may have gotten a lot of smaller blog attention but none of the major Twilight blogs from what I can tell picked up on it.  Unfortunately since none of the major blogs picked it up I am having trouble validating the authenticity of it, but regardless I thought I would share.

It turns out that about a month ago Catherine Hardwicke, the director of the Twilight film, did commentary for the movie’s soundtrack on imeem soundsessions.  Catherine gives small 30 second introductions to each of the songs on the soundtrack and gives some back story on their origin as well as why and when they were used.  If you’re a die hard fan of the Twilight soundtrack or the Twilight movie you’ll enjoy this.  Even more interesting was that she mentions another song that isn’t in the film or on the soundtrack that she really wanted to use by The Cold War Kids.

Cahterine Hardwicke Twilight Soundtrack Commentary

One of the things I liked most about it was that it confirmed some of my assumptions that I made in my Twilight Soundtrack Review; including the use of Muse and Linkin Park based on their ties to the Twilight book series and Stephenie Meyers’ playlists.

For the last 6 months I have been an avid user of the website Mixwit.  The “mix tape” sharing site allows users to create online mixtapes and share them with friends.  Users can pull songs directly into Mixwit using a built in search from services like Skreemr, Seeqpod, and ccMixter or they can manually add songs from outside websites.

Unfortunately I received a message in my e-mail this evening from Mixwit announcing that the site is shutting down on December 27.  According to Mixwit’s blog the original shutdown date was December 21, but due to hosting issues they will be up for 6 extra days.

No real details were provided as to why the site was shutting down, but Mixwit creators Mike and Radley had this to say,

“We’ve put a year of work into Mixwit so this choice wasn’t taken lightly. I
won’t go into the details of our situation but state simply that we
boldly marched into in a position best described as “between a rock and a
hard place.” We’re very grateful to be have been part of the mixtape
revival of ‘08 and are satisfied to be able to to bow out while things
are still good.”

On December 27 profiles will be turned off and by December 31st the site will be completely dark.  Mixwit’s creators are looking for a way to make the mixtape artwork and playlists available for historical purposes, and will notify users via e-mail where they’ll be able to find their stuff by the end of the year. In addition they are considering donating their source code the OpenTape project.

I have personally put months of time, effort, and even emotion into some of my mixes.  Over the last six months I created nearly sixty mixes, many of which had significant meaning to me.  A close friend of mine and I exchanged mixes on an almost daily basis for months.  The mixes themselves tell a story and act almost as a yearbook for her and I.  I also built my popular Twilight Saga soundtracks on Mixwit.

I hate to see the site go since I was a big fan of the site and saw a lot of potential in it.  I wish the best of luck to Mike and Radley, and any others involved in the project in their future ventures.

So lately I have been getting a ton of visitors asking or looking for information on when certain songs play throughout the Twilight movie on my Twilight Soundtrack Review, so I decided I would do everyone a favor and give a rundown of what songs play when.  I’m going to go in order of the standard soundtrack first and then I’ll tackle any bonus or non-soundtrack songs at the end.  Again I must warn readers that if you haven’t seen the film or read the books there are definitely some potential spoilers in this since I mention certain events and scenes to identify when songs play.  So read at your own risk!

Muse - Supermassive Black Hole: One of the few songs during the film that gets much use is Muse’s Supermassive Black Hole which plays through the duration of the baseball scene where the Cullen’s take advantage of a thunderstorm to take part in America’s favorite pass time.

Paramore - Decode: The first of two songs written by Paramore specifically for the film, yet it’s the very last song heard in the movie.  Paramore’s Decode is not featured during the film and is the last song played during the credits.

The Black Ghosts - Full Moon:  The first song we hear in the Twilight film is Full Moon by The Black Ghosts.  As Bella is introduced and she begins her journey from Arizona to Forks this song is played.

Linkin Park - Leave Out All The Rest: Still a song that baffles me as far as lyrical context goes, Linkin Park’s Leave Out All The Rest is featured as the second song during the credits.  What’s most surprising is that songs during the credits usually carry some sort of lyrical meaning when you consider the movie’s storyline, but in my opinion nothing about this song fits Twilight.

MuteMath - Spotlight (Twilight Mix): MuteMath’s Spotlight plays for a pretty long duration of the film, but it’s in splices and you never really hear the main lyrics to the song.  The song first starts when Edward and Bella arrive at school together for the first time and continues through the scenes in the woods where Edward explains his family story.

Perry Farrell — Going All The Way (Into The Twilight):  Another Twilight soundtrack exclusive, Perry Farrell’s Going All The Way (Into The Twilight) is the first song featured at the dance when Edward and Bella make their entrance.

Collective Soul — Tremble For My Beloved:  The only song on the soundtrack to carry over from one of Stephenie Meyer’s original playlists is Collective Soul’s Tremble For My Beloved.  This song can be heard at the end of the van accident.  When Edward realizes what he has done and make’s eye contact with Bella the song begins and then he quickly makes an escape.  The only part of this song actually used is it’s intro.

Paramore — I Caught Myself:  The second track from Paramore is I Caught Myself.  The song plays in the dress shop in Port Angeles when Bella sits patiently as Angela and Jessica try on their dresses.  The version used in the film is much different than the one featured on the soundtrack and is not only played in mono, most likely to give the effect that it is being played in the store itself, but also sounds as though it has been slowed down.

