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John Hughes III, "Scarlet Diva"
The man behind Slicker and Hefty Records steps out from his protective shell to produce one of the finest soundtracks I have personally heard in a while. Hughes has certainly expanded his range from what has been the electro punchiness of previous Slicker releases to a conceptual effort which encompasses various styles of retro-fitted pseudo-pop post-electronica jazz-influenced multi-instrumentalist filmscapes. After about four listens in a row, my only complaint is that it's TOO DAMNED SHORT!
Understood, this is only a soundtrack but this collection is a tease — at 18 tracks, it barely touches over 30 minutes. Nearly every song is strong enough to be developed into something much longer than a minute, and it would seem that the careful efforts put into every delicately woven track could pay off with longer tunes, yet only two break the three-minute mark. As a vocalist, Hughes has a style similar to a drunken Sam Prekop, something which other critics have disliked, but as a soundtrack I'm eager to see the film to make a better judgement on the vocal tracks. The music here is undeniably brilliant, with a moderate mix of live organs, bass guitar, organic percussion, lush strings, horns and electronics. Hughes has scored a variety of moods like the eerie glitch-driven "Red Room" or the 70s-era bass-driven soundtrack style walking tune, "Street Song." Hughes has obviously spent much of his life around both music and film and I'm hoping he brings more of the variety of work presented here into his Slicker guise.
 
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