Though his filmmaking career slowed in the 2000s and 2010s, John Carpenter's influence as a composer only grew. Along with Tangerine Dream, his immediately recognizable sound -- full of pulsing synths and ever-ratcheting tension -- inspired a new generation of acts like Zombi, Majeure, Umberto, Espectrostatic, and Geoff Barrow's Drokk project, among many others, so the timing couldn't have been more perfect for Carpenter to release new music when Lost Themes arrived. Despite that title, these songs aren't attached to any films; instead, they offer a multiplex worth of possibilities for listeners to soundtrack their lives. As Carpenter gives fans exactly what they want -- those ominous synth arpeggios appear less than a minute into the opening track, "Vortex" -- he also engages them on a slightly different level, allowing them to put their imagery and stories to his music for the first time. Soundtrack geeks will also enjoy connecting Lost Themes to his previous work: the power chords that slash through the album call to mind his later, guitar-oriented scores like Vampires, and the intricate keyboard counterpoint that begins "Mystery" shares more than a little of Halloween's sparkling menace. However, it's not necessary to be a Carpenter expert to enjoy "Domain"'s brassy duel between danger and victory. Throughout Lost Themes, Carpenter -- aided by his son Cody and godson Daniel Davies -- uses a more-is-more approach that sets him apart from his followers, most of whom focus on tastefully taut atmospheres. The fun he has expanding his music is almost palpable, particularly on the eight-minute "Obsidian," which spans moments of action, horror, discovery, and victory in its suite-like sweep (it's also a synth lover's dream, with rippling arpeggios, crystalline pads, and a tone that sounds like flowing water). Similarly, the dogpile of synths that closes "Purgatory" is both a throwback and oddly timeless. A big part of Lost Themes' brilliance lies in Carpenter's refusal to update his aesthetic -- the more '80s it is, the more vital it sounds. As he leaps from one thrill to the next, he evokes his past without rehashing it, delivering a complete and immensely satisfying portrait of his music along the way.Though his filmmaking career slowed in the 2000s and 2010s, John Carpenter's influence as a composer only grew. Along with Tangerine Dream, his immediately recognizable sound -- full of pulsing synths and ever-ratcheting tension -- inspired a new generation of acts like Zombi, Majeure, Umberto, Espectrostatic, and Geoff Barrow's Drokk project, among many others, so the timing couldn't have been more perfect for Carpenter to release new music when Lost Themes arrived. Despite that title, these songs aren't attached to any films; instead, they offer a multiplex worth of possibilities for listeners to soundtrack their lives. As Carpenter gives fans exactly what they want -- those ominous synth arpeggios appear less than a minute into the opening track, "Vortex" -- he also engages them on a slightly different level, allowing them to put their imagery and stories to his music for the first time. Soundtrack geeks will also enjoy connecting Lost Themes to his previous work: the power chords that slash through the album call to mind his later, guitar-oriented scores like Vampires, and the intricate keyboard counterpoint that begins "Mystery" shares more than a little of Halloween's sparkling menace. However, it's not necessary to be a Carpenter expert to enjoy "Domain"'s brassy duel between danger and victory. Throughout Lost Themes, Carpenter -- aided by his son Cody and godson Daniel Davies -- uses a more-is-more approach that sets him apart from his followers, most of whom focus on tastefully taut atmospheres. The fun he has expanding his music is almost palpable, particularly on the eight-minute "Obsidian," which spans moments of action, horror, discovery, and victory in its suite-like sweep (it's also a synth lover's dream, with rippling arpeggios, crystalline pads, and a tone that sounds like flowing water). Similarly, the dogpile of synths that closes "Purgatory" is both a throwback and oddly timeless. A big part of Lost Themes' brilliance lies in Carpenter's refusal to update his aesthetic -- the more '80s it is, the more vital it sounds. As he leaps from one thrill to the next, he evokes his past without rehashing it, delivering a complete and immensely satisfying portrait of his music along the way.false2024-01-03 02:13:44Lost Themes1020152015-02-032015-02-0348ElectronicRockSynthwave1391482248302923bda4a-fa5c-4afc-9d88-8e2cfd9e0b1506d3fe7f-b5c7-4af9-a96b-5a41675e29ceb68dc60a-61ec-479c-a42c-9f10dfc330adJohn CarpenterAlbumArtist/config/metadata/People/J/John Carpenter/folder.jpgJohn CarpenterArtist/config/metadata/People/J/John Carpenter/folder.jpgJohn CarpenterJohn CarpenterJohn Howard Carpenter (born January 16, 1948) is an American filmmaker, composer, and actor. Most commonly associated with horror, action, and science fiction films of the 1970s and 1980s, he is generally recognized as a master of the horror genre. At the 2019 Cannes Film Festival, the French Directors' Guild gave him the Golden Coach Award and lauded him as "a creative genius of raw, fantastic, and spectacular emotions".
Carpenter's early films included critical and commercial successes such as Halloween (1978), The Fog (1980), Escape from New York (1981), and Starman (1984). Though he has been acknowledged as an influential filmmaker, his other productions from the 1970s and the 1980s only later came to be considered cult classics; these include Dark Star (1974), Assault on Precinct 13 (1976), The Thing (1982), Christine (1983), Big Trouble in Little China (1986), Prince of Darkness (1987), They Live (1988), In the Mouth of Madness (1994), and Escape from L.A. (1996). He returned to the Halloween franchise as a composer and executive producer on Halloween (2018), Halloween Kills (2021), and Halloween Ends (2022).
Carpenter usually composes or co-composes the music in his films. He won a Saturn Award for Best Music for the soundtrack of Vampires (1998) and has released five studio albums: Lost Themes (2015), Lost Themes II (2016), Anthology: Movie Themes 1974–1998 (2017), Lost Themes III: Alive After Death (2021), and Lost Themes IV: Noir (2024). Since 2012, he has co-owned the comic book company Storm King Comics alongside his wife, film producer Sandy King.