Blue Foundation — Eyes On Fire:  The one song in the whole film that I feel fits the storyline perfectly, yet I feel was used at the complete wrong time.  Regardless, Blue Foundation’s Eyes On Fire plays after Bella hangs up the phone with her mom and her monologue begins where she talks about confronting Edward about the way he has acted toward her.  The song again only gets bits and pieces used, and you never really hear any of the actual lyrics.  I also want to take a moment to thank Blue Foundation for their mention of Musings For A Darkened Room on their Myspace Blog.

Rob Pattinson — Never Think:  One of two songs by Robert Pattinson that appear in the film, but the only one featured in the standard release of the soundtrack.  Rob’s Never Think plays in the background while Edward and Bella sit at the cafe in Port Angeles.  This is where Bella finds out that Edward can read people’s thoughts; except for hers of course.

Iron & Wine — Flightless Bird, American Mouth:  A simply beautiful song, which was actually suggested by Kristen Stewart who plays Bella in the film.  Iron & Wine’s Flightless Bird, American Mouth is the song which Edward and Bella dance to in the gazebo at the end of the film.

Carter Burwell — Bella’s Lullaby:  This song has more appearances and renditions in the film than I can track, but the most prominent when Edward and Bella scale the tree and when you actually see Edward play the piece.

Twilight Soundtrack Bonus Tracks and Songs Featured In The Film and Not On The Soundtrack

Rob Pattinson - Let Me Sign (iTunes exclusive):  The first of 3 iTunes exclusive bonus tracks is Rob Pattinson’s Let Me Sign.  This is an amazing track and starts playing right as Edward says to Bella, “I’ll make it go away” before he starts sucking out the venom.

La Triviata (iTunes exclusive): Performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, La Triviata plays when Bella goes to meet the Cullens for the first time and starts when Edward and Bella are heading up to the kitchen.  This is an iTunes exclusive track and is not featured on the standard CD soundtrack.

Claire de Lune (iTunes exclusive):  Claire de Lune is performed by the APM Orchestra and is of course played in Edwards room when Bella asks Edward what was in his CD player.  The song is clearly mentioned by title and original composer, so it’s a bit of a no-brainer, but I figured I would mention it anyway.

Radiohead - 15 Step:  This song begins playing at the end of the film after we discover Victoria is in the window at the dance watching Edward and Bella.  The song begins as Victoria turns around and heads down the stairs and the credits begin.  The song is not featured on the soundtrack and is not featured as a bonus track on iTunes.

I hope this helped some of you readers to identify what plays when from the Twilight Soundtrack.  If anything is unclear please let me know and I’ll do my best to clarify.  I also want to again thank Kristina Sanchez for her assistance in a Twilight related post.  The author of How To Be A Customer and a Twilight veteran; she has now seen the film 10 times in theaters.

Finally after what feels like months of reading I have finally finished the entire Twilight Saga.  I finished reading Breaking Dawn about a week ago and must say I loved it.  And alas much like when I finished the other books in the series I have also completed my interpretation of a soundtrack for it.  Up to this point I have completed my twilight soundtrack, New Moon soundtrack, Eclipse soundtrack, and now finally Breaking Dawn.

As in almost all of my mixes lyrical content play a serious part in the scheme of things, which is why the music featured is somewhat diverse.  However after reading my Twilight soundtrack review, you’ll know that the Twilight film has quite a diverse soundtrack as well.  Another interesting thing to note about my Breaking Dawn soundtrack is that there are a number of return artists on this mix.  I didn’t do this on purpose or because they are preferred artists, it is just that I simply found songs that fit the story perfectly that happened to be by the same artists.  The returning artists on this mix include Nine Inch Nails, Matchbook Romance, Thrice, The Birthday Massacre, Stabbing Westward, and Lullacry.

Finally like in my Eclipse soundtrack I was able to pay homage to Stephenie Meyers’ playlists, as well as the Twilight film soundtrack, by including a track from Muse.  As most Twilighters will know Meyers is a huge fan of Muse and frequently used their songs on her playlists for her books.

Below you will find the playlist in it’s entirety songs that I could not include on the Mixwit version of my Breaking Dawn soundtrack have been linked so that you can listen to them on an Imeem.  Unfortunately my Breaking Dawn soundtrack took a significant hit as far as track availability goes on Mixwit so you will notice there are quite a few songs you will need to listen to outside of the Mixwit version.

1. Thrice - The Lion and the Wolf
2. Lullacry - Heart Shaped Scars
3. Jakalope - Feel It
4. Spill Canvas - This Is For Keeps
5. Lacuna Coil - Within Me
6. Trust Company - Hover
7. Matchbook Romance - If All Else Fails
8. Thrice - Send Me An Angel
9. Graveworm - Ceremonial Requiem
10. Birthday Massacre - Red
11. Nightwish - End of All Hope
12. Stabbing Westward - Angel
13. Fiona Apple - Better Version of Me
14. Muse - Ruled By Secrecy
15. She Wants Revenge - First Love
16. Coheed & Cambria - The Reaping
17. Nine Inch Nails - Another Version of Truth