Released in 1920, The Golem: How He Came into the World is a German silent horror film and a landmark of German Expressionism directed by Paul Wegener and Carl Boese with roots in a 16th century Jewish folktale. Often described as the Jewish Frankenstein (and directly inspiring James Whale’s subsequent film), The Golem’s strange power is still very much in evidence, especially when accompanied by a new score made possible by arts and culture nonprofit Reboot featuring members of Wolf Eyes, Universal Indians, Love Child, Espers, Secret Chiefs 3, Dead C, Boredoms, The Flaming Lips, Los Lobos and more. The Golem Rescored is out now on 2LP and digital via Reboot Records.
Reboot’s raison d’etre is admirable: to reimagine, reinvent, and reinforce Jewish thought and traditions. If a broader enterprise than a record label, Reboot has released a few musical items in its history (the organization was formed in 2001) including A Great Miracle: Jeremiah Lockwood’s Guitar Soli Chanukah Record and a rescore for Cecil B. DeMille’s The Ten Commandments (the first film from 1923, not DeMille’s ’56 remake) by Scott Amendola, Steven Drozd, and Steve Berlin, who also contribute the closing piece to The Golem Rescored.
“Loew Sparks on High Gratitude Love” is the selection by Amendola, Drozd, and Berlin, and it’s the longest excursion into rhythmic patterns and tangible melodies on the entire set, though it should be noted that the piece comprises a handful of shorter varied segments that cohere into an attractive, at times proggy, eclecticism. It contrasts well with the longer passages of abstraction that proceed it.
Opening side one is “Born Mystic Section” by Threshing Floor, a group featuring Alan Licht and Rebecca Odes of the terribly undersung late ’80s-early ’90s indie rock trio Love Child, Gretchen Gonzales Davidson of the fab Universal Indians and Slumber Party, and John Olson and Nate Young of noise kings Wolf Eyes. Theirs is an immediate dive into abstraction as methodically building tension that occasionally rises to maelstrom-like levels.
A little later on The Golem Rescored Gonzales Davidson, Olson, and Young tighten-up into the trio Universal Eyes, with their piece sounding like a blend of a Hanson records lathe cut (edition of 10 copies), chamber stings, a mechanical donkey, wind chimes, full-on literal wind, and utterly, wonderfully fucked dub techniques a la Lee “Scratch” Perry.
Now some might be thinking that this sort of racket is inappropriate as the rescore to a silent film, to which I say hogwash, as Wegener and Boese’s movie is often grippingly weird and in an unforced way that reflects that they were creating something new. And yet with similarities to today, as The Golem: How He Came into the World is the prequel to Wegener and Henrik Galeen’s 1915 film The Golem (reportedly partially lost) and Wegener and Rochus Gilese’s 1917 The Golem and the Dancing Girl (considered an early horror spoof, and also considered lost).
The most wildly out-there entry on The Golem Rescored is the splattering squealing squalling roaring throbbing electronic cacophony of “SPZD” by ∈Y∋. It’s a bit like an early electronic music LP on Nonesuch or Vox Turnabout turned into a sentient being by Rabbi magic. And that’s cool. Just as spiff is “Traces” by Meg Baird, Charlie Saufley, and Jeremiah Lockwood, and you might be thinking the piece will be comparatively relaxed due to Baird’s involvement with Espers (she was also in Heron Oblivion with Saufley) and Lockwood’s guitar soli release.
But that assumption is off-base bucko, as there is plenty of sharp edges and intensity to be heard, even as the sound turns textural as the piece proceeds. And textural is a fine description for the exquisite drift of “Falling Ghosts” by Michael Morley, a track that should delight fans of ’90s drone ambient (it’s distinct from Morley’s work in Dead C). “The Golem” by Sharon Gal glistens mightily and then soars in a manner that’s a sweet complement to Morley’s piece and to “Monat Mai” by Marika Hughes and Shahzad Ismaily that follows, as the Morley-Gal-Hughes & Ismaily trifecta is calming but not tranquil.
Keep in mind that The Golem Rescored is a long release, longer than the film itself by over 15 minutes, and impressive in that it never registers as meandering or overstuffed. The music doesn’t revitalize the film, but rather carries it’s spirit forward into the 21 century. We’re frankly lucky to have these inspired soundtrack interpretations.
GRADED ON A CURVE:
A